Maybe there is a way to improvise like tiny plastic cups or empty egg cartons?
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Gary350
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm
- Location: TN. 50 years of gardening experience.
Where to buy plant trays at a reasonable price?
WOW these plant trays are expensive on Ebay. I used up all my saved plant trays today I need more?
Maybe there is a way to improvise like tiny plastic cups or empty egg cartons?
Maybe there is a way to improvise like tiny plastic cups or empty egg cartons?
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pepperhead212
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Here's my favorite place to get trays and inserts, as well as odd sized pots. As always, shipping is a concern, but they often have deals, reducing that.
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/cate ... ys-inserts
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/cate ... ys-inserts
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ID jit
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- Location: SE New England: zone twilight or 5b... hard for me to tell some days.
I had sticker shock when I went looking for them too.
My solution is:
Plastic and fiber egg trays with little holes punched in the bottom for seed starting and a biggish table spoon filed/ground down to work as a tiny shovel. The little 'shovel' worked well for scooping out little strawberry plants.
Transfer to small, generic "solo" cups with holes melted into the bottom with a soldering iron.
Working on collecting 1 and 2 liter bottles for SIPs. Have built a jig out of scrap lumber and 1/2" plywood to make marking and cutting them easier, so I end up with SIPs that are pretty much identical.
I'm kind of stuck on what to use for trays to put the egg cartons and solo cups in though. Did take a bunch of scrap 2x lumber and ripped it down to "1x2" and built some old style, divided, milk crates to hold nine 2 liter SIPs.
(Will own up to having an obstinate streak which will not allow me to buy something I feel like I am paying too much for - doesn't matter what the actual cost is.)
My solution is:
Plastic and fiber egg trays with little holes punched in the bottom for seed starting and a biggish table spoon filed/ground down to work as a tiny shovel. The little 'shovel' worked well for scooping out little strawberry plants.
Transfer to small, generic "solo" cups with holes melted into the bottom with a soldering iron.
Working on collecting 1 and 2 liter bottles for SIPs. Have built a jig out of scrap lumber and 1/2" plywood to make marking and cutting them easier, so I end up with SIPs that are pretty much identical.
I'm kind of stuck on what to use for trays to put the egg cartons and solo cups in though. Did take a bunch of scrap 2x lumber and ripped it down to "1x2" and built some old style, divided, milk crates to hold nine 2 liter SIPs.
(Will own up to having an obstinate streak which will not allow me to buy something I feel like I am paying too much for - doesn't matter what the actual cost is.)
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applestar
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I was going to write that this thread spans several years, then realized when copying the link that I started it in 2010.... 
Subject: Recycled containers for seed starting and uppotting
Subject: Recycled containers for seed starting and uppotting-
ID jit
- Green Thumb
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- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:00 am
- Location: SE New England: zone twilight or 5b... hard for me to tell some days.
SURE! be way ahead of the curve, again!applestar wrote:I was going to write that this thread spans several years, then realized when copying the link that I started it in 2010....
Thanks to the idea for trays... I have left over glass resins of various types, have card board boxes and can make paper mache... sounds like custom-sized, water proof trays to me. (Mixed correctly, fiberglass resins are inert once cured.)
You can also make the soil blocks. For that you can use a cardboard box lined with plastic. Although the box won't last more than one use before it is compost.
I have a pot maker which is a little time consuming cutting the paper but it works
https://www.amazon.com/Do-It-Yourself-P ... B007K45A7C
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... d-starting
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... -rootcubes
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... 1020-trays
You can try garage sales, sometimes I pick up some pots there. Pots at savers cost the same as new for a used pot.
I save most of the pots when I buy stuff. I use the blow mold pots to sell, but for my own use I like the hard plastic pots. My friends sometimes give me pots that they have collected. You can always use cups, those are a lot cheaper.
I have a pot maker which is a little time consuming cutting the paper but it works
https://www.amazon.com/Do-It-Yourself-P ... B007K45A7C
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... d-starting
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... -rootcubes
https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prod ... 1020-trays
You can try garage sales, sometimes I pick up some pots there. Pots at savers cost the same as new for a used pot.
I save most of the pots when I buy stuff. I use the blow mold pots to sell, but for my own use I like the hard plastic pots. My friends sometimes give me pots that they have collected. You can always use cups, those are a lot cheaper.