Vegetable seed germination is greatly dependent upon soil temperature.
Temp needed for starting seeds on a mat.
Ideal temperatures for germination depend on the plant but generally speaking seeds need a consistent temperature of between 65 and 75 degrees.
Set the heat mat to the proper germination temperature for the type of seeds you are growing.
Using a seedling heat mat is the cheap and easy way to provide the optimal conditions for your vegetable seeds.
Because we live off grid we needed to find another way.
However you can speed up their germination process when you provide more warmth for vegetable seeds.
The germination mat helps keep an even germination temperature between 65 80 f.
Heat mats are rarely necessary for starting garden plants with lower temperature requirements such as tomatoes.
Germination temperature requirements although some plant species seeds require a temperature as low as 50 degrees fahrenheit to germinate a wide variety of commonly grown perennial plants and.
With a heat mat we can ensure quick and reliable sprouting for our vegetables.
This chart shows the range of soil temperatures needed for seed germination.
The warmth that most seeds do need is commonly called room temperature around 70 degrees f 21 degrees c during the day though somewhat lower than that during the night.
How do you achieve this idyllic consistent temperature.
One almost surefire method is to use a seedling mat an electric heating pad that sits under the seedling trays usually regulated by a thermostat.
Almost all quality plant heating mats come with a built in safety shut off that will trigger when the heat mat reaches a temperature of 10 degrees above the room temperature.
Our seedling sprouting area is near our windows and since we start our spring garden seedlings in january it can get pretty cold for them.
Other near equal factors include seed vitality the age of the seed soil moisture soil air and soil conditions and workability.
Outer limits for all seeds for microgreens range from 50 degrees f 10 degrees c to 85 degrees f 29 degrees c.
A lot of people these days will purchase heating pads to germinate trays of pepper and tomato seeds.
Most plants require a soil temperature of 70 to 72 degrees fahrenheit but some plants like peppers require warmer temperatures of 80 to 85 fahrenheit.