[Trillium]

Sounds like the manufacturer used the wrong bonding agent to hold the pots together, something that's too prone to fungus. Toilet paper rolls will eventually get like that if overwatered, so water from the bottom and bury all of it in the ground at planting out time.

Personally, I found working with peat pots like working with carpeting. They wouldn't decompose properly, they quickly sucked water out of the soil mix and I was forever watering them. And as for letting the roots out, no way! Now I stick with pots and cell paks and rootrainers and such. Sometimes, some of the bigger trees or shrubs I buy come in huge peat pots so I fight to tear them apart into bits and mix them into the soil. Oddly enough, the pieces are still intact 2 yrs later when I came across some when digging over beds. :?