Allotments 4 All
General => Top Tips => Topic started by: Multiveg on October 22, 2004, 09:48:57
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In Organic Gardening Magazine November 2000, John Yeoman (he does the gardeningguild/the village guild website) wrote about paper economy.
Cover one sheet of newspaper thinly with left-over wallpaper paste, sprinkle seeds of your choice on it sparsely, press another sheet of newspaper on top and leave it to dry overnight in an airing cupboard. - This could be cut into strips or squares for individual seeds. When laying strips, sprinkle fine sand/sterilised soil on top.
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from Gardeningguild:
Seed Blanket A very large Seed tape which can be cut into artful shapes so that one's seed bed can be laid out with the delightful precision of an Astrakhan carpet. A Seed Blanket, of course, is a sheet of kitchen paper brushed with flour and water paste, sprinkled with seed in any desired combinations and locations, and a further sheet placed upon it to dry.
Seed Tape: a Seed Blanket cut into strips. Or circles. Or even artistic shapes of any size or dimension. Thus may you rear any plant of your choice from seed in a most complex design (yay, even one that swathes an entire garden) - without the labour of setting out each wretched plant.
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MV, Are you a member of the Gardening Guild too then?
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Well, just registered. Not sure I want to go the extra mile and subscribe. Might even consider buying Gardening Secrets that Time forgot.
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I would go with the flour and water, but surely wallpaper paste has a fungicide in it that could be detrimental to the germination.
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You can get fungicide-free wallpaper paste at http://www.healthy-house.co.uk/ (it's not cheap :()
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My god I love the sound of this, I can space my seeds standing up in my kitchen, saving my terrible back and out of the wind. after dark and then pop them in quickly the next day.
Are there any veg that don't appreciate this method?
So I cut my tape and I sow it, do I sow it flat (like this: --) or vertically (like this: l)?
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If you want flour and water paste, put some flour (you'll have to work out the quantities by trial and error) into water, keep stirring, and bring to the boil. Let it cool. We always made our own when I was a kid. I suspect cornflour would be easier as it isn't prone to form lumps like wheat flour.
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Really like this idea. It is certainly something to try. Thanks for this Multi. :) busy_lizzie
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What an absolute stroke of genius. I'll be doing this for sure!
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Homemade Seed Tape
Directions:
1. Cut newspaper strips about 1” wide. (If you cut strips off the edge of a newspaper page, you can make sure the strips are straight.)
2. Mix a sticky paste of flour and water - the consistency of thick gravy or soft pudding seems to work well.
3. Using a Q-tip or small artist’s paintbrush as an applicator, dab paste on the newspaper strip, spacing the dabs the right distance apart for the type of seed you’re planting.
4. Place a seed on each dab and set the strip aside to dry. Both large and small seeds lend themselves to this method, but you may find that tweezers are helpful in handling smaller seeds.
5. Plant the seed tapes in a furrow, seed side up, and cover as you normally would.
6. Keep seeds and seedlings well watered.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/GREENWIZARD/jkl.jpg)
From “Easy Things to Make … To Make Things Easy” by Doreen Greenstein, published by Brookline Books, P.O. Box 1047, Cambridge, MA 02238, 1-800-666-BOOK
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Wow, brilliant, thanks - must try if I ever get time ;D
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Due to the problems with fungicides in wallpaperm pastes, us teachers just tend to water down pva glue nowadays. This may well work for seed tapes - water based and organic (I think)
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Did anyone try it for this year? I didn't! Might try for next year though.
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Yes, tried them for the first time with spinach, onion and beetroot last week. The spinach is sprouting very happily, no sign of onion or beetroot yet ... :P
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Last week for beetroot? will it grow ok? How long does beetroot take to produce decent sized roots?
Derekthefox :D
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what a brilliant idea, can`t wait to try it!.
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Beetroot are up! This is experimental D, but at the very least I will have beet greens this winter! I will DEFINITELY do this again, super tip, the spinach and onions are up and look very trim! 8)
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My god I love the sound of this, I can space my seeds standing up in my kitchen, saving my terrible back and out of the wind. after dark and then pop them in quickly the next day.
Are there any veg that don't appreciate this method?
So I cut my tape and I sow it, do I sow it flat (like this: --) or vertically (like this: l)?
