Toilet rolls, the inside story

[phil the shed]

loo rolls

as a regular on the vine it makes me feel good when others catch on. the loo rolls have been around for a bit and i have work colleagues the cleaner her daughter my family the cubs and beavers parents ( i tell them we need hundreds for craft ) we only use a few and the rest i snaffle for the lottie.
its surprising what a small gift of produce gets you in return.
i have just paid one bill with a 1.5 kilo of earlies lifted on the weekend job done i say.

as an extra i'm not one for spending on gardening items unless necessary but have been bought a root trainer kit back at chrimbo time so impressed i bought myself another it builds good strong root mass very quickly and every germination in it has been virtually 100%

every little helps i suppose

[HeyWayne]

For me, toilet rolls worked a treat with carrots and parsnips. Had I of thought of it, I would have used them for sweetcorn too as I'm pretty sure they're not keen on root disturbance either.

Planted some peas and mange tout in some a couple of weeks ago and they're going great guns.

I use the stick 'em in a tray and fill 'em method too, far easierer.

[jojo_nature]

I sowed some runner bean's and sweet pea's but got some fungus and mould growing on the roll's , will this harm my plant's ?

[areia]

kitchen roll tubes....hmm...now then, would they be good for doing carrots? filled with sand, perhaps...being long and cylindrical, would make sense. the beans i planted in my toilet rolls are just sprouting now, and they're fantastic. but how do you fill the buggers without it all fallen out the bottom?

i stick an used tea bag in the botton of my loo rolls provided they are wet when you move them 9 times out of ten they dont fall out


now just need a microwave now, would it work if i stick them in the oven when ive finished all my cooking just leave them in there while the oven is cooling down do you think ???

[Novice Gardener]

I stand mine in a tray and make a simple wide funnel out of paper - it makes it really easy to get the soil in the loo rolls, rather than all over the floor

[citygirl]

i never micro'd mine, and there's been no "growth" on them yet. how long are we talking about this taking to happen?....

mine were planted 3 weeks back now

[Winky]

I've always used them for my sweetcorn and beans. Am now going to give carrots a try

[trebellangeminired]

Love the teabag idea! Will save on compost too!

[areia]

i never micro'd mine, and there's been no "growth" on them yet. how long are we talking about this taking to happen?....

mine were planted 3 weeks back now

hmm you must be lucky then ive had all sorts of mushrooms grow on mine even the magic kind which was a shock first hemp from bird seed last year now blimin magic mushroom gawd my neighbours are going to have a field day. i had mine in the green house and my parsnips took 4 weekd to sprout and are still slowly growing not in the ground yet, im assuming its all the damp and stuff in the cardboard which makes the fungus grow

[trebellangeminired]

I germinated mine in a cold frame sitting in a saucer of water. It's the only propergator i've got.

I've got 6 propagators now, presents from the kids for various events and a number of cheap seed trays with lids we've aquired but we still struggle at some points of the year as our veg plot is relatively small so we have to start alot off inside. We can't supply all our food needs and for convenience shop at a supermarket. As a consequence of this is we end up with plastic trays from meat, veg, fruit and even cakes. The upside of this is they can be used as watering trays and propagators. Mushroom and meat trays are good for watering trays. Fruit trays come with and without holes so can be used for planting and watering, just don't do what I did and get them mixed up, water everywhere! I have used one without holes for planting and one with for a lid but you could use the ones with holes for planting if you have a watering tray. One of the best trays is the one that came with some cakes in. It's about A4 size and about 3-4 inches deep. The base and lid are joined together along one side and there is a moulding which works like a press stud holding the two halves together. it works great as a small propagator. At the moment I have some lettuce seeds in it in a polystyrene cell tray that I got last year with some young plants in. Although it is small, there are 20 cells so you can get a good amount of seeds going in a small space. Happy Wombling!

[Winged one]

I tried them for peas, and they worked great.

I tried them for parsnips and nothing germinated.

I only have limited space for them (one "windowbox" plastic trough) so am limited in using them, but will be trying again next year.

One other "reusing" option which worked well for me this year, in a similar vein, was the takeaway coffee cups (especially the venti size!!) which I used for climbing french beans - great little plants and the cups themselves were plenty strong enough to do the early growing, but easily came apart at the side seam for planting out last friday and just rolled away from the base so very very little disturbance of roots. This might be slightlu more practical for me as they have the base inbuilt so can stand on their own (I did poke a few holes into the base for drainage before filling).

[citygirl]

hmm you must be lucky then ive had all sorts of mushrooms grow on mine even the magic kind which was a shock first hemp from bird seed last year now blimin magic mushroom gawd my neighbours are going to have a field day. i had mine in the green house and my parsnips took 4 weekd to sprout and are still slowly growing not in the ground yet, im assuming its all the damp and stuff in the cardboard which makes the fungus grow

umm...magic ones? wow. where ya live again?

they're just stuck outside on my windowsill. and all that's on them are tidemarks where the water has dried and then re-wet again...no mushrooms, or mould, or fur of any description, lol

boohoo..what am i missing??!

[Flump]

I was wondering if its possible to use cardboard tubing, the sort you get for parcels and paper rolls etc.

I have some spare and was considering cutting them to loo roll length and growing stuff in them. I only wondered as they are a thicker material to that of the traditional loo roll about 5mm.

Or has anyone tried this and come across any problems?

[Duronal]

My only concern would be whether or not the roots could penetrate the thicker tube and if the thicker tube would rot too slowly. The easiest way to answer this would be to conduct an experiment with spare seed.

[percy charlie]

dont forget the cardboard board tubes from birthday and xmas wrap or delivery tubes, we get between 4-6 loo rolls a week (family of 5) plus 1 kitchen one until i get my lottie (on waiting list ) mine either go to my friend for her garden or i cut them up for the compost.