With the onset of the new calendar year, every lover of growing vegetables in their own garden bed is again concerned about searching for containers for sowing. Almost all gardeners have given up the habit of growing seedlings on the windowsill in bulky wooden boxes - they are too inconvenient to transport to the dacha. In addition, tender young seedlings have time to grow into the roots of neighboring plants. The optimal solution When choosing a container for sowing, use a seedling cup.
Should I buy it in a store or make it myself?
Of course, production technologies do not stand still, and every hypermarket that respects its customers keeps in its assortment convenient containers for peat seedlings, which not only will not damage the root system young plant, but will simply dissolve in the soil. Why build your own cups when you can buy ready-made ones? The answer to this question is extremely simple. Experienced gardeners are accustomed to planting dozens or even hundreds of seeds of various vegetable and flower crops. Can you imagine how much money you will need to invest to stock up on containers for all the seeds? Therefore, we will save money and make peat cups for seedlings ourselves. In the meantime, let’s determine if there are any available materials that could become a container for seedlings.
Simple solutions from scrap materials
Even during the winter, those who like to cultivate garden beds collect plastic cylinders, juice boxes, milk cartons, and sour cream containers. Literally everything is used: from paper to thick greenhouse film. And the imagination of gardeners knows no bounds. The film is stitched with thread, cleaved with a stapler, and wound in several layers. There is another simplest way to design containers. Two-liter beverage cylinders are cut into required height and turns into a container for planting. Plastic cups for seedlings made like this in a simple way, have one small minus. However, when replanting, the root system will have to be disturbed a little. Only the removal of those plants that, during the time spent on the windowsill, did not have time to acquire long and strong roots, occurs painlessly.
Making paper cups for seedlings
Some plants are so capricious that they cannot withstand transplantation, get sick for a long time and do not take root well. As a result, while the seedling is acclimatizing in a new place, the precious time allotted for growth will be lost. Therefore, we will make paper cups for seedlings. During the winter, you can collect unwanted newspapers. Pressed cellulose obtained from recycled materials is used to print publications. It will easily rot in the garden, serving as food for omnivores.
We cut the newspapers into pieces of 10x30 cm. The newspaper sheets are quite thin, and in order for the process to go faster, you can fold them in half or three. We take an ordinary glass and wrap it with the resulting blanks in several layers. We leave a small protrusion, which will later be needed to form the bottom. Now dip the bottom edge of the paper in a small amount of glue and crumple it thoroughly, forming a bottom and firmly fixing it to the bottom of the glass. Press down the newspaper blank with a glass and let the glue dry. We repeat this simple manipulation as many times as we plan to receive blanks. Paper cups for seedlings are ready! Now they can be put away in the pantry until the sowing time.
Peat container for planting
If we are not sure about the density of newspaper sheets, we can use more complex technology manufacturing landing capacity. A peat cup will bring even more benefits to the painlessly transplanted plant. After all, when it dissolves in the soil, it actually becomes good fertilizer. You can make peat containers to your own order. We will determine it ourselves required sizes cups and fit a conical steel blank under them. We take into account the fact that in order to obtain an earlier harvest, it is necessary to sow the seeds in large, spacious containers. The root system in it will develop well, the transplant will be painless, and the plant will immediately be able to begin bearing fruit.
To make a peat cup for seedlings, we will need:
- steel conical shape of the required size;
- blank for forming cups;
- circle with a rod.
Composition of the nutritional mixture
Having found all the components of the mold for constructing future cups, we move on to making the peat base. We will need the following proportions: 50% peat, 40% cow dung and 10% black soil. Instead of black soil, you can use any other rich soil. Mix well and add azotobacterin, phosphorobacterin and water. The mixture should be quite thick in consistency.
Responsible stage of production
To begin, lower a circle with a pin to the bottom of a steel glass and fill it with the prepared peat mixture to a thickness of 2 cm. We thoroughly compact the future bottom with a blank. Now, without removing it, we will pour the solution along the edges, filling the entire gap between the steel glass and the blank. The seedling cup will not dry out if the mixture is immediately compacted when pouring. The blank can be immediately removed as soon as the peat composition fills the voids right up to the very top. It’s okay if the liner is difficult to remove; you can rock it slightly from side to side. Now all that remains is to carefully pull the rod and remove the finished glass.
