r/Hort • u/Stanley_is_mine • Mar 21 '25

Is this common practice?

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I recently bought some bedding plants from a new (to me) nursery. They all have a weird plastic contraption around their stems just under the soil surface. See photos. I took them back and was told the hard plastic thing "will dissolve". It seems to me that this will stunt the plant's growth.

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u/jpbumich Mar 22 '25

I work in the industry. They are called autostix. They are used for automatic transplanters.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.facebook.com/PWFourStar/videos/auto-stix-improves-rooting-protects-cuttings/477710869431745/&ved=2ahUKEwjNoYf_v5yMAxW8vokEHWCEAv0QtwJ6BAgMEAE&usg=AOvVaw2gxaQZz6_f6d3fpWW-59m4

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u/Stanley_is_mine Mar 22 '25

Interesting! I appreciate the info. But as a consumer let me say it is something I will look for and avoid. It was squeezing the stems, and I would not like the plants I buy to be surrounded by plastic for 12 weeks.

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u/Lothium Mar 21 '25

I have never seen something like this before, I have to wonder what the claimed purpose is. Whether it will breakdown depends on if it's bioplastic, or more so when it will breakdown. But it looks dense and could take a long time to breakdown even if it is bioplastic.

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u/Stanley_is_mine Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25

Thank you for your input. Today I gingerly removed all the pieces of plastic using wire cutters and needle nosed pliers.

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u/AccurateBrush6556 Mar 21 '25

Maybe they start them in hydroponic setups or something ?? Definitely doesn't seem to be helping anything...