I didnt do wel with the peat pots.. but did well with the expandable pellets, and in regular pots, or containers.

Peat pots were awful... I tried using them since you dont disturb the roots.. but I had poor results. Even when I transplanted from container to peat pots that were larger...UGH.

I will use pellets again, and styrofoam containers next yr.

The results depend on the seeds with my expandable peat pellets. So so with other seeds, but exceptional results with Prairis Smoke seeds.

I use peat pots all the time for my vegetables. I place them in foil lasagna pans with clear plastic lids. Yes, they do dry out very quickly, so once spring rolls around I have to keep an eye on them, but so far I prefer my vegetables this way.

I do find that as I am becoming more comfortable with vegetables I am doing a few more in mik cartons (did my beets and onions in milk jugs this year), so maybe I will phase out the peat pots, but so far I continue to use them and just use a little extra vigilance.

I've never tried expandable peat pellets.

:)
Dee

I used to have good luck (great, really) with the peat pellets, when I was still doing this indoors.
I tried peat pots some this year. A waste of time and effort, as far as I can tell. :( One batch half sprouted, after I potted them all up (and pried them apart, some were embedded together in the sides of the pots) a bunch more came up, and a whole other batch (All my nasturtiums, actually! :( )didn't do a thing. Bottom soaking, misting, whatever - I could NOT keep those darn things damp. I'm going to pry it all apart and salvage the seeds if possible, I'll probably double plant/direct sow all my remaining seeds. *sigh*
If I bother using either again, it will certainly be the pellets.

I used pretty much everything this year,my first.Peat pods were terrible.Germination was less than 20% in the 720 cells I did.Most had one or two for weeks, then I took them apart,hate the mesh on the outside.Broke up the pods mix with small amount of soil and covered.Most got a few more sprouts, but there still out there.I did pack some pods with soil around them in early april, did'nt seem to help.
Did maybe 50 in peat pots in zipplocks, germ was good.But I don't like the head room issue or the fact that snow, heavy rain and wind battle me to keep them upright and uncrushed.Milk jugs had good germ too, but..When I have only one or two big sprouts taking the top off slows the rest of the seeds in the jug.I did alot of taking out large seedlings to reclose jugs for possible later sprouters.My fav has been the 4 stage clear tub set up.I just love this one.I have been trasfering my system to this since I started it.One tub sown seeds in clear plastic cups with bottems cut off, covered all the time.One tub for new sprouts,little holes in cover.One tub for large sprouts, cover off days, on nights.Last tub several true leaves, light fertilized waiting to be planted.Then I plant the seedling in/with the cup around it for protection.Doesn't disturb the roots, just press soil into garden hole while still in cup.When the babies are big enought I just twist the cup and remove. Storing cups and tubs should be easy, rise and reuse.
now if I can just get a good labeling system down.......

I used peat pellets for the first time in years this season. And I do mean years! But I didn't use them for winter sowing.

I sowed my pepper plants in them. I'd say I had about 98% or 99% germination. As soon as the seedlings emerged I took the netting off and then potted them into 9 oz cups with potting soil. Worked like a charm.

All pepper plants are now planted out into the garden and still looking very good.

I will definitely use them again but only for things that I want precise seedings and the seedlings won't sit around waiting once they germinate. Either right into the ground they will go or potted up.

I used peat trays (the 6-celled thingys) to do all of my Zinnias. Germination was great-- all but Envy and Paper White are germinated.
I set the trays in a zippered plastic blanket bag so they would keep moisture in. I've had to water a few times when the day was warm and the bag had to be opened all the way for the day.
I have used the peat trays for lettuces and greens before and I liked using them because they tolerate the cold of early Spring so they get transplanted earlier than anything else. I tend to drop the whole cell into the ground rather than separate. I'm less likely to do that with Zinnias, so I think I'm going to have to pot them up if I don't transplant soon.

I should add I also potted up the ones that germinated fairly quickly. When I noticed the roots growing out the bottom of the peat pot, I transplanted them. I don't think they would have done well had I left them in the peat pellets for an extended period of time.