Time to experiment
Not everyone gets peat cups for seedlings of perfect quality the first time. Sometimes homemade containers can disintegrate and dry out - perhaps this is because the mixture is not thick enough. Sometimes the resulting products are too dense and hard, which are difficult to dissolve in the ground when planted. The necessary skill and instinct will definitely come, even if it takes multiple repetitions.
A glass for seedlings made of polyethylene
To make a container 10 cm high and 7 cm in diameter, you will need a piece of thick film measuring 33x15 cm. Find or cut out a rectangular block to fit the size of the future cup. We make grooves in the two edges of the block that are responsible for the bottom so that the stapler can be placed in them. We cut the polyethylene blanks and begin to design the planting containers. Then we wrap the film blank around and secure it with a stapler and 5 staples. Using two of them, top and bottom, we fix the side edge, and with the rest we form the bottom, folding the ends of the film into an envelope. It's okay if more staples go on the bottom. This way you can model cups of various sizes.
Conclusion
We learned a lot about how to make seedling cups. Of course, peat or paper containers are seen the best solution compared to homemade polyethylene glasses. The idea of planting plants in the ground along with a natural glass that dissolves with water in the soil was revolutionary at one time. But only gardeners can decide which of the presented methods for making containers for seedlings is most acceptable for them. After all, not everyone will be able to find steel blanks for peat glasses, and not everyone will have enough time and patience for painstaking work with glue and paper. Therefore, making cups for seedlings is a purely individual matter.
Perhaps you will use a proven method and sow the seeds in disposable plastic containers, besides, they clearly show the condition of the root system and the degree of soil spillage. And such containers can be reused many times. Whatever container you choose for sowing seeds, we wish you a rich harvest!
Every summer season begins with growing seedlings. Everyone understands why this is done - you can significantly increase the growing season and get not only an earlier, but also a much larger harvest. There are regions in our country in which heat-loving vegetables cannot be grown in any other way.
As the first stage of development passes, so will the subsequent ones - this is the law of nature. To improve plant development, many gardeners and gardeners use peat pots. How to use these little helpers? Is it worth purchasing them for growing seedlings? Let's look at the pros and cons of such cups.
What are they made of?
Before purchasing peat pots for seedlings, find out what they are made of. Such devices are made from peat, to which cardboard or wood is added. Most of all, gardeners praise cups with a ratio of the main substance of 70% and additives of 30%. Beware of low-quality goods; it happens that unscrupulous manufacturers increase the percentage of impurities, or even use only cheap cardboard. Before buying agricultural equipment, read what is written on the packaging.
Environmental justification
Peat products have many advantages over their counterparts made from plastic, paper or ceramics. This will be a real environmentally friendly home for plants. The peat used to make containers for growing seedlings does not contain pathogenic microflora or weed seeds. Such products contain significantly lower levels of harmful toxic substances, such as heavy metals, benzopyrene residues and pesticides. The concentration of such substances will be several times lower than permissible in agriculture standards for growing plants and crops. Light-weight peat is safe for use; it does not contain pathogens of various diseases of vegetable and flower crops.
When choosing peat pots for growing seedlings, carefully inspect them. The good ones quality products The wall thickness should be one to one and a half millimeters. Such walls will be strong enough to last the entire period of plant development, but at the same time the roots of the seedlings will be able to develop unhindered. After planting in the soil, a high-quality pot will begin to quickly disintegrate, thereby facilitating the work of harvesting the fields. The decay period for quality products lasts approximately 27-32 days.
Peat pots for seedlings. Pros of use
- Due to the porous walls, the best air-water regime of the root layer is ensured. When planted in the ground, plants freely take root through the walls and bottom.
- Such containers do not contain pathogenic organisms and toxic substances, and at the same time have a high mechanical strength both in wet and dry conditions.
- When planting seedlings together with a pot in the ground, the survival rate reaches almost 100%. Later, when decomposed, the pot will serve as fertilizer.
- Due to the accelerated establishment of seedlings, more early harvest, this is mainly why seedlings are planted in peat pots.
How to use? General requirements for the use of peat pots
- The containers are filled with pre-slightly moistened nutrient soil and pressed down a little. After this it begins in peat pots. You can sow bulbs, cuttings or seedlings.
- Place the prepared cups on pallets, pesos, plastic film, gravel or layer of soil.
- Seedlings should be watered frequently, keeping the soil moist.
- Peat pots must not be allowed to dry out. How to use them correctly? Wrap each unit with film - this will help prevent drying out. Otherwise, the salt contained in the soil may crystallize and, in concentrated form, pose a danger to delicate seedlings.
