No More Newspaper Pots

This year I decided to try growing my seedlings in those trendy homemade newspaper pots. I was tired just thinking about washing out all my seedling pots before planting and thought this might be an easier, low-cost option, with the perk that if I liked them I wouldn't have to store a bunch of pots in my little shed year-round.

Well, I didn't like them. Here are the reasons why, in case I get tempted to try it again:

1. They are too flimsy. I used 3 news sheets stacked together, which I thought was the most I trusted to break down quickly in my tough clay soil, and as you can see, some of them just fell apart.2. Roots sometimes grow right through them, which I find disturbing. But then, I guess they do grow out of the plastic pots sometimes too.3. They're too difficult to move quickly, because they don't hold their shape very well when wet.
4. They sweat too much. When the soil is damp the paper sucks water out of it, and the water then evaporates from the surface of the paper.
5. The vg ;'g'g;'gh;[h[;[; ; ; (from contributing author R)
6. The rotting newspaper attracted bugs - millipedes in my basement and little shredder beetles from outside - which ended up on my kitchen counter. I'll spare you the picture.
7. It takes a long time to make the number I need, and newsprint is very messy. (But you can do it on the couch instead of at the kitchen sink.)

Maybe this year I'll just have to clean and bleach my seedling pots in the fall like committed gardeners do!