Peat pots or plastic cups - Page 3

fonseca · April 16, 2015

I start seeds in cell trays with a mix of:

1 part coir pith
1 part sphagnum peat
2 parts medium vermiculite

This mix is light while holding moisture. That said, I have a bunch of Jiffy peat pellet trays just because they are always on closeout by the end of Summer. Straight peat holds too much water. I usually open up the top of the pellets and form a bowl-like shape, so I can add a pinch of soilless mix (or just vermiculite) on top of each seed.

I grow organically, but the last few years I have sterilized my seed mix, not included compost or castings, and that has eliminated damping off. At least for tomatoes. I always seem to lose a few swiss chard seedlings. I do wonder if my seedlings are less vigorous without compost...

I pot up to Solo cups, which as others have mentioned last for at least two seasons. I think this is the most economical route, and this can be the only container needed before final transplant. I don't bother adding any holes in the cups because they are in a greenhouse, and I top water by plant size. If they are going to be in the cups longer than they should, I will add drainage holes. All plants get inoculated with Mycogrow when moved to cups, and a good variety of animal, mineral and vegetable manures are added to the mix.

I have used peat pots extensively. A single pot that you can plant directly is their main advantage, and removing it is not advised as you can shock the plant. I don't like starting tomato or pepper seeds in anything smaller than the 5" round pots. The 2" cells and 3" pots dry out extremely fast, and tomatoes will droop if you miss a day. I had the best results using shallow plastic tubs to hold the peat pots, so that I could bottom water everything at once. This sizes air prunes effectively and you end up with a very healthy rootball.

I really prefer starting in seed trays and moving to Solo cups.

cjp1953 · April 16, 2015

14 seedlings are up out of 25 or more.I have a few that are tall,they only been up a day or two,can I start putting soil around the plant to promote thicker stems?The shop light is around 3 inches above.It does not have a reflector so any lower and all the plants don't get bright light.Started the Saturday,pepper plants still have not popped up yet but I heard they are later than tomatoes.

AZGardener · April 25, 2015

I always use solo cups because their size,ability to write on, and you can purchase a big amount of them at Costco. This year I saw these peat jiffy cups that were half the size and I decided to give them a go. Well, my starts weren't as big, the roots weren't as deep, and they dried out wayyyyy quicker then using the plastic (which I think helps keep moisture in and thus having to water less). My vote will always be solo cups unless you can get large quantities of the 4 inch pots that the growers get...

Vespertino · April 25, 2015

I've used hand-made newspaper pots, red plastic cups and peat pots.

There's a lot of mixed experiences here, I guess it all depends on how much time you have, what growing media you're using, watering techniques, and seeds starting techniques.

I found the newspaper pots took far too much time to make because I needed a lot of them, and they didn't stand up straight or hold together well (had a tendency to unravel) when filled with grow medium. Its not unusual for me to work 65+ hours a week sometimes, so I just didn't have the free time to make 50+ mini newspaper pots. If you have the time and don't need a lot of them, newpaper pots might be a nice alternative.

I went to red cups from costco, you do need drainage holes so I bought a wood burnisher to melt holes quickly. I found these far to big for seed starting, so I bought mini square peat pots for that.

The mini square peat pots fit perfectly in the seed starting trays and it the trays made it easy to water from the bottom and add liquid fertilizer when needed (I used fox farm). As long as you don't let them dry out, they were fine for indoor seed starting. They worked great for me. While I moved the plants into red cups as they got older, I found there were problems with bacteria because the plastic wasn't very breathable. While the plants were ok there was a funky smell. I also had a few that I left in the peat pots, and they got just as big as the ones in red cups- I think if you use a good seed starting medium you don't need a big red cup to move them into.

So this year I left the peat pots in the trays until it was time to plant out. As long as you don't let them dry out in the sun (usually a little water each day if it's warm) they grow really big if treated right, despite the small size. I use a non-sterile germinating mix from Lady Bug, I did get mold but it was the good kind and caused no problems at all (zero damping off, very healthy seedlngs). It made it easier to harden them since the seed starting trays aren't too big.

The roots tend to knit together but they weren't too hard to loosen and pull apart each pot, and then you just stick 'em in the ground, no need to remove the peat, by this time the roots have grown through it anyhow.

