How to make seedling pots from Newspapers

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Over the years we have made these easy newspaper seedling pots many a time. Whenever I run low on plant pots, newspapers come to the rescue. We love thrifty garden ideas (most are eco friendly too!!), and this is the best one yet! Let me show you how to make seedling pots from newspapers today!

Newspaper pots
We have been making seedling pots from newspaper since March 2010!!

To make Newspaper Seedling Pots you will need:

  • newspaper
  • a glass

If you are using a broadsheet, use a single newspaper sheet, if using a smaller newspaper, use a double sheet!

If you want different sizes, just used different glass diameters. I am sure you could make this using a tin too…

What is also fab about these, is that when your seedlings are ready to go in the ground, you can plant the whole pot as they “biodegrade”! Though I do still like to “Unwrap” the plans before planting in the ground.

How to make seedling pots from Newspapers

You can watch out easy to follow video tutorial or follow the step by step how to instructions below!

gardening with kids

Time needed: 3 minutes.

You will see that making these DIY Seedling Pots is super quick and easy. You can set up a production line and make lots in one go!

  1. Fold up one long side of the newspaper

    Take the long side of your newspaper and fold it up approximately 1/3 of the way.
    Fold the newspaper

  2. Fold down the top

    Now take the other side and fold down, so they overlap a reasonable amount.
    Newspaper pots

  3. Position your glass

    Position your glass so that you have 2-3 cm sticking out over the top. The distance sticking out needs to be just a little bigger than the radius of the glass to avoid holes.

  4. Fold in the newspaper

    Roll up the glass in the paper.
    Newspaper pots

  5. Ease out the glass

  6. Fold down the insides

    seedling pots

  7. Secure the insides/ bottom of the seedling pot

    Take your glass and push the bottom of the glass back in, this will help secure the bottom part of the seedling pot and push it into shape.
    Newspaper pots

Your DIY seedling pots are now finished. Don’t worry if there are small holes of if the sides flap a little. They will work well once filled with earth and snuggly sitting together.

newspaper plant pot diy

Final thoughts on the seedling pots

Note: newspaper seedling pots are fabulous, thrifty and eco friendly, BUT I do find the dry out a little quicker than plastic plant pots, so do keep an eye on watering them.

Also: many people plant these straight into the ground – which is totally acceptable as the newspaper biodegrades overtime.. but I feel the plant does better when you free out the roots! So, personally I always remove the newspaper before planting.

Check out the rest of our thrifty gardening ideas here:

Upcycled garden ideas

Plus lots of fun Garden Crafts here:

garden craft ideas

If you want a “laugh” you can see an ancient video of me making these on YouTube!