- When the plants begin to grow, the pots should be spaced more freely to increase light and aeration. In addition, with a more spacious arrangement, the intertwining of the root systems of neighboring plants is prevented.
- Growing seedlings in peat pots ends with planting them in the ground. There is no need to dig up the plants; plant them directly with the old container.
Seedlings of zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkins, eggplants, squash
Seedlings of these crops do not like transplanting. To ensure that the plants take root, use peat pots for growing. How to use them? Which size would be preferable?
For cucumber seedlings intended for planting in protected soil, pots with a diameter of 11 cm are suitable. The duration of cultivation is approximately 30 days. How to plant in peat pots? One germinated seed is sown in one glass.
If you have to plant vegetables in open ground, then for seedlings of zucchini, squash and cucumbers you should choose containers with a diameter of 8 cm, for pumpkin would be better suited 11 cm and plant one in each pot. Planting depth is 1 cm. Cucumbers can be planted 2 pieces in one container.
On average, pumpkin seedlings will be ready in 20 days, and other vegetables in a month. You can calculate it yourself optimal timing landings.
The finished pots are placed on trays close to each other, watered thoroughly and left in a warm place where the temperature is maintained at 25-30 degrees until germination. When yellow-green sprouts appear, the temperature should be reduced to 20-22 degrees. Such temperature regime maintained for 2-3 days.
Watering
You should water the cucumber seedlings with warm water heated to 25-30 degrees. If there is cold watering, plants may become sick or even die.
Hardening
To prevent plant diseases after transplanting into the ground, they are hardened off - 7-10 days before planting - the rooms are often ventilated, the temperature is reduced to 15 degrees, and watered less often.
Planting in open ground
Prepared plants are planted in the soil directly in pots. Before planting, some gardeners break the cups or take out the seedlings along with a lump of earth. You can do that too. However, gardeners who used peat pots to grow seedlings leave the following reviews about planting - they believe that it is better to first make holes in the containers. As they decompose, the cups will nourish the plant, helping to produce a large harvest.
Cabbage seedlings
In March, cabbage is sown in special boxes. After the seedlings appear, they are picked out and planting in peat pots begins. Cups with a diameter of about 7 cm are suitable. You can use round specimens or peat blocks, which contain 6 cells at once. At the end of April you can begin planting in
Lettuce seedlings
Lettuce seedlings for planting in protected soil are prepared by picking the seedlings into pots. Pots measuring 50x50 mm or, as they are also called, peat cells, are suitable. In about a month, the seedlings will be ready for planting in a greenhouse or greenhouse.
The roots of many plants can penetrate the bottom and walls of peat cups. However, most gardeners do not wait for this - they focus on the size of the above-ground part of the seedlings.
Experienced gardeners say that if you immerse peat pots in water before planting warm water until the release of air bubbles from the walls stops, then in this case the soaked walls and bottom will not create obstacles and will be easily processed by soil inhabitants.
Disadvantages of peat pots
- Not all plants tolerate the acidic environment that is inherent in peat. Some manufacturers add special ingredients to their products. mineral fertilizers, as well as lime and chalk, which reduce acidity.
- Frequent watering is required.
- Evaporating from the surface of the pots, the water greatly cools the soil, as a result root system develops much worse.
- Some plants cannot break through the peat walls and have to be removed from their containers when transplanted.
- Often mold appears on low-quality pots and the walls are destroyed
- The high cost of peat cups, especially when growing large volumes of seedlings.
Unfortunately, some unscrupulous manufacturers pass off pots made from ordinary cardboard as high-quality peat products. Gardeners complain that sometimes in the fall, when digging up a plot, they find undecomposed pots with remnants of roots.
If you have moved to live on the land or you have a long-awaited dacha, where you plan not only to indulge in barbecue, but also to have a vegetable garden and even grow seedlings yourself, then, undoubtedly, you will need various containers for growing them: pots for seedlings, seedling boxes, pallets. All this wealth is now sold in abundance in any specialized store - the choice is simply huge! Let's try to figure out which seedling containers will definitely be useful to us, and which ones are not worth buying.
Or maybe not buy it, but make it yourself?
I was lucky enough to be born and grow up in a wonderful country, where most people were smart and had “golden” hands - it would have been difficult to survive in an era of total shortage otherwise. At that time, pots for seedlings were also in short supply, and my dad made wooden boxes and flower pots himself. They were terribly heavy and constantly leaked, but they WERE there!
