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  • #1

    Cardboard pots

    Over the last couple of years I have been saving the cardboard centres of bog rolls and using them to plant my seeds in in seed trays, thanks mainly to advice given on either this forum or ones like it. At the same time, I've been buying, what is in essence, cardboard pots from places like B&Q and B&M and pound shops and filling them with compost and putting seeds in them.

    It all seems like a good idea. The cardboard gets wet and the roots grow though it, so when you pot on or dig the plant into the ground, it continues to grow vigourously.

    I have found that it doesn't quite work like that though. A lot of the plants I've put in these cardboard pots have been pretty stunted. My belief is that the cardboard takes the few nutrients that are in the compost out and the plant gets starved. I suppose I could add extra nutients when I am planting seeds, but I've found in the past that doing that can kill the seed off before its properly germinated.

    I reckon that if these pots were made of peat or coconut fibre, which I believe some can be, though I don't believe that I have seen any for sale in any shops, it would be okay, but as far as I am aware, they aren't available anywhere. I have come to the conclusion that its probably best to leave these cardboard pots alone and in future use the tried and trusted plastic pots.

    All the bog roll tubes that I have saved are now going in the bin, or maybe the compost bin.
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  • #2
    I decided last year I was giving up on loo roll pots. I found the roots were restricted and nothing seemed to do well after they'd been planted out. Others do get on fine with them though. Parsnips and carrots work ok though if you plant them out sharpish, though I prefer to sow these direct. You can get peat pots but I've only heard bad things about em. Root trainers on the other hand....

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Shadylane View Post
      Root trainers on the other hand....
      What are they?

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      • #4
        Mmm. Don't want to be too controversial but peat pots? Isn't that just another use of a precious habitat that is under threat? Also, the carbon footprint of coconut ones may be another factor.

        The only thing I'm using the cardboard ones for this year is a wee experiment with some brassicas and making them fairly compact to help with creating a firm head on cabbage/cauli's. Dunno if it'll work, as I say, a wee trial to see if it helps.
        Anyone else tried this?
        Clay soil is just the big yins way of letting you know nothing good comes easy.

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        • #5
          Oh and an another wee thought... I've noticed some grapes on here that make their own pots out of old newspapers. Neat idea, might try next year.
          Clay soil is just the big yins way of letting you know nothing good comes easy.

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          • #6
            Cardboard and/or peat pots are prone to drying out and sucking the moisture from the compost. This is not good for seedlings. I have also found that once planted out, roots struggle to grow through the pot into the soil and the pot never rots away completely so the plants have restricted root growth and perform poorly. IMO it is hard to better plastic pots and cell trays.

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            • #7
              Well, horses for courses. I use loo roll and paper pots with no problems, for peas & beans mostly. You do have to alter your watering regime, you do need to entirely bury them when you plant out, and they aren't ideal for all seedlings.
              I like them. I've used them for a decade and I'll continue to do so. (making paper pots is also an ideal way to waste today's gardening club time. It'll keep them quiet while I have a Lemsip)
              All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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              • #8
                They only dry out if you leave the tops proud of the soil. Otherwise they break down really fast - even in my clay soil. If you bury the tops and give them a good water in - the roots break through pretty easily.

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                • #9
                  I use loo roll inners for peas and beans, and this year for sweetcorn. As Twosheds says, it helps if you bury them completely when planting out and also water your plants really well (at planting time). At least with loo rolls they are bottomless so the plant roots can go straight down into the soil, unlike the peat and fibre pots which the roots do struggle to grow through.

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                  • #10
                    I must admit I've gone back to using plastic trays and rootrainers, because I didn't have much luck with loo rolls. I think because I only use Andrex Quilts the cardboard is of a better quality so doesn't rot down fast enough!
                    Granny on the Game in Sheffield

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                    • #11
                      See, I don't get on with rootrainers at all, I get better results from loo rolls
                      All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Florence Fennel View Post
                        I think because I only use Andrex Quilts the cardboard is of a better quality so doesn't rot down fast enough!
                        I had the opposite problem next doors gave me a bag of cheap loo roll middles and when they were wet they unwound so I ended up wrapping newspaper around to hold them together.
                        Location....East Midlands.

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                        • #13
                          I buried them fully and watered them in well but the peas I grew were the crappest in the land. Me mum said she couldn't get on with em either, but of course whatever works for you. Stll can't make me mind up about root trainers. Some of mine don't close properly and keep popping open and when you come to plant out, even though there's loads of root system the soil sometimes falls apart, defeating the object of trying not to disturb the roots. The runners I put in this time round seem to have worked better though and a bulb planter (as suggested on here somewhere) is deffo the way to go as a companion tool to root trainers or loo rolls.

                          Dynamo, have a lookie here

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Florence Fennel View Post
                            I think because I only use Andrex Quilts the cardboard is of a better quality so doesn't rot down fast enough!
                            OOOOOhhhhhh, get you

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Bren In Pots View Post
                              I had the opposite problem next doors gave me a bag of cheap loo roll middles and when they were wet they unwound so I ended up wrapping newspaper around to hold them together.
                              Trick there is to stand them close together in a tray of some sort so they support each other.

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