So the peat pots worked great for me, especially this year, and they saved time and hassle. I don't have a lot of free time so the time savings was a real boon for me.

I'd recommend trying all the methods a try and see what works best! Try some peat, some cups, some newspaper, etc... The one that gives you the best results is what you should stick with, but you don't know what is until you give em all a spin

Labradors2 · April 25, 2015

Just a comment on the newspaper pots falling apart. I used a little masking tape on the bottom and a piece on the top. The top bit was also good for writing the variety name on.

Linda

ChrisK · April 25, 2015

I use 3 oz and 5 oz white plastic cups from Walmart. $2.28 per pack of 100 and 80 cups, respectively. A soldering iron makes quick work of putting drainage holes in them.

lexusnexus · April 25, 2015

I've transplanted from both and found the plastic pots work best for me. You will have to tear holes in the sides of the peat pots because they didn't break down all the readily in the ground. This is the first year growing from seeds and I used Solo cups. Won't be using them next year because the bottoms are narrow compared to the tops so they tend to tip quite easily. I bought a few hundred 3" and 4" pots for next season.

Dan

SummerSky · April 26, 2015

I'm not a fan of the peat pots either.

I'm fond of 72 cell flats that fit into 1020 trays for starting. If they are carefully handled and stored, they seem to last a few seasons.

Last year I potted up my plants into 3.5" square pots and SOLO cups. The SOLO cups drive me BONKERS because they fell over every single time I moved them or whenever there was a breeze. They had more space than the 3.5" pots, but the plants didn't really seem to do any better. This year I'm sticking with the square pots. They are much more expensive but they don't drive me insane, and they also last for a few seasons if they handled/stored carefully. My local garden nursery sells decent sized plants in six inch pots that are very deep, and I've collected quite a few of those. That's what I'll be starting my cukes, watermelons, and pumpkins in this year.

I've never had a problem with transplanting delicate seedlings out of plastic containers (knock on wood). They seem to want to get in the garden and grow.

April 16, 2015	#31
fonseca Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 205	I start seeds in cell trays with a mix of: 1 part coir pith 1 part sphagnum peat 2 parts medium vermiculite This mix is light while holding moisture. That said, I have a bunch of Jiffy peat pellet trays just because they are always on closeout by the end of Summer. Straight peat holds too much water. I usually open up the top of the pellets and form a bowl-like shape, so I can add a pinch of soilless mix (or just vermiculite) on top of each seed. I grow organically, but the last few years I have sterilized my seed mix, not included compost or castings, and that has eliminated damping off. At least for tomatoes. I always seem to lose a few swiss chard seedlings. I do wonder if my seedlings are less vigorous without compost... I pot up to Solo cups, which as others have mentioned last for at least two seasons. I think this is the most economical route, and this can be the only container needed before final transplant. I don't bother adding any holes in the cups because they are in a greenhouse, and I top water by plant size. If they are going to be in the cups longer than they should, I will add drainage holes. All plants get inoculated with Mycogrow when moved to cups, and a good variety of animal, mineral and vegetable manures are added to the mix. I have used peat pots extensively. A single pot that you can plant directly is their main advantage, and removing it is not advised as you can shock the plant. I don't like starting tomato or pepper seeds in anything smaller than the 5" round pots. The 2" cells and 3" pots dry out extremely fast, and tomatoes will droop if you miss a day. I had the best results using shallow plastic tubs to hold the peat pots, so that I could bottom water everything at once. This sizes air prunes effectively and you end up with a very healthy rootball. I really prefer starting in seed trays and moving to Solo cups. Last edited by fonseca; April 16, 2015 at 04:21 AM.

April 25, 2015	#33
AZGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Zone 9b Phoenix,AZ Posts: 390	I always use solo cups because their size,ability to write on, and you can purchase a big amount of them at Costco. This year I saw these peat jiffy cups that were half the size and I decided to give them a go. Well, my starts weren't as big, the roots weren't as deep, and they dried out wayyyyy quicker then using the plastic (which I think helps keep moisture in and thus having to water less). My vote will always be solo cups unless you can get large quantities of the 4 inch pots that the growers get... __________________ Kelly from Phx, AZ Toes and Tomatoes on FB

