Haxnicks Maxi Rootrainers

The frame is a bit thin but the product does the job well.

When I opened the package the first thing I noticed was the frame was broken in 3 places arriving in by next day delivery in a box, as the box was perfect and suffered no damage the conclusion is the frame was packed and sent broken. Having said although the trainers look somewhat flimsy, with carefull handling, will I am sure be fine. Despite the small damage they seem very good value for the money with getting forty trainers and based on that alone I would recommend them to anyone wanting a bargain. I must reiterate however handle them sensibly and carefully and they should be OK.

Bigger than I expected! I’ve seen previous reviews that said these were flimsy but they are much sturdier than expected. I have not used them yet however I have assembled the books in the tray and I am very happy, although I found the final book of cells a squeeze to fit in. I can’t wait to start growing my seeds in these! Well worth £13 if you ask me! I can imagine getting several years of use from these.

These are good for sowing seeds where you need to train roots to grow deep (e.g. sweet peas). However, for the price, I was surprised at how flimsy they are. I prefer to buy plastic items that I can be reused, so would have wanted them to be much sturdier. You would have to treat these very carefully in order to get sufficient reuse and value for money from them. I think for this level of quality the price should be much lower. However, I’d happily pay the original price if they improved their quality and made them more durable.

Nice compact root trainers and cradle. Perfect for starting off seedlings that like to grow deep roots such as sweet peas. The cradle keeps them together and upright.

I was surprised to discover that this product actually isn’t made of short-life plastic! Sadly, that’s because it hasn’t even managed a single life. It was cracked and warped before I even took it out of its packaging. The plastic envelopes are so thin they’re disintegrating, and they are too wide to fit into the flimsy plastic frame provided without causing further damage to the seams. All of this before I’ve even thought about filling them with compost and sweet pea seeds for 6 months of overwintering. Totally useless. I’m sure that the gardening conglomerates that once had trustworthy reputations (built by the hard work of the independent companies whose names they bought, certainly not the shareholders lining the board rooms today) are using gardeners the world over as free marketing research in just how shoddily they can make garden equipment, thus forcing the consumer to replace it on a yearly basis, and certainly with no regard for how the products perform or how much (or indeed how little) plastic goes into making them. If I may briefly stand on my soapbox, the standard to which plastic products are produced plays the biggest part in fighting the war against plastic pollution, rather than the (often unavoidable) overconsumption of plastic products by the consumer, as we guiltily buy products such as this because there are no viable alternatives. The majority of my plastic pots and seed trays were purchased by my grandfather in the 60’s and 70’s, and are still in constant use in 2021 and going strong. I’m no market researcher, but in this case I know for a fact that this product needs to either go back on the drawing board, or at the very least a few more pence worth of better quality plastic.

you need a bit of care with these to get several seasons use out of them. however if they had made it with better quality plastics then it would have cost more because they wouldnt sell as many. used it twice so far. very effective - quickly get really long roots in broad beans and peas and you can stop the little b****rs getting to the young plants.

I bought 2 of these kits. I like this product and my beans are growing well to date, however, each kit stated it included a clear plastic lid but they weren't in the packs.