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went to my local ahs meeting last week it was about how to have a productive greenhouse and he said that you should put toilet rolls in the microwave for 90 secs before planting in them has anybody else heard this










in the land of the blind one eyed man is king

Not heard of that one been told to put loo rolls in the fridge after a curry the night before

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

no, why? we use loo rolls for planting, but why the microwave?

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Yo an' Bob
Walk lightly on the earth
take only what you need
give all you can
and your produce will be bountifull

I think if you do that they may burst into flames

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I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.
W. C. Fields

90 secs is a long, long time!!
I make my porrige in 2min slugs.
Maybe 9 secs to warm the thing before planting in a cold envirenment?

Phreddy

Probably to sterilise them, and I think it would probably be a good idea. We had fungus growing in ours this year, could have been the weather but who knows?

Never heard that Clubroot, but it might not be a bad idea to strerilise them. Might give it a try nex year.

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

I think it's to do with sterilisation, I remember being told something like this when working with kids making junk models etc. You'll have to be careful about the timing though.
Raine

definately to do with sterilisation. i work in pathology and we use microwave as one of the best sterilisation methods available. 90 secs is fine

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We were talking about this a few weeks ago- someone ( sorry- can't remember who ) was concerned about threadworm.
I'd never thought about loo rolls in that way, but it seems sensible to make them sterile before using them....just in case!
I wonder if Blue Peter have ever considered that aspect ?????

I've started saving loo rolls to plant into next spring but dont have a microwave to sterilise them - guess I'll just have to trust to luck?? None of you seem to have had many problems without doing this??

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

I used loo rolls extensively this year to start seeds off in. Some did much better than others, and I did start a thread a while back to say which.

The only major problem I had was with the seeds that took a while to get started. The compost seemed to go stale in the bottom of the rolls and once this started the only solution was to replant them in fresh.

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Veni, Vidi, Velcro.
I came, I saw, I stuck around.

I used them for first time this year but they all went mouldy !! never again

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It's not the growing old I mind but the growing stupid with it!

Hiya
I always use loo rolls for my peas and runners and they seem fine, my peas have done really well this year.
I put a little square of newspaper in the bottom, add compost and plant away. Once the peas start to sprout I sometimes give them a bamboo skewer to hold onto if I remember.
Sometimes if the loo roll is all squidgy n mouldy I tear it off when I plant out, otherwise I just plant the whole thing.
I never thought the mould was a problem as it would mean the loo rolls break down fast once they are planted out.

How would threadwom get onto the middle of your loo roll if no-one had it in your family? Am I missing something here?

Maybe someone who used your loo has them, Wormlady. Highly infectious and easily transmitted. Don't wan't to be disgusting but they're not all bad. The population now suffers from bowel diseases they didn't have when they had thread worms. (Thinking about Crohns Disease. No causal link can be shown, but there is a corelation. Also corelation with use of fridges and freezers - so who knows).

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From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Ew just googled threadworm! Im microwaving everything now!

Thread worm is extremely easy to treat and trust me you'd know if you had it. I had a graphic description from my mum when her colleague's daughter was Miss EB's age. A good few years back now but useful last year when Miss EB was still at nursery and contracted them. Unfortunately I owned up to having treated her and they nearly didn't take her that afternoon. The fact that there was a 99% chance she'd picked them up at nursery seemed to escape them.

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Bright Blessings
Earthbabe
If at first you don't succeed, open a bottle of wine.

Tried it this year and worked well for things such as squash that sprouted well and planted out quickly. Others that hung around a while or were kept in humid conditions rotted and the seedlings withered and died!

Used a heat mat (from a reptile tank) on top of some toilet rolls to speed up germination of my sweetcorn which worked really well!

hope this helps

BVP

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Eww, now I dont know whether to use toilet rolls for things like carrots and parsnips or not? .... This thread is putting me off - think I'll see how this years crops manage without them ....

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

I'd say you're okay if you're using your own toilet roll tubes, but I'd hesitate to take them home from work. I haven't had much success with planting this way, I think because I packed the rolls too tight in the tray. Interesting range of fungi!

Instead of loo rolls - have you thought of using newspaper - easy(ish) to shape...

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