Not sure you got an answer to this A, but it should work either way (just not upside down). But noticed in another book the idea of chopping up the seed tape and making a little ball of it before popping through holes in black plastic for e.g. lettuce on weedy ground. Wow. ;D
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I am so tempted by this idea, sounds like I can use the evenings to prepare the tapes, then plant them later on . . .
Derekthefox :D
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Ideal gardening activity to do when the winter nights come marching in.
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I wonder....could you use masking tape? I know it remains sticky, but cut 1/2m lengths and lay them out where they wont get stuck to other things.......
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I think its a brilliant idea - I will be trying this method (when I get our allotment dug over).
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I wonder....could you use masking tape? I know it remains sticky, but cut 1/2m lengths and lay them out where they wont get stuck to other things.......
You would have to use them straight away - not a job for cold winter evenings, and transport up the lottie might be a tad difficult.
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If you used flower and water it would dry hard so you would not be able to role them up like tape. You would have ridged paper sticks which would be a little difficult if you are carrying then down in a bag on foot. So it aint quite tape.
The_Snail
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Hey SS, I use wallpaper paste in blobs (remember caps for pop guns were like blobs on a roll? showing my age :-X) and didn't spread the whole tape, so mine roll up a treat. Touch and go when I got to the plot to lay the last lot though, had to work fast cos it was pouring down and they got soggy in no time! :'( Great results with the spinach ;D
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I remember the old cap rolls, they used to be pink tapes with blobs of gunpowder inpregnated in them. I used to use them fo my cap gun.
I will have to try that. Going to find some seed and have a go later on. It would work well I suppose with radish seeds or beetroot or better still carrots saving thining them out and attracting the dreaded root fly.
The_Snail
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I remember those rolls of caps, they cost a penny, the same as a small bar of chocolate. The smell of the gunpowder smoke was unforgettable.
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Can I pass this on please? It sounds a brilliant idea.
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I am going to do a trial with flour paste. I will keep yuo informed.
The_Snail
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I am going to do a trial with flour paste. I will keep yuo informed.
The_Snail
the last trial i went to was for sheepdogs and they where all found guilty!!! ;)
KevB
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;D ;D ;D
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Still funny though !!!
Derekthefox :D
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I remember the cap guns. Creating the bang by scraping your fingernail across the roll was much tougher thiough. Hard school mine. ;)
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I used to get yellow melted-looking dents in my fingernails doing that.
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And me !!!
Derekthefox :D
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Have made a note to try doing some of these seed tapes with carrot as Snail suggested, sounds like that one would indeed solve a few problems.
A job for Christmas day afternoon I think, when everyone else is watching telly, I shall be laying strips of paper out on the table and messing about gleefully with paste and carrot seed ;D
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Ha ha I have this image of you, tongue stuck out sideways, paste and seeds all over your hands and hair, tapes tangled everywhere, whilst the rest of the family are oblivious ...
Sorry, I have a wicked imagination sometimes !!!
I will be suffering the normal after-effects of indulging in too much food, and alcohol ...
Derekthefox :D
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Another top seed tape tip is to make seed tape balls ::)
e.g. for tiny seeds, like carrot, if you wanna be fussy you can plant a couple on your tape, then when dry snip into sections and roll loosely. Then make a furrow, take your bit of downpipe, drop the balls down at intervals, and plant the furrow without bending! :o
That one's from a gardening book for older peeps, so ignore you young sprouts if you wish ... :P ;D
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Anything that eases the bending Sarah!!! That is something I am noticing from planting time now, is the backache from continually bending down ...
Derekthefox :D
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I read cornflour makes a stronger glue for these than ordinary flour ..
To store them roll them up and put them in a big glass jar with some powdered milk in the bottom, Apparently the powdered milk absorbs any moisture..cheers..Jim
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suppose cornflower would be good to use if you have a gluten problem. As flour is bad for you if you injest it or get it on your skin.
Good tip growmore.
The_Snail
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I agree, good idea growmore, I never knew that cornflour makes a better adhesive ...
Derekthefox :D
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I read once about someone mixing small seeds with wallpaper paste and using an icing bag (more usually used for cake decoration) to get them distributed evenly in the furrows - though I suppose you need to work out the quantities of paste per meter by running a few experiments first.
I think you can also use this for seeds which you have pre-germinated in the warm but wouldn't take to too much handling.
