FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

For those of y'all who use heating pads for your tropical 'dews, do you keep it on 24/7 of have it on a timer with the lights? The light I have raises temp to about 75 currently, but nighttime temps reach about 63 in the house. I just bought a cool pad with a thermostat to maintain proper temperature. IDK if it matters but I have capes, burmannii, spatulata, and capillaris in this setup (20 gallon long aquarium covered for humidity with plants sitting in trays).

Patrick

EDIT:

I am more concerned with temps for germinating seeds in the enclosure than I necessarily am about temps for the plants themselves, the reason being I am seeing extremely slow germination at a low percentage on reasonably fresh seed. I am taking a page out of shadowtski's book and trying water germination though...

You should turn it off at night. I have mine on timer. I don't think you really need the heating pad if your temperature is already 75.

It only reaches 75 if the aquarium is completely covered and the light has been on for about 5 hours, I figure it can't hurt. Besides, I like getting more toys

Patrick

DesertPat wrote:For those of y'all who use heating pads for your tropical 'dews, do you keep it on 24/7 of have it on a timer with the lights? The light I have raises temp to about 75 currently, but nighttime temps reach about 63 in the house. I just bought a cool pad with a thermostat to maintain proper temperature. IDK if it matters but I have capes, burmannii, spatulata, and capillaris in this setup (20 gallon long aquarium covered for humidity with plants sitting in trays).

Patrick

Last year when I was trying to keep my plants from going dormant I brought them in under a heating pad and kept it on for 24 hours without issues. If your house gets too cold and you have something like a petiolaris complex then that is necessary to keep them from going dormant. Just depends on the needs of your plants. If your plants like variable temperatures and are accustomed to 20+ degree drop offs then it isn't a bad thing to just run it with your lights. The species you listed would be fine without the nighttime heat. They'll slow down their growth but that's natural