Paper rolls for starting plants???

[sunnychooks]

I saw a piece in ME News about using cardboard toilet paper rolls to start seeds indoors. It said to cut the rolls into 3" pieces, fill with dirt and plant the seeds. The point is that the plants could be put into the ground without disturbing the roots, roll and all. The roll would decompose in time. Has anyone heard of or tried this??? I'm thinking that the cardboard roll would not break down that quickly. Does this make sense to anyone?

 

[Dawn419]

I use tiolet paper rolls for staring seeds of plants that don't like being transplanted and have had nothing but positive results. The rolls don't break down very fast in drier conditions, but they do break down eventually. I use this method especially to give gourd seeds a head start in the growing season.

Hope this helps!

Dawn

 

[silkiechicken]

Hey, I like that idea!!! Just need something with a solid bottom tray.

 

[patandchickens]

I use 'em as anti-cutworm collars (cut in half, to get two out of each roll). They're great for that.

I've never used them as pots but I have used newspaper to make similar pots and was not impressed with the results. Be interesting to try, though.

Pat

 

[Dawn419]

Hey, I like that idea!!! Just need something with a solid bottom tray.

silkiechicken,

I forgot to add in my prior post that I use coffee filters (100 for $1.00 from the Dollar Store) placed inside of the rolls to keep the soil mix from falling out of the bottom.

patandchickens,

I've made newspaper pots also and don't care for them either...they fall apart too easy, in my opinion, as opposed to the toilet paper roll pots.

Dawn

 

[OCMG]

I have a lot of them stored and will be using it once I run out of my peat pots, I like them too.

It is the same principle as the rolled up newspaper, you cut paper the length about 3 " and roll around something like a tomato paste can and turn under the bottom paper and you have an item like the rolls, they work well too.
The paper may break down faster than the rolls though.



:tools

 

[patandchickens]

Dawn,

OK, sounds like you have a good basis for your recommendation and you have convinced me to try it! Now I just have to save up enough of 'em to be able to use for cutworm collars AND pots...

Thanks for the idea,

Pat