Jump Start CK64060 120V 17W Germination Hot House with Heat Mat, Watertight Tray, Cell Insert and 7" Humidity Dome

Excellent product, reasonable price. The heat mat works great, and my tobacco seeds sprouted well. The vents on the side and top are a nice feature, although I wish they were a little sturdier in the way they are attached to the cover. But they did fine. Contrary to other reviewers, I found the plastic cover itself to be sturdy enough for the job. True, if you put much weight on it, it's going to crack or crinkle. But if you use it as designed, that won't happen. Since this unit was used outside in natural sunlight, I put an old ashtray on top to weigh it down enough to keep the wind from blowing the top off... and that worked great, but I wouldn't put any more weight on it than that. That being said, no plastic dome of this kind was intended to hold much weight to begin with, regardless of the manufacturer. They are designed to keep the moisture in and still allow light to get through, and that's it. This one did an excellent job at that. I wish the price were lower, as it was only a few years ago that a local retailer sold something very similar to this for $20, but other than that, this is a great product.

Some have said that they thought this was a bit pricey for what you get. I agree - the little hot house is lightweight plastic, and they could have thrown in the peat pellets. I can buy a 72 peat pellet hot house by a competitor, with the pellets included, mind you, at a big-box retailer, for about $7. HOWEVER, that one only has a 2-inch transparent plastic top on it - and this one has 7 inches of growing room. In addition, this has some simple but effective adjustable vents in the hood - both ends and in the top - which are useful to control the humidity level. Since I had to go buy the pellets anyway, I got the 2-inch hothouse they came in. I started my seeds in it, and now that they're up, I've moved thed them to the Hydrofarm product, which offers increased growing space. What you're really paying for is the Heat Mat. It's a great idea to have a consistent heat under germinating seedlings! Before it arrived, I tried a few basil seeds in a kitchen window, and one night it got cold. Bang. Poor little guys are casualties. Now, in the Hot House with the Heat Mat, all my babies are fine, thank you! By the way - you will need a Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat For Heat Mats to control the heat - sold separately. I've got them both, and they work well together. You plug the Heat Mat's electrical cord into the Thermostat, which plugs into the wall. Oh yes - the Thermostat comes with a probe you place inside the Hot House, where it can read the actual temperature your seedlings are at. Recommended!

I bought this item to start seeds and try my hand at cloning for the first time. In both regards it has performed to my satisfaction. A few points: - The dome is thin plastic. I mean like solo cup thin. It wouldn't take much to completely destroy it. My small accurite thermo sitting on top makes a nice dent in it. - It leaks. The condensate on the dome rolls down the sides and out of the edges. This could have been easily fixed by making the dome fit inside the base instead of the outside. Try not to put anything you don't want wet underneath this. - The heat mat, despite being several layers of plastic below the grow chamber, keeps a nice amount of warmth and humidity in the dome. On last measurement I was at 89% RH and 81 degrees with half the top vent open. The ambient temperature of my basement is around 65f. - It's big! From the picture it just doesn't look all that impressive, but when you get the box you realize this guy is pretty large. Make sure and check the dimensions! - The holes for the inserts fit rapid rooters perfectly! Following some simple direction was all that was needed to achieve successful results using this item. I filled the base of the item with Ph adjusted water just to where the bottoms of the cups were submerged. Soaked my rapid rooters in Ph adjusted water as well and dropped my seeds/clones in. Plugged in the heat mat and set it under my 2ft T-5 fixture. Within a week I spotted a few seeds germinating, and my clones looked just as good as the day I clipped them. A week after that my clones had put on a decent amount of roots. Mostly I have been screwing around with cloning just to see if I could do it, and I am 20 for 20 thus far. I think the real trick is to just leave the damn thing alone. The more people fiddle around with the top off the more time it takes building up the humid environment again. That's my trick anyways and it seems to be paying off. I will only take the top off when it is time to transplant. I read several negative reviews about this item before I purchased it, and for the most part they are correct. Despite being happy with this product I deducted a star because of the slight water leakage. I mean there is a electrical device sitting under this thing that leaks water. I'm no electrical engineer, but common sense tells me that one should take precautions when using this thing. Once again though it is the price that makes me recommend this. You aren't going to find anything even close to this price that has the utility of this item.

