Make packages for seedlings. We make cups for seedlings with our own hands
For growing seedlings at home, containers are first needed. The seedlings feel best in cups, in which the plant roots do not intertwine like in plants planted together in one box. When planting seedlings from cups in the ground, the roots of plants are not damaged, since a plant extracted from a separate container with a lump of earth is transferred into the hole without destruction, so the seedlings from the cups take root faster. Crops such as peppers, eggplants do not like transplants and get sick for a long time if the root system is damaged; their seedlings are recommended to be grown only in cups.
There are many types of cups on sale in different sizes and materials. The most popular are dark plastic cassettes or cups. However, for the purchase of containers for seedlings, many do not have the opportunity to spend additional funds. Therefore, they collect tetra packets from under the juice, plastic bottles, and then cut them off at the desired height for planting.
The easiest and cheapest way to make paper cups with your own hands ... It is best to use glossy magazines. Newspapers can be used, but they must be folded in several layers, since after abundant watering, newspaper cups will get wet and may break. Glossy magazines have thick glossy paper, besides, the size of the pages of magazines printed in A4 format is great for curling cups - this is an ordinary landscape sheet.
How to make seedling cups:
To work, you need a couple of magazines, a wide tape and a glass or tin can of the required diameter. By the size of the glass, you will roll the cups, for example, for tomato seedlings we use containers up to 400 ml, for this we take a glass with a diameter of 8-10 cm, for pepper and eggplant seedlings the diameter of the cups should be about 6 cm. The height of paper seedling cups can be adjusted in the process of rolling them.
Tear out the sheets in pairs from the center of the magazine, so you get paper in two folds.
Place a glass at the bottom edge and wrap it in paper.
Tape the edge with tape, in several pieces, starting at the top.
Move the glass in the paper to the desired seedling cup height. Fold the remaining free edges of the paper tube along the bottom of the glass inward and seal with a piece of tape.
Place a paper cup and use the glass to press down on the bottom to make it stable.
The seedling cup is ready, place it in a box or box. It is better to put paper cups close to each other in a box or box with high sides so that they do not lose their balance.
Self-made cups are covered with earth, then you can start transplanting or sowing seedlings.
Cups for seedlings from magazines are well preserved before planting, do not get wet, do not tear even when moved. In the bottom between the leaves there are holes through which excess water flows out after watering, to prevent overmoistening of seedlings and decay of roots.
It is not always at home at the right time that you can find special cups for seedlings, but there is always a way out. In this article I will show you how simple and quick you can make do-it-yourself seedling cups out of paper. Such cups are suitable for any seedlings, and are made from ordinary newspaper - minimum cost and maximum benefit!
We need:
- unnecessary newspaper;
- shape (bottle, glass, etc.), the size of the bottle determines the size of the future glass.
Fold a standard spread of a newspaper sheet in half. Tuck the bottom edge over by about a third of the sheet.
Attach the bottle to the edge of the newspaper, as shown in the figure.
Wrap the bottle with a newspaper sheet, giving the shape of a cylinder.
Place the resulting cylinder "seam" towards you. Bend the front edge of the top along the bottom of the bottle away from you.
Bend the left edge of the top towards you.
Fold the right edge of the top towards you. The bottom of the bottle is wrapped.
Bend the remaining "tail" and tuck under the bottom. Press the resulting bottom well so that it does not fall apart.
For strength, you can staple the edges of the product with a stapler.
The glass is ready. Optionally, you can put one or more newspaper cups in a plastic bag to prevent leaks.
Spring is a hot season for gardening enthusiasts, which primarily means working with seeds. Modern stores offer gardeners a whole range of different containers for seedlings, but for the sake of economy, most gardeners prefer to do with improvised means and materials. There are many ways to make DIY seed growing cups, and below we'll talk about the simplest and cheapest ones.
Cups from metal and plastic jars
The classic version is a container made of metal cans for canned food. Several holes should be drilled in the bottom (best from the inside), and in order to make it easier to remove the seedlings from the container, several cuts are made on its walls. If the cups are supposed to be used more than once, it is better not to cut them, but just put a strip of thick paper or polyethylene on the bottom - in order to get an earthen ball and not damage the roots, you just need to pull it. Likewise, you can use top-cut cans, plastic bottles and toilet paper rolls.
Plastic cups from under yogurt can serve as containers for seedlings of vegetables and flowers. First you need to cut out the bottom of the can, and instead put a circle of tin or cardboard that is suitable for the size.
