Blasted Fiber Grow Pots: I Hate Them

Here is a gardening mistake I wish I never made. I replaced my strips of biodegradable peat pots with biodegradable fiber pots, presumably made of coconut coir (though they don't say on the label). These are made by the company "Planters' Pride" with an address in Brampton, Ontario. Hopefully the Americans have not been similarly aggravated by this product.

The packages are labelled with things like "Reduced Mould Growth" and "Environmentally Friendly" and the website address for "www.saveourpeatbogs.com". What they didn't mention was that you need the jaws of life to separate these little plants cells from each other.

I suppose you wouldn't have to separate them if you intended to plant the 10 cells as a single unit, with your plants in a silly bunch. Rather, I believe the idea was to separate the cells and then plant the fiber pots containing the plants. While the old peat pots did get a bit mouldy sometimes, at least you could easily separate them easily with your fingers. I dulled a pair of scissors trying to gnaw through these stupid fiber pots. Besides, some bedding plants might not have enough strength to put roots through these excessively sturdy pots. After a while, I just ripped the poor plants out of these fiber pots and put them in plastic pots. So there!