[yorkiegal]

I bought 50 peat pots from Homebase the other day and did some googling for some ideas of which seeds to plant in them. I can't find anything positive about using peat pots! Have I just wasted my money?

[DD.]

They're not a lot of use in my opinion, the main drawback, other than environmental issues, is that they dry out too easily.  It's cheaper to make your own paper pots!

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=11390.0

[yorkiegal]

hmm that's what i thought. might just use them to stand my spuds in whilst i'm chitting them.

[RobbieG83]

From homebase? i bet they weren't cheap either
considering poundland do 50 peat pots for £1 (funnily enough)

so yes i would say you have wasted "some" of your money

[sowitgrowit]

I've got some small peat pots which I've got some red cabbage in at the moment (about 1" tall) - not convinced by them to be honest. I do have plenty of paper pots ready and waiting too though.

I'm tempted to sow all of my runner beans into peat pots this time around just to use them up.

[noshed]

I've never found them that good - unless you keep them pretty damp. If you put the plants out in the pots the seedlings never seem to escape the pots, so you have to rip them off.

[sowitgrowit]

I've used them before and the roots had no problem poking through the pot.

Peat is supposed to be very water-retentive, isn't it? In that case I can imagine planted out they would be good at keeping the root ball moist following rain/waterings once the plant is in the garden; or would that relatively small amount of peat not make much difference around the roots?

[Stevens706]

I do use them, I stand them in a shallow tray and bottom water. I tend to grow brassica’s in them and tear the bottom off when planting to let the roots escape.

[DD.]

I grow brassicas in normal pots which I can re-use year after year after year.

[strangerachael]

I tried them once, thinking what a good idea they were, but I wasn't that impressed. Is it too late to take them back to the shop? If so, and if they haven't been used you could try putting them on e-bay if you are bothered about wasting money.
I have tried everything over the years, paper pots, loo rolls etc, but I have decided plastic is best, at least you can re-use them indefinitely, as DD points out.

[yorkiegal]

yes i think i'll take them back and swap them for plastic ones. Thanks everyone.

[solway cropper]

The best present I got last Christmas was a paper pot maker and I now have loads of seedlings storming away in them. Sitting by the fire making paper pots as the winter storms rage outside is very relaxing and they rot much faster than peat ones.

[Trillium]

In all the years I've gardened, I've never ever had luck growing anything in peat pots. As DD says, the primary problem is that they dry out so darned fast. Then they don't want to break down quickly once planted in the ground. I found one still intact 2 years later   

[Diddy Gardener]

Tried them once, never again. Made paper pots this year but the majority of stuff will be going into plastic pots.

[Aunt Sally]

I don't like them either.

Even if the peat is wet when you plant them in the ground I think the plant draws the water out of the peat and then the roots won't grow out into the soil.  The plant then become weak and fails.