Never had a problem using cups but I always tease the roots a bit prior to putting them in the ground (I do this with everything though). Were your plants affected by disease prior to transplanting or was it while they were in the garden?

Rodney

I honestly don't think the shape of the cup/pot makes much difference in root binding/root spiraling. It is the amount of time spent in the container, the age of the plant relative to the size of the container, that makes most of the difference. Plants can still become root bound even in the ribbed containers when left in them too long and that is the issue most home growers run into by starting their plants too early and wanting to avoid multiple potting-up. And the additional costs issues aside, they are more prone to air pruning of roots which isn't always a good thing.

But that root bound block can be avoided in any container by multi-staged transplanting - one reason why I am such a big advocate of it. And if that fails, future plant problems can be avoided when transplanting to the garden by breaking up the root ball to eliminate most of the binding and stimulate new growth.

From a root and plant health perspective, root binding needs to be avoided no matter how one chooses to do so. JMO

Dave

Thanks for the responses.

Forgottenone , Yes the problem started when still in the cups and continued after plant out. The roots looked good and whatever it was affected first the leaf and then continued down the stem and when it hit the main branch it killed everything above it. Not really sure what it was, but the affected stems turned whitish. It progressed very quickly though. I did prune off the affected parts but sometime it was tough to catch in time especially when small.

Dave, I don't think root binding was a problem for me but if I do see an overabundance of roots I tear them apart and tear off roots at the bottom when necessary. I really try to avoid that however. Most of the time I have to be careful not to have the rootball fall apart after removal from the pot or cup. I suspected that the cups were OK to use as many do use them. Just wanted to make sure so thanks for the info!

You're showing tomatoes. If you suspect bound up roots, just plant the thing deeper. It'll grow more roots wherever a stem is in contact with dirt.

I too plant like the first wave is doomed to die because it's too early, holding some back for "next week" or more. The mass of cup-bound roots easily shows that it's too easy to leave plants in the cups too long.