Now the situation is completely different on store shelves large selection light and practical plastic containers for growing plants, and I think there is no point in making boxes from boards the old fashioned way.
Although you can still save money! For example, use juice and dairy products bags, yogurt boxes and sour cream glasses as containers for seedlings.
At the beginning of my gardening practice, I did just that, but quickly realized that this was only a temporary replacement: a motley group of pots and yoghurt boxes did not want to fit compactly on my seedling table (their wide necks got in the way), they tended to tilt or turn over ( unstable bottoms), containers made from milk cartons and Tetrapacks gradually became soggy. And how much space all this “good” took up later during storage was simply terrible!
Growing plants is a creative process! And in this process, the aesthetic component, in other words, beauty, occupies an important place. Maybe this is purely feminine, but for example, I really want my plants to grow in beautiful, comfortable pots that are specially designed for this! And so that later, when these pots are free, they can simply be inserted one into the other and stored compactly.
That's why I made my choice in favor of purchased containers for seedlings! From my point of view, it is more practical, durable and aesthetically pleasing!
Seedling boxes are convenient to use for growing seedlings that tolerate picking (tomatoes, basil, flowers), as well as aromatic and other perennial herbs (mint, lemon balm, sorrel, etc.) and various onions that can be grown without picking, until planting in the ground.
Thanks to the drainage grid, excess water after watering does not accumulate in the lower layers of the soil, which can lead to acidification, but enters the reservoir under the grid. And since seedlings in boxes, most often, are not grown for so long (2-3 weeks before picking), the tank does not have time to be completely filled with water.
Even if you overdo it with watering, you can always drain the excess water by carefully tilting the box. My husband came up with the idea of making a hole at the bottom of the box with a hot nail to drain excess water, but I liked it less: if I slightly tilt the box, water pours out of the hole, and for some reason it always goes right on me!
Boxes - pallets
Boxes made of thick plastic are convenient to use as trays for pots with seedlings. The only thing you should pay attention to is that the pots are tightly adjacent to the walls of the box and to each other, otherwise they will turn over (the best option is if during the purchase you have the opportunity to try your pots on the box).
Pots with removable bottom
Pots with a removable bottom are suitable for growing any seedlings, but primarily, of course, seedlings that do not tolerate pickling (peppers, eggplants, celery, etc.). They are not cheap, but very comfortable and durable! I’ve had these for nine years now, some have faded, but they’re ready to serve for more than one season, which makes me happy!
One of the disadvantages of these pots is that the bottoms are periodically lost, but I cut out new ones (from plastic yoghurt boxes). Well, it still takes a long time to wash them...
Typically, such pots are sold immediately with trays, and this is a huge plus, because when watering seedlings, water can be poured not into a pot or cell, compacting the top layers of soil, but directly into the tray. The roots themselves absorb moisture, and this is more natural for the plant than surface watering.
The salad set has a very low tray, pots constantly fall out of it. In the black set, the tray is correct, but the round, elongated shape of the pots themselves is very unstable, they constantly strive to tilt and jump out of the tray! When choosing pots with pallets, you should consider the following:
- Pallet height: it should be at least 4 cm, because you will be pouring water into the pan! In addition, on low pallets the pots are very unstable and constantly fall whenever the pallet is moved.
- Pot shape: choose rectangular pots for seedlings, round ones are unstable! Even if they fit well into the pallet, they still often tip over when moving.
- Pot size: the smallest ones (3.5x3.5cm) are only suitable for flowers or long, non-bushy seedlings such as onions and corn. Medium ones (5.5x5.5cm) are convenient for growing seedlings of cucumbers and other melons, celery root. Large ones (8x8 cm) are suitable for eggplants, peppers, and early-ripening tomatoes.
By the way, sometimes fakes are sold - pots made of thick plastic on a pallet that look like real ones, but without a removable bottom. It’s very inconvenient, there’s no way to remove the seedlings from the pot, and the tray can almost be called a tray, the pots are not secured to it in any way, they constantly fall. I once bought such a set through carelessness, but don’t buy it and don’t buy it!!!
Collapsible trays
Collapsible trays are quite convenient; the cells in them are not wide, but deep. Peppers can be sown in such cells and grown without picking right before planting in open ground. This size is also suitable for corn, and for leeks. I add basil into the same trays.
To get seedlings out of such a tray, you just need to remove the top plate, very convenient! Collapsible trays are also good because they take up minimal space during storage, which for me, for example, is very important.
