A Beginner's Garden: Using Recyclable Newspaper Plant Starting Pots

In my article, Make Biodegradable Plant Starting Pots from Newspaper, learn to make your own recyclable plant starting pots from your stash of old newspapers. Children will enjoy helping make these little pots. The process is easy, and it is a good afternoon or evening project.

To keep my seed starting costs as low as possible, I scavenge old cell trays from friends and neighbors, and I save any I might have from purchased plants. I never have very many of these, so I use lots of newspaper starter pots. The size of your newspaper pots is determined by the size of the cylinder you use to roll them. For single seed pots, I use an old plastic spice container that makes a pot about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Flat styrofoam trays like those used in the supermarket meat department make ideal waterproof trays for newspaper pots. If you save the trays from meat purchases, they MUST be completely clean and disinfected. You can probably buy some new, clean trays from your grocer for a very small price. Save them, wash them, and reuse them when you start next year's garden plants. They stack neatly and take up very little storage space.

The typical 6 X 8 inch styrofoam tray holds one dozen of my small starter pots. Besides providing a waterproof base for the plants so they can be moved safely and easily, the styrofoam is an excellent insulator for plants that will be in a cool window. Pictured are one dozen little pots with red cabbage seedlings about 3 days old. The clear "mini-greenhouse" cover was once a lettuce container. It is the perfect size to cover the tray and pots until the seedlings outgrow it.

On planting day, fill the newspaper pots with sterile starting mix. I used sphagnum moss to start my plants, because it has some natural properties that reduce the chances of damping off. Damping off is a soil-borne fungus disease that kills tiny seedlings by causing stems to rot and break over right at the soil line. It typically occurs within the first 10 days or so after seeds germinate.

Plant the seeds in the newspaper pots and water them by filling the tray with tepid water. As the pots wick the water up, add more tepid water to the tray until the surface of the soil is damp. Water your plants from the bottom this way, and the plants will develop strong root systems that reach down to the bottom of the pot. This method also makes it easy to use a liquid organic fertilizer to feed your seedlings. Use the newspaper plant pots as watering guides. Keep the newspaper pots moist, and the roots will have adequate soil moisture.

Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts can usually go directly from their paper pots into the early garden. My tomatoes, eggplant and peppers usually need to be transplanted into larger paper pots before they are finally transplanted into the garden. Use your biodegradable newspaper pots to start herb and flower seeds, too.

Source: Personal Experience