Topic: DIY plant-pots

[kenkew]

I've run out of loo rolls so I bought some 2" plastic water pipe today and sawn it up into 4" lengths and sown 3 trays full of individual seeds. (Mainly more sweetpeas.) Made a tamper from a piece sawn off my shed broom handle.

Also trying out film canisters. Made a tamper from a modified lid before I discovered that the cork from my bottle of porto fitted perfectly.

[Sparky]

Can someone please fill me in on the loo roll thing... dosn't the compost some out of the end?  And what do you stand them all up in?

Sparky

[kenkew]

Stand them in a seed tray or the like. (I use a rubber band to seperate seed types and to keep 'em from falling over. Pack your compo in, no matter some goes between, keeps them firm. Tamp the compo down. Put your seed(s) in and sift compo over them. As the seed roots it firms up the compo (as it does when you water anyway) so if you want to move them, no problem. Plants like sweetpeas have a long root and planting the whole thing out, loo roll an' all saves disturbing the root. I'll probably do the same with my sweet corn next month.

[Garden Manager]

Ever tried Newspaper Ken?

Use a tin can as a template and you can make loads.  WITH BOTTOMS! Biodegradeable to of course, just plant them out whole.

Only dont make the mistake i made the last batch i did. Made them too thin and they broke down TO soon! ::) Lol

[Sparky]

Thanks kenkew, it all makes sense now!!

 8)
Sparky

Will try it with beans as they have long roots don't they?

[kenkew]

I did half of my beans in plasic pipe cut offs. At planting time I simply pushed the 'plug' out with a piece of round wood from bottom to top. Minimal root disturbance. Worked very well for sweetcorn I grew for a friends, too. This year MY sweetcorn gets the same treatment.

[aquilegia]

Richard - newspaper - excellent idea. I have so many wildflower seeds that need to be sown direct (poppies, etc). But everything that goes into my soil small gets eaten by slugs. I'll try them in newspaper first. thanks! :D

[DarkSkies]

Ever tried Newspaper Ken?

Use a tin can as a template and you can make loads.  WITH BOTTOMS! Biodegradeable to of course, just plant them out whole.

Only dont make the mistake i made the last batch i did. Made them too thin and they broke down TO soon! ::) Lol

So how thin was too thin.  I assume three sheets of paper would be enough, or more?

[Garden Manager]

Depends on the size of pot you want darkskies. For a 3" or 3.5" pot a single sheet of 'tabloid' size newspaper folded in half will suffice. Foe l;arger (say 4" or 5") then more paper is required. I tried to use the same quantity for larger pots as for the smaller ones and it didnt work!

[Xanadu]

I have seen something in gardening catalogue, called paper potter. I wanted to get one but they can be quite pricey. Can you guide me step by step how to make them please, and do they have a bottom. Thank you.

[kenkew]

There's quite a few ways to make them. One of the simplest it to use a round glass jar like a jam-jar, or better still an empty beer can with the top and bottom cut completely off to leave just a tube. (Sharp edges!)
Fold a sheet of newpaper to suit the can and leave about 2" overlap on one end. Roll it round the can. Fold one quarter of this towards the centre. Do the same at the opposite side. Then fold over the other two quarters. Put the can on a flat surface 'paper' end down and 'screw' it round a bit. This holds the paper bottom in place. Now push the centre of the paper bottom into the can enough so that they form a flat base. Take out the tin and if you fold over the top edge a little it will firm it up more.
I know how to make square ones but I'll have to draw it out and post a pic for it to make sense.
Happy rolling!

[kenkew]

I've been having a little practice! Tried coke and beer tins...too tall, too narrow. Tried a glass, too difficult to get the 'can' off. Ended up with a baked beans tin. (I'm full to bursting!) It worked OK. Below took me about 1/2 hour. A little preparation would have halved that time.

[Garden Manager]

Kens method sounds about the same as mine, with a few modifiacations.  I described the method some time ago (in this forum I think). If you do a search or have a look through the old topics you should find it.

Update:

Full instructions on how to make my paper pots can be found in "The Basics" Page 9 topic titled
"Making your own pots/containers" on page 2 of this topic.

Or You can just follow KK's method! lol

[Sparky]

Have done the loo roll thing with my broad beans but... no sign of the beans yet (bit early as only just planted them) instead i seem to be growing lots of white hairy mould type stuff!  Will it cause any probs to beans or should i throw them out and start again?

Sparky