Paper pots

Hi all-

I made some paper pots out of newspaper and they are the size of a soup can. I have a mesh container to hold them. They are for plants that don't like to be transplanted -- you can just plant the plant, pot and all.

I have a jillion of them, but besides poppies and zinnias, I'm not real sure which plants don't like to be transplanted! LOL! Can anybody help? Either with a link to a list of plants, or your own experience.

I'll start a list of what I heard and what I found on an ask.com search:
Poppies
Zinnias (I think they meant the older ones, not baby seedlings.)
Morning Glories
Perilla
Larkspur
Sunflowers
Trees
Milkweed
Columbine

If anybody could add to the list, I'd appreciate it!

Suzy

This message was edited Dec 11, 2006 12:22 PM

Suzy:
Would love to see a photo of your paper pots!
Deb

sunflowers, and all kinds of tree seeds don't like to be transplanted.

columbines

Illoquin: I bought a paper pot maker on ebay this year, mostly to get the instructions. But I haven't used it yet. Have you used it before? Did it work well?

I did a google search on how to make paper pots heres a link I found has pics too. http://www.ehow.com/how_1745_create-seed-starting.html

I would think you would be able to use any size container depending on what size you want to make your pots...

Suzy how thick did you make your paper pots?

Connie

This message was edited Dec 11, 2006 10:01 AM

there is a soapstone paper pot maker at Gardeners Supply.

I used the 'Spice Island's jar' and 'Campbell's soup can' paper pot makers. LOL!

Keep in mind I am new at all this seed started stuff, ok? I have no idea what I'm doing. I have no idea if it will work. It is all -- and I mean everything I'm doing -- a huge experiment which might become a huge folly, but it springs from the fact that my husband wil kill me if I have a bunch of garbage out in my backyard. SOME garbage is okay, though :)) So my bright idea was to have a few milk jugs for seed I think really needs it and devise other methods for wintersowing which aren't quite so unnattractive.

I bought 3 rubbermaid totes that are clear on the bottom and sheer to clear on the top. The idea is to drill holes top and bottom and alson the bottom inch of the sides and put paper pots in them. I should have time for an early crop of poppies and larkspur and then a second crop of zinnias and sunflowers (thanks, Gloria.).

To make paper pots: I took my newspaper and I took section at a time and simply ripped them from top to bottom into strips about 6" wide for the spice jars. I used the whole half sheet for a soup can, and folded it to fit, about 8 inches wide and the length of the newspaper. I had to fold it in half, lengthwise, with about a 2" extra piece folded over (for the soup can).

Then I took the edge of the paper and made it even with the top of the can and rolled it around the can as many times as it would go (Happy, that's the answer to your question on how thick they are...as many times as the newspaper would wrap around them.)

Then I folded the bottom like a birthday present and I taped it with a 3/8" or maybe 1/2" piece of tape. IF I were going to fill it with soil and water it right away, I wouldn't have to tape it-- the weight of the soil/water would keep it closed.

For a better explanation -- the object is to have pots that aren't ragged at the top and are closed at the bottom. There is some leeway on the width you rip the newspeper to. After you have done 1/2 dozen, you will know exactly where the paper should be torn. Not that you can get it even or exact every time, but if you make it too wide, then you will fold it over to get the exact width to go the length of the can and also have enough left over to fold underneath like a birthday present.

The most valuable information I can give you is to tell you the soup can makes a large pot which will definitely be a hunkof seedlings when you go to plant. If it were made of plastic, you would put perennials in it, but I'm not sure the newspaper will last until the middle of summer, and in fact am pretty sure it will not last until the end of summer! The spice jar size ends up being closer to the size of the core of a paper towel or toilet paper roll.

I can get 72 of these smaller ones into my tote, and I'm going to try to sow 3 poppy seeds in each one. Does that sound about right?

Suzy

This is a fuzzy picture of the strips I tore out of newspaper. I tore an entire section at a time...maybe 6 pieces of paper? Notice they are different widths.

This shows how I just folded the wider strip to be the width I wanted.

Here it is rolled up around the spice jar and you can see the folded paper at the top of the picture whichwill be on the inside of the pot.

Here is the pot, all rolled up and half tucked under (like the birthday present I mentioned). The spice jar is still inside it. I will fold over that last little flap and tape it closed. The pot, on its own, will sit at a slight angle.

oops

This message was edited Dec 11, 2006 11:33 AM

Like this

And this

The picture I took of them all lined up in the box without the lid was too blurry, so here they are in the box with the lid BUT it is staged just for you folks. I still have to drill holes top, bottom and sides before it will be ready.

