Recommending heating pad

[nuriko1set]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Under the pots, Nuriko. The purpose is to provide extra warmth for the medium and root zone.

thank you waterWitchin! I didn't know if the warmth was for root or stem! Knowing it's roots makes more sense!

---------- Post added at 09:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Orchidtinkerer

I know this thread asks for a heating pad.


They are designed to heat 10cm above the mat.

Thank you Orchidtinkerer for making so much effort to answer my questions! I think maybe 10cm might be enough? I think it'll be helpful to heat the root zone up to around 70 F. My overall temp at home is around 65, a bit chilly even for me, I'm sure the plants are not happy with that.

---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:49 PM ----------

Originally Posted by camille1585

Actually, the purpose of a heat mat isn't so much to warm the air around the plant or seedling, but to warm the root zone. The optimal soil temperature for germination of many common plants is in the 20-25°C range. The dome on the seedling trays is more for humidity than heat retention, though that is also important.

For established plants, increasing root zone temperature will stimulate root growth, and most commercial potted plant growers will use bottom heat (either in the form of pipes of hot water under benches, or in the sand under the ground tarp.). The botton heating will warm the pots/substrate and reasearch has shown that by increasing the root temperature, root growth is stimulated and plants can continue to have optimal growth at a lower air temperature. For professional growers this is a huge saving in heating costs as bottom heat is much cheaper than heating air. This works quite well, though it not meant to compensate for extremely low air temps compared to the optimal range.

It could very well be that the more airy bark substrates that orchids are grown don't conduct the bottom heat as well as peat based substrates, but I still think that heat mats serve a purpose, and this could be tested by taking temperature readings inside pots.

thank you for the information Camille! It's good to have the confirmation of root and substrate heating is effective! I noticed a lull in growth of some of my orchids, mainly one Phal. The Cattleyas seems to be doing ok. This further confirms my need to raise the temp. a little bit for the plants!