My problem with them is trying to control the moisture. They seem to be either too wet or wicking the moisture away from the plant and drying out too fast. I never use them.

I think it was Dawn who said that they were too hard for 'newbies' to use, and unnecessary for the seasoned gardeners.

This is the last year that I even try to use the pellets. I've had no luck with any veggies planted in the pelletes. I think soil-less seedling mix is the way to go. I am a bit mad at myself for using the pellets this year because now I am behind in the game and some veggies I may completely miss out on because of those silly pellets. Lesson finally learned:)

This was my first year using them and I don't think I will use them again. The plants only get so high, then I have to pot them up again anyway. To time consuming. I think next year I will be using straight solo cups under the grow light w/potting soil. I did find some jiffy plant "plug pots" like the kind of 6 pack that you get plants at the store in, and used potting soil and those turned out amazing! It certainly changed my mind about those pellets.

PunkinheadJones,

Yes, there are many issues with peat pellets and poor germination sometimes is one of them.

The pellets hold too much water and you have to be really careful not to overwater. Since they hold excess water, the development of the roots can be negatively impacted. Since they hold excess water so long, damping off is common and, of course, damping off = seedling death. Peat has no nutritive value, so the newly-sprouted seedlings aren't getting any nutrition and won't grow much until they're potted up into a mix containing compost or fertilizer or until they're fed.

If you have planted seeds in peat pellets and they haven't sprouted, you might take a toothpick and dig around in the pellet and see if the seeds are still there, or if they've rotted. Assuming you planted normal vegetable, herb or annual flower seeds they should be up in a week to ten days. Certain flowers that are more difficult to raise from seed might take longer to sprout.

Once peat pellets dry out they then are so dry they shed water and it is hard to wet them again without completely saturating them....and then they stay too wet and the plants suffer and often die.

I use peat pellets sometimes because they are fast and easy, but I am careful how I use them. Since they hold too much water for too long, I wet them initially to get them to "pop up" from the compressed state they're in when you buy them. I wet them about a week before I'm going to use them, then I place them outside on the sunny patio for several days, preferably in bright sunlight, until they dry out enough that they are only moist and no longer wet. Then, I bring them inside, plant the seeds into them, and water lightly to insure good peat-to-seed contact before putting the seed flats on the light shelf. After that I water lightly, never heavily, and try to keep them moist but not wet and soggy and try to never let them dry out. I also pot up my seedlings out of the pellets as soon as they have two true leaves. I would never try to raise seedlings from the seed stage to the putting-into-the-ground stage in only peat pellets and always pot them up to a nice soil-less mix as soon as they sprout.

The nice thing about peat pellets is that they are quick and easy. They give good results once you're experienced with them and can avoid the twin perils of overwatering or underwatering. For several years I used them with little problem after a rough year the first year I tried them. I used so many, I would order 1,000 of them a year from Harris Seeds. This year I bought one seed-starting flat that came with 72 pellets at a local store, and started 72 varieties of tomatoes and peppers in them, one variety per pellet. With quite a few seeds in each pellet, I potted them up almost as soon as they sprouted and didn't even wait for true leaves. That's the only way I use them now---as quick sprouters that only hold plants for a couple of weeks.

Sarah, I think they can be used successfully because I use them with no problem most years, although I use only a few now compared to how many I previously used. However, you only get good at using them after previously experiencing a lot of failure and issues with them. Experience is a pretty tough teacher sometimes. If it is any consolation, sometimes it seems I have to learn the same garden lessons over and over again before they "stick".

Ezziah, I love soil-less mix, especially the ones formulated for seed-starting. They are light and fluffy so seeds don't struggle to break through the surface as they grow, and they are sterile which reduces the incidence of disease. However, disease is still possible because untreated seeds can carry disease on them.

While we're on the subject, I also am not a fan of peat pots and don't use them. Peat pots can wick moisture away from the soil and deprive your seedlings of water and of nutrition if they're being fed via a water-soluable fertilizer. Also, when you plant them in the ground, they can continue to wick moisture away from the plants and often the peat pots themselves stay so dry that the plant roots cannot push through the pots to go deeper into the ground. When I buy a plant in a peat pot, the first thing I do when I get home is remove the pot and put the plant into a plastic pot or a plastic cup assuming the plant cannot go directly into the ground at that time.

Dawn

Dawn (and other insightful members), I have a few tomato seedlings (about 2 inches tall just starting the first set of true leaves) in 4-inch peat pots. Reading your comments above, would you recommend potting these seedlings individually into large solo cups with potting soil over leaving them in the peat pots? I think that is what you are saying, but I want to make sure:) Same questions for jalapeno and sweet banana pepper seedlings (about the same size)? I am also trying the "paper-towel-in-a-baggie" method to germinate a few tomato, pepper, lettuce and spinach seeds. No sprouts yet but I just started them yesterday. The lettuce, broccoli, and spinach I started indoors several weeks ago went in to the garden yesterday; I already knew I was in trouble as these seedlings were quite leggy. They are alive, but I don't think they will make it. I direct-sowed spinach, lettuce, and broccoli in the raised bed last weekend...I guess you could say I am experimenting! Maybe I will stumble upon the best method for my garden, my time constraints, and my experience:)

Well I guess patience is a virtue. Left over from last year Yellow straight neck popped up in 5 days and are already in the ground. Nothing from the zucs and cucs so I bought some fresh and stared again.I knew it was a gamble anyways. This morning the one old Armenian Cucs popped just as I was ready to toss them. Perhaps I should be a little more menacing.