The downside is that the cells are stationary, and if suddenly the seed doesn’t sprout, the space will remain empty. You can, of course, annoy, but the surrounding seedlings that sprouted earlier will shade the new shoots. This is why, by the way, I prefer separate pots for seedlings: they can be swapped if necessary.
Thin-walled black polystyrene pots
I also have black thin-walled polystyrene pots in my arsenal, which I would happily replace with something more convenient and environmentally friendly. The only thing that attracts me to them is required volume(9x9 cm is suitable for tall tomatoes). Someone else may be attracted by their cheapness.
Otherwise, these pots are inconvenient: without a removable bottom (it is inconvenient to remove seedlings from them), fragile (in the second year of use, cracks almost always appear, you have to put 2 cracked pots into one so that you can at least somehow use them).
And pallets made of this material generally deteriorate very quickly. Not only are they very thin and cannot withstand pots of soil at all, but they also crack quickly and break at the edges. Overall, this is my worst purchase and I don’t recommend buying it!
Peat pots for seedlings
A few words about peat pots. They are sold everywhere, they are quite cheap, and people are actively buying them. I, too, at the beginning of my “gardening career” fell under their charm: natural material, you can plant seedlings directly with pots in the ground, no need to wash anything...
It turned out that the plants in these pots somehow don’t feel very good, the soil constantly dries out, and if you pour more water, the pots “bloom.” If the seedlings survive to planting on permanent place, then after planting in the ground, the plant dries out after some time, because the roots cannot overcome the barrier of the peat wall of the pot. Even if the pot has almost crumbled, the roots cannot cope with this obstacle, so the pots must be removed completely!
I will remember the year when I decided to use peat pots for seedlings for a long time! Never before or since have I had to plant the same seedlings twice! Seeing that the planted plants began to dry out after a couple of weeks, I dug up one and realized that I would have to dig everything up and remove these unfortunate pots... Perhaps I was just unlucky and the pots were of poor quality, I don’t know... But since then I have been avoiding peat products side!
A little exotic
And finally, a little exotic. I once read that you can grow seedlings in eggshells. I bought the largest eggs, prepared the shells, filled them with soil, and sowed, as I remember now, strawberry seeds and garlic bulbs. The strawberries died a week after germination, the bulbs lasted longer, but they also all rotted. Conclusion: well, there is no need to torment the seedlings, even if you really want something exotic!
Every real summer resident knows that good harvest starts with seeds and seedlings.
We plant the seedlings, pick them up and transplant them into separate containers. We can plant in peat pots, plastic containers or the newfangled peat tablets.
We can also make pots for seedlings with our own hands and make as many of them as needed. Keen gardeners are able to fill literally everything with green sprouts; you can’t stock up on any store-bought containers.
The following can be used as a container for growing seedlings:
- Tea bags
- Tetra Pak bags
- Ice containers
- Waste paper and cardboard
- Citrus peel
- Eggshell
- Egg trays
- Plastic bottles
- Plastic cups
- Filter bags for coffee machines
- Toilet paper rolls
Tea bags
The original method of growing seedlings in used tea bags can compete in efficiency with growing in peat tablets, since tea has a beneficial effect on plant development.
The top part of each bag is cut off, then seedling soil is placed inside with a spoon and the seeds are sown. It is better to place such “pots” in a tray, for example, a container with low sides. When planting in open ground, the bag is not removed.
Eggshell
Egg shells - great option a homemade container for small seedlings or for growing seedlings before transferring them to larger containers.
Take the shell and make a hole at the bottom. To do this, you can use a pushpin or a thick needle. Fill each shell halfway with soil and sow the seeds.
Place the egg “pots” with seedlings in a plastic egg container. To create a greenhouse effect, close the lid of the container. When the time comes for transplanting or transshipment, plant the grown seedlings along with the shells.
Tetra Pak bags
Probably one of the most popular options among hand-made containers for seedlings is Tetra Pak bags. This multi-component material is distinguished from paper and cardboard bags by its increased strength and durability.
Tetra Pak is used for packaging juice and dairy products; in addition to cardboard, it contains foil and polyethylene. It is very simple to prepare such bags for sowing seedlings - cut them into 2 parts and the cups are ready! You can also make a tray for seedlings by cutting the bag lengthwise rather than crosswise.
Be sure to wash containers thoroughly before use.
Old newspapers can be an excellent material for making a container for seedlings. To do this, you will need newspaper sheets (it is better to give preference to black and white pages), a cylindrical object (a bottle, a narrow tin can), flour and water.