When the shoots need to be planted, it will be enough to press on the improvised bottom with a stick. It is important to note that transparent disposable glasses are worst suited for seedlings, since the roots in such containers do not receive enough light and shoot growth slows down.
Cups of paper or newspaper
Containers for seedlings made of paper or newspapers are made in several ways. For the first, you will need a suitable cylinder (you can use a plastic bottle or a can, cut off the top) as a base, as well as strips of paper of a suitable width. If the paper is thick enough, three strips will be enough to make one cup, and if it is thin, it is better to add 2-3 more. Paper strips must be attached to the base so that they protrude beyond its edge by at least 5-6 cm (depending on the radius), then wrap it in paper (not too tightly so that the cylinder or jar can be easily removed) ... The protruding edges must be pressed well, thus forming the bottom of the cup. After that, the base can be removed, and the seedlings can be planted in the resulting container.
Seedling cups can also be made using the papier-mâché principle. This will require several glass glasses, a bowl of water, and old newspapers or even toilet paper. Soak newspapers well and form a future container on an ordinary glass. If toilet paper will be used to make the cups, use a spray bottle instead of a bowl of water. Toilet paper is wrapped around the mold, after which it is well moistened with a spray bottle and well pressed against the walls of the glass. The workpiece is dried for 24 hours, after which it is removed in a circular motion.
Paper or newspaper cups are convenient primarily because the seedlings are subsequently very convenient to plant in the ground. The paper can be simply torn and thrown away, or even the shoots can be planted along with the container (the paper will naturally collapse over time), without damaging even the smallest spines.
Film cups
To make plastic wrap cups for seedlings, it is best to take a film that is used for greenhouses. In addition, you will need a base of a suitable shape and a regular stationery stapler. The film is cut into strips, wrapped around the base and fastened with staples, after which a square cup is obtained. A simpler option is to make tubes from the film, bend the upper edges for rigidity, install them in a box or pallet and fill them with earth. In this case, the most important thing is that the film is dense enough, otherwise it will simply lose its shape.
If a lot of bags of fermented milk products have accumulated at home, they can be used for seedlings. The packages are tucked up, seeds are planted in them, then the edges are turned off and the required amount of earth is added as the shoots grow. The only drawback of this method is that the bags are rather unstable and require additional support. For greater rigidity, it is recommended to reinforce their edges around the perimeter with cardboard strips.
What cups are best for planting seedlings?
It is rather difficult to answer the question of which cups are best used for seedlings, since it depends on the characteristics of the crop that is planned to be grown and other factors. Today, gardening stores sell different containers for growing plants: peat cups and tablets, as well as plastic containers of different shapes and sizes.
Peat tanks
Pressed peat containers have a number of very valuable advantages. Firstly, they provide the maximum survival rate of young plants, since they can be planted in the ground directly with the container, without injuring even the smallest roots. This is especially valuable when growing delicate crops that "do not like" transplanting to a new place. Secondly, the material from which the container is made does not just break down naturally, but turns into a nutritious fertilizer.
Peat cups are both round and square - the latter are very convenient, since they do not take up much space on the windowsill.
When buying such a container, it is important to remember that in order to reduce costs, some manufacturers add cardboard to the material, and such containers are not suitable for growing seedlings - when planting in the ground, the roots of the shoots do not pass well through a thick cardboard layer, due to which the plants begin to grow poorly ... In addition, planting seeds in peat pots requires knowledge of some rules:
- containers must be put on expanded clay or sand;
- the land must be constantly moistened, since the water from such pots evaporates quickly, as a result of which the seedlings will grow poorly (however, excess moisture can lead to the appearance of a tribe on the walls of the glasses);
- as the shoots grow, they need to be moved away from each other so that the roots of young plants do not intertwine with each other.
Also on sale there are peat-peat tablets, which are no less convenient for planting seedlings - when wet, they can significantly increase in size. If these pills are not available, they can be replaced with self-made nutritional nutritional cubes.
DIY nutritional cubes
To make cubes you will need:
- humus (5 parts);
- sod land (1 part).
- peat (3 parts);
- humus (part 1).
The components must be mixed together, after which, for each kilogram of the mixture obtained, add 15 g of ammonium nitrate, the same amount of potassium sulfate, 50 grams of superphosphate and water so that the mass has the consistency of thick sour cream. It must be laid out in a pallet with a layer of 8-10 cm, and then cut into cubes of the required size with a sharp knife. For convenience, the cubes are slightly pushed apart and the seeds are planted.
