vinnybob

I use the pellets if I have them for small plants that I may want to space carefully rather than sow randomly, and the common wisdom IS to remove the netting, hopefully before little roots make their way through it, so they won't tear off.

For tomatoes, I think I'd remove or loosen the netting, particularly on the bottom, very early, before potting them up or planting them outside. The roots are just not free to grow everywhere they need to grow if confined by that netting.

Some people prefer newspaper pots because they do disintegrate in the soil when wet. I often use those instead, and make bottomless cylinders so the roots can grow out. You have to prop them against each other while things are germinating or growing because they lean when wet or damp, but when it's time to lift them to transfer them somewhere, the roots have pretty much grabbed the soil that's in the cylinder, even at the bottom.

I would caution you to never allow your peat pellets to completely dry out. Your plants will die before you can get them moist enough. I'm with anney. I much prefer newspaper pots for any seedlings I start. They're more forgiving.

I have used the pellets for a couple yrs.

If you use a little common sense and bottom water from the tray they come with, I've found no troubles either way regarding moisture. Bout the time they are putting out first true leaves you'll need to feed with a dilute liquid feed and bout the time they are sprouting second leaf buds, if not before, their roots will be penetrating the little sacks which tear and peel off quite easily at transplant time.

I find them a very convenient and cost effective method for successful seed sprouting. I did have one issue with mold but that was confined to one variety in 20 so may have been an issue more with the seeds than the peat. Since the peat used in the pellets is so fine and uniform in gradation, once the sacks are removed, its quite easy to tease apart multiple sprouts for transplanting at first true leaf stage, perhaps even later.

Have Fun!

I use peat pellets, and when I pot up my plants I
just tear the top to loosen it up more. I do not
disturb the bottom at all..My tomatoes, eggplant
and peppers are all planted this way, and they do
great.

I've only been growing tomatoes for a few years so I'm still trying to find what works best for me. I tried several options this year, including 3 peat pellet sizes, 3 peat pot sizes, and 2 seeding mixes. I planted a couple hundred tomatoes consisting of 25 - 30 varieties (I lose count, new seeds keep arriving in the mail. My wife tells me I have a problem...). Here's what I found.

Peat pellets
I tried the 72 pellet tray that uses the small pellets. The plants started quickly and developed their true leaves quickly as well. The pellets are small so I had to start potting up after just a couple of weeks.

After using up the 72 pellet tray, I bought a 36 pellet refill with medium sized pellets. Similar results but I didn't have to pot up as quickly.

Finally, I bought a 16 pellet jumbo sized kit with a tray and cover marketed specifically for tomatoes. The pellets are huge, about the size of an empty toilet paper roll. These plants are just sprouting so I don't full results yet. I can say that I won't buy this size again because the pellets are huge and the cover to the kit wasn't any taller than the other kits. In other words, once the pellets fully expanded, they touched the top cover. I had to watch very closely to pull the cover off as soon as I saw a sprout.

I typically did not pull the netting off because roots were growing through by the time it transplanted. I did take scissors and cut the sides of the netting.

Peat pots
I tried the 2 1/4' strips, 3" strips, and 3" pots. I love the way the plants grow into the pot and you just plant the whole thing. However, the tomatoes I grew in the pellets sprouted faster, developed true leaves faster, and overall looked healthier than my peat pots tomatoes. I'm sure the devoted peat pot planters out there can tell me what I did wrong.

I tried Jiffy and Miracle Grow seed starting mix. I preferred the Miracle Grow because of the texture. For whatever reason, the Miracle Grow would suck water up better from the tray than the Jiffy (no overhead watering required). The Jiffy mix seemed to be finer, more powdery, and I had to spray from above to fully moisten it.

I preferred the strips in trays to the 3" circular pots. The pots took up more space and fell apart too easily when I had to move them around. I would consider using strips again.

So, for next year, I plan to buy the small 72 peat pellets or medium 36 (which ever is on sale) and have a boatload of pots ready for transplanting.

Hope this helps...

I have a thread on starting in peat pellets vs. coco fiber and perlite, later modified to peat, coco fiber, and perlite, started in ziplock bags and planted after sprouting. The peat pellet seedlings developed larger seed leaves and true leaves faster. OTOH the ziplock starting method seemed to result in more seeds sprouting.
I easily removed the pellet mesh when transplanting and the peat holds together so firmly I could easily separate the seedlings. OTOH the loose mix crumbled all up so while I could separate the seedlings the roots were pretty much hanging free and were therefore more disturbed. I'll have to wait to see which seedlings grow better after transplanting. The coco fiber seedlings have purple undersides on most of their leaves, but not the peat pellet seedlings.

I'm also starting to have some foliar fungal ? problem- yellowing of true leaves starting at the tip of the leaf. Any suggestions?

Here is a link that might be useful: my photos