Jiffy Pots killing my plants

A warning on using Jiffy Pots.
I always germinate my seeds on moist cotton wool covered with a plate.
When the root appears I put them in jiffy pots until the first set of real leaves appear, and then plant them.
This has always worked well for me, until now that is.
Yesterday 1 of my lowryder cross's just upped and died for apparently no reason.
I also had another plant that was always yellow and stunted after week 3.
So I dug them up and noticed that the roots hadn't grown through the bottom of the jiffy pot, but instead had grown over the top of the netting and spread out, no tap root, just some fine roots spread over the surface.

So I strongly suggest removing the netting from the jiffy pots before planting.

No one uses jiffy pots??

You mean peat pellets?

I always use them exclusively now. Tried everything else except coco coir and they worked the best by far.

Maybe you just got a bad batch, contaminated or something? Some of them come with nutes or rooting compound built in. I don't like those ones.

Never use anythingthing that could damage your seeds.2 small saucers one with cotton wool and the other placed on top for extr warmth then put somewhere warm.prob the easyest seeds to germanate in the gardening world .they take care of them selfs.a word of warning don't let your root stems lay in water for to long a sure way of getting root rot.i wait while they are about 2/5ml before putting in rooting cubes i use cubes even if planting in soil.won't need any water till first set of true leaves appear soak cubes in a multi thrive only i drop per ltr and never water plant spray lid of the propagator far better to let plant pull in water through its first leaves rather than wash all your rooting compound[gel] off.

that's strange, my seedlings' roots grow right thru the netting with no problem.

I think it may be a bad batch, I bought 50 on ebay and they were cheap but until then I never had a problem.

tyke1973 said:

Never use anythingthing that could damage your seeds.2 small saucers one with cotton wool and the other placed on top for extr warmth then put somewhere warm.prob the easyest seeds to germanate in the gardening world [gel] off.

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That's exactly how I so it and I put them on top of the hot water tank for warmth.
The seeds sit on top of the moist cotton wool so they can draw moisture as needed.