Coir Pellets

[Sarah85]

Hi
I'm new to this forum.
I have tried for the first time planting my chilli seeds in the coir pellets but am finding despite watering them twice a day that they dry out and done shoots dry up. Any advice?

[veggiechicken]

Hi Sarah and welcome
I've tried those things several times but they dry out too quickly for me. Also, if they are in the mesh bags, they need to be split before planting out as they don[t disintegrate and the roots are trapped in them.
I've gone back to using compost in modules for seedlings.

[rary]

Hello Sarah, I have never tried Coir pellets but several years ago when peat was introduced there were problems quite similar to what you have experienced, the peat was drying out and not absorbing water when you tried re-wetting and the way to change this was by adding liquid soap to the peat when you were mixing it, now I know that there is a difference between coir and peat, peat has a type of wax in it the the soap breaks down but you could try adding liquid soap into the water you are using to water the pellets

[kitty12345]

I had the same experience as VC, the roots found it really difficult to grow through the mesh, and now two years later I am finding mesh all over the place. When I bought them I was under the impression the mesh was compostable... apparently not! It makes sowing seeds very convenient though.

[Mitzi]

I tried the coir pellets too and have gone back to peat ones even though I feel a bit guilty about it. Like you say, the coir ones dry out too quickly and don’t hold nutrients like the peat ones do. I don’t find any problem with the plant roots growing through the mesh but that might vary between brands.

If you’ve still got some surviving seedlings in them then I’d advise you to pot them on ASAP.