Video - Do-it-yourself pills, cubes for seedlings
Plastic containers
Plastic containers for growing seeds can be of two types: ordinary pots and cassette containers, which look like cells fastened together. Pots are more suitable for indoor plants, since it is quite difficult to replant shoots from them - the roots are very tightly intertwined with each other, as a result of which they are severely damaged. If the seedlings are to be grown in plastic containers, it is very important to choose the correct size.
Paper cups, at the moment, are more relevant than ever, as it is a cheap way to transport the same seedlings. Of course, you can use plastic cups familiar to everyone, but there are times when cups are not at hand, or they do not fit in size. In such cases, this method of making paper cups (pots) (a newspaper is also suitable) comes to the rescue with your own hands.
To make a paper cup, we need:
- newspaper;
- a cone (in this case, a paint can);
- scissors.
First, let's take our cone. The size of the cup directly depends on the size of the cone, so this must be taken into account. We cut the newspaper to the size of a cone, fold it into 2 layers so that the glass does not break in the future.
We twist the newspaper around the cone, bend the bottom (bottom) of our glass.
That's all. You can use the glass according to your needs! This method is suitable, first of all, for those who sell seedlings. By the way, if you are engaged in the cultivation and sale of seedlings, I recommend looking at the articles "How to make a box for seedlings" and "Mini greenhouse for seedlings."
The first question we ask ourselves before sowing seeds for seedlings is: in what containers should we plant seedlings?
There are many ready-made nurseries on sale, but for various reasons we choose to make homemade glasses. We can make them of the required size, volume, and arrange them as conveniently as possible for ourselves. This is their main advantage.
How to make glasses for seedlings from paper and from film, read in this note.
To make containers for seedlings with your own hands quickly enough and not difficult. Moreover, you can do this in advance, on long winter evenings.
Film glasses.
The first year we were growing tomato seedlings in "diapers". When the seedlings grow up, the diapers must be unfolded and filled with earth.
But since last year we have simplified and changed this process a little. We will not unfold the film and fill up the earth, so we make a glass from the film immediately of the required depth.
For example, for tomatoes - 18cm, for plants with short roots - 10cm is enough.
- We use a thick enough film so that it holds its shape well. Or, you can skip the thin film. It is usually sold folded in half.
- We cut the film into rectangles, about 15x20cm, and wrap them lengthwise around a handle or tube, with a diameter of 3.5-4cm (approximately). The diameter depends on the container, into which you then install the cups. It can be a little more or less.
- We fasten the edges with tape. We fold the bottom by 4-5 cm and also fasten it with tape. We pierce the bottom several times with an awl to drain excess water.
You should get narrow, long plastic cups.
- We fill it with earth, 3-4 cm short of the top. We compact the earth. If you fill it almost to the top, there will be nowhere to pour water when watering.
DIY paper seedling cups
Very uncomfortable.
- I put glasses in cans in three rows, tightly to each other. Otherwise, they fall over.
- Such narrow glasses should be installed in any container with high walls. Can be in flower pots.
What do I like about the diaper seeding method?
- Compact placement of seedlings on the windowsill. Narrow film bundles take up little space and are tightly pressed against each other. At home, this is a big plus.
- The roots, accustomed to growing down, once in the garden, continue to stretch in depth, in search of moisture and nutrition. These plants require less watering.
We made containers for pepper seedlings and tomato seedlings from the film. But when there were loose glasses, we used them for herbs, basil and celery. You can pick flowers and other plants in them.
Such glasses will serve you for more than one year. After planting the seedlings, be sure to save the film until next season.
Glasses made of paper.
In order to save space and money, according to the same principle last year, paper cups were made, only square. They took magazine and newspaper sheets and wrapped them around a wooden block, bent the bottom and fastened them with tape.
But, I did not like these glasses because the seedlings refused to grow in them. Something was wrong with this paper.
The photo shows what frail seedlings are in paper cups and how big are in plastic. The land and growing conditions were the same.
And the second inconvenience with paper cups is that they began to fall apart from moisture while growing seedlings. Watering became difficult, moisture leaked out into the holes, not moistening the ground.
We no longer use this method of creating glasses.
But since some gardeners advise this method, there may be some subtleties that we did not take into account.
In general, containers for growing seedlings can be any:
- transparent jars with lids (from cookies, cakes, vegetables, salads)
- dairy cartons
- plastic bottles
- and even packaging for eggs
You can buy disposable cups of 200 ml and place them in a vegetable box, the bottom of which is lined with plastic.
