Introduction: Can Diaper Plant Pot

About: Hi my name is Zack i'm 15 years old and i like to make robots, experiment with electronics, play with science, photography and have fun doing it.

For this instructable i thought it might be a good idea to involve some gardening mixed in with some reuse of old items and put them to better use. i"m going to show you how to create your own pot and perfect soil for any small indoor plants out of a diaper a Pepsi can and some fertilized dirt(ordinary dirt can be used but it might not be as effective for your plants growth)

Step 1: Equipment!

What you will need is:

Scissors.

diaper used or not used (i worked with an unused diaper that doesn't fit my sister)

Can.

Knife.

Dirt.

Electrical tape (duct tape should do just fine)

Step 2: Making Drainage Holes.

Use a knife and twist back and fourth into the aluminium till you make drainage holes for water to seep out of when watering your plant.

First: Make a small hole in the middle of the bottom of the can.

second: do four more holes like the picture above.

Step 3: Getting the Top of the Can Off

In order to get the top of the can off you need to get a knife and graze a little bit of the paint off like you are sawing wood. now poke a hole through the can with the knife on the grazed area of the can. This graze will make the knife more stable to poke through and less chance of slipping and cutting your hand.Now that you have poked a hole in your can you can now poke scissors through to cut the cans top off.

Step 4: Making It Safe

When your finished cutting the top of the can off be careful because you can cut yourself very easily because of the sharp aluminium.To get rid of this danger get scissors and cut in the opposite direction to how you cut the lid off earlier. Once your can looks similar to the picture above you can now roll one loop of electrical tape around the top section of the can but make sure that the can is not wet otherwise the tape might not stick properly.Then you need to cut little strips of electrical tape about 2 cm wide and 3 cm high and fold them over the top of the can edge like the picture so that half of the tape strip is on the outside of the can and the other half is on on the inside of the can.Keep doing this till you have filled all around the sharp edges of the can.Once again roll one loop of electrical tape around the top section of the can overlaying the tape strips to keep them in place better.I taped yellow and green tape on my can just for decoration.

Step 5: Preparing the Soil

place the diaper on a plate or in a large bowl and pour about 3 cups of water onto the diaper then cut the diaper open and take out all of the expanded polymers inside.Then place the expanded polymers on the plate for easy access and the diaper can now go in the bin.Now fill your can half way with fertilized dirt (ordinary dirt can be used but it might not be as effective for your plants growth) and empty the dirt out of the can and into a small bowl and then fill the can half way with the expanded polymers from the diaper and empty the polymers into the same bowl.Use your hands to mix the two together until it looks like rich soil.Now that you have amazing soil you can now fill your can up with it and grow a small indoor plant and not need to worry about watering it for at least two and maybe three days.

Step 6: Your Finished

Put your indoor plant in it and it will grow happily without dehydrating fast or going moldy. i put mine outside just for a good photo.Plus you need to fill up the can with your soil about a 1 cm from the top of the can because after a few days it will lose its water slowly and cause the soil to sink down into the can a little bit but when you water it the soil should expand back up again. hope you like this project. And next instructable might be how to make sodium metal with sodium hydroxide and magnesium and i'm hoping to write an instructable about high altitude ballooning some time in the future but that might be a while.

Indoor Gardening Contest 2015

Participated in the
Indoor Gardening Contest 2015

Leftovers Challenge

Participated in the
Leftovers Challenge