Free seed-starting plant pots made out of soda bottles

I made a video about how I make my planters for my seeds out of soda bottles.

I make my planters out of old buckets and other containers, but they are bigger than 2 litres. I use a hot nail to make drainage holes in the plastic. Two litres is too small for many things that I want to grow in containers. Also I've seen that drinks bottles deteriorate in the sun after a year or so, and start to crumble.

Rebecca Norman wrote:I make my planters out of old buckets and other containers, but they are bigger than 2 litres. I use a hot nail to make drainage holes in the plastic. Two litres is too small for many things that I want to grow in containers. Also I've seen that drinks bottles deteriorate in the sun after a year or so, and start to crumble.

Yes, that's why in the video I indicated that they are best used for starting seeds and upgrading to larger containers as they get bigger.

Good point

This is great, thanks, Jolene!

I just found out (a little late to the game, I'm sure) from the video below that I can make biodegradable seed starting pots out of toilet paper tubes. Take a tube and a knife, slit the tube vertically at one end, making ~3/4" slits at 12, 3, 6, and 9, then fold and interlock the resulting tabs like you're shutting a box that you don't want to come open on its own, flip the tube over, fill it with damp potting soil, place in a bin with other tube pots for mutual support. When you want to transplant, you can either leave the tube in the ground to dissolve or peel it away from the roots carefully along that diagonal cut those tubes have. This is great for things that are sensitive to transplanting. I seeded some papaya, tamarind, and acorns in these recently to try to get some trees started.

The video has some other good ideas, too.