Prudent summer residents harvest this valuable container all year round. And over time, any container is seen as a container for seedlings. As you can see, there is a huge field for imagination.
If you have any questions that I did not take into account in the note, ask in the comments, and be sure to share your experience.
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All gardeners know that the summer cottage season requires financial investments. Here you need to buy seeds and seedlings. Let's say you can grow seedlings yourself. But, again, the question arises - what to grow?
How to make comfortable seedling cups
It is also expensive to buy special cups for seedlings, especially when growing on a large scale is planned. So, at this stage, you can save a lot - make cups for seedlings with your own hands. And there is no need to buy material - there will always be old newspapers, cans, bottles, packaging, film at home. And in winter there will be something to do with yourself.
Material for cups for seedlings
As a raw material, there can be both ready-made containers and improvised means, namely:
Since the ready-made container can already be used, we will focus on the last two points that require human participation.
Seedling paper cups
In order to make paper cups, you will need directly paper (newspapers, magazines) and a blank (base) glass. As a workpiece, use:
- a cut-off plastic bottle with a loop on the bottom (in order to make it easier to pull the blank out of the glass made);
- a tin can cut off from above.
Cut strips of paper up to 40 cm long and 20 cm wide. Wrap the base for the glass with them so that the paper protrudes 5 centimeters beyond the edge. Then turn this protruding edge and make the bottom of the glass. Now the base can be carefully pulled out, and the cup itself can be fastened with paper clips or glued with glue for strength. Ready! It remains only to fill in the prepared soil and you can plant seedlings. If you use toilet paper, then it is pre-moistened abundantly, and then dried well.
The advantage of paper cups is that they can be planted in the ground along with the seedling; during the growth process, the paper will decompose and will not interfere with the growth of the root system.
Cellophane cups
Such cups are made using the same technology as paper ones, but with careful use they will serve more than once. To do this, twist the strips from the film into a cylinder and fix the bottom and walls with a stapler.
You can do even easier and buy cellophane bags for packaging in bulk. Fill them immediately with earth and place them in a box for stability. Such packages are pre-pierced from below so that moisture does not stagnate.
For more information on how to make do-it-yourself seedling cups, watch the video:
As soon as summer residents begin seasonal troubles with seedlings, what containers are not used for germinating seeds of vegetable and flower crops.
What are the best seedling cups
But it is not always possible to purchase ready-made containers for seedlings. We offer to make spunbond seedling bags with your own hands: quickly, inexpensively and very conveniently.
Spunbond is a popular covering nonwoven material known to any summer resident. For making pouches, you can buy medium-density or thicker spunbond, preferably black, although white will work as well.
Spunbond is inexpensive, about 50 rubles per running meter. The width of the web is 1.5 meters. From one running meter, you can sew a bunch of cups for seedlings of different sizes. In order to make spunbond bags, it is not necessary to purchase a new covering material, the old one, already used, will do.
Many people write such spandbond bags from China, but their size is very small - 8 * 10, this volume is more suitable for seedlings of flowers or cucumbers, but not for tomatoes or peppers, larger bags are needed here. And you need to order these bags in advance, since it takes a long time to wait for the order. Let's try to make seedling bags with our own hands, especially since it's not difficult at all.
From spunbond it is necessary to cut out rectangles of the desired size and fasten the sides with a stapler. If you have a sewing machine, it is better to sew, it will be even faster and more reliable.
The resulting bags must be turned out and covered with earth. Spunbond pouches are ready for planting seeds or picking seedlings.
Why are DIY spunbond seedling bags good?
- Spunbond pouches are the ideal solution for growing seedlings and then planting them directly into the ground, as you can plant plants directly in the cups without damaging the root system.
- From spunbond, you can sew on bags for seedlings of any size, suitable for any culture;
- Spunbond, unlike plastic containers, allows air to pass through, which allows plant roots to breathe, and also protects the soil from waterlogging;
- Soft spunbond pouches take up little space in drawers or boxes;
- Black spunbond attracts heat from the sun, which makes plant growth more comfortable;
- Dense spunbond does not transmit light to the roots;
- Watering the seedlings can and should be carried out directly into the container in which the spunbond cups are made. This saves time as you do not need to water each plant separately.
As you can see, handmade spunbond seedling bags have many advantages, and they are very easy and simple to sew.
Spring is a troublesome time for gardening enthusiasts, because for them, first of all, it means working with seeds. The modern assortment of various seedling containers and pots is really huge, but still, most gardeners, in order to save money, prefer to use just the tools at hand. Do-it-yourself cups for seedlings are made in a variety of ways, and you will learn about the simplest and most accessible from this article.
Jars of canned food, coffee or tea are, so to speak, a classic. At the bottom of each container, you need to drill a couple of drainage holes (preferably from the inside), and for easier extraction of young plants, you can additionally make cuts on the walls. If the cups will be used for several seasons, instead of cuts, it is better to lay a strip of polyethylene or thick paper on the bottom - so you can take out the earthen ball without damaging the root system (you just need to pull this strip). In the same way, cut beer cans, toilet paper, PET bottles and much more can be used, but more on that later.
An excellent seedling container can be cups of baby food and yoghurts. But the bottom of such jars needs to be cut off, and instead of it, a cardboard or tin circle of the appropriate size should be laid.
When transplanting seedlings is required, you will only need to press on such a bottom with a stick.
Note! Disposable plastic cups are not the best option for seedlings, due to the risk of slowing plant growth.
Wholesale prices for plastic cups
wholesale plastic glasses
Glasses from old newspapers
A small stack of newspapers is quite useful for making disposable cups. Tellingly, such containers are more convenient than the options described above, because when transplanting the plant, you do not need to shake out the plant - instead, you need to break the glass. As a result, the root system will not be damaged.
To make such cups, we need a shape. A small bottle or tin can work well. The algorithm of actions should be as follows.
First, take a sheet of newspaper and fold it in half.
We fold the edges of the resulting container and its bottom.
We fill the glass with soil mixture.
Note! If you are not sure that the glass is strong enough, you can tie it with thread or an elastic band.
Toilet paper seedling cups
The next manufacturing option is based on the papier-mâché principle. Here we need a spray bottle, glass cups and toilet paper itself. The technology is extremely simple: we wrap the glasses with toilet paper, moisten them abundantly with a spray bottle, and then press the paper well against the walls. We dry the workpiece within 24 hours, and then remove it with careful circular movements.
Note! Such cups are good because you can simply break them to transplant seedlings into the soil, as already mentioned above. Or, as an option, the plants can be planted together with the container (which will subsequently collapse naturally).
The original version of the manufacture of newspaper cups
Here you will need all the same newspapers, as well as a cut of the building profile. The latter, if necessary, can be easily found among the construction waste, so you don't have to buy anything. In our example, we use two sections of profiles with a length of approximately 20 cm each. The width can be different, depending on the specific culture (for example, you need wider cups).
To begin with, we take a newspaper, cut it lengthwise and across.
In one hand we take a cut of the profile, in the other - a newspaper bent in half (that is, two layers). We wrap the shape with newspaper as shown in the image below.
Where the bottom of the glass will be, bend the corners one by one.
We do not remove the profile yet - it is much more convenient to fill the glass with soil mixture with it.
When the cup is full, carefully pull out a piece of the profile.
We place the filled cups in a box, previously covered with polyethylene.
As a result, you should get something like the following.
Paper cups - improved version
Another option for making containers from old newspapers is to use an original device. For the convenience of visitors, the step-by-step guide is given in the form of a table.
Table. Workshop on making paper cups.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
| For work, we need such a rectangular device - a kind of tin sleeve, put on a small wooden block. |
| We will use such a device when making seedling cups from newspapers. The sleeve can be made from a tin can. Such containers are tinned with food tin, and therefore it will be enough to overlap the tin and heat the joint with a soldering iron. We will be guided by the electrical tape on the sleeve when winding the newspaper so that the finished cups have the same height. |
| We can glue one end of the bar with a piece of leather soaked in oil. Thanks to this, the soil will not stick. |
| First, fill the sleeve with soil mixture as shown in the picture. |
| We wrap the sleeve with a strip of newspaper, focusing on the electrical tape. |
| To form the bottom of the container, bend the edges of one side. |
| Gently pull the sleeve onto the block, holding the soil with the butt end with a leather blotch. |
| We put the filled cups in a wooden box, previously covered with polyethylene. |
Note! As for the size of the container, they will largely depend on the dimensions of the box itself. Although on average it is from 2x2 to 4x4 cm.
Using toilet paper rolls
The advantages of this method are the same as those described above - the bushings are environmentally friendly material, they do not contain foreign impurities, therefore, the seedlings can be planted in the ground without removing them from the cups (the latter will rot in the ground without a trace). If the cups will be used for large plants, we can use the sleeves entirely, otherwise they (sleeves) can be cut in half. The manufacturing process itself is not complicated.
