Good morning Jeff. I have used pelleted seed on occasion. But those occasions where when I was planting a very fine - dust-like seed that runs high on the price scale. Like a specific petunia where you get 8 pelleted seeds for $5. When you are paying like that for a small amount of seed, you don't want to try to find a few dust-like seeds in the packet, then target the planting location. But common lobelia has smaller seed yet, and when you buy that they just give you a teaspoon, call it 1,000 and charge you a buck. Personally, I don't think there is any need to pellet either lettuce or carrot. The seed is quite large enough to handle and most packets of lettuce or carrot seed that you buy have hundreds of seeds, plenty for a home gardener. I haven't grown carrots in years, but do lettuce every year. I start some indoors to plant out early in the season in covered containers because, after germination, they like the cold weather. From then on out, I sprinkle a few seeds down every week or so. Depending on the variety, some of it grows quite fast. Between leaf and head varieties you can pick from April through Thanksgiving - or later depending on how much protection you give it and the weather. Kay.

I've done it both ways - snip thinned with the scissors and just let the clump grow. Either way works, it all just depends on the "look" you are after. We like it in hanging baskets so individual plants don't work all that well. For future reference if the small clumps of lob appeal to you you can just buy the plain seed (cheaper) and plant it that way. Dave

It's just a convenience thing - Pelleted seeds are just individual seeds rolled in a neutral talc or powder coating to enlarge them and make for easier handling and planting. It is a common practice used for very small seeds. They do NOT require pre-soaking, as you discovered, ;) as the coating is intended to dissolve in the moist soil once planted. Just plant them as you would normally plant non-pelleted seeds. Dave

Several kinds of seeds are available in pelleted form. Large commercial growers use them in automated planting setups without having seeds stick together or jam up in the equipment. It's a big time saver for comercial growers when sowing is automated and thinning reduced or eliminated . For an extra fee they can have most any type of seed pelletized if they have a need for it. I don't see it being of much help to backyard gardeners except for some of the tiniest seeds. I have a couple tomato varieties that came as pelleted seed. One is a sample from a commercial trade show but the other is a packet purchased from a seed rack in a local garden center a few years back. Petunia seed I buy is often pelleted. Sure makes handling those seeds alot easier. After sowing some minute snapdragon seeds (dust, almost) tonight I'm thinking that should be pelletized, also. However, regular tomato seed gives me no problem.