I can’t be in the grow room 24/7 because I have a full-time career as a bean counter! Since my home office is two levels above the grow room, I don’t want to be running up and down the steps fussing with the grow lights and the heat mat. Also, I travel for work sometimes and enjoy going on vacation – who doesn’t enjoy vacation!
My solution: I bought a reliable and easy to use timer this year. Over the years, I bought a few timers with mixed results. This year I found a great solution. It is a surge protected power strip and has a power switch, a timer on/off switch, a timer set, four outlets that connect to the timer and four outlets that remain on 24 hours a day when the power switch is on and the unit is plugged in – of course!
T5 Grow Lights and Heat Mats: I put my four T5 grow lights in the timer outlets and the two heat mats in the outlets that remain on.  I keep the lights on the seeds and seedlings for 12 hours a day and the heat mats on 24 hours a day in the winter and spring in my unheated garage.
Here’s the link if you missed my article on Planters for Seeds and Seedlings. Tomorrow I am going to share my potting table that my husband made for me and the shelves that he installed for me this year so I could keep my mess contained in the garage.
