get rid of the peat pots.

Rip off the whole pot. Wet it well first. Do not, for any reason, leave the pot or any part of the pot on the plant.

Is it okay to plant them in larger peat pots (5")?

Why compound all the problems caused by peat pots by using them by choice when so many better alternatives are available? Lots of info is available here - especially on the Growing from Seed forum - on the problems and disadvantages of using those. Use plastic cups with holes put in them instead.

Dave

Definately, like terrybull said, get rid of the peat pots. The roots need loose soil to spread and intake nutrients. Those pots prohibit their ability to do that.

16 oz. cups at Walmart. I snip narrow v's out of the bottom edge for drainage.

I agree with everybody else get rid of the peat pots. Although I have crumbled them up and put them in the bottom of my hole when planting. I would definitely not put one peat pot inside another when transplanting to a bigger one.

Yeah, if you wet the peat pots thoroughly, they're really easy to peel off. The only time I've ever planted the whole pot is when the roots had already grown through the bottom, which is what happened with my basil a couple times. But for seed starting, I prefer to just use plastic cups from the grocery store and poke some holes in the bottom. Any peat pots I've ever tried using seem to grow mold because they take forever to dry out. Plastic cups are easier and can be re-used if thoroughly sanitized.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I have a red cup here, and it measures about 4" in diameter at the top, and about 4.5" tall. Is that big enough for the tomato's final potting before going outside?

Both varieties are indeterminate (brandywine pink and big rainbow).

I always bury peat pots, but only with tomatoes and peppers. Some other plants did have problems breaking through, but with tomatoes it was always fine. Although i'm guessing there are other factors that contribute to whether it can break through easily or not.

I have a red cup here, and it measures about 4" in diameter at the top, and about 4.5" tall. Is that big enough for the tomato's final potting before going outside?

Most use the 16-18 oz. Solo type drink cups - there are current posts here with pics of them in it - and they are large enough for most to hold the plants until transplant time. Of course that all depends on how early you started them and how soon they can be moved to the garden. Plant size varies widely from grower to grower.

I don't know the exact measurements but that sounds about right.

I always bury peat pots, but only with tomatoes and peppers. Some other plants did have problems breaking through, but with tomatoes it was always fine.

Then you have been quite fortunate indeed. Try doing it without the pot and you'll be amazed at the difference it makes in the plant health and performance. Several members over the years have posted pics of the comparative differences in plants buried in the pot vs. those with the pot removed.

Dave

I ALWAYS rip off the pot and just treat them like they came out of ordinary pots.

Might be fortune, might be something else. I use Windhager peat pots, not sure if you guys have them on market over in US. They are quite thin, so i suppose that might be the reason why it was all good. The roots start coming through the sides weeks before transplantation time.

Djole, I don't know if our American "peat" pots are actually peat, or simply cardboard/paper pulp ... maybe a mix of both.

Like SneakyP86 I also crumble the pieces and add them to the hole.

Agreed, remove the pots. Even if the plants do eventually break through them, it will take them a while and that will stunt their growth due to the confined roots in the mean time.

Think of it this way, would you ever intentionally plant something in the ground with a cardboard box around it? Of course not, so why would you leave them in the cardboard pot?

I apologize for my posts being misleading. In my own defense, i could not have known what's available on market for you. Also, here's a photo of a tomato in a peat pot i use here, taken just before transplantation (6 weeks old). That's the view from below, those roots are on the outside of the peat pot.

Here is a link that might be useful: In case pic doesnt show follow this link

Djole, that looks incredibly thin! When I first went to the link to see the pic, I thought, "why is he showing a pic of the plant once he took it out of the pot?" I then went back and re-read what you said the pic was of. Haha! Yeah, compared to my peat pots I used this year(won't next year!), you can't even tell yours is there. Mine were about 1/2" thick I'd guess.

Oh, wow! That's quite thick actually :) I just measured mine, its about 3mm, which is ~ 0.12 inches (MY PEAT POT) :)

Home made newspaper pots are a good alternative they defiantly disintegrate, They are free and you can make them in different sizes. Utube has several different styles.

Even when I have ripped out the bottoms of my peat pots, when I haul out my tomato plants at the end of the year, the peat pots appear to be still intact and thwarting the root growth.

I have also tried growing my seedlings in home-made newspaper pots and, while I love the idea of recycling newspaper, I have found that seedlings grown in plastic pots or small yoghurt containers grow much better (for me) than seedlings grown in peat pots or newspaper pots. The reason being that the latter pots dry out too much in between waterings.....

Linda

That's what I do. Use plastic 4-inch pots from store-bought plants. They are the right size and, unlike many plastic cups, have stiff walls that protect growing roots when the pot is handled and squeezed. Those have always been well-sized to get plants to a transplantable size, without having confined roots. Cubes of soil holding a seedling slip out very cleanly from these, without squeezing them.

Peat pots are some kind of commercial joke. You pay good money to have your roots permanently walled in. It's just peat, right? Peat is good, right? So we should make pots out of them, right? You can put your plant in the ground without even getting your hand dirty! By the same reasoning, we should be making pots out of diatomaceous earth and compost. Yes, peat pots are "biodegadable" but, in my experience, generally not on the timescale of a growing season.

Honestly, I have used a few pp's...just because I did not want to chuck them. However, my common sense told me that these definitely would interfere with the root spread/growth. Consequently, I made sure the pots were completely buried (eliminating the exposed tops from drying out the damp lower portion)....and I slit/ripped the heck out of the pot. I say avoid these to begin with.

If nothing else, PPs can create a barrier against the roots. They will have to work so much harder to penetrate through it, if they can.

Seysonn

Last year at the end of the season I pulled up some Bonnie's transplants that did poorly... and lo and behold, there was the intact peat pots. They didn't break down at all. And to peel them off the roots get all stuck to them. I hate those things.

Thanks for this thread, I was thinking it was ok to plant all my bonnie plants directly in the ground with peat pots on them just like the instructions said. In the future I will rip off the peat pot and throw it in the hole.

I've done it both ways, with and without the pot. Makes no difference but at least tear out the bottom of the pot before burying to hasten the root spread.