Today's Q&A comes from a question that I received on Instagram, and I thought this was a really good question for those of you who are starting seeds indoors for your fall crops.

And the question is, do you need a seedling heat mat for your fall crops that you start indoors?

We talk about the seedling heat mat, and you may have heard me talk

about this on a recent episode where I talked about what can go wrong with peppers. And this is a

really good idea for especially your spring planted crops when you're trying to start seeds

indoors because a lot of times the weather is obviously cold outside when we're doing that,

so a lot of times our homes

are a lot cooler. But you're also planting summer crops. So there are seeds that naturally are going

to need a higher temperature in order to germinate quicker and more reliably. Well, the same is not true

for fall crops. In fact, the opposite is true. Most likely your home is probably a little

bit warmer in the summer when you're starting your indoor fall crops. And then you're also

dealing with seeds that are cool season crops. So generally, they are not going to need as high

of a soil temperature in order to germinate. Now, a lot of them still do germinate in warm

soil, but it's not as big of a requirement. So for me, I don't mess with the seedling heat mat.

I've never had to my fall crops germinate just fine. And quite honestly, some of those cool

season crops like spinach, if you do sew spinach seeds indoors, sometimes

they can be real fussy about not wanting to germinate if the soil is too warm. At least that's

been my experience. So I definitely wouldn't use that on some really cold, hardy plants that you

would be planting in your fall in winter gardens.

In general, you might be able to get away with it. It might work, but I just don't see a point

for the fall crops at least that I sew indoors. I find that they germinate just fine

without any extra heat. Honestly, my grow light casts a bunch of heat anyway, and so I really don't

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