Help! My roots are escaping!!

[Pamb]

Hi all! First let me say how glad I am that I found this forum. I have already learned so much from reading all your posts. This is my second year of gardening - last year I started with zucchini, carrots and peppers, all from seeds. This year I will be adding bush beans, onions, celery and several different types of lettuce. I am really psyched Now to my first problem of the season. I started seeds last weekend and already have quite a lot of seedlings coming up. Two of the fastest growers are the zucchini and beans. I planted seeds in those net wrapped discs that expand when you add water. I just noticed that I have roots growing out of the netting at the bottom of the peat balls. Is this ok or do I need to remove the netting and plant the seedlings in larger cups, not disturbing the soil they are already growing in? I didn't have this issue last year (maybe because I wasn't using grow lights so things grew slower???) I am in zone 5 so won't be putting the plants outside for quite a while.

All advice greatly appreciated!

Pam

[Susan W]

I wait until the true leaves appear. If there is root coming out the bottom I put a little dirt in the tray under the peat pellet. When I up pot try to carefully cut down one or two sides of netting, and sometimes pull some away and snip off. The rest in in tact and goes in the bigger pot, usually 4". Hope this helps.

[Pamb]

Yes, that does help Susan. Can you explain the term "true leaves"? I have seen that in several posts but am not sure exactly what that means. My seedlings all have leaves, but I am guessing these first leaves are not considered "true leaves".

[GardenGnome]

Yeah I did carrots in a cell and transplanted will see what happens. I'm doing direct sow also.