paper pot makers

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone has a paper potmaker? What do you think to the pots it makes? i Have seen the paper pots around and they seem to do the job. I really like the idea of making my own pots from old newspaper, but i aint sure if its worth getting one

[nothinghead]

They work fine for seedlings/temporary pots that you plan to plant out/repot. They're good for planting out because you can put them in the ground whole and let the paper decompose and not disturb the roots in the transplant. After you water the plants in them a few times and the newspaper gets a bit soft/degraded you often need to stand them in something so they don't fall over, like a tray made of a 1l juice container on its side, or something like.

You can build/carve one of the pot makers yourself pretty easily, too (then you get it custom sized). If you want to try out newspaper pots before making a potmaker you can make them by wrapping newspaper around a glass and folding the bottom under a few times. Two sheets is a good thickness.

[J Smith]

I saw some newspaper pots at a blokes house once and just thought it was some funky origami. Didn't know that there was a tool to make them.

I wonder if you could make them last longer by covering in a flour/water 'glue'?

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

They look great for spring vegies!

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

i was thinking that too dood. would prolly survive just long enough for them to go in the ground

[poisonshroom]

They work pretty well - but they do tend to fall over and get weak and soft after a bit (fine for vegie seedlings though, which are usually planted out pretty soon after germination. I usually use a toilet paper roll to wrap the newspaper around so you can fold the bottom inside - it works best of you fold the paper in half or use 2 pieces, so its a bit stronger

[Alice]

I have that exact one Hillbilly, received it as a gift. It works really well, but I can't say I've used it a lot. Not that there's anything wrong with it, I just prefer recycling plastic pots, as they withstand moving them about better. If I was a cardboard jiffy pot user then I'd no doubt use it a lot more.