Kitchen Garden Forum

Was wondering about other peoples experiences of these fibre pots you can buy in the garden centre? Since we are in the middle of moving and all my gardening stuff is still in my house in Wales and I now live in Scotland... I thought I'd buy some of these pots and sow my seeds this way this year. What a disaster! Keeping them at the correct level of moistness was difficult, some persistently dried out and others went mouldy. I've only managed to germinate around 10 or 12 seeds and tbh they are well behind where they should be and I'm going to bin them.

Is it just me being useless this year or is there a trick with these pots I'm missing somewhere?

I didn't like them very much, they do dry out quite quickly. They don't break down when planted either which is what I was led to believe they would do & because it was hard to keep them constantly wet the roots could not break through the pots & the plants were sickly or failed completely.

Won't ever use them again.

Westi

Hi Myrkk. We had the same experience with them as yourself and Westi. We were disappointed to say the least and went back to trays/cells and compost.
Cheers.

Add my name to list of those who has found them useless, and I'm not basing that on one attempt at using them.

Advertiser's dream, gardener's nightmare.

Phew, thanks everyone. Glad it's not just me. Will never buy them again. I bought them a few years ago but couldn't remember what happened with them, so I thought I'd try them this year... now I know why I didn't keep buying them.

I had the same with fibre pots... So now I make all my own paper pots using one of these

Although, I made mine myself from scrap wood, they dont cost much to make

Hi Dan

I've been looking at getting one of those for quite some time but remain undecided based on other's opinions. My concern is them not lasting long enough to get the seedlings into the ground, as others report that the newspaper soon perishes with the watering and the plants & compost leak out.

Is there a special technique they are not using when making them maybe?

Westi

To be honest westi, its not a problem I've had. Yes the pots fall apart quite quickly, but I've only had a few where its been a problem. The only 'trick' I've found is to fold the newspaper in half and wrap it round twice. That way, you have 4 layers of paper so it's less likely to split.

That or I did once try it with some heavy craft paper, that worked well

Thanks!

That can go on my Xmas list then!

Westi