Started germinating my first ever chilli plants yesterday. Bought a heating mat for it, to give it the best chance.
Put the seeds into some cooled down black tea for a few hours, and then planted them. Added water from underneath and a light mist from above. Forgot to switch the heat mat on overnight, so it’s been on max since this morning.
6ish hours later, I took a quick temp reading and it’s 37c!
Did I kill my seeds? Do I need to start again?
Seeds are Choc Habanero and Lemon Habanero
by baileyyy98
5 Comments
That temp seems a little hot for a seed mat, though I doubt it’s too hot for the seeds to germinate.
Edit: You may want to check to make the mat is not defective. I looked at mine and operating temperatures printed on the mat are 21-30 C.
Is there still water in the tray? That could explain the high temp as it conducts heat better. I don’t think 37C is hot enough to kill the seeds, and they are probably more at the top where it’s a bit cooler than where you probed, so they should be fine.
I love seed heating mats but you need to insulate them from the bottom of the tray with a towel and a temp probe connected to a controller. Seed mats almost alway develop hot spots. A temp probe and controller will make sure it shuts off before it gets to hot and cooks your seeds. Just put the probe in the middle of the pad on the top of towel. Also those things can malfunction and burn carpet fyi.
Mine are germinating just fine in a 70ish degree room with the fan on. The plant light might be providing some heat, but not much.
Your plants have a fever. Better give them some paracetamol