How to Make Paper Pots For Planting

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If you start your own seeds or do any sort of transplanting I have 3 words for you ... ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! That means you should pay attention to what I'm about to say. Sometimes it also means a tornado is coming, but in this case it means if you want to use paper pots for planting your seedlings, now is the time to start making them.

Find out how to make paper pots for your seedlings.

Skip right to the instructions.

First off I have to say something very controversial. I like plastic pots. Which are in fact made of plastic. I think they're superior in a lot of ways to anything else for starting seeds. They hold moisture well and you can reuse them for decades.

In a post coming up I'm going to outline all the different "pots" I use for planting and why, but for now I'm going to teach you how to make newspaper pots which are an environmentally friendly way to pot up your sprouts for direct planting into the garden.

It's seed starting season so if you want to make this the year you finally start your own seeds and grow a garden full of vegetables listen up.

MATERIALS

A paper pot form OR
Any straight sided glass bottle with a recessed bottom
Newspaper

INSTRUCTIONS

Wrap newspaper around the bottle smush the bottom together and WHAMMO, you have a paper pot.

I RECOMMEND USING A GLASS BOTTLE.

Sorry for yelling, but it seemed the best way to make my point. The paper pot makers you can buy create very small pots only suitable for very small seedlings.

Wanna make paper pots? Grab some newspaper, a bottle with A RECESSED BOTTOM, and ... well that's it actually. That's all you need. Read on and you'll find out how to make the paper pots and WHY your bottle needs to have a recessed bum.

Step 1

Rip or cut a piece of newspaper.

It should be the height you want your pot to be, plus an inch or two. *

* One inch if your pot is narrow, two inches if it's wide.

Step 2

Roll your bottle until all the paper is wrapped around it.

Step 3

Starting with the seam of the newspaper, push the paper into the recessed bottom.

If you use a can or bottle, or something that isn't recessed on the bottom, the paper won't stay in position and your bottom won't form.

Then your plant will fall out the bottom. The bum is important.

Step 4

Continue to push the newspaper in until it's all wrapped under the bottle.

Push it hard with your fingers or hand.

This will help crease the newspaper and make it more inclined to hold it's shape and not fall apart.

Done

You now have a paper pot.

My apologies to everyone who thought they were going to end up with weed. Now go finish your Cheez Doodles.

If you did a good job your pot will stand up all on its own without any soil or anything in it. If it doesn't stand up on its own don't worry about it, it will once you fill it with soil.

QUESTIONS/ANSWERS

Don't the pots fall apart when you water them? Nope. Not for the month or two you have your seedlings in them. Don't however leave the paper pots in standing water all day and night. Then they will indeed fall apart on the bottom.

Can you plant the entire pot? Yep. Come planting time if you want you can plant the whole plant, pot and all, which is handy for any plants that are sensitive and don't like to have their roots disturbed.

How often should I water them? More often than you would a seedling in a plastic pot. The newspaper wicks away moisture which makes these pots dry out faster than a plastic pot.

What about the ink? This one is up to you. Most newspapers are printed with soy based ink which is perfectly fine and biodegradable. Additives include the pigment which are sometimes organic and sometimes chemical based, and waxes which might be added to help the ink dry faster.

Personally, I think of all the things that might kill me, a newspaper pot isn't high on the list.

The moral of this story? Nothing. There is no moral to this story at all. Now go make a paper pot.