With seeds starting season at its very beginning, I have realized that I don’t have enough pods to get me through! I debated about just buying a few more flats, but decided instead to buy a bag of organic seed starting mix and try to make my own pods out of recycled newspaper.
I found this great tutorial on Little House in the Suburbs and, even though I couldn’t find any tape (figures, right?), decided to give it a go.
Grab a newspaper or a free local paper/periodical (no glossy pics, just straight paper and print), open it up and remove any staples.
Take 2-3 pages (depending on how thick you want it to be…remember, you’ll be rolling these, so less winds up being fine) and tear them into 3-4 inch strips (the wider your strip, the deeper your pod will be, I made mine pretty deep because I was preparing to plant tomatoes and peppers in them).
Take a strip and begin rolling it into itself. Once it’s rolled, place a rubber band around it to hold it in place (if you have tape…YAY! You can use that instead).
Now, take your newly folded rectangle and slide it into your tube. This will create the bottom of your tube. Remember, I did it this way because I couldn’t find tape. You can also fold in the bottom of your tube and tape it together. That would probably be easier, but this way worked out fine (it just stretched my imagination a little further than it usually goes at 6AM) 😉
Finally, place your new pods on a plate or an extra sheet of newspaper, fill them with seed starting soil (this step is incredibly messy), moisten the soil and plant your seeds!
Place your newly started seeds in a tray and put them under your grow lights. These guys won’t last forever, but neither do the pods you buy at the store. The newspaper will decompose, so when it’s time to transplant them out, all I’ll have to do is remove the rubber band and plop them in the ground or in another pot.
Ta-da!!!
JacLynn, Thanks for popping over! I am enjoying checking out your Zombie Blog (love the name, by the way)! Lots of good info!
That’s great. I can’t wait to try it out. Then I can plant them in my new raised garden bed! http://www.zombieapocalypsesurvivalists.com/2012/02/raised-gardening-beds-from-repurposed.html
Very cool! I’ve done a similar thing with toilet paper rolls, although the newspaper is sure to decompose quicker! Thanks for sharing.
-Jaime
I haven’t tried the toilet paper rolls yet. I was a bit worried about the decomposition and the glues used in the rolls. I haven’t done any research on it, I have just hesitated to use them. Do you know anything about the glues?
These are a great idea. I’ll give them a go for things like pumpkins where planting the whole pot is of benefit.
Yes! I was thinking I’d do the rest of my seed starting in them. We’ll see how it goes 🙂
Great idea! I have only one concern. What do you think may newspaper ink contain lead? If so, this heavy metal may go to seedlings. I do not know, but may be toilet paper or plain paper without prints is better.
I thought about the toxins as well! While I’m not sure about The Reporter (which is the local periodical I used this time because it’s what I had and it was free), but our local newspaper is printed on 100% recycled paper with soy inks 🙂 I’ll try to find out about The Reporter, but if they’re a no-go, I’ll revert to our local paper 🙂 Thanks for thinking about the details 🙂
Your use of a folded strip of news print on the bottom is genius actually. What it allows you to do is
1. fill it full of soil
2. grow the plant while it all sits in a seed tray
3. When time to transplant, you easily pull out the bottom bit to give the roots free range into the garden!
– cloud
Thanks, Cloud! I think they’ll work great! I’ll post an update if they don’t, though! 🙂
These are great– I’ve been contemplating what to do next after my first set of seeds in the nice store trays are all sprouted up–then I can put something new in the mini green house. These should work.
Yay! Enjoy them! They’re fin to make and have worked out well so far 🙂
thats a very inventive way, I will try that when I run out of toilet roll etc tubes next time 🙂
Thanks, Sarah! They were fun to make, though took some time. Maybe I’ll get quicker and then they’ll feel more “worth” the effort 😉
I am impressed (always) at how good you are at taking photos of everything you’re doing. I probably document 5-10% tops. can we hire you as our farm blog manager? serious ,,,,bravo
Ha! Thanks, Alex! I do love to photograph as much as I can! Hey, write up a grant proposal and I’ll manage your farm blog anytime! Eventually I’d like to give up my “day job” to work outside and play with chickens all day, so if you can make that happen, you really should make that happen 😉