Sarah,

Soonergrandmom's answer to the OP captured the whole essence of the issue in a nutshell---peat tends to say too dry or too wet. Thus, it is hard to keep plants evenly moist which is always our goal. Swinging back and forth from too dry to too wet is hard on all plants and especially very young ones with immature vascular systems. That's why I prefer to use something else other than peat pots.

Having said that, I don't want for you to repot your plants just because there "might' be an issue with them. Because, for all you know, there "might not" be any problem whatsoever with yours.

What I would do is just watch them carefully and do the following:

--If you are able to water your plants consistently and the soil-growing medium inside the pots stays pleasantly moist in between waterings, then you don't have a problem and shouldn't worry about it until the plants go outside to harden off or until planting time.

--If you water in the morning and the plants are pleasantly moist but not sopping wet, and then when you check them in the evening, everything is as dry as a bone and the sweet little baby plants are wilted or beginning to wilt, then maybe the pots are wicking away too much moisture from your plants and you need to change something. You could try watering a little more, but that's an iffy proposition because "a little more" can turn into overwatering pretty quickly. You could try removing the bottom of each pot and replacing the pot in the flat. That would leave less pot to wick away moisture. Or, if you wish, you could repot into paper or plastic cups them at that time.

--If you water in the morning and the pots and growing medium are completely soggy and soaked and you come home and check them in the evening and they still are completely and totally soaked, you're engaged in a process called "overwatering" and you need to rein yourself in and water less in the morning. When someone overwaters and/or overfertilizes, we call it "loving your plants to death". Overwatering kills many young seedlings because it encourages a group of fungal diseases known collectively as "damping off".

Now, you know yourself and your habits. If you already are a compulsive overwaterer and you're know you're going to worry and fret over the seedlings, repot them to give yourself peace of mind. Otherwise, now that you're aware of the dangers, just watch your plants and see how they do and be prepared to take action if you see trouble developing.

When it is time to harden off your seedlings outdoors in the peat pots, that's when trouble develops. We can discuss that more when you get to that point.

When it is time to plant peat pots in the ground, I either remove the pot completely to prevent wicking of moisture or I remove the bottom. At the very least, if you want to expend minimal effort, take a sharp kitchen knife and slash a big "X" in the bottom of each peat pot before putting it in the ground. That X will not in any way prevent the wicking away of moisture but it will give roots a way to grow through the X and into the soil so they don't don't remain confined within the peat pot.

I love the "idea" of planting into plantable peat pots, but just haven't found that they work as well in real life as we expect them too.

Everything I do in the garden is an experiment. Some of my favorite veggies, herbs and flowers were experiments that worked out well and if one experiment doesn't work out well, I try something else. When you are a gardener, you never stop learning and you never stop trying new things. That's part of the fun of gardening.

Dawn

I have tried both Jiffy Pellets and ProMix this year for indoor seed starting experiment.
RESULT: I have better success rate and healthy plants with ProMix. Profitably this will be my last year for pellets unless I get them free. -Chandra

Dawn - I didn't use the plug trays with a soilless mix, I used good ole' miracle grow potting soil.

But you are right, those plants will only get so big then you got to pot them up in something else, my poor dianthus (sp?) is not that big, and have not grown anymore in a week or two.

I use the plantable peat pots and when I am ready to plant them either up into a larger pot or into the ground, is I water them before planting so that the peat pot is nice and moist, and very pliable. Then I carefully peel away or just open up parts of the pot, both the sides and the bottom, just kind of tenderly working the little pot with both hands, so as not to damage the roots. Parts of the pot will fall off easily and I just toss these aside for the compost pile. Sometimes the entire pot will just come off the little root ball if the roots have not grown into the pot itself. I have never had a problem with the little seedlings growing on afterwards. I have found, though, that if I don't do this, the roots tend to stay confined or conformed to the dimensions of the little pot and it stunts their growth. Not always, but a lot of the time.

After doing this a few times, you kind of get a "feel" for it.

Susan

I used peat pellets for herb seeds, I'm a newbie and doing just fine. Just do as suggested and even a newbie can do it. Jay Morgande

Jay, this is the first I've seen this thread. It was from before I came around I guess. Thanks for pulling it back up.

I do fairly well with the pellets as long as I pay attention to them daily and probably twice daily. My fall seeds that were started in them were a disaster because I didn't pay proper attention. I was in Colorado part of the time and my husband left them on the patio table where they were saturated from the rain...and then I would accidentally let them dry out. So they went back and forth between being too wet and too dry. Starting seed for a fall garden was new to me this year. It just wasn't in my regular schedule to check on them, like I do for spring/summer crops. I'll do better next time. Regardless, I got a few plants from them.