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Jiffy plugs

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Digeroo:
I suppose I am a skin flint too.  Maybe that is what has been holding me back.  I was rather expecting the outside net of the jiffy ones to degrade are you saying they will not?  Do I then have to remove the net bag before I plant them?
I rather like the sound of using old tea bags, though I do not drink much tea.  But I do drink herb teas, and might drink more if I am going to reuse the bag. 

Tee Gee:
I used jiffy plugs for the first time last year and had reasonable success but as you say it is an expensive way of propagating seeds.

As a result of a few plugs that didn't  work, I crushed them at the end of the season and saw what the plugs were formed with very fine Peat.

So this has set an idea in my mind  of making my own plugs.

I have sieved some Peat and I plan on pressing it firmly into plug trays and sowing my seed in a similar manner to the way I did in commercial plugs.

This is what I am hoping to achieve but instead of using compost I will try using neat Peat!

BarriedaleNick:
I have never used them as I suppose I am a skinflint too! 
I think we all tend to get a system that works for us and we stick with it to a certain extent.  I may have to modify what I do over here as the season starts now and it gets very hot..  I have hundreds of little square pots - I sow in trays, then prick out into the pots and then plant them out when it is warm enough.
I did buy "biodegradable" sacks a while back - a sort of diy jiffy bag.  The idea had promise but the bags were not biodegradable and I was digging them up two years  later so I never gave it another go..

Vinlander:

--- Quote from: Digeroo on January 25, 2021, 19:34:14 ---I suppose I am a skin flint too.  Maybe that is what has been holding me back.  I was rather expecting the outside net of the jiffy ones to degrade are you saying they will not?  Do I then have to remove the net bag before I plant them?
I rather like the sound of using old tea bags, though I do not drink much tea.  But I do drink herb teas, and might drink more if I am going to reuse the bag. 
--- End quote ---

I have refilled many jiffy meshes several times, but they were all from failed seedlings because getting one off a successful plant is impossible.

In most cases it will tear after its next use - but a handful survived long enough for the contents to lose structure long before the oldest one tore (probably because Tee Gee is right - it starts as very fine peat, ie. not much structure in the first place). I didn't get the impression it had degraded to tear, it's just flimsy even when it's new.

Taking the bag off before planting would damage the roots more than not using one in the first place. Leave it on and remove it at the end of the season.

I don't think I overlooked many used bags, because when you shake the compost off the dead plant it's right there in the middle of the root ball - getting them out is easy but never in one piece - so tricky I gave up ages ago - very few plants have nothing but fine roots -  failed seedlings and not much else.

I suppose this means they shouldn't be used on true perennials.

On the other hand there's more microplastic in a single wetwipe than in a score of Jiffys.

I have tried paper cylinders, but it's very difficult to find exactly the right amount of paper that holds the plug together until the seedling has a rootball, without risking a rootbound plant.

Loo-roll inners are the same, but worse - I was dismayed to find that any cardboard exposed by the weather will wick all the moisture out of everything inside.

Pots stapled from cotton offcuts would definitely degrade long after you've used them, while being more open than paper, but I'll be consulting my old Which? magazines to find out what teabags last only a season or so in the soil.

Cheers.                           

Nora42:
intereesting thread - i have in the past used Jiffy plugs they are so less messy for those without a greenhouse or potting shed.
 Last year i ordered small perrenials which were delivered in green plastic trays which close around the root ball and then have a space at the top for the plant. being an avid recyler i reused them a 40mm plug fits perfectly . each case holds six and when closed and stacked next to each other they are very easy to use. I had great sucess, I did run out of jiffys so I filled a few with potting compost and sowed a seed into this - worked just as well but  was messy as thetay opens flat and when you opened it to see if it has germinated the soil fell out .
the idea of using a tea bag casing is just genius and i wont be buying jiffy again i would rather buy some good quality seed compost.

so thank you Nora

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