How hot is cooked seeds?

ScottinAtlanta · February 4, 2015

Planted peppers and tomatoes. I turned up the heat on my heating pads, forgot them, and two hours later some of the germination cells had reached 88 degrees. All cells were between 76 and 90.

They were at that temp for around an hour. Did I cook the ones above 80? Are they dead?

natural · February 4, 2015

I think that the peppers are fine. I keep my thermostat at 90 degrees for my peppers. I know that I have had tomatoes at 90 degrees before when they shared a tray with the peppers. They germinated fine. (I did stay on top of the watering though.)

I did make a mistake with my thermostat the first time I used it. I use 200 cell trays. I placed the probe of my thermostat in one of the perimeter cells before I realized how much warmer the temperature was in the middle cells. The perimeter cell registered 88 and the center cell registered 95. My heating mats certainly don't supply a constant temp across the entire surface area. Now I always place the probe in an interior cell.

Bill

Cole_Robbie · February 4, 2015

My germination box is usually well into the 90s. Even the greenhouse temp itself gets that high, and everything is fine. As long as it didn't dry out from the heat I think you 're good.

FLRedHeart · February 4, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

Planted peppers and tomatoes. I turned up the heat on my heating pads, forgot them, and two hours later some of the germination cells had reached 88 degrees. All cells were between 76 and 90.

They were at that temp for around an hour. Did I cook the ones above 80? Are they dead?

Scott, One to two hours at 90 F or below? Not a chance you did any harm. If anything, you jump started them. When mine goes high, I just compensate by resting them at about 75-76F for a couple of hours if I'm concerned, but that's just a placebo for me

JamesL · February 4, 2015

That does illustrate the importance of a thermostat.
Agree with what everyone else said. Dry at 85 to 90 and you would be toast.
Wet and you are ok.
78 is an ideal number for toms, mid 80s for peppers.
I have a few seeds cooking myself right now at about 80 and even with the thermostat it still spikes up to about 85 or so.

kath · February 4, 2015

Looks like soil temps of 100+F. are needed to hurt germination too much for both tomatoes and peppers according to this info:

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html

Worth1 · February 4, 2015

I've had seeds well over 100 be just fine.
Worth

ScottinAtlanta · February 4, 2015

What a relief! Thanks to all. I got a little panicky.

I use one of those temperature lasers guns, so I can just move it across the tray and watch the temps change. Bill is right - the difference between the center and the outside cells is usually about 5-6 degrees. So I plant the superhots in the center, and toms in the outside.

KarenO · February 4, 2015

they will be OK I'm sure.
Bottom heat is really very unnecessary with tomato seeds though. I wonder if folks reading posts on this forum think you cannot germinate seeds these days without bottom heat. I think that heating mats cause just as many problems as they solve in many cases. Seeds germinated for millions of years without electric heating pads. The only purpose of them IMO is to speed up germination that would occur anyway, albeit a few days later. Hot peppers are really the only thing that really benefit and even then, again, peppers have germinated for millennia without heat pads.
This comment is mainly directed at newer growers who might think they need to go out and buy a heat mat or risk no germination. I just isn't so.
Karen
I have a heat mat and use it for peppers exclusively.

JamesL · February 4, 2015

Speed Karen, speed! Gotta have it!

MrBig46 · February 4, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarenO

they will be OK I'm sure.
Bottom heat is really very unnecessary with tomato seeds though. I wonder if folks reading posts on this forum think you cannot germinate seeds these days without bottom heat. I think that heating mats cause just as many problems as they solve in many cases. Seeds germinated for millions of years without electric heating pads. The only purpose of them IMO is to speed up germination that would occur anyway, albeit a few days later. Hot peppers are really the only thing that really benefit and even then, again, peppers have germinated for millennia without heat pads.
This comment is mainly directed at newer growers who might think they need to go out and buy a heat mat or risk no germination. I just isn't so.
Karen
I have a heat mat and use it for peppers exclusively.

I agree.
Vladimír

February 4, 2015	#1
ScottinAtlanta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 2,593	How hot is cooked seeds? Planted peppers and tomatoes. I turned up the heat on my heating pads, forgot them, and two hours later some of the germination cells had reached 88 degrees. All cells were between 76 and 90. They were at that temp for around an hour. Did I cook the ones above 80? Are they dead?

February 4, 2015	#2
natural Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: North GA Posts: 530	I think that the peppers are fine. I keep my thermostat at 90 degrees for my peppers. I know that I have had tomatoes at 90 degrees before when they shared a tray with the peppers. They germinated fine. (I did stay on top of the watering though.) I did make a mistake with my thermostat the first time I used it. I use 200 cell trays. I placed the probe of my thermostat in one of the perimeter cells before I realized how much warmer the temperature was in the middle cells. The perimeter cell registered 88 and the center cell registered 95. My heating mats certainly don't supply a constant temp across the entire surface area. Now I always place the probe in an interior cell. Bill

February 4, 2015	#3
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	My germination box is usually well into the 90s. Even the greenhouse temp itself gets that high, and everything is fine. As long as it didn't dry out from the heat I think you 're good.

February 4, 2015	#5
JamesL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 1,992	That does illustrate the importance of a thermostat. Agree with what everyone else said. Dry at 85 to 90 and you would be toast. Wet and you are ok. 78 is an ideal number for toms, mid 80s for peppers. I have a few seeds cooking myself right now at about 80 and even with the thermostat it still spikes up to about 85 or so.

February 4, 2015	#6
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	Looks like soil temps of 100+F. are needed to hurt germination too much for both tomatoes and peppers according to this info: http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html

February 4, 2015	#7
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	I've had seeds well over 100 be just fine. Worth

February 4, 2015	#9
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	they will be OK I'm sure. Bottom heat is really very unnecessary with tomato seeds though. I wonder if folks reading posts on this forum think you cannot germinate seeds these days without bottom heat. I think that heating mats cause just as many problems as they solve in many cases. Seeds germinated for millions of years without electric heating pads. The only purpose of them IMO is to speed up germination that would occur anyway, albeit a few days later. Hot peppers are really the only thing that really benefit and even then, again, peppers have germinated for millennia without heat pads. This comment is mainly directed at newer growers who might think they need to go out and buy a heat mat or risk no germination. I just isn't so. Karen I have a heat mat and use it for peppers exclusively.