Loo roll pots

[Emmylou]

Hi, I have this year tried using loo roll inners as biodegradable pots for the first time.
I have sown sweetcorn in full tubes. I have read the tubes can be cut in half also. What seeds would be best sown in half tubes?
The first time I attempted to fill the tubes I was using a teaspoon!
I since read somewhere to use a cut down fabric conditioner bottle with the wide neck....brilliant, and I made a scoop for the compost with the other half of the bottle Also, put a little scrunched up paper towel in bottom to stop compost falling out, and sit the tubes in a plastic tray from supermarket rubbish. I have kept the tubes together with an elastic band.
Hope this helps anyone attempting using tubes for the first time!
( Tubes can be flattened for storage, it is best to flatten them into a square shape to use anyway as they sit together better).

[SlugLobber]

I wish you'd posted this before I sowed my first parsnips this year. I had two brains at the time. One was missing and the other was out looking for it. Happy to report that they nearly all germinated, regardless of my pathetic attempts to ram the rolls into the compost...

[allotmentlady]

Brill emmylou, I use the same tactics.....

[ann-the-nan]

Loo roll pots

Decide the length of the pot by what you are growing. eg. i put my beans in full rolls, but things like tagates (to go alongside the carrots) only got 1/2 roll or a paper pot. I found that putting a lacky band on did not help much so i jammed them all into a plastic tray (a deep one) I got from morrisons with rasperies, etc., in.Works a treat. (Beansprouts is a good tray)

[kiwirach]

what a clever idea....i didnt think of that when i sat down on saturday to sow my sweetcorn, and wondered how i was going to get the compost in and not around!. i shall make a note for next time!.

[cupcake]

Now why didn't I think of that?

[Prozac]

I have Sweetcorn growing in full size tubes.... but they go mouldy really quickly if they're kept close together .... not sure if this makes any difference in the end.....

[ann-the-nan]

Loo roll pots

What goes mouldy, the plants or the loo rolls? I have had the odd one or two with a spot of mould but it always seems to work out alright in the end.

[Prozac]

What goes mouldy, the plants or the loo rolls? I have had the odd one or two with a spot of mould but it always seems to work out alright in the end.

The loo rolls.

[phil the shed]

more regular watering into the centre of the roll will help, they go mouldy when they get too wet.

[deezyb]

my sweetcorn is in loo rolls, just planted out tonight. the loo rolls did look a bit mouldy as they were all stuffed into an old mushroom box to keep them upright....sweetcorn roots oozing out of the bottom so am assuming they're fine. there's a thread on the vine about microwaving the loo rolls before putting in compost...apparently that stops the mould - I tried this year...but still had mould, although not as much!

[Noodles]

I tried the microwave trick as well. I forgot on the first batch but did it on the 2nd batch. They both got about equal amounts of mould on them.