Haxnicks Rapid Rootrainers | Reusable Shallower Root Trainers | Seed Planting | 20 Cells For Those With Less Space | Salads Bedding Plants Flower Cuttings | Multi-Color, 20 Cells | RT040101

Bought these to try out for both runner beans and sweet peas. They both were great and the plants were well rooted when needing to plant out. They are fairly fragile when out of frame, but are fairly strong when squeezed in and supporting each other. How many uses I'll get...we'll see but so far am very pleased with them. The clear top is very useful when the seeds have just been sown as this gives a micro climate to help them until they have germinated.So, all good...after their first use.

Clever and simple.Initially thought they were a bit pricey.Bought mine cos I'd heard they were great for building nice fibrous root system in transplanted seedlings.Impressed by how well they perform.Straight off I want to say they Are made of quite flimsy plasticy stuff but you quickly adapt to be light on the touch and treat these as fine china rather than an old mug.The way I use them is to fill all eight books with dryish free running compost in one go, firmly tapping the base of each book to settle the compost in and wedge them as a block of 32 cells into the lightweight frame.Then use a dibber to open up a deep well for the incoming seedling transplant. I've also used them for direct sowing and find that the seedlings grow roots straight down the grooves and are easy to separate.The clear lid doubles as a water reservoir to stand the frame in and keeps the cells just raised clear so roots will be drawn out of the base.Just finished using them for the 3rd year running and although a couple of books have begun a small split down the hinge seam, they're still serviceable.I like them.

I’ve used root trainers for years , they last well and really do train the roots to produce a good root system for planting on . Well worth the purchase

good quality

Came quickly, my friend had got some last year and said they seem to work. I have an allotment so need them for sweetcorn, beans, peas etc. They seem good for the price as same product dearer in garden centre. I would have scored higher, but they came in a box no padding, and the plastic clear trays are damaged in the corners, which have tiny cracks, so will not hold water, and will deteriorate more quickly. We all know how parcels are treated. Will see how they do this year, if ok will order some more for next year, not sure where from. Think if your careful how you wash them they should be OK for 2/3 uses. Good for the money. Plastic lids have slight damage in the corners small cracksNot sure if they were packed like that or due to rattling sound in a box during transit. So can't use them to hold water. 😕

I am not sure if these root trainers are as strong as two that I bought about 30 years ago. Those two have been used yearly ever since. Excellent product and have used for sweet peas and sweet corn all that time. Even though the books can split in two at the hinge after time, their design still makes it easy to assemble them and fit them into their containing frame. People have mentioned that they only just fit but that is the whole reason for keeping them tight. The fact that they split up when planting out does not make any difference to the plants and in many ways is helpful.

These could be such a good product however flimsy plastic on the "strong" body and lid and even flimsier plastic on the "books" make this a shocking product that really isn't worth a few pounds.I bought two - one lid arrived cracked in one corner and the other arrived squashed and battered in one corner as the packaging was fine I canOnly assume this happened before they went in the box as they are not heavy enough to do that to themselves.The frame is very weak and the books struggled to fit into it without shoving because it had bowed inwards as the plastic set. This creates other problems as the "book" plastic is so fragile.The "books" arrived with some partially shattered - and will break more if you put them into the frame. The hinge at the bottom is so thin I doubt it will last more than a couple of closing folds (I am amazed it made on the ones I tried with it given the noises they made and the feel of the fold). The two halves of each "book" are supposed to click together when folded however I found less than 50% did (so I couldn't have made one working thing if I wanted to), instead of staying folded so you can wrestle them into the bent frame they spring apart violently - which would be a real mess with soil and seeds.Also there is no tray to drain onto and the holes in the bottom of the "books" are large - almost as large as the biggest cross section of each cell. This means a whole lot of soil will drop through and you will end up with that and water everywhere - not great for this product. They were not advertised as having one but I didn't realise there was almost no bottom to the product and having a tray would make this a lot better (if you improved the books).This could have been a great product - maybe it was originally however the plastic quality is so poor it's not worth buying if you get the ones I got.I (vaguely) know what I am talking about as I am a design engineer with years of experience of plastics design for manufacture.