Make Your Own Seedling Pots Out of Newspaper

Forget pricey plastic sets and excess pots—-all you need is some extra newspaper and a small cup or mason jar and it's easy to grow your own plants from seed. Plus, newspaper decomposes naturally, so you can plant these right into the garden with little to no root disturbance for a happy plant!

Here's how to make these nifty little pots in 7 easy steps.


 

Step 1: Fold a Sheet of Newspaper

Cut sheets of black and white  newspaper in half or thirds, depending on the size of pot you want to  make. Make sure not to use pages with color, since this will be going  directly into your garden. (Color newspapers may contain heavy metals  that are unsafe).

Comments

[Grow Indie]

hey jerryang, the newspaper pots are surprisingly sturdy, and mine hold up just fine (no melting). The newspaper also keeps more water in the pot, so you don't have to water as much...

[jerryang]

But new paper "melts" if you water the plant. So how do you overcome that?

[Mister_Caipirinha]

Why is this better/different than all the other seedling-pots-from-newspaper instructables?

[Grow Indie]

A few reasons, actually, thanks for asking. These newspaper pots are reinforced in Step 5 to make them very sturdy-----they hold up quite well until you are ready to transplant. Also, this instructables informs you as to the type of newspaper to use (you can't just use any type of newsprint, some colored inks have some pretty nasty heavy metals that can be bad for your gardens and for you. This is an important detail most people leave out. Give it a try!