Dad was always the family vegetable gardener, a trait I apparently inherited (my only sibling has never been fond of getting dirt under her fingernails). Although our present back yard is only a little bigger than an average placemat, I still try to grow some veggies for salads and salsa, and I’ve had pretty good luck starting tomato and pepper seedlings in my Germination Station. Although the 72-cell tray is a great way to get an early start, the tiny compartments are nowhere near big enough to get a seedling strong enough to go in the ground.

Once they have a couple of pairs of leaves, I move the seedlings to small peat pots where they can keep growing until they’re ready for the great outdoors. Though in the past I’ve used Burpee Square Peat Pots, this year ran out of Burpees and so I finished my transplanting with Plantation Products Round Peat Pots. I came to like the round ones better.

While both brands are about 2½ inches tall, the Plantations are round, 2½ inches in diameter as opposed to the Burpees that are about 2½ inches square. The difference in volume is no big deal, especially since the plants are only in them temporarily. Both are made of compressed sphagnum moss (“peat moss”), though they seem to have different wall thicknesses – the round ones aren’t as thick, and don’t appear to be as tightly compressed.

When the plants are moved to the garden plot, I just stick the root ball, pot and all, into the ground. With the Burpee pots, I’ve had to make knife cuts in the sides and bottom to be sure the roots can find their way out. The Plantation pots are already beginning to disintegrate by transplanting time and, in a couple of cases, I’ve had to lift the bottom of the little root ball with a spoon to keep in the soil. In fact, they may break down just a little too fast. They also seem more prone to growing mold than the Burpee pots.

Still, I think I like the Plantation brand a little better than the Burpee pots because of their thinner walls and faster disintegration. Either one is excellent, however, and at about a dime each they’re a good transplanting medium and actually provide some extra nutrients to the new plants.

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