electric propagator - advice please

[Karen-L]

i was looking to buy a propagator for seed sowing;

the first i found was an 8 watt stewart for around £17 which is a fixed temperature and keeps compost at around 15-20c - this is probably not warm enough for cacti, but is the size of a seed try which for me is the right size.

a stewart thermostatically controlled propagator for around £60 i found which does 12-28c is probably suitable but it uses more power- the places i looked it said uses 22watt or 50watt (50 is a bit much power use). it is also 52x42cm, big for me but live-with-able.

would the cheap one be suitable or is it better investing in the one with a thermostat, or are there better ones?
main points needed:
-low watt power
-cheap
-seed tray size or similar
-reliable

[Phil_SK]

Are you growing the seeds on a living room windowsill (or similar)? Are you sowing them about this time of year?

[Karen-L]

yes- i will be using it indoors within a metre or two of a window around now.

[Phil_SK]

I'd argue that you probably don't need one then.

[Karen-L]

?would the thermostat controlled one i mentioned be more worthwhile, as it gets warmer and would be better for early in the year(january-march). it pretty much never gets particulary warm in my house- the heating is not on all the time and i have no south facing windows.
my book says cactus seeds need around 21-27c to geminate, i need to wait until the hot weather in may to grow seeds and even then i have seeds which are not kept toasty warm for long enough and thus don't germinate.

[Ali Baba]

I have a couple of very cheap electric propagators on my kitchen windowsill. They are standard seed tray size. One is made by Parasene and is 18W and the other is a B&Q job at 17W. Neither has a built in thermostat they are just on very low all the time, but they keep the soil temperature around 78-80C given the warm background temperature in my kitchen. Cacti and succulents germinate fine in them. Eventually they break, but they last a couple of years or so and are cheap to replace.

[BrianMc]

Hi Karen,

I have got the Stewart thormostatically controlled one and it has worked very well for me. Just a shame that the lid has cracked (picking it up with one hand is not recommended!:bangh:

[Phil Hocking]

I had a similar problem, it couldn't bear the weight of a sleeping cat!

Somerset Phil

[Curtis]

Hi there,

Replacement lids for the larger propagator are only around £6 at almost any Stewart stockist (ie most gardsen centres).

regards, Curtis

[Karen-L]

i ordered a thermostat controlled propagator, now i need to make space for it
i have plenty of seeds(and a mushroom kit) to stuff into it.