They grow through. I remove them though. I don't like them.

I take them off unless doing so means really ripping through roots, and even then I cut the top part off. I nearly wore out a thumb joint gnawing my way through a shipment of plants with rusty scissors, LOL. I can't imagine what would stop those tops sticking up from wicking moisture away from the roots and they're ugly to boot.
Messin' up all my perfect mulch...

I hate the pots- love the cardboard packing design but hate the pots.

Haven't bought coco pots from Bluestone, but my local nursery grew premium annuals in them.
If the roots are already starting to grow through the pot, don't bother to remove it, thereby disturbing the roots. But Like cearbhaill, I would try to cut the top so it is even with the soil - it's hard to cut, even if scissors aren't rusty.

Roots can grow thru, but I find that happens only when the pot and soil around it tends to stay pretty moist. At the end of the season when I pull out annuals, I've gotten more root growth thru the bottom of the pot (where the soil stays more consistently moist, than thru the sides.

Beth Z5 northern MI

I'm not crazy about these coir pots either. I pull the coir off and pull it apart into smaller pieces to decompose. I don't like to leave anything on the roots of plants, i.e. burlap, wire basket, peat pots, etc. It just doesn't seem to give the roots the optimal contact with the soil, but it would be interesting to experiment and put 2 plants side by side, one with coir pot on and one off.

I agree that the new cardboard packaging that holds the plants is much better than the peanuts.

I've used them cuz I suck at transplanting. When I grow seeds from them, I've noticed that the outer sides form white molds which I fear may contribute to damping off or root rot later. Anyone have this problem? And how do you water coir pots since bottom watering seems not possible.

no, I don't like them either - I use Jiffy 7 plugs for special seeds but generally just use modules or seed trays.

I can't wait to see what pops up in the garden. I just bought some plants from Bluestone.

This post was edited by silvergoldenrod on Tue, Jan 7, 14 at 8:31

I did, first order with new pots I planted according to directions. Did remove a little of top. Some grew well, some didn't. Those that had not shown new growth in a reasonable time I dug back up. These had not grown roots out of coir pots. Removed the coir and replanted. All eventually did fine. One that did the worst had a wireworm that had crawled in the pot. Quite happily feeding on those confined roots. I was very happy with the plants sent. But I now remove the pot before planting. The coir pots that I ripped up and buried with falls leaf and plant debris were still there this fall. All the rest decomposed as usual in a year. That surprised me.

I have had mixed results with these. Some grow right through and others just circle the inside for the entire season. (Eventually the pots decompose --- eventually.) So, my advice is to remove them if the roots haven't started penetrating the pot - some types of roots just aren't strong enough, I think.

back in the day.. i tried all the new fangled.. read that expensive pots ...

and frankly.. came to conclude.. nothing worked better than a 6 oz plastic solo cup.. with 3 slices on the bottom edge ... for drainage

great size ... 100 for a few bucks.. mark them with a sharpie...

and then either sanitize them and reuse.. or throw them out ...

in my sand.. and wildly divergent pots.. peat.. coco.. whatever.. will wick water out of the media and i can lose the babe.. long before it ever roots thru ...

frankly.. the media you put into the pot .... is more important than the pot ...

dont think there is anything magical in well marketed expensive pots ... key word: MARKETING

ken

ps: and when i needed to up pot.. there was the 8 and 16 oz solo cups.. ready to go ....

I like the pots, but then again the plants I've received from Bluestone in these pots have roots already growing through the pots.

I think it also makes a lot of difference how moist your soil stays while the plants establish. If the soil around the planted pots is on the dry side for extended periods of time, the roots have no incentive to leave the pots and the pots themselves decompose slower. I've noticed the roots grow through the pots faster when we have a nice wet spring.

Kevin

I also use plastic cups but I use the clear 16oz. beer cups. When I plant tomato seeds, I only put an inch or so of soil in the bottom with the seed and then back fill as the plant grows. You get a cup full of great roots that you can see growing.

I purchase two plants this year from Bluestone that came in these pots. The first one, Gaillardia Goblin, was very vigorous and the roots were already growing through the sides and bottom of the pot. I planted pot and all and the plant did very well. The second plant was a Clematis that was small and weak. It was planted with it's pot, but was dug up, removed from the pot, and replanted when it seemed to be dying. It has recovered but never got very large last year. It was planted in the summer and I think our hot, dry summer made it difficult for it to take hold and grow well. I'm anxious to see how it does this year.

Linda

If I buy plants in coco or peat pots, I remove all of it (or at least as much as I can) before planting, even if that means some root loss - actually, this "root pruning" can be good for root growth, so I don't get all up in arms about some torn roots.

I use Jiffy pellets for seed starting, but I normally transplant into individual small plastic pots and grow on to planting-out size. When it sometimes happens I don't have a chance to pot-up (read: I get busy or forget and before I know it it's planting time), I remove the plastic netting before planting into the ground.

Am I able to dig up the coco pots and remove the pots this spring without hurting the plant?

Silvergoldenrod: Yes, you will be able to do that. Some root loss/pruning is not going to damage the plants and, in fact, will promote better root growth. Be careful if the plant has a tap-root, though; although, I've broken taproots before when transplanting, and plants end up just fine anyway, which I knows goes against all the standard advice one hears but hey.