April 25, 2015	#36
ChrisK Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 1,448	I use 3 oz and 5 oz white plastic cups from Walmart. $2.28 per pack of 100 and 80 cups, respectively. A soldering iron makes quick work of putting drainage holes in them. __________________ Blog: chriskafer.wordpress.com Ignorance more frequently begets knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. --Charles Darwin

April 25, 2015	#37
lexusnexus Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: MD Suburbs of DC, Zone 7a Posts: 500	I've transplanted from both and found the plastic pots work best for me. You will have to tear holes in the sides of the peat pots because they didn't break down all the readily in the ground. This is the first year growing from seeds and I used Solo cups. Won't be using them next year because the bottoms are narrow compared to the tops so they tend to tip quite easily. I bought a few hundred 3" and 4" pots for next season. Dan __________________ Dan

April 16, 2015	#32
cjp1953 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Cuyahoga Falls,Ohio Posts: 818	14 seedlings are up out of 25 or more.I have a few that are tall,they only been up a day or two,can I start putting soil around the plant to promote thicker stems?The shop light is around 3 inches above.It does not have a reflector so any lower and all the plants don't get bright light.Started the Saturday,pepper plants still have not popped up yet but I heard they are later than tomatoes.

April 25, 2015	#34
Vespertino Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Southlake, TX Posts: 743	I've used hand-made newspaper pots, red plastic cups and peat pots. There's a lot of mixed experiences here, I guess it all depends on how much time you have, what growing media you're using, watering techniques, and seeds starting techniques. I found the newspaper pots took far too much time to make because I needed a lot of them, and they didn't stand up straight or hold together well (had a tendency to unravel) when filled with grow medium. Its not unusual for me to work 65+ hours a week sometimes, so I just didn't have the free time to make 50+ mini newspaper pots. If you have the time and don't need a lot of them, newpaper pots might be a nice alternative. I went to red cups from costco, you do need drainage holes so I bought a wood burnisher to melt holes quickly. I found these far to big for seed starting, so I bought mini square peat pots for that. The mini square peat pots fit perfectly in the seed starting trays and it the trays made it easy to water from the bottom and add liquid fertilizer when needed (I used fox farm). As long as you don't let them dry out, they were fine for indoor seed starting. They worked great for me. While I moved the plants into red cups as they got older, I found there were problems with bacteria because the plastic wasn't very breathable. While the plants were ok there was a funky smell. I also had a few that I left in the peat pots, and they got just as big as the ones in red cups- I think if you use a good seed starting medium you don't need a big red cup to move them into. So this year I left the peat pots in the trays until it was time to plant out. As long as you don't let them dry out in the sun (usually a little water each day if it's warm) they grow really big if treated right, despite the small size. I use a non-sterile germinating mix from Lady Bug, I did get mold but it was the good kind and caused no problems at all (zero damping off, very healthy seedlngs). It made it easier to harden them since the seed starting trays aren't too big. The roots tend to knit together but they weren't too hard to loosen and pull apart each pot, and then you just stick 'em in the ground, no need to remove the peat, by this time the roots have grown through it anyhow. So the peat pots worked great for me, especially this year, and they saved time and hassle. I don't have a lot of free time so the time savings was a real boon for me. I'd recommend trying all the methods a try and see what works best! Try some peat, some cups, some newspaper, etc... The one that gives you the best results is what you should stick with, but you don't know what is until you give em all a spin

April 25, 2015	#35
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,887	Just a comment on the newspaper pots falling apart. I used a little masking tape on the bottom and a piece on the top. The top bit was also good for writing the variety name on. Linda

April 26, 2015	#38
SummerSky Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Michigan Posts: 126	I'm not a fan of the peat pots either. I'm fond of 72 cell flats that fit into 1020 trays for starting. If they are carefully handled and stored, they seem to last a few seasons. Last year I potted up my plants into 3.5" square pots and SOLO cups. The SOLO cups drive me BONKERS because they fell over every single time I moved them or whenever there was a breeze. They had more space than the 3.5" pots, but the plants didn't really seem to do any better. This year I'm sticking with the square pots. They are much more expensive but they don't drive me insane, and they also last for a few seasons if they handled/stored carefully. My local garden nursery sells decent sized plants in six inch pots that are very deep, and I've collected quite a few of those. That's what I'll be starting my cukes, watermelons, and pumpkins in this year. I've never had a problem with transplanting delicate seedlings out of plastic containers (knock on wood). They seem to want to get in the garden and grow.