We invite you to visit the page with our master class on making cups for seedlings from old newspapers or paper.
You can plant seedlings in a greenhouse or open ground directly in cups, but if you wish, you can cut or tear the “pot”.
Plastic bottles
From plastic bottle You can make not just a container for seedlings, but a functional pot with an automatic watering system and a greenhouse effect.
Cut a clean plastic bottle in half, do not remove the cap, but make several holes in it using the same heated awl, needle or nail. Pull a synthetic cord through the bottom hole (this will be the wick).
Turn the top part with the neck over and insert it into the second half of the bottle. Add soil and sow seeds. Remove half of the bottle with soil from the tray, pour water into the bottom of the “pot”, then insert the half with the plant back into the tray.
Take another bottle of the same size, cut half of it and use it as a lid for such a seedling “pot”.
You can do it another way: from a bottle (a plastic bottle is perfect square shape with a capacity of 5 l, for example, from drinking water) cut off the side part, and use the remaining large part as a container for seedlings.
Plastic cups
Excellent containers for seedlings are made from yogurt or sour cream cups, disposable plastic and paper coffee cups. To make pots, first wash the containers thoroughly and then cut a hole in the bottom to drain excess water.
If the hole is too large diameter, place a cardboard circle at the bottom of the glass. For convenience, you can write on the cup with a felt-tip pen or marker the name of the crop and variety that you are going to grow.
Place containers with seeds sown in them in a box or on a tray - it’s more convenient to store them this way. The advantage of such homemade pots is the convenient removal of the earthen lump when planting seedlings in open ground - just lightly press on the bottom of the cup and the lump can be easily removed, remaining intact.
Filter bags for coffee machines
If you brew coffee in a coffee maker, don't throw away the used paper filters - they make great cups for seedlings.
Fill each filter bag halfway with soil and place it in a plastic box or tray with high sides to give the “cups” stability. They will stand close to each other, which means they will not fall. Sow the seeds and place a box of coffee “pots” on the windowsill.
Toilet paper rolls
Cardboard tubes left over from toilet paper rolls can be easily converted into biodegradable planting cups. You can also use paper towel rolls.
If you need a short glass, cut the sleeve crosswise into two parts. Next, do the following with each part: fold it lengthwise and use scissors to make cuts approximately 1/3 of the height of the tube so that you get 4 blades.
Then straighten the workpiece and fold the blades one on top of the other, bending them, as is done with cardboard boxes to make the bottom.
Seedlings can be planted in a permanent place without removing them from the cups, since paper and cardboard are biodegradable materials.
Waste paper and cardboard
To make such pots, you need to mentally return to your school years and remember the familiar, but slightly forgotten papier-mâché technology. So, you will need paper or cardboard, water and a mold.
You can use glass glasses as a mold, but it’s most convenient if you have a metal muffin tin with several cells.
Tear the paper into small pieces and place in a container with water, leave to soak. Then stick the resulting mass onto the mold: if you have glasses, then with outside, if the baking dish is from the inside.
The workpiece should be left to dry for a day, after which it should be used as a regular glass for seedlings.
Ice containers
An unnecessary tray (mold) for ice can become an excellent container for growing seedlings before picking and serve in this role for more than one year. Make a drainage hole in each cell (if the plastic is durable, use a drill), take a suitable tray and place the container in it.
Next, fill the cells with soil and sow the seeds. After some time, plant the seedlings in the container larger size. The same as in the case with eggshell, in such a container it is better to grow plants with a small root system, since they may become cramped in small cells.
Egg trays
The egg tray is also used as a container for seedlings. It is convenient to place such containers on windowsills. To begin with, make a hole in the bottom of each container cell (if the tray is plastic, you can heat an awl and use it to pierce it). Then the cells are filled with soil and the seeds are sown.
After some time, the roots of the plant will entwine the earthen lump, and for further picking it will be enough to carefully remove the seedling with the lump with a fork.
Citrus peel
If you like to squeeze juice from citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit, lemon, pomelo, etc.) using a juicer, then you probably have a lot of halves of the peel of these fruits left over. Why not use them as seedling cups?
Make a small hole in half of the pulp-free fruit (in the bottom) for moisture to drain out, then fill the peel with soil for seedlings and sow 1-2 seeds per “pot”, depending on the “dimensions” of the future plant and the size of the citrus peel. Subsequently, the seedling can be planted in open ground directly from the “pot”.
