Topic: Fibre pots

[ACE]

I was looking into making some fibre pots out of paper, carboard etc. When I found the Pound shop was knocking them out at 48 for a quid. No contest, no faffing about with stinky paper mush for hours. A fivers worth for now and see how they do. Plastic modules might be slightly cheaper but no messing with the roots come planting out time. 

[Duke Ellington]

I bought mine from the £ shop and have bought better in the past. They are ok...if they are too wet they disintegrate so be careful when lifting them when they are damp. Cheap paper pots heavy wet soil could lead to an accident. I sowed my broad beans in them and they are now on the plot. So easy to plant out when in peat/ paper pots.

[johhnyco15]

 i use toilet roll centres for most of my pots  found fibre pots a bit hit and miss some of them dont degrade so loo rolls for me

[queenslandblue]

I bought 360 fibre pots at home bargains, they were 60 for .99p. I sowed my sweetpeas in 120 of them and these are now in the ground. The pots stayed fairly firm with the roots growing through the base.

[Duke Ellington]

I will get some from Home Bargains tomorrow. I use to use toilet rolls but maybe my loo rolls are cheap as they started to unravel last year before planting. I need to buy a better class of bog roll 

[Silverleaf]

I used folded newspaper tubes for my peas last year, and plan to do the same this year too.

I cut sheets of newspaper in half lengthwise, and fold about a third of it over (also lengthwise). I roll the paper around a spice/herb jar (Tesco sell their herbs in square jars which are perfect for maximising space) and fold the excess over at the bottom to form the base. Slip the jar out. I sharpen up the corners, but that's just me being a perfectionist and completely unnecessary.

The advantage is you can make them as deep as you like by using wider paper (or not folding it over so much) or bigger by using a larger "form", such as a deodorant can or something. The paper also costs me nothing as my boyfriend's dad gives me his papers once he's read them. (I also take a perverse delight in making something useful out of the Daily Mail, a paper that I utterly despise.)

The disadvantage is that they take time and effort to make, but I do them while I'm watching TV or listening to music or audiobooks when I wouldn't be doing anything else anyway. They also tend to break up a little at the bottom when you plant them. That's no big deal to me though, they are going in the soil at that point anyway.