If you water the sweet peas seedlings, the cardboard tube gets pretty moist and is easy to peel off before planting. Just gently rip it! You'll be OK. I always do mine in toilet rolls and they're fine.
Yes- they do have deep roots @RBManc, so a deeper pot is great for sowing, but the problem seems to be the card itself ,and the ability of the roots to spread through it. If you're sowing some more just now, and you'll be getting them planted outdoors in about six weeks or so, you can just use ordinary 3 inch pots. That's fine. Even if they get slightly root bound, they'll recover once you get them planted out. I did that as standard until my daughter started buying me a coffee every week
I don't separate them either - I usually plant the entire pot, especially if they're going in the ground. In containers, if I have too many for the supports, I'll separate them at that stage. The less disturbance they have, the better they seem to do. I've been growing them for decades, and I'm still experimenting, but they're quite adaptable.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The issue I believe is not the "tea bags" but the unwettable, often coir, compost. If the compost and surrounding soil is kept moist the roots can get through the walls of the bag and the plant thrives. The same death-in-the-original-compost syndrome occurs with pot grown nursery plants in non-rewetting compost.
I've gone back to bare roots.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
That probably contributes if coir is used, bédé if you don’t thoroughly soak them before potting on at all stages. I submerge the pots until they are, but that goes for mpc/perlite mix too, which is what mine were in. The teabag material just doesn’t break down.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
I have found several of these teabags in my garden, they are like graveyards for failed plantings. Luckily not come across them recently, but will be more alert now, thanks to @Nollie! I also cannot get on with the coir pods for seed-sowing. I received some as a freebie and my seeds failed. Maybe I just could not adapt to using them in a different way. My pot-grown seeds in compost and grit were fine. Maybe coir is best-suited to a particular type of sowing? I avoid coir for seeds now.
Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus
Frankly - you'd be better with ordinary garden soil mixed with grit or Perlite for most of your seeds @clematisdorset. Or homemade compost if you have it. Sieved to get rid of any lumps. Old compost from the previous years' pots and containers is also fine.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Thank you @Fairygirl, that is great advice! I will do that. I won't buse them for sowing again. I am not sure what use these coir pods could have. Shall I compost them do you think?
Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus
Re toilet rolls, I think the recent ones must be made of tougher stuff and ours aren’t spiralled card like they used to be, that was easier to peel off. I remember trying them in the past and they ended up a soggy, disingetrating mess. I went back to pots.
I’ve reused the same plastic pots for seed sowing for six years now and fully expect them to last a few more years yet. At least the new biege ones are recyled plastic, but have only reused those for two years so far so don’t know how long they will last.
@clematisdorset just my personal opinion, but coir is a poor growing medium and the production of it just ofloads environmental problems to distant countries - it’s really shocking what goes on in terms of depleting the local environment, the hideous worker conditions and respiratory conditions it causes, the chemicals used in the processing, the transport halfway around the world.. It may be an alternative to peat, but is really not a good one 😟
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
@Nollie oh thank you, I did not know that about coir production! That sounds awful. I am going to avoid it even more than I was. Hopefully I will have more home made compost to assist in my gardening endeavours, but things need to get greener and more eco generally I think.
Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus
It's a very long time since I tried them @clematisdorset, and I can't recall what I did with them, but I expect I put them in the compost bin.
I think you're right @Nollie - the rolls are more solid. I'll have to go and look next time I have an empty one! Mine get chucked into the compost bin. The plastic pots I have are constantly recycled for various sowings and cuttings. Some of mine are well over ten years old as they came with me to this house. It's only when they get broken that they're no longer viable. @WAMS - the idea is that you don't remove the rolls though. As Nollie said - they might not be the same construction as they were in the past either. I certainly never found them good for unwrapping, even when soaking wet, and mine were usually in the rolls for quite a long time too before planting out - around 7 - 8 weeks.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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If you're sowing some more just now, and you'll be getting them planted outdoors in about six weeks or so, you can just use ordinary 3 inch pots. That's fine. Even if they get slightly root bound, they'll recover once you get them planted out.
I did that as standard until my daughter started buying me a coffee every week
I don't separate them either - I usually plant the entire pot, especially if they're going in the ground. In containers, if I have too many for the supports, I'll separate them at that stage. The less disturbance they have, the better they seem to do.
I've been growing them for decades, and I'm still experimenting, but they're quite adaptable.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I've gone back to bare roots.
"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I’ve reused the same plastic pots for seed sowing for six years now and fully expect them to last a few more years yet. At least the new biege ones are recyled plastic, but have only reused those for two years so far so don’t know how long they will last.
@clematisdorset just my personal opinion, but coir is a poor growing medium and the production of it just ofloads environmental problems to distant countries - it’s really shocking what goes on in terms of depleting the local environment, the hideous worker conditions and respiratory conditions it causes, the chemicals used in the processing, the transport halfway around the world.. It may be an alternative to peat, but is really not a good one 😟
I think you're right @Nollie - the rolls are more solid. I'll have to go and look next time I have an empty one! Mine get chucked into the compost bin. The plastic pots I have are constantly recycled for various sowings and cuttings. Some of mine are well over ten years old as they came with me to this house. It's only when they get broken that they're no longer viable.
@WAMS - the idea is that you don't remove the rolls though. As Nollie said - they might not be the same construction as they were in the past either. I certainly never found them good for unwrapping, even when soaking wet, and mine were usually in the rolls for quite a long time too before planting out - around 7 - 8 weeks.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...