Bottom Heat for Sprouting Seeds

Q:  I do use a fair amount of planting material when I do a new installation, and am always striving to use the best I can. I have been using City Farmer’s soil as my favorite topsoil, but it is quite a drive from Encinitas. I have been using prepared amendments and fertilizers, but want to do it all myself at some point, since I pride myself on growing my own seedlings for all my clients. I sure did love the VCR as a seed heat mat idea. Alton Brown (the food guy on TV) gave me the idea of using a regular home heating pad because he uses that to heat his chocolate to the right temper without over-doing it!

A: I too have heard about the use of a home heating pad to provide 80 degrees Fahrenheit of bottom heat to pre-sprout seeds rapidly. This would work for seeds in a plastic bag as I demonstrated last night and as explained on page 172 in my organic book. (Seeds of certain very sweet vegetables such peas and corn which have the shrunken gene are sometimes hard to sprout in cold wet soil which is why we pre-sprout them prior to planting.)

I want to caution folks, however, never ever to use a home heating pad to germinate seeds already planted in containers to provide transplants. This a dangerous practice that can lead to fires. Instead, purchase a germination pad especially designed for this purpose. Germination pads can be purchased from many catalogues but are not usually carried in local nurseries since few local gardeners grow their own transplants these days preferring to purchase them from nurseries or to plant directly in the garden with seeds.