Spring is a troublesome time for gardening lovers, because it means, first of all, working with seeds. The modern assortment of various seedling containers and pots is truly huge, but still most gardeners, in order to save money, prefer to use improvised means. Do-it-yourself cups for seedlings are made by the most in different ways, and you will learn about the simplest and most accessible ones from this article.
Jars for canned food, coffee or tea are, so to speak, classics. In the bottom of each container you need to drill a couple of drainage holes (preferably from the inside), and to make it easier to remove young plants, you can additionally make cuts on the walls. If the cups will be used for several seasons, instead of making cuts, it is better to place a strip of polyethylene or thick paper on the bottom - this way you can remove the earthen lump without damaging the root system (you just need to pull this strip). Cut-off beer cans, toilet paper, PET bottles and much more can be used in the same way, but more on that later.
Cups from under baby food and yoghurts. But the bottom of such jars needs to be cut off and a cardboard or tin circle of the appropriate size placed in its place.
When you need to transplant the seedlings, you just need to press on the bottom with a stick.
Pay attention! Not the best option for seedlings are disposable plastic cups, which is explained by the risk of slowing plant growth.
Cups from old newspapers
A small stack of newspapers is quite useful for making disposable cups. Typically, such containers are more convenient than the options described above, because when replanting the plants do not need to be shaken out - instead, you need to tear the cup. As a result, the root system will not be damaged.
To make these cups we need a mold. A small bottle or tin can will do. The algorithm of actions should be as follows.
First, take a sheet of newspaper and fold it in half.
Fold the edges of the resulting container and its bottom.
Fill the glass with soil mixture.
Pay attention! If you are not sure that the cup is strong enough, you can tie it with thread or an elastic band.
Seedling cups made from toilet paper
The next manufacturing option is based on the papier-mâché principle. Here we need a spray bottle, glass glasses and toilet paper itself. The technology is extremely simple: we wrap the glasses toilet paper, moisten it generously with a spray bottle, and then firmly press the paper against the walls. We dry the workpiece for 24 hours, and then remove it with careful circular movements.
Pay attention! Such cups are good because they can simply be torn apart to transplant seedlings into the soil, as mentioned above. Or, as an option, the plants can be planted together with the container (it will subsequently collapse naturally).
An original version of making newspaper cups
Here you will need the same newspapers, as well as cuttings of a building profile. If necessary, the latter can be easily found among construction waste, so you don’t have to buy anything. In our example, two sections of profiles are used, each approximately 20 cm long. The width may vary depending on the specific crop (for example, wider cups are needed).
First, take a newspaper and cut it lengthwise and crosswise.
In one hand we take a piece of the profile, in the second we take a newspaper folded in half (i.e. two layers). We wrap the form with newspaper as shown in the image below.
Where the bottom of the cup will be, bend the corners one by one.
We don’t remove the profile yet - it makes it much more convenient to fill the cup with soil mixture.
When the cup is filled, carefully pull out a piece of the profile.
Place the filled cups in a box pre-lined with polyethylene.
The result should be something like this.
Paper cups - an improved option
Another option for making containers from old newspapers is to use the original device. For the convenience of visitors step by step guide presented in table form.
Table. Master class on creating paper cups.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
| To work, we will need such a rectangular device - a kind of tin sleeve placed on a small wooden block. |
| We will use this device when making seedling cups from newspapers. The sleeve can be made from a tin can. Such containers are tinned with food-grade tin, and therefore it will be enough to overlap the tin and heat the joint with a soldering iron. We will use the electrical tape on the sleeve as a guide when winding the newspaper so that the finished cups have the same height. |
| We can cover one end of the block with a piece of leather soaked in oil. Thanks to this, the soil will not stick. |
| First, fill the sleeve with soil mixture as shown in the picture. |
| We wrap the sleeve with a strip of newspaper, focusing on the electrical tape. |
| To form the bottom of the container, bend the edges of one side. |
| Carefully pull the sleeve onto the block, holding the soil with the end with the leather patch. |
| We place the filled cups in a wooden box, previously covered with polyethylene. |
Pay attention! As for the dimensions of the container, they will largely depend on the dimensions of the box itself. Although on average it is from 2x2 to 4x4 cm.
We use toilet paper rolls
The advantages of this method are the same as those described above - the bushings are environmentally friendly clean material, they do not contain foreign impurities, so the seedlings can be planted in the ground without removing them from the cups (the latter will rot in the ground without a trace). If the cups will be used for large plants, we can use whole bushings; in other cases, they (the bushings) can be cut in half. The manufacturing process itself is not complicated.
