DIY Paper Seed/Seedling Starter

I just graduated from college, so I have a huge rack of notes and photocopies that are calling in dust bunnies as the days go by. My mom's fed up with the mess so she told me to get rid of them. I found it wasteful to just throw them away so I looked up ways to use them in the garden. 

Here's a wonderful way to recycle any scrap papers, magazines, news papers or parchment papers you have lying around. Turn them into seed/seedling starters! These are little paper pots that will nurse your seeds until they sprout and are ready to transplant into the ground, pot or whatever system you have going at home. 

DIY paper seed/ seedling starter

Benefits:
The great thing about these starters is that they're biodegradable. You need not need take them off when transplanting. Simply transplant the whole thing into the ground and they'll eventually break down and tear once the roots push through. They won't tear for about 15-20 days, so they can hold onto your seedlings without breaking down. Remember, REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE! 

Materials needed:

• Scrap paper, newspaper, parchment paper, old magazines 
• Scissors
• Sticky tape/ masking tape
• A round water bottle. I used a 250ml juice bottle. If you want a starter with a bigger diameter, you can use a 500ml bottle or a glass cup. You can also use the cardboard roll of a tissue. Anything with a round surface will do. 

Materials needed

Instructions:

STEP 1: take a sheet of paper and fold it lengthwise several times until it's width is 4-5 inches. The longer the width, the taller your seedling starter.

STEP 2: Roll the strip of paper against the bottle / round surface. 

STEP 3: Take the edge to secure it. Leave about 2inches hanging from the edge of  the bottle.

STEP 4: With the excess 2inches from (Step 3),  Fold the edges in so against the bottle of the bottle.

STEP 5: Using one strip of tape, tape the folds loosely together. 

STEP 6: Pull out the cup from the bottle and VOILA! You're done!

These guys are addicting to make! Within a few minutes, i found myself  with a bunch of them! haha

There are many other ways of making paper seed/seedling starters out there. You can scan through a few articles on google and you can find so may other variations on how to do it. This method that im sharing with you is the simplest and less time consuming for me, though.

Don't forget to have fun! 

'Till next entry! HAPPY GARDENING!

Ulyssa