I planted a batch of Medusa pepper seeds this year thinking I could grow them in the house prior to planting outside. I was hoping to get them started early but after 2-3 weeks in my little plastic greenhouse full of peat starters, they were a no go.
I read up a little bit and found that my seeds needed a constant soil temperature of about 72-76 degrees to germinate. They would get warm enough in the day sitting on the window sill but was getting too cold all night.
I have a control4 system in my house which among other things allows the use of remote contact and temperature sensors to be integrated into the home’s automation. The Card Access contact sensor has a remote temperature sensor capability so I sunk one into my little peat pellet. I found it was sitting at about 65 degrees, too cold for the peppers. I plugged a heat lamp into a Control4 outlet switch and programmed the system to turn the light on when the temperature of the soil got below 72 and turn off at 76.
After sitting 2-3 weeks with no temp control, nothing. Once the temperature was controlled with the automated heat lamp, they were sprouting in about 48 hours and I had leafy sprouts in a week!