Table. Workshop on making cups from toilet paper rolls.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
| So, first we prepare everything you need - these are the bushings and scissors themselves. |
| We take the first sleeve, crush it and cut it into two halves. |
| On one half, we make four cuts (about 1/3 of the height). |
| We bend the "blades" that have formed as a result of this, and form the bottom of the future glass. Simply put, we make the same bottom as in ordinary cardboard boxes. |
| The bottom is almost done. |
| The result should be something like the following. |
| Everything, the seedling cups are ready for further use. All that remains is to fill them with soil mixture and sow something you need! |
Video - Making cups for seedlings
Film cups
It is recommended to use PET film for greenhouses to create these cups. We also need a simple stapler and a base that has the required shape. First, we cut the film into strips, wrap it on the base, and then fix it with staples. The result is a nice square cup. Although there is a simpler option - to make small tubes from the film with curved upper edges (required for rigidity). We place these tubes on a pallet or in a box and fill with soil mixture.
Note! The film must be dense, otherwise it will easily lose its shape!
You can also use bags of fermented milk products. To begin with, we tuck these bags, fill them with soil, sow seeds and turn the edges back. In the future, as the seedlings grow, the earth will have to be added a little. The disadvantage of this method is packet instability. To achieve greater rigidity, it is advisable to strengthen the edges with cardboard strips.
We make cups from a plastic bottle
Any plastic bottle (in our example, a 1.5 liter bottle) will work. The algorithm of actions is given below.
Table. Workshop on making seedling cups from plastic bottles.
| Steps, photo | Description of actions |
|---|---|
| First, cut off the neck and bottom of the bottle as shown in the image. |
| The cut may be uneven - this does not play a special role. |
| We flatten the cut bottle (you can use a glass jar, as in the photo), forming a couple of the first edges of the glass. Due to the peculiarities and properties of the plastic, the ribs will necessarily turn out to be straight and parallel. |
| You should get something like this. |
| Next, we press the resulting workpiece with our hand (the hand does not have to be six-fingered, as in the picture) and cut along the lines of the container transition to the neck and bottom to get smooth edges. |
| The edges are really smooth. |
| We bend the workpiece as shown in the photo, and make a couple more ribs. |
| We still use a glass jar for this. |
| As a result, we got a square container without a bottom. We measure the side of one square and divide the resulting figure by 2. Example: 7: 2 = 3.5 cm. |
| We cut each of the edges by 3.5 cm. |
| The result should be the following. |
| We fold the cuts and form the bottom, like, again, a cardboard box. |
| We align the edges so that the finished glass is more stable. |
| The glass is ready. We do not make drainage holes. |
| At the end, we wrap the container with "foil" - a label from the same bottle. If you are concerned that water will seep out heavily after watering, you can tape the bottom with tape, although this is not necessary. |
How to properly sow seeds in such cups? It couldn't be easier! As an example, consider the cups described above made from plastic bottles.
So, we take a ready-made glass and fill it with potting soil - store-bought or self-made.
We fill the container completely or only 2/3. We place a couple of seeds, peppers or any other crop on the soil.
Then lightly sprinkle the seeds with soil mixture and water thoroughly.
We cover the cups and place them in a warm place, wait for the shoots to appear. As you can see, even from such a seemingly useless thing - a plastic bottle - you can make excellent seedling cups.
Alternatively - making nutritional cubes
For the manufacture of such cubes, we prepare:
- 1 sod soil;
- 5 - humus.
There is another option:
- 1 part of humus;
- 3 - peat.
We mix the prepared ingredients, and add ammonium nitrate (15 g per 1 kg), potassium sulfate, superphosphate (50 g per 1 kg) to the resulting mixture. In addition, we add water - such an amount so that the finished mixture has a creamy consistency. We put all this in a pallet in a layer 80-100 mm thick, and then cut it into cubes of the required size. You can move the cubes slightly apart from each other to make it easier to work. At the end we sow seeds.
Humus prices
humus
Video - How to make seedling cubes yourself
As a result, we note that regardless of what kind of cups you use, they must be rigid, roomy enough, with low thermal conductivity and opaque walls. In addition, you should take care of drainage - it will protect the plants from excess moisture. If all these requirements are taken into account, then the seedlings will grow healthy and strong, and adult plants will certainly delight you with a rich harvest or abundant flowering!