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... although it doesn't result in the even spacing you get from seed tape. For more on fluid sowing see http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,14136.msg137025/topicseen.html#msg137025 8)
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I used seed tapes last year, they were an unmitigated disaster.
The birds pulled them out and flew off with them.
This year I will cover the beds.
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:'( amphibian that's a new one! but the appeal of giant worms with seed garnish is understandable from the birdies point of view ;D good luck this year ;)
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Making Your
Own Seed Tapes!
Seed tapes are an easy way to plant a row of seeds with precision spacing. This is a valuable technique when you have a short supply of seeds, or each is very expensive. It provides for uniform spacing and avoids the need to thin out sprouting seedlings. Control freaks also love that they can predetermine plant spacing without having to "eyeball" it on the spot.
Simply put, seed tapes are just seeds fastened to some sort of thin biodegradable paper by an adhesive that itself is biodegradable. This allows for the plant roots to grow through the paper as the adhesive dissolves around the seed so as not to obstruct growth.
In a small pan, dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in 1 cup of cold water. Cook over a medium flame, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from getting lumpy. Once it starts to boil and turns into a translucent gel-like mixture, remove it from the stove, and let it cool to room temperature.
Get some paper towels, leaving the sheets attached, and tear off a section of about five feet. Cut the length of the towels into long strips that are about 1/2 to 3/4 inches wide.
Take a look at your seed package and determine the proper planting distance for this variety. You might want to gently label a corner of each tape with the name of the variety it will plant. This will avoid confusion later and help you to properly label your garden plantings.
Take the cooled cornstarch mixture and put a few spoonfuls into a small plastic bag. Work the gel mixture toward one corner of the bag, removing as much excess air as possible, then seal the bag. Next you'll need to snip off the corner of the bag to create a pastry bag like tool, similar to those that bakers use to ice cakes. If you are doing more than one type of seed, think about the size of the cut you make in the bag first. Smaller seeds will only need a tiny speck of gel, while larger ones may need a glob. It's always possible to put a bigger notch in the corner of the bag if you need bigger globs, so start with your small seeds first.
At this point it's a simple matter of dabbing on the gel at the right spacing (use a ruler and pre-mark lightly with a pencil) and putting the seed in each dab. If your seeds are very small, you may want to put the seed into the cornstarch gel mixture (after it's cooled) before even placing it into the bag. Then you can mix them together and seed the tape by simply dabbing in the right spots.
One creative use of seed tapes is to plant them in patterns. This would allow you to precisely determine where various flowers or foil age will grow in relation to each other. Think how your loved one would like their name in flowers! Or how about your street address spelled out in daisies?! The possibilities are endless.
I made my own tapes but instead of using a bag a bourght a medicine
syringe from the local cheimest for 35p.
Works great
Bill........
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Has anyone else had a go at making these seed tapes? The approaching autumn has got me thinking for next year. I didn't get round to doing any this year though.
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I did them at this time last year for spinach and overwintering onions, and they worked a treat! And again in April for carrots (nothing appeared) and kale (patchy). Probably best sown when it's rainy ::)
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Have made a note to try doing some of these seed tapes with carrot as Snail suggested, sounds like that one would indeed solve a few problems.
A job for Christmas day afternoon I think, when everyone else is watching telly, I shall be laying strips of paper out on the table and messing about gleefully with paste and carrot seed ;D
Ah ha.... can you use wrapping paper?????
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Soak a piece of wrapping paper in water. If it disintegrates easily when wet, it should do the job :)
if you use different coloured paper for different seeds, if you try to plant them on a windy day and they all get mixed up in a tangle you'd be able to sort them out easier
:-[
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HI
I am thinking about a seed blanket for my japanese onions as the weathers getting worse i just wondered if i might just create 3 blankets made of 2 full sheets for news paper as described earlier and that way i can space them out and i dont have to weed between them?
The bed is 10ft by 4ft hence the 3 double pages.
C7
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how soon after putting the seeds onto the tape do you need to plant them?
I am hoping to get them in on sunday and do the seed tape saturday night
cambourne7
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that should be fine cam :)
good luck!
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going to need it i think
will remember camra and you can have a look at the site :-)
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;D ;D ;D
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A brillaint suggestion
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Just found this thread - what a great idea, can't wait to give it a go :)
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Even though I started this thread, I still haven't got round to doing these homemade seed tapes! Maybe one day when pigs might fly?