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Newspaper tubes

This may not suit everyone's needs, but after following the recent thread about newspaper pots, I thought I'd de-lurk to describe the little newspaper tubes I make for seedlings in case anyone else might like to try them.

They're about 1-3/4 inches tall and about 1-1/2 inches diameter (probably they could be made larger, though I've never tried this),  amazingly sturdy,  require no tools or molds, and  are quick and easy to make (I make a couple dozen in about half an hour while watching TV).

I first saw them some years ago in a book about Peter Chan's raised bed gardening - there were photos but no instructions so I'm not sure the method I developed is up to his standard! - and since I wanted to raise a slew of marigolds at minimal cost to surround my vegetable garden that season, came up with the following method. (Showing you would be simple, telling it is a little more difficult; please let me know if something isn't clear and I'll try again.)

Fold a single sheet of newspaper into quarters and use a knife (quicker than scissors) to slit the sheet along the folds to make four smaller sheets,  6-3/4  x 11-1/2 inches. Fold one of the small sheets in half lengthwise, open it out, fold each long edge toward the center to meet the crease, then refold  the center crease, leaving the raw edges folded inside. The strip will be four layers thick, 1-3/4 inches tall and 11-1/2 inches long. Then simply tuck one short end into the fold of the other short end and staple the loose end - Chan said he used a drop of Elmer's glue, in which case a stapler wouldn't be necessary - to make a little bottomless tube.

Since they're bottomless, the tubes have to be placed on some kind of a tray for filling and moving (once the plants start to grow, the roots do hold the soil in place) so I wash and save some sturdy styrofoam meat trays for this purpose - they usually hold 18-20 tubes - but any similar pan or container with low sides will do.

I use a coffee scoop to fill them with soil (I fill them on a large tray so the spills don't matter, then tap the soil into place with my finger, then move them to a clean tray for growing),  use a wood pencil as a trowel and tamper, and use a well-washed squeeze detergent bottle full of warm water for wetting each tube individually. 

Once watered, the tubes stay nicely moist (and, unlike Lynne McGinnis,  I've never had a problem with mold even though I put the tubes on the tray touching each other, but the air in my house tends to be dry).  After the plants are growing well, I usually just pour a little water into the tray for the plants to take up as needed. And, as Lynne also noted about the newspaper pots, you can pot on or plant out the whole tube, or carefully strip off the paper if you prefer; I've never noticed any signs of transplant shock either way.

Like some other list members, I've never been too happy with the peat pots (my neighbor, OTOH, uses them exclusively and gets great results) and when I want more than a few seedlings (for only a few, I too use plastic pots), I greatly prefer using the newspaper tubes both for seeding (larger seeds) and transplanting (after starting a pinch of tiny seeds in a styrofoam cup).

LaVerne
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