Any plant with a strong tap root would not like to be transplanted, e.g. milkweed.
However, transplanting is a shock for any plant, so I'd think, none really appreciate it.

This message was edited Dec 11, 2006 10:58 AM

IIIoquin, you are doing a great job with paper pots! I've been using them for years. At first I started by buying one of those nicely crafted maple units from Gardeners Supply ($15) but soon realized a jar or can would work as easily. I start lots of vegetable plants that way, too, and not just plants that are fussy about having roots disturbed. For most seeds I use a 12-ounce jelly jar and for large seeds like gourds I use a pint jar. A great way to start early planting in late March. When setting the plants into the garden I am careful to tear the top part of the paper back down to the moist part, leaving no dry portion of paper near or above the soil line to wick moisture away from the young plant (as peat pots sometimes do.)

I've been cutting my strips with scissors. Tearing the paper will be faster. Thanks for the idea! Yuska

Yuska, My hands are really black after a session! LOL!

Here is a picture of the soup cans in the plastic mesh bin -- it is a bulb bin from Holland via a large order or two from B&B.

And as long as I had to pull the camera out again, I took a picture of what the smaller pots look like in the bin -- notice there is plenty of headroom.

Yuska,

I wanted to get those pictures posted, and now I have some questions for you -- Why you use such big sizes...I can't imagine having plants that big at set out time. I am hoping for plants as big as what's in the garden centers, and those are in little cellpacks!

Are you winter sowing or growing under lights?

Suzy

Enya,

I don't actually know which plants have taproots -- can you think of any more besides milkweed?

Suzy

It might not be what you have in mind, but a lot of Oaks have large tap roots that grow larger than the top of the plant.

Here's a link about origami paper pots. They work fine, but I doubled the thickness on mine. They turn out to be just the right size to fit in nursery trays

http://www.geocities.com/newspaperpots/

http://www.mygreengarden.ca/seedstartingboxes.html



Edited to add that second link to another origami pot site

This message was edited Dec 22, 2006 3:14 PM

Here's a picture of some Cleomes from this summer

Hi Claypa,

I read that webpage this past summer, but I had 2 problems with it...I didn't understand how you'd use both sheets from the pictures - the directions lok like 1 vertical and 1 horizontal -- and now I understand, just one half at a time placed horizontally in front of you (and I see that you only use one -- or in your case to double the thickness, so two.)

The other problem was that the newspaper was in Japanese and I wasn't sure if their newspapers were the same size as ours LOL!

Now that I know if can be done, I'll try them tonight, because he's right, I did use tape, although if I were going to fill them with soil right away and water them, I suppose I wouldn't have to.

Suzy

Claypa,

I take it back -- I have no idea what that person is doing to make those pots. I just tried and tried and got Mr. Clean involved, but the shhets of newspaper are going no where. If you could send pics and a better step by step instructions sometime, it would be great. I have only 2 nursery flats like yours, but I have some bigger bulb crates. It might be fun to make some big pots.

Suzy

It is hard to explain... take , say the front page, torn so that you just have page 1 and 2, you know, or a single page from inside a section - Fold it in half, just like in a newspaper vending machine.... fold again, like you might to do the crossword puzzle.....then one more time, so it's about 6 inches or so, squarish. Then unfold the last fold, so it's back to 'crossword' fold size.
The next part is where you're forming kind of a basket .... you take the left lower corner, and bring it up to the middle, forming the angle folds in steps 6 and 7.... that's how the 'container aspect' is formed.

Maybe that will help, maybe make it worse LOL... what helped me when I figured it out was looking closely at the print on the paper he or she was using... maybe I'll try to take pictures. I'd be happy to mail you a couple 'in progress' so you can see how it's done. I did wind up cutting an inch or two off the length of our paper to make it come out a little better. Another thing that helps is to make the creases firmly, using anything handy - coffee cup, scissors handle, etc.

One thing you mentioned, about the appearance of a bunch of containers in the yard - I'm camouflaging the containers with some potted plants - grass, chrysanthemums, whatever's left over. I sure don't care what it looks like, but I don't want to hear about it from my neighbor. I catch it if I leave the lawnmower on the patio!

LOL! I think I got as far as your directions, but just by folding some corners up doesn't make a basket as far as I could see. And there is no way it makes a beautiful square box with square flaps as pictured on the website. N omatter how crisply creased I tried to do it. LOL!

