What are your frugal and sustainable tips and tricks?

[CatInTheHenHouse]

That sounds like a great idea. I tried the toilet paper roll pots a few years ago but did not have much success with them. They were too small for what I wanted. But I have always liked the idea of reusing paper rolls if it worked. It would be nice to start out with a pot big enough that I do not have to up-pot everything.

I'm not quite sure how you link two toilet paper rolls together and make a larger paper pot. Could you post some pictures for those of us with limited imaginations? Thanks.

Also, if you use the paper roll pots, do you put any type of drainage holes in them, on the bottom and/or sides? Another problem I had with using paper pots was that the cardboard got soaked and stayed wet, causing mold to grow. It could have been completely my fault by overwatering them, but I lost a lot of my starts to mold problems.

Sure! Start with your toilet paper rolls. (Measuring tape included for size comparison, in case there’s a meaningful difference in roll size between brands, regions, etc.):

Next, cut the rolls top to bottom like so:

On one side, cut about an inch from the top and make the cut about an inch deep (Sharpie mark added for visibility). Note that if you’re combining more than two rolls this may need to be adjusted:

Cut again under the first cut to make your notch (I did these at an angle, but full disclosure I haven’t experimented much yet):

Repeat for the second (and possibly third) roll. The cuts should be on the same side for each roll:

Now slip the notch from tube #1 under the uncut side of tube #2, leaving the non-notch pieces over the uncut side so they pinch together:

Repeat to lock the notch of tube #2 into the uncut side of the next tube. If you’re just using the two tubes, this would be tube #1 and you should now have them in a ring. If you’re using more than one tube, this would be tube #3, and repeat until you’ve linked your last tube into tube #1.

(From left to right: three tubes combined, two tubes combined, and a standard tube for comparison.)

Then put cuts in the bottom of the combined roll to form the bottom of the pot:

Fold them in and you’ve got your pot:

I used about an inch long cut to form the bottom of the two-roll pot. A three-tube roll needed the bottom cuts to be about half the length of the roll to cover the bottom and honestly I suspect for anything bigger you’re going to want paper towel rolls to make these instead of toilet paper, or else instead of cardboard pots you’re going to have cardboard pans.

Re: mold I have had mold every year (this will be year three) as I just keep them in Dollar Store cake pans but as of this writing no dampening off, so I think it was a different kind of mold. I took the humidity dome off early and tried a little hydrogen peroxide to slow it down until everything went outside. Something I have considered, but don’t really have a way to test would be to purposely inoculate the rolls with a seedling-friendly fungus, so it would outcompete the plant-killing fungi before the latter could establish. But even if it worked I acknowledge that it’s still kind of gross and wouldn’t help if you had, say…mold allergies. Sorry I can’t help more there.

 

[gtaus]

Start with your toilet paper rolls....

Very nice tutorial and excellent pictures. Thank you.

Re: mold I have had mold every year (this will be year three) as I just keep them in Dollar Store cake pans but as of this writing no dampening off, so I think it was a different kind of mold.

Yeah, that's the problem I had with my paper roll pots. They got really moldy, and I ended up throwing most of them out. They were pretty gross. I don't know what kind of mold it was, but it looked bad and slimy.

 

[gtaus]

Square Paper Pots for Seedlings

Speaking of different ways to start seeds, I just watched an interesting YouTube video tonight on how to make square pots out of paper. If you want to reuse some old newspaper, paper grocery bags, etc... to make paper pots, then this video will show you how to do it. As a bonus, he goes into the money saving aspect of making square paper pots and his concerns about long term sustainability. Those are the things we discuss in this thread, so I'm going to post the link for your consideration...