Quick and easy homestead uses for Plastic Bottles (PET)

Step 4 Coldframe/Cloche

When you want to start a seedling in the ground a little early, but fear it could be chilly, you need a cold frame. It's like a little greenhouse. Clear plastic bottles work great for this (don't use green bottles).

Cut the cone part off and invert the remaining part of the bottle over your seedling. Push the bottle into the soil, so that it does not blow away. In the middle of warm springs days, it is a good idea to raise the bottle a bit and allow air and heat to escape.

Comments

[WhiteaWakening]

This works so fantastic. We swear by it now. Excellent for container gardening.

[bethmwl]

If you cut the bottom off, you could use the top with or without the cap for ventilation when needed...; )

[cpns72]

good tip! Thanks.

[velacreations]

Yes, that is another way of doing it. It seems to give the plants a bit more room if you cut off the top, but both ways work well.

[Redrockers]

how wil the plant get air?

[plzspoilme25]

if i may, think of the seed in a paper towel trick...seed in wet paper towel in side a plastic baggie...they 'breath just fine' also terrarium comes to mind, and if u putting them over a plant that is planted in the ground it will absorb some of what it needs thru the roots, and this was a temporary thing anyway????? and most of ur seed starter kits are basically sealed plastic boxes.....some do actually have vents in them, just depends on what u need or want

[thepelton]

I cut the bottoms off, and left the mouth of the bottle open. No plant covered was harmed.

[belsey]

Plants make their own air -- they can thrive in a completely sealed environment, although some plants do need the wind to blow their pollen around.

[eveh]

I didn't know that. It is true, you learn something new every day. So now I will not be afraid to put a plants in an old bottle I have. Thanks.

[longrunner]

Plants don't make their own air, they convert CO2 to Oxygen, opposite to how we convert Oxygen to CO2 in respiration. You'd have to cut holes in the bottle, plants can only survive for so long in a sealed environment.

[nutsandbolts_64]

update: at night, plants use oxygen

[eveh]

They should still survive in a large bottle if I leave the lid off, right?

[belsey]

True, I used a short cut, calling it air instead of oxygen. Although I've never tried it myself, I have read that plants can thrive in completely sealed environments such as bottles for several years (the problem with the set up is not the lack of fresh air, but outgrowing their space). Plants convert CO2 to O2 during the day, but at night the process is reversed which is why it is possible to seal them off. The water inside the bottle also goes though the cycles of evaporation and condensation which is why these miniature gardens don't need to be watered either. Anyway, the only point I was making is that I don't think anybody would need to worry about putting air holes into the protective bottle.

[m0j0]

Plants consume Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and emit Oxygen (2). A plant could not survive without a steady supply of CO2.

Photosynthesis

[m0tkid]

As quahoqwi said, plants respire and photosynthesize... This is because at night the key to photosynthesis (sunlight) is not available so they do the next best thing... Respire.

[Whatnot]

Mushrooms use 'our' system I hear, so oxygen to CO2, perhaps a combination of plants and mushrooms might do the trick? Incidentally plants also get CO2 from soil I understand, perhaps that explains how a sealed environment works.

[thepelton]

Mushrooms can also break down materials in the soil that green plants cannot otherwise digest because of their complexity. Perfect example is wood.

[quahogwi]

Plants do both ... they expel O2 as a waste product of photosynthesis, but only during daylight hours. They also generate CO2 as a waste product of cellular respiration, and do so 24/7.

[Sanctus]

Actually, sealed glass systems exist, thus it is possible to have a closed ecosystem, but everything has to be in balance. The system I saw was aquatic system with some shrimps, water plants and kind of planctone. Dry-land systems exist also in a larger scale (Millenium? project for an ex terrestrial mission). Of course, you're right about the supply of CO2, but those suppliers could be bacteria, already present in the soil...

[ikke_1206]

Plants need CO2 to make the sugars needed for internal processes, but when they use these sugars, they do it in a similar manner to how we use the energy from our food, by burning it with O2, and thereby producing CO2. The plant will off course produce less CO2 than O2, but because of this reproducing of O2 it will not need much extra air. And the little air that is needed will be supplied by the fact that the bottle does not make an airtight seal.

[ceramiceye]

Yes, that is true. Also, decaying organic material produces CO2, so the soil would produce CO2. Also any plant cells that die or pieces of plant that fall off would also produce small amounts of C02. I'd be skeptical of a completely sealed garden (no additional water or exchange of air) lasting idefintely, but I could be wrong. Regardelss, a bottle over a plant is not completely sealed and CO2 can rise up from the soils. You would only have to be carefull on a sunny day to not trap so much infrared heat in the bottle that the plant gets scorched.

[velacreations]

Another method would be to mulch underneath the bottle with a good, rich compost, and that would give off extra CO2 as well. The reason we vent is not for air for the plant, but for ventilating heat buildup.

[gover57]

I'm pretty sure the seal from the bottle to the ground is nowhere near airtight, so any oxygen that is required will seem in through the dirt/bottle junction, or throught the loosely packed dirt.

[Brennn10]

You could poke holes in the top or the sides.