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Easy and Fast Way to Make Plant Pots You Can Recycle Right in Your Compost PileInstead of spending money on expensive seed starting pots or pre-formed peat products, this year make your own biodegradable starter pots from paper. Make these little pots from old newspaper. They are very easy to  make, and children enjoy helping. Making your own paper plant starting pots is a great earth-friendly activity for classrooms or scout groups - a wonderful way to illustrate do-it-yourself recycling of a common waste material. These little paper pots are plenty strong. They will last from the time you plant seeds until the seedlings are ready to set out in the garden.

To make these paper pots, you only need old newspapers and a plastic drinking glass/tumbler with straight, non-tapered sides. Use a plastic drinking glass for safety reasons. Any cylindrical object will work, as long as one end is closed and one is open. Your finished pot will have the size and shape of the cylinder you use. Use only regular black and white newspaper; most black inks are soy-based and safe for the plants. Colored inks and shiny printed pages often contain toxic chemicals.

1. Begin with one full newspaper sheet, one that has the fold in the center so it is in a regular two-page format. Fold it in half lengthwise, and then again lengthwise. You now have a strip of folded paper with eight layers.

2. Place the tumbler along one end of the newspaper. The mouth of the tumbler should be about half the distance across the narrow width of the long strip.

3. Roll the tumbler, rolling the folded strip of paper around it. Roll all the way to the other end of the paper.

4. About half of the width of the paper strip should extend beyond the mouth of the tumbler.

5. Holding the roll around the tumbler so it stays in place, tuck the edge of the newspaper down into the mouth of the tumbler. Crease it along the mouth of the tumbler.

6. Slip the paper roll off the tumbler. Twist it a little as you slide it off, if necessary.

Easy and Fast Way to Make Plant Pots You Can Recycle Right in Your Compost Pile

Instead of spending money on expensive seed starting pots or pre-formed peat products, this year make your own biodegradable starter pots from paper. Make these little pots from old newspaper. They are very easy to  make, and children enjoy helping. Making your own paper plant starting pots is a great earth-friendly activity for classrooms or scout groups - a wonderful way to illustrate do-it-yourself recycling of a common waste material. These little paper pots are plenty strong. They will last from the time you plant seeds until the seedlings are ready to set out in the garden.

To make these paper pots, you only need old newspapers and a plastic drinking glass/tumbler with straight, non-tapered sides. Use a plastic drinking glass for safety reasons. Any cylindrical object will work, as long as one end is closed and one is open. Your finished pot will have the size and shape of the cylinder you use. Use only regular black and white newspaper; most black inks are soy-based and safe for the plants. Colored inks and shiny printed pages often contain toxic chemicals.

1. Begin with one full newspaper sheet, one that has the fold in the center so it is in a regular two-page format. Fold it in half lengthwise, and then again lengthwise. You now have a strip of folded paper with eight layers.

2. Place the tumbler along one end of the newspaper. The mouth of the tumbler should be about half the distance across the narrow width of the long strip.

3. Roll the tumbler, rolling the folded strip of paper around it. Roll all the way to the other end of the paper.

4. About half of the width of the paper strip should extend beyond the mouth of the tumbler.

5. Holding the roll around the tumbler so it stays in place, tuck the edge of the newspaper down into the mouth of the tumbler. Crease it along the mouth of the tumbler.

6. Slip the paper roll off the tumbler. Twist it a little as you slide it off, if necessary.



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