Table. Master class on making cups from toilet paper rolls.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
| So, first we prepare everything necessary - these are the bushings and scissors themselves. |
| We take the first sleeve, crush it and cut it into two halves. |
| On one half we make four cuts (about 1/3 of the height). |
| We bend the “blades” that were formed as a result of this and form the bottom of the future cup. Simply put, we make the same bottom as in ordinary cardboard boxes. |
| The bottom is almost ready. |
| The result should look something like this. |
| That's it, the seedling cups are ready for further use. All that remains is to fill them with soil mixture and sow something you need! |
Video - Making cups for seedlings
Film cups
To create such cups, it is recommended to use PET film for greenhouses. We also need a simple stapler and a base that has the required shape. First, we cut the film into strips, wrap it around the base, and then fix it with staples. The result will be a nice square cup. Although there is a simpler option - make small tubes from film with curved upper edges (required for rigidity). We place these tubes on a pallet or in a box and fill them with soil mixture.
Pay attention! The film must be dense, otherwise it will easily lose its shape!
You can also use bags from fermented milk products. To begin, we fold these bags, fill them with soil, sow the seeds and turn the edges back. In the future, as the seedlings grow, the soil will have to be added little by little. Minus this method is packet instability. To achieve greater rigidity, it is advisable to strengthen the edges with cardboard strips.
Making cups from plastic bottles
Any plastic bottle will do here (in our example, a 1.5-liter bottle). The algorithm of actions is given below.
Table. Master class on making seedling cups from plastic bottles.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
| First, cut off the neck and bottom of the bottle as shown in the image. |
| The cut may be uneven - this does not play a special role. |
| We flatten the cut bottle (you can use a glass jar, as in the photo), forming the first couple of edges of the cup. Due to the features and properties of the plastic, the ribs will definitely be straight and parallel. |
| It should look something like this. |
| Next, we press the resulting workpiece with our hand (the hand does not have to be six-fingered, as in the picture) and cut along the lines of transition of the container into the neck and bottom to get smooth edges. |
| The edges turned out really smooth. |
| We bend the workpiece as shown in the photo and make a couple more ribs. |
| We still use a glass jar for this. |
| As a result, we got a square container without a bottom. We measure the side of one square and divide the resulting figure by 2. Example: 7:2 = 3.5 cm. |
| We cut each edge by 3.5 cm. |
| The result should be the following. |
| We bend the cuts and form the bottom, like, again, a cardboard box. |
| We align the edges so that the finished cup is more stable. |
| The glass is ready. We do not make drainage holes. |
| At the end, we wrap the container with “foil” - a label from the same bottle. If you are concerned that water will seep out a lot after watering, you can seal the bottom with tape, although this is not necessary. |
How to sow seeds in such cups correctly? Nothing could be easier! As an example, consider the cups described above, made from plastic bottles.
So, take a ready-made glass and fill it with soil mixture - store-bought or home-made.
Fill the container completely or only 2/3 full. We place a couple of seeds, peppers or any other crop on the soil.
Then lightly sprinkle the seeds with soil mixture and water thoroughly.
Cover the cups and place them in a warm place, waiting for the shoots to appear. As you can see, even from such a seemingly useless thing - a plastic bottle - you can make excellent seedling cups.
The ideal soil for sowing should be light and loose, have a porous structure and sufficient aeration, and also match the crop intended to be grown in this soil. Read more in .
An alternative option is to make nutritional cubes
To make such cubes we prepare:
- 1 turf soil;
- 5 - humus.
There is another option:
- 1 part humus;
- 3 - peat.
Mix the prepared ingredients, and add ammonium nitrate (15 g per 1 kg), potassium sulfate, superphosphate (50 g per 1 kg) to the resulting mixture. In addition, add water - such an amount that ready mix had a creamy consistency. We place all this in a tray in a layer 80-100 mm thick, and then cut it into cubes of the required sizes. You can move the cubes a little away from each other to make it easier to work with. At the end we sow the seeds.
Video - How to make seedling cubes yourself
As a result, we note that regardless of what kind of cups you use, they must be rigid, spacious enough, with low thermal conductivity and opaque walls. In addition, you should take care of drainage - it will protect the plants from excess moisture. If all these requirements are taken into account, the seedlings will grow healthy and strong, and adult plants will definitely delight you with a rich harvest or abundant flowering!
Video - Making cups for seedlings
