Here's a thread with discussion and sources.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heating Mats

Check the link by Tsheets but I will give you my personal advice. I bought two 10x20 Hydro Farm mats with a single Hydro Farm thermostat. I also bought a separate refrigerator thermometer with two probes. The setup worked great. I got the mats and thermostat off Amazon.com. That was about the best price I could find online. I am very satisfied with them and I should get years of use out of them. You will be able to keep your seedlings in a range of about two or three degrees the whole time.

I included a link to the thermostat below. They sell many sizes of heat mats by the same company. Just do a search on Amazon.com for them. ("hydrofarm heat mats"). You can search other online retailers as well.

Well worth the money in my opinion. It takes the guess work and most of the risk out of other methods of heating seedlings.
Bruce

Here is a link that might be useful: Thermostat for heat mats

Personally, I don't use them.

I didn't use any last year either. But my basement is usually about 66-68 degrees in the late winter/early spring. So, I figured it would help. It did help my seeds to sprout a few days earlier this year than last. Do you need the heat mats? No, not unless you have widely varying temps or if your temps are simply low. But general room temp is plenty good IMO. Basically, if budget is an issue in buying them, then don't. The money can probably be spent elsewhere to help your pepper plants along. Again, My opinion.
Bruce

Thanks guys. I'm not sure if I technically "need them", but I did a control with my bhut seeds. This is my first year planting super hots, and I wanted to know which way was more efficient. I planted about 10 seeds in small containers and put them in a plastic container on a (muscle) heating pad. I thought I would try this first, since I already had one at the house. I have had about 50% germination in roughly 3 weeks with the heating pad. I know this could be more efficient with a professional mat because my pad has an auto shut off after about 2 hours. This means the seeds are on a roller coaster when I'm away for several hours since the mat shuts off and I'm not around to turn it back on. I won't have that issue with a germination mat. The 10 seeds I put in a large container inside the house has been at a steady temp of around 65 to 75 degrees F. I don't have any sprouts so far from the room temp control. This tells me that heat makes a lot of difference. I just wonder how long I should give the room control seeds before I try to salvage them and put them on a heat source.

Bhuts are a long season pepper. I'd cut to the chase and get the room temp tray on the heat mat now. You're going to need them going soon if you want a decent harvest.

Bill

@ottawapepper: So do you think they will still germinate even though they have been in soil at room temp for almost 3 weeks?

As long as they weren't in sopping wet starting mix, I don't see why they wouldn't. If they haven't sprouted yet,they just haven't been in the right conditions to break their dormancy. Giving them some warmth should get them going.

Sounds good, I just have a little concern I will lose them sifting through the dirt looking for them. I have about 10 in a 10 gallon pot. I guess risking losing them is better than just letting them go. I have been to the mail box like a little kid everyday looking for my envelope. I know it's too soon, but I'm excited at the prospect of new seeds. Thanks again. I guess I have some work to do this evening. I am about finished with my stand I built, and I also have 4 sprouts. 2 are very healthy, 1 is decent, and 1 is on the ropes. I lost 1 sprout I believe to under watering. I have adjusted my watering schedule since, and my sprouts seem to be responding nicely. Is there a preferable place to upload pics so i can show you guys my progress so far?

Sifting through the dirt look for the seeds? You started them in a 10 gallon pot? If so, I think a different approach is needed.

If you can find a big enough box to hold your 10 gallon pot and a lamp with an incandescent bulb, you should be able to get the ambient temperature in the closed box up to 80F-85F.

Just be careful it doesn't get hotter in the box, put a thermometer in there.

I only planted the control in a large pot. The other seeds went into individual seedling pots. I was hoping that the control would germinate and I would have plenty of growing room for all the seedlings. This didn't happen. I now know to plant the seedlings in small pots. I'm just glad I didn't do all of them that way.

One more thought... how deep did you plant the seeds?

Rather than trying to heat a 10 gallon pot of potting mix, at this point you need to focus on the top few inches.

Can you move the pot to a south facing window?

Can you position an incandescent bulb over the top of the pot focused down?

Bill

Funny you should ask that. I was able to rescue one or two. It seems I had planted them deeper than I remembered. The seedling was actually almost 3 inches, and still hadn't broken the surface of the soil. This is definitely a learning curve. I guess I'm on track to make almost every mistake possible. Amazingly, I actually have about 7 seedlings now. I hope I get at least a couple good plants out of that.

For germination, use 72 cell flats with seed starting mix, or buy one of the jiffy greenhouses with the jiffy pucks. They are a lot easier to heat than larger pots. And I recommend a real heat mat with a thermostat. Hydro farms is the brand I use (I think). Keeping the seeds at a constant 86 deg. F will yield a lot better results.

Peppernovice: Did you say your seedling is almost 3 inches but still hasn't broke through the surface of the soil????????
Bruce

I set mine on top of my boiler. The oil fired thing in my basement used in the hydronic heating system in my house for all you southerner that don`t know what a boiler is. A waterbed heater would work too. Put sheet insulation under it, then the thermostat probe, and pad on top. You might want a soil thermometer till you get an idea where to set it. People trying to get their energy costs in contol are getting rid of thier waterbeds so you might find them used- cheap.

3 inches tall and still hadn't broken surface? Yikes!

Rule of thumb, plant a seed as deep as it is big. So if the seed is a quarter inch long, plant it a quarter inch deep. If its a tiny pinhead, just put it on the surface.

Seedlings only have so much oomph before they quit. If they don't get daylight so they can start making food, they'll starve alone in the dark.

Wow...you guys are hard on a new guy! I realize I made a mistake, and I promise to never....EVER do it again. Like I said, apparently there is a learning curve with hot peppers. I guess the only way to learn is to make a couple of mistakes. At least I have you guys to back me up. Lord knows I would be lost without you.

LOL @peppernovice

Hey, we've all made mistakes getting to where we are today. If you don't make mistakes you're either lying or not learning anything ;-)

Mistakes are OK as long as you don't keep repeating them. Truth be told, regardless of experience we all learn from folks here who have more experience.

Bill

p.s. Oh, you have to expect a little ribbing along the way for the "what were you thinking moments".

I'm all for the "what were you thinking moments". I was in the USMC infantry, and believe me, there is no one in the world that can make you feel as dumb as a drill instructor! I truly believe the best way to learn is to make a few mistakes! That way you never do it again. I'm just grateful I have a support system to get me on track after I make a mistake. (you guys!)

Then let me just say this.

When you get those superhots grown and are cutting them up, WEAR GLOVES!

You think the old icy hot on the piss bottle thing is bad? You haven't SEEN bad until you've had 1 million scovilles on your private first class...

Not that it'll do any good. We all pull that one once and only once. ;)

I've had good luck with Hydrofarm stuff. I also use mats from Lee Valley Tools, although I suspect they may be made by the same manufacturers. I've got a couple of Hydrofarm controllers that have yet to fail. Use the 72 cell flats with them as mentioned previously. A deep pot is too hard to heat.