A few weeks ago I started some peas and lettuce in paper pots to plant in our cold frame. The seedlings are now growing fairly well and it’s time to put them in the frame.
Note: Some of the lettuce plants look a little spindly- I should have lowered the grow light to be closer to the soil when they were first sprouting. Otherwise I think they should do well out in the cold frame. Since we have it facing the south sunshine, the air inside has been much warmer then outside so far.
The paper pots did well holding their shape with the water and dirt. I tried two different ways to make them and can now say I think both ways works well, start to finish. The key is to have at least 2 sheets of paper with either of them. In the second picture you can see the paper was tearing as I took it out of the box. That pot was made with one sheet of paper. All the others were made with 2 or more sheets and they all held up fine.
I did tear the bottoms of the pots just before planting to make it easy for the roots to grow deep. The pea plant roots were already at the bottom of the pots 🙂 Now with some fairly nice weather, and consistent watering on my part, we should be setup to enjoy peas and lettuce later this spring!
I made the paper pots according to your directions & have my seedlings planted into them. For anyone that is interested in trying to make them. It is really easy & fast. It took less time to make two dozen of them than it would have taken to drive to the store & buy peat pots….cheaper too!!
Thank you for sharing the links to making paper pots and including how many pieces of paper to use for good results. I like that you are taking the guess work out of how to do things correctly. It makes following the instructions, and being successful, so much easier.