First of all some facts about the heatbead. It is filled with regular filter sand. The first layer of sand is about 4cm (1.6 inch) then comes a layer of thin metal mesh together with the heating cable and on top of that again 3cm (1.2 inch) of sand. The temperature is controlled via a computer with a thermostat which measures the temperature in a depth of approximately 2cm (0.8 inch).
The temperature is hold at 22°C to 26°C depending on the outdoor temperature.
Till now i am very happy how everything works but i am wondering how often do you water the heatbead? At the moment i water it every 1-2 weeks with one liter. The surface is abotu 2 square meter. Do you think this is fine or would you water more/less?
to my understanding the heated works by having heat in the roots while the plant is cold. It seems your’s is sitting inside, defeating the above purpose (or is it a non heated ver cold annex)?
I know. That’s no problem. The room is non-heated with an open window all the time. The temperature is just one degree warmer compared to the outside (2-9°C most of the time). So the temperature is all fine but i just don’t really know how fast the water in the heatbed evaporates and how often i should water the heatbed to have a moist atmosphere in the roots.
I’m experimenting with yamadori heat beds this year and the watering issues are a worry for me in the uk so far this year, Its a struggle to keep the temperatures below 10c in the garden let alone in the greenhouses, I’m finding the bed heat is causing a lot of humidity under the pot for the first week and not drying the soil in the container, I use my good old finger poked down in the soil as a guide to moisture and it will depend on your soil mix and the amount of roots so each tree is treated as an individual regarding water and misting. I can’t see keeping your bed damp a problem as water is a great insulator of heat.
Yeah, that’s my experience so far too. Watering the bed every week a little bit seems to be perfectly fine to keep it damp. The temperature problem is really annoying. Especially when the sun is shining. I try to regulate it with opening the window, closing the window and opening it again depending on the weather.
I bought a heat/cool thermostat system (looks the same as yours) but it will only work around at 1 fixed temperature setting, so this is running a huge extracter fan and keeps it under 10C/32F for dormancy, I have another outdoor fan heat to keep the temperature above freezing also I have some heat mats to complicate things a little more. the weather has been all over the place in the Uk it’s been above 32C this week,it’s tough to know what to try and replicate weather wise anymore.
