Do you plant the entire cell pack, netting and all? I did that with zucchini
and lost two out of three plants, what went wrong? How wet do you keep the
cell packs once they are swollen up to planting size and you have put your
seed in them?

Kathy said:

Do you plant the entire cell pack, netting and all? I did that with zucchini
and lost two out of three plants, what went wrong? How wet do you keep the
cell packs once they are swollen up to planting size and you have put your
seed in them?

You are describing peat pellets with netting, like the jiffy-7s, correct?

(I switched to jiffy-9s which need a little more careful handling, but have no
netting. I didn't like the fact that the netting on the 7s never seemed to
disappear in my garden.)

Yes, you plant them netting and all. Making some small cuts in the netting
might help the roots of the transplant to leave the pellet.

I watch the color change on the pellets to let me know when they need water.
When they start to lighten in color, they need to be watered. Let them get
too dry and they will be harder to re-wet.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...

Yes, you plant them netting and all. Making some small cuts in the
netting
might help the roots of the transplant to leave the pellet.

If you are careful you can remove the netting before transplanting.

On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 02:08:38 GMT, "Kathy" wrote:

Do you plant the entire cell pack, netting and all? I did that with zucchini
and lost two out of three plants, what went wrong? How wet do you keep the
cell packs once they are swollen up to planting size and you have put your
seed in them?

Peat is good for seed-starting because water is easily absorbed and
then evaporated. Making the little compressed discs swell with an
initial soaking will *not* provide enough moisture for plant growth
for more than a few days (YMMV according to local humidity). The peat
will also "wick away" moisture if exposed in the ground. Be sure to
plant deeply enough so the top of the pellet is covered with soil.
When planting peat pots, tear off the top edges so this "wicking"
doesn't occur.