this applied to a different garden site, but the question of taking the netting of was a deffinate yes by most of the people that answered. i dont think it was as much about actually affecting the growing as it was that they found the little nets in there garden for a couple of yrs later. they are a little tall, but you can burry the stem up to an inch under the leaves when transplanting, it will shoot out new roots. carefull not to keep to soggy at first though so there wont be any rotting. ive done this with no problems.