Has anyone tried the iPower brand of heat mats? They are quite a bit less expensive than the ones I've been getting. I found one source that has the small ones for about $10, and Amazon has a combination thermostat and 20x48 inch mat for about $45. Just wondering if anyone here knows anything about them.

Hey Woofie--I've not heard of that brand, but if you decide to buy one please report back to us!

I never heard heard of them. But one never knows.

Well, I decided to give it a try. So far, I'm not too impressed. Darn thing does not want to unroll. (This is the big one, 20 x 48) Gonna try plugging it in to see if a little heat will convince it to lay flat.

Too, I would think if you set a plant tray on the mat it would tend to hold it down flat.

It's cold here, so I don't want to get too forceful initially. I didn't even open the box till it had a chance to warm up to room temp. But this is certainly not near the quality of the Hydrofarm mats I've bought in the past. But, hey, the mat and controller together were half the cost of the HF mat alone. I'm in no rush and heck I haven't even been able to get the darn table opened up and set up either. Sigh, getting old is a drag. My greenhouse is out of commission till the weather warms up, so I'm having to rig a temporary set up in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

No green house here during any season, but I do have my table and lights set up in the basement. Heck I am still using and old electric heating pad I had used for my back. I am fortunate that I can have that sat up permanently. I seem to have pretty good luck also just sitting a tray on top of the fridge down there.

Oh yeah, the top of the fridge is a great place! That was where I did my first seed starting.

I have never bought a heat mat but I got 2 today from Menards. The name is Ferry Morse Heat Mat for seedlings. It is 17 watts and the size is 9" X 19.5. The price was $16.77 with 11% off plus tax. I decided to give it a try. I also picked up 2 72-cell grower kits and some Burpee seed starter 8 qt. bags. I hope things work well for me in my garage. If not, I am not out that much.

I think if you grow peppers you will really appreciate them. My tomatoes do better with some heat, but peppers are the only thing I grow that just almost demand a heat source of some sort. I have bought the 72 cell grow kits but I have found for me I prefer the six pacs for most things now. But for starting a lot of flowers or a large vegetable garden they are great.

That was a good deal, Jeanne!

One of the things I find interesting is that 4 small heat mats (17 W each) use less power than one big one (100 W) that will hold 4 trays.

Thanks Woofie. Now I wish I would have gotten a few more. Menards is an hour away. I don't have these in use yet so I will just wait and see how I do with these.

The ones from Ferry Morse are ok. Not as good as Hydrofarms but close.

After you run the mats for awhile the curl will tend to work itself out.

I also use a controller, but question its value overall. It does not provide near the control one would think.

I've never used a controller.....so far no problems. I have 2 hydrofarm seed mats. One tip our MG propagator instructor taught us was to us something like water bottle caps under the seedling tray if it was a little too warm. Adding that little space seemed to provide a little less heat... and it was "adjustable" by the amount of space you left.

Thanks for the tip. Nice to know just in case needed.

I ordered 2 of the small ones on ebay. They should get here on Tuesday, at last check of tracking info.

My question is . . . I have my plant stand on a timer, so the lights will go on/off without me having to do this manually. Will the heat mats work that way, or do I need to figure out a way to have them on all the time?

I've generally turned my heat mats off when the lights come on. I can't seem to wrap my mind around a way to get my timer to do this for me. Hmmm, come to think of it, I need another timer. Any recommendations?

And, finally, after a couple of weeks unrolled, it's relatively flat. Still pretty rippled, but I think it will work ok. Haven't tried out the controller yet, that will wait till I have a couple of flats in place.

I have had a Hydrofarm 20X20 for probably 5 years now and it has worked great. I do not use an temperature control devices with it. I built a tray with two inch sides to go under it that is lined with pond liner and has 1" of foam under the liner so it can concentrate the heat on the trays above and not get cooled by the counter under it. It is in an heated greenhouse attached to our house so that also helps. I mainly use it to speed germination. Once the plants break ground they are moved off the mat and others are placed on the mat. I saw the mat on e-bay this morning for $19.99 with free shipping.

Regarding turning off heat mats when your lights come on, I wonder if one of those outdoor Christmas light outlets with the light sensor would work. You can set them to turn off the Christmas lights off when the sun rises and on again when the sun sets. If you happen to have one already for your Christmas lights then it would be free to try.