Recycled Takeout Container Planter

Step 5 Poke the carton. Poke it good.

Poke some holes in the bottom of the carton using your screwdriver or awl. I found it nice to put these holes halfway between each corner pin and the center pin. This looks nice and symmetrical.

Comments

[3sidedorchid]

This is an awesome idea! As soon as I move I'm going to set one up. The one thing I'm concerned about is the waterproofing -- I think that chinese food cartons may only be waterproofed over the paper -- if so, then the water holes at the bottom are going to allow water to seep in along the edges (b/c the waterproof seal has been broken) and undermine the intergrity of the structure. That said, it's probably easily remedied by blotting a bit of sealant around the hole edges. I only point it out b/c you may want to take a look at the bottom of yours, and seal the edges if needed. Thanks for the great instructable!

[randofo]

uh oh. You're on to me. The carton I was using was only waterproofed on the inside. Next time I was thinking of making larger holes in the bottom and sealing them around the edges with hot glue. Also, they are going to need a bit more elevation than I have given them because of the absorbent paper. I was thinking maybe a couple of washers or nuts.

[3sidedorchid]

: ) what if you used a couple of those decorative glass stones, glued on top of each other? it would be more work, but then you could make a layer of them in the 'tray' and it would not only add to the look of the planter (esp. with a high contrast color -- like red), but raise it up enough to keep the box out of the water.

[randofo]

Funny you should mention that, because I was considering using sea glass on the bottom, but I'm not sure I like the way it looks.