recycling news - newspaper pots

[Salty Thumb]

Snowed last week, but mostly melted now. With all the talk about spring around the corner, I'm thinking about starting peppers in newspaper pots. Any current advices? In particular, I've read that (corn?) gluten is a inhibitor, so I use something like flour as glue, will that be a problem? Or is there a good way to hold the pot together with just the newspaper?

Here's an article that is pretty much representative of past advice:

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A Guide to Making Newspaper seed pots!

If you want to make a few of them, then... You Need:

A newspaper (perferably one that prints with soy ink) A Pill Bottle (or something round about the diameter of a Silver Dollar) A Roll of Masking Tape (optional)

Tear newspapers into strips about four inches wide Roll newspaper strips around pill bottle, leaving about an inch overhanging Fold overhanaging part down around the bottom of the pill bottle. Tape toghether with a small piece of masking tape Slide pill bottle out. Repeat.

If you want to make a bazillion of them, then...

You Need:

A bunch of newspaper (perferably one that prints with soy ink) A Pill Bottle (or something round about the diameter of a Silver Dollar) A Couple of Rolls of Masking Tape (optional) A Daytimer or other scheduler A Group of Boy Scouts or other Youth Service Organization

October: Collect all the newspaper that you can from you neighbors and friends. Boy Scouts are particulary skilled at this.

November: Shred the paper in 4 inch strips starting November 1, and working right of through the Thanksgiving Holidays (for those in the U.S.A). December: Start Making the seed pots at about a million per day through Christmas (for those who celebrate it) intersperse your seed pot making with doing other holiday decorations.

January: Fill the approximitly bazillion seed pots with seed potting mix (see another post for amounts and quantities) Order Seeds from Catalog or if making for the following season, start watching the commodities market)

NOTE: Here is where the Schedular comes in handy. For the month of february there are several task that need to happen consecutively.

February: Plant seeds in seed potitng mix that is placed in the bazillion newspaper seed pots. Water well. February 2nd: Clean up water that over flowed unto the floor from watering too many newspaper seed pots. February 3rd: Seed pots dry out. Water again. (there is assumption that you have some sort of handy method to water all bazillion seed pots in a 24 our period. March: Frist sign of seedlings, thin them out March 17: St. Patricks Day, sit in seedling room around the green plants (if you celebrate) April: Mold hits, seedlings die. Discard bazillion seed pots in compost pile. May: Start cruising the K-Mart for seedlings June: (Zone 8) Plant seedlings in garden, Cover using Plastic Milk Jugs as frost protectors. If you don't have plastic Milk Jugs, have Boy Scouts collect them.

July: Mulch seedlings using the bazillion seed pot compost. August: Harvest early fruting plants September: Harvest everything else. October: Collect all the newspaper that you can from your neighbors and friends. Make this an annual event. November: Take newspaper to recycler get paid real money so you can buy seedlings in the spring.

Here's to good gardening,

rick

[Salty Thumb]

Made some newspaper pots the other day. Decided to pass on cutting them in strips worry about them falling apart, so i just made little origami pots (yes 2nd grade art class does come in handy). They fall apart readily ... until you stick soil in them. The soil pressure seals the folds together so they seem to work pretty well. Just fold up the corners of a square of newspaper to make walls and then fold the tops in. Mine are 2 ply. They've been watered from the top and seem to be holding up fine, despite the newspaper turning slightly yellow after being out

[Janice]

I did the strips and yup they'll fall apart if you try to move them before they're to the stage when the roots have filled the ring of paper, that's why you make them various sides from little finger or ring finger diameter for something you want to move when it has a leaf or two, and has a tiny seed to begin with, to say the toilet paper roll size ring. You choose the container size to meet the size of the ring.

The rings appear all too fragile, but when they're all filled, with some soil between them, that single sheet of paper is *just* enough to encourage those young roots to turn and grow within the ring. Once they're full enough of roots, I just use a popsicle stick or old knife of spoon to poke down the side of the plant's news paper ring and pop it up and after one is out, I find that my index or index and middle finger sufficient to gently slip under and lift the plants and yup the rings do break open easily at that point but the roots hold the soil together long enough to go into the next pot or ground. And we want it to break at that point to disintegrate and not retard any further growth of the plant.. the thicker paper will break down, but not as readily.

When I first read about making those newspaper rings in the book.. I think it was Grow Vegetables the Chinese Way, or Grow more vegetables the Chines Way. It was a Sunset book or one like them, thin, paperback book my dad bought, I was skeptical about something so flimsy as a piece of wet newspaper being strong enough to start seedlings in, but I tried it and it worked!

A friend of mine made the little pots too. I'm not that talented or dexterous, and I don't have that much newspaper, so I just make rings and fill 'em up with potting soil and wet 'em down and plant seeds in 'em and pluck 'em out as needed!

I imagine if you tear the origami types open on the side and bottoms, when you plant, they'll work ok too!

Have fun! ;-)

Janice

[Salty Thumb]

Janice wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Hi Janice,

Thanks for the tips, I will have to try some your way. btw, you are right about the newspaper strength. I picked up one of mine (wet since yesterday) and it was no where near breaking. That's probably why rings are good ... a built-in break where the roots can leak out after planting.