Paper etc pots

 What I am finding as I trawl around sites for making paper pots is
that there is a considerable variation in thicknesses - obviously the
thicker would take longer to break down.

David (?) originally answered me with the information on them - I
think his long-time gardener friend who swears by them is using the
thin strips of paper method.

What I am finding out in the germination area is that both toilet
rolls and those trays of six (?) square peat pots are taking a heck of
a lot more water, and dry out quicker. Obviously because there is a
bigger evaporation area. So they are okay if you keep the water up to
them, but they wouldn't be good to leave for a couple of days. At the
moment they have to be watered several times a day.

The corn starch ones are into their second round of seedlings. No sign
of them breaking up yet, but I wonder if they are also a bit like
bio-fuel - diverting food that would feed a family into things to make
us feel better, when really we should be using milk cartons with the
tops cut off and holes in the base???

Cheers

Linda
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com  **

 LindaB wrote:


I have similar doubts. This method makes a quite solid pot but I think it would
be in the ground until doomsday and a single paper layer pot would not
tolerate too much handling at all.
It would seem to require a fine balance of layer numbers and decomposition
time.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=2ebeca363034301f45c6



--
faeychild

 

i agree pretty much - better to use something that already exists. for all
the problems with petrochemical plastics, they make pots which last
virtually indefinitely & can be handed on from person to person & are
endlessly useful.

i suppose at some point in the future we will have more plant-based plastics
again - fully reusable and recyclable, one hopes.

there's a problem with peat pots too - in that peat takes a long time to
form & therefore shouldn't be harvested beyond a certain point. there's
simply not enough peat in the world for everyone because it won't form in
most conditions... so again i suspect re-using something (e.g. newspaper) to
make a transplantable pot is the better idea (unless one lives next door to
a sustainably-mined peat bog. ;-)
kylie