This is excellent for growing extremely hot peppers like the TSBT and NV peppers. Works extremely well as I have been using it for a week and all seeds are sprouting. However, there is one major design flaw which can be corrected by some creative engineering as I will explain below. Problem: A lot of the water leaks out of the sides when it condenses on the side of the dome and drips down out of the part where the dome connects to the base. Fix: Take off the clear dome, dry the bottom 3 inches. Take clear plastic packing tape, 2" wide. Cut it at 12"-18" lengths based on what you need for each side. You can even do shorter if you like. Fold the tape lengthwise on to itself so that only 1/4 of the sticky part of the tape remains exposed. Tape this to the bottom of the dome so that the water will now drip down the tape over where it connects to the bottom black part. This will prevent the water from dripping and seeping out the sides where it connects and keeping the water inside. No harm will come to the plants. This should allow the water to remain inside the unit.

What I liked about this kit, is, that it included the heat mat. The mat seems to be of a pretty good quality. It is made in Mexico, not good. The lid and tray are very thin and only repeated use will I know how well they hold up. I'm not using the cell tray, I have 2 1/4 in rose pots in it. Black is a hard color to see things on, but I didn't see a slot for the cord, so I ran it through the side / end vent. Seems a bit overpriced for the tray / lid. As far as the cell tray, it depends on what you are going to use it for. Stout seedlings wouldn't be to hard to remove from the cells, But I'm growing fragile native plants that won't tolerate much handling, so it isn't of much use for me. I'll try it in early spring with some vegetable seeds, should be fine for that. They should offer this with the temperature controller, it would add considerable value to this package. I thought about cutting a slot for the power and temp probe, but with plastic this thin, it would likely crack in short order. The plastic dome is actually thinner plastic than what the cake trays you get with cakes at Sam's Club or Costco. The cell tray that comes with this is not very useful, as some have pointed out, because one cannot handle the cells as individuals. Of course the Ray Leach Cone Tainer system is the best that I have found for flexibility. Saying that, I got an idea of how to add the flexibility of the Ray Leach system. I cut the cells off the sheet. I took rose pots, which are 2 1/4 in sq. x 3 1/4 in deep. I put the individual cells into the rose pots, and you have a system that allows you to remove the germinated cell from the tray and put in a fresh one. As a bonus you can replant these small cells into the rose pot. This makes for just the right size to bump up to. You say why not just plant the rose pot. You could, for large seeded plants, but for smaller, slower growing plants that would make them over potted, and they would struggle and maybe even die. Now you cut down the capacity of the tray to 36 but at least can replant and keep the system working. I'm working with native plants and if I can get 36 plants going at a time I'm a happy camper.

The dome has 3 vents, 1 large top vent and two small side vents. The side vents have very very very cheap covers which do not work so a little tape and this baby is ready to grow! The dome and tray are made up of thin plastic, very light and easily broken if not given any care. The entire set up is very good and functions but with a few hiccups here and there. The condensation builds and drips off the dome outside of it, not into the tray, so I have to constantly wipe the side dry so my heat mat doesn't sit wet. The plastic is very flimsy so you have to be delicate when handling this product. Comes with 0.5oZ of CloneX and the tray holds most of the root riots i use in place, except for the top centimeter which is fine. The cord for the heat mat is about 6-7' long, everything is MADE IN CHINA. Every single part of this set up. 3.5 stars due to the almost useless side vent covers and for being such a cheap product and not striving for quality which I will be looking for once I upgrade from this. Gets the job done, but there are better quality products available. ***UPDATE: After using this for a quite a while now it has paid itself off ten fold. Although the materials used are thin and cheap feeling they get the job done. Seeds are germinating within 3 days to sprouts sometimes sooner, all clippings are at a 100% success rate. The heat mat is a winner and such a steal when alone it can be up to 25$! Very good product for the price. Recommended! Five stars for functionality, perfect plant starter! Updated 7/2/12

