In the past we have slowly collected lots of yogurt cups and bowls to use for starting seeds and then throw them away after planting. We also buy the peat pots you can plant directly in the ground and not disrupt the plant roots. Depending on the amount you need though, these can get expensive. So this year we are making our own paper pots 🙂
I have found two popular ways to make these planting pots. You can either roll them into the cylindar shape you see in the picture above, or you can fold them oragami style into the square shape you see. I have made a couple of both to test if either holds up better then the other.
To make either of these you will need newspaper. It’s your choice whether you use color newspaper or not – while newspaper ink is supposed to be soy-based now, the jury is still out whether the additives used for coloring are safe. I’ve decided to use some color paper and take off most of the excess when I plant it.
Oragami Style Pot
Right now I really like the square folded pots. They were able to stand up nicely on their own, making it easy to fill with dirt, and actually look fairly nice as far as newspaper pots go. A disadvantage here could be the bottom – they are not as thick as the other pots so I can see them falling apart by the time we go to plant them. Since we just started seeds in them though, its too early to tell (look for an update later).
One tip for making these pots: Make sure you have enough on top to make the ‘flap’. A few of the first ones I folded had very small flaps and kept trying to unfold. These flaps keep the sides together, and you can either fold them outside or fold them inside so you can’t see them once they are filled with dirt. Below are the links I used to make these.
Folding:
How to make a plant pot out of newspaper
Make a newspaper seed-starting pot
Cylindar Shapped Pots
There is a wood paper pot maker you can buy, or there are several suggestions on the internet to use a cup, soup can, or any other round object you can.
A few tips for making these: They are quick to make, but you need to have a straight, smooth object, otherwise they do not want to stay together. They will also need to be placed in a tray or other container close together to be filled with dirt. Too much extra handling will make the bottom start to come out, especially with dirt inside. They do have thicker bottoms though, so I think they might hold together better as the seedlings grow. Time will tell. Below are the links I used to make these.
Rolling:
Make your own newspaper seed-starting pot
Create a seed-starting pot
So go ahead and try making your own seed starting pots this year. It is easier then you might think, recycles extra newspaper you might have around, and is one less item you need from the store to start your garden this year 🙂
