Making Newspaper Pots

Last year I saw a post somewhere about making newspaper pots.  They used a store bought tool to do so and I have thought about that tool often when transplanting.  I seem to never have enough pots for my transplants!  As I was re potting tomatoes and peppers I ran out of pots and decided to try making my own.  It worked wonderful!

What you need:

Newspaper

Cup

Soil

Seedlings

Flat or plant tray

I couldn't find any newspaper in my house and as I was searching the garage my eye fell on this roll of newsprint.  Perfect!  I got it from the newspaper office.  The local paper here gives away the ends of the rolls and I usually grab one or two for crafts and such.  It was absolutely perfect for this purpose.

Roll of newsprint

Step one: Cut newsprint into pieces.  Size will depend on the size of pot you are making.  Make your pieces double the height as you will be folding them in half.

Cut pieces

Step Two: Fold your piece of newsprint in half lengthwise.

Cut and folded piece

Step Three:  Get your cup.  I used a plastic cup I had laying around my greenhouse.

Cup

Step Four:  Line your paper up on your cup to the height you would like.  I did fairly large as I was transplanting tomatoes and wanted them to be deep.  Place the folded side on the top of the cup as this will be your top edge.

Placing paper on cup

Step Five:  Roll paper around cup keeping top edges even.  It will not be tight around the cup if your cup is smaller at the base.

Paper rolled around cup with top edges even

Step Six:  Turn cup over and fold the bottom like a present.  It will be bulky and try to unfold.  I ended up placing it flat in my hand and squeezing around the bottom the cup and crumpling the paper a bit.

Bottom folded

Step Seven:  Take the pot off the cup and continue to hold the bottom so it does not unfold.  Place a small amount of damp soil into the bottom to help it keep its shape.

Soil in pot

Step Eight: Place pots into flat or plant tray.

Finished pots

Step Nine: Transplant as normal.  I labeled each pot with a small piece of tape and placed the tape on the rolled edge.  This wasn't necessary to hold the pot together but I had several different varieties in each tray and did not have enough plant markers.

Finished transplanting

Make sure to water them and then you are done!