I purchased two of these in combination with the Hydrofarm MTPRTC Digital Thermostat For Heat Mats and the Hydrofarm JSV4 4-Foot Jump Start T5 Grow Light System . We'd tried starting seedlings earlier but insufficient light and lower temperatures resulted in weeks of waiting for some very sad sprouts that died soon after. We used the growing pellets, expand in water, and planted two full Hydrofarms with vegetables and flowers, filled the bottom of the tray with a little water, enough to wick but not enough to have them sitting in water, set the thermostat to 75 degrees F, and set the light to cycle for 14 continuous hours with a cheap timer we use for Xmas lights. In just over 30 hours, every single plant sprouted, and sprouted well. I followed some advice and put multiple seeds in each cup (not all seeds will sprout and not all sprouts will survive). Every seed sprouted in under two days. By four days, everything has it's first new leaves and the dang garden beans grew to 5 inches! Incredible, I wouldn't try to say what part of this is the best, but all be darned if I've got more plants than I have space now. The combination of these items works amazingly well.

After searching for seedling kits, I found this and decided to give it a shot. We ordered two and seeded on Saturday morning. As of Tuesday we have sprouts coming up fast. We did order lights separately to go over the tops and have kept the domes on and closed to keep the moisture and heat in. The mats are a nice warm mat, not to hot and keep the plants nice and cozy. We are so impressed that we just ordered another Hothouse yesterday to plant all of our herbs. Yes the plastic dome is thin, but handled gently it will last for several seasons. Also a great tip is to cut the trays into 6 cells so it will be easier to get your plants out when the time comes. Love the self watering from below as well. Overall very pleased!

This is a must have for seedlings and cuttings. Nice and tall, great quality and works amazing! Highly recommend this product.

Assembly was easy in a few minutes and it was very evident that the build quality of the frame is excellent. And the rope mechanisms for adjusting the light height works very well. I planted 12 seeds and all 12 have germinated, and look robust. 2clone cuttings are also doing well. I will save hundreds in bedding out plants!!

I purchased the Jump Start CK64060 Hot House with Heat Mat in Black (11 X 22 Inch) to give my seedlings a head start. While there are several beneficial features, a few aspects could use improvement. Pros: The heat mat provides consistent warmth, promoting faster and healthier seedling growth. The size (11 X 22 Inch) is quite adequate for starting multiple seedlings at once. The humidity control feature via adjustable vents is a definite plus. The kit is simple to assemble, even for someone without much gardening experience. Cons: The plastic cover seems a bit flimsy and could be more durable. There's no built-in thermometer, making it difficult to monitor the temperature. The tray tends to warp under continuous heat over time. Light penetration through the cover could be better to optimize plant growth. My conclusion: The Jump Start CK64060 Hot House with Heat Mat offers a good starting point for seedlings, providing consistent warmth and humidity control. However, the lack of a built-in thermometer and the durability of some components are areas where it falls short. For hobbyists and beginners in gardening, this kit is a decent option, but for more serious or professional gardeners, a more robust setup might be required.

Neither the propagator or the heat mat are really any good. The mat only seems to heat in the center of the mat and not much heat outwith the center. The propagator is a little on the flimsy side. For the price you are better to buy a separate heat mat and propagator. Would have returned it if i hadn't been in desperate need... After using this to start seeds i know wish i had returned it. The 72 cell tray is absolutely terrible. How they can say this tray can be reused is beyond me. The plastic is super flimsy and and absolute nightmare to get out the tray. And on removal of the seedlings several of the cells burst rendering the tray useless. Overall the worst propigation unit i have ever bought. And certainly wishing i had returned it.

Got this for my father as a gift and he LOVES it! He can start his garden indoors even before the season starts and is able to heat the soil with the heat pad. The plants started to sprout in a matter of days! Great product! I would recommend this product to anyone looking to start gardening early.