Grow Your Own Magazine

Would any of you use those little (c. 2.5") brown plastic cups you get out of coffee vending machines for potting on seedlings coming out of seed trays? I have a ready and plentiful supply and it seems a shame to waste ..... but any problems you know of? (not big enough springs to mind?!)

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

They are just the job i have used them in the past just make sure that you cut a bit of the base where it joins the side for drainage jacob

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What lies behind us,And what lies before us,Are tiny matters compared to what lies Within us ...
Ralph Waide Emmerson

same here i take loads from work and they do the job as seed trays well

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http://newplot.blogspot.com/

rain rain go away

I have recently put a recycling bin for cups next to the drinks machine in the staffroom so as to recycle them as plant pots, we also have a water macine and the cups are ideal as mini cloches.

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Cheers Chris

Its only a chilli if it burns your mouth

OH YES!!! Just make sure you make holes in the bottom for drainage.

Thats all I use! The polystyrene cups are good as well!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

Same here. And I use the clear ones too so that the kids can see the roots developing.

using clear ones to see roots developing is a fantastic idea - i am going to try that!!!

Sue

I bought some fibre pots from Woolies and a also load of cheap white vending machine cups from Tesco - and divided my seeds into both sorts of planting receptacle. I didn't do holes in the plastic cups (through not thinking rather than plan) but the results were massively in favour of the cheap white cups. Even without holes. Somehow when I watered into the vending machine cup I could get a sense of the moisture concentration. All the plants in the vending cups have been good. So am sure it is a worthwhile idea. I don't even need mention you can use them again !!!

Dotski McWellie

Absolutely! I don't have any "proper" pots of that size. I bought myself a cheap soldering iron on t'ebay which I use to make the holes in the bottom (making sure I'm in a well ventilated area). Using the soldering iron means I don't crack or split any of the "pots".

Best thing is, they're free!

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated 30th November

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I have been using it for years now and it is a great stuff even after owning root trainers, I still can't do without these cups. Great for tomato, chili,pepper, beans, peas...etc. I use scissor to create drainage holes, just cut at the base-side at 4 to 6 place...voila, ready !

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I grow, I pick, I eat ...

Great minds.....I use the poker from my woodburner!

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My Majesty made for him a garden anew in order
to present to him vegetables and all beautiful flowers.- Offerings of Thutmose III to Amon-Ra (1500 BCE)

I use those all the time, they work out cheaper than buying 3" pots and re-usable as well. It's also very easy to get rootball out when transplanting seedlings.

I use wooden bbq stick to make drainage holes.

I also buy plastic shallow soup cups (the one restaurants use for takeaways), about 4" diameter, these make fantastic seedtray, very handy when you want to sow a little bit of different variaties at the same time, so each plant has it's own seedtray.

Hi
We get 100 plastic ones for £1 at the poundshop 1p a pot not bad
Debbie

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www.johndebs.piczo.com

haha, and there was me thinking I'd found something new - just goes to show, there is nothing new when it comes to gardeners inventiveness!! Thanks all - guess what I'll be doing this weekend .....

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

As you can see, today's collection is going quite well:

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated 30th November

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev036pr___.png

nice chair Wayne

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aka
Suzie

Fits me perfectly.

I made loads of those for our wedding. They were place name holders made from champagne cages. We had to drink loads of champagne before we had enough!

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated 30th November

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev036pr___.png

Oh wow, I like the idea of using them as mini cloches.. perfect at the moment when my babies (er, I mean, seedlings) are small and it's quite windy out... I'm off sick today but I'll get my boy to bring me some home

Any excuse to have a drink Hey Wayne!?! And I hope you didnt drink all those coffees this morning?!

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

Especially not at the same time as the Vicks inhaler!! We'll have to peel you off the ceiling!!

Say what?

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - Updated 30th November

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/p/dev036pr___.png

Aawwwwwww - he's cute!!!!

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance