I found the main concern for me when I tried these was moisture. Those berry and cherry-tomato containers have a lot of openings in the bottom, and I found them drying out more quickly than other containers. I ended up covering some of the holes with tape, and that worked. I suppose if you do that right when you are sowing (instead of waiting till the containers are outside in mid-winter and you have to go kneel on cold hard asphalt and rip tape and apply it with frozen hands) it may work for you. Some of the smaller berry containers may be a bit shallow, as northerner says, but I think the larger ones (strawberries, for instance) may work, again if you deal with the openings. They certainly are convenient - holes in the bottom, attached lid - *almost* a perfect WSing container! Almost, because the other thing is that there is not a lot of headroom for the seedlings in most of these containers. If you are like me and neglect everything, you may want to choose a container with more headroom, because you may end up removing two-foot-tall plants from your containers! Dee

Algae is a possibility, but If there is no bloom of algae conspicuous anywhere else, it's likely a protective reaction to light. The pigment 'chlorophyll' is nature's sunscreen for plants, and it's common for structures not normally exposed to light to produce chlorophyll to protect the tissue from photo-oxidation (sunburn). Potatoes are root structures that can be seen to quickly begin chlorophyll production when exposed to light ...... which is why they are stored in the dark. The reason most plants burn when moved from indoors or shade to full sun, is because chlorophyll production after the move that would represent sufficient protection lags the move by several days - or in some cases, even after a period of adjustment, the plant is simply not programmed (genetically) to tolerate the photo-exposure it's exposed to. Al

I know some folks like clear containers. Personally I avoid them. Roots are negative phototropic - they withdraw from light exposure. Research shows that not only can clear containers "cook" roots by allowing higher than normal soil temps but can even retard root development. Dave PS: check out the many Google links on root response linked below for details Here is a link that might be useful: Phototropic response of plant roots

My advice is to wrap the tote with black trash bags or some kind of black material. The clear plastic will let sun through and algae and weeds will grow around the linings, I know because it happened to me. I didn't get great result from it either, not sure if it's something to do with the sun light going through the clear plastic and heating the soil more, or the lights interfering with the microbiology, if that sounds far fetched, but my plants are happier with darker colored containers.