I'll have to think of camouflage...but I am not planning on more than 50 milk jugs. I believe the max total was 30 a week ago. LOL!

Suzy

Once you fold the corners up, you fold them a couple more times. They came out nice and spiffy like the ones on that site... the ones in my picture had been through a lot of serious weather!

The round ones look fine anyway. The tricky part is getting them out of the bin intact.... I bet a spatula would work, if they were really wet... I'm shooting for lots of containers so hopefully less breaking off chunks of seedlings, and more single plants. We'll see.
I've seen some folks pictures of tiny seeded plants like foxgloves with only one plant per container, and I wonder how. Maybe they pinched out extra seedlings to favor just one plant?
just thinking out loud, not to change the subject . . . :)

Suzy, I noticed in your pics that your news paper has colored ink, I thought you couldn't use the paper with colors??? Just the black & white.

Connie

Naw, that was the olden days, Connie, back when newspaper dyes were bad-bad and so were red M&Ms. LOL! Now they are all vegetable dyes and possibly even organic.

Oh, Man, I didn't think about getting them OUT of the bins. You know that plastic strapping they sometimes put on the outside of cartons? I need to find some of that to slip down underneath and then have it come up the sides so I can lift out a couple of rows from the middle to make some room in the midddle to even use a spatula. Or maybe Duct tape, folded on itself so the sticky part isn't a hinderance? Hmmm, might have to think this over. Gosh, you may have prevented some mass homicides, Claypa! Thanks!

Suzy

cegoins, the glossy ad inserts and magazines might have toxic chemicals, so most people don't use them for compost or lasagna beds.
illoquin, maybe you could get a hold of some more screen nursery flats to put the pots on in the bin, or something similar. I have umpteen old gift baskets in the basement I might use for winter sowing, in big plastic bags that blankets came in etc. There's still some time left to figure this all out, hopefully!

Oh, yeah, I have those blanket zip bags, too...I'll have to think about how to use them. Maybe for some flats of 4" pots I have. I don't like how loosie goosie they are for the newspaper pots, especially the smaller ones. I need more support!

The nursery screen flats are what you're calling the ones you have, right? I'll have to make sure I get some next spring, but the whole point of growing from seed was to save me from the temptation of going to the garden centers in spring LOL!

Quite a Catch 22: I need to go to the garden center to get empty flats to save money sowing from seed, but I have to stay away from garden centers so I don't get tempted to buy anything. LOL!

Suzy

You could order the flats on line. They are called carrying flats. Parks Seed, Charlies Greenhouse. Yeah. If I go to town I spend a lot of money, and I don't get half of what I started out for. You can use aluminum baking pans--the disposable kind, and punch holes in the bottom. But, the 10 x 20 flats are good to have, if you are a gardener. They are sturdy, you can re-use them, sterilize them, and stack them.

Good Morning to all~ I just found this delightful thread for the paper pots. I too am looking for a way to ease transplanting WS poppies and other picky flowers this Spring. Thanks everyone for the instructions, insights and things to consider in making the pots, etc. Me think it will be a fun thing for the pumpkins to do this afternoon. ;0)

I didn't use paper pots for anything last year. Just sprinkled seeds into jugs. Poppies are very cold hardy and can be planted out early. The tap root is not generally an issue if the plant is very small. My poppies weren't much more than an inch tall when planted out, with only 1 or 2 sets of true leaves. They did great- photo attached.

Karen

Kq~ a question please..when did you WS the poppies, from one who had crispy fried poppies last year? ;0)

Some I sowed in the last week of December and they germinated in a January warm spell. But even in sub-zero temps later on they did fine in their jugs. I started planting into beds on March 30.

I sowed 3 or 4 different poppy types at different times and they all did equally well. The lastest ones sown were the breadseed poppy on March 8. It bloomed a week or 2 later than the others. (but maybe it would have anyway- it's a bigger, taller plant)

The attached photo is Flanders poppy taken March 8. They were just a tiny bit bigger when planted out March 30.

Karen

OMG! THOSE turned into blooming plants by July? What did you do, plant them with a
tweezers & magnifying glass? LOL!

I don't think I can plant something so small here...I don't have a blank spot big enough withough perennials or bulbs or something coming up and blocking their light or, well, just being on top of them. All it would take is one daffodil leaf to drop over and it would wipe out 20 seedlings. LOL!

Suzy

Thanks Kq..another question, please bear with the poppy crispy fryer.. when you tranplsnted the little babies did you do anything special?