Sally Scalera

Brevard County Horticulture Extension Agent
3695 Lake Drive -- Cocoa FL 32926 -- 321-633-1702

Germinating seeds can be done
now or later

Jan. 10, 2004

A lot of people take vacations at this time of year, especially if there are children in the home that have a break from school, so I thought I would pass on two fun activities that can be done now, or any time of the year for that matter!

If you like to start plants from seed, these two activities are great to do year round. The activities are how to germinate seeds in paper towels and how to make recycled newspaper pots. I normally start seeds in paper towels on a Wednesday night so that I can pot them up on the following weekend.

Germinating seeds in paper towels is my favorite way because I can check them to see if they have germinated, are diseased or just haven't germinated yet. This is not only fun for adults but kids enjoy this too.

The larger the seeds the easier this is to do but I still germinate small seeds this way. Two exceptions are carrots and radishes, which are best seeded directly into the garden. For very hard seeds I also soak them in water overnight first.

Paper towel use

Here are the instructions on germinating seeds in paper towels. Gather the following supplies: Seeds, plain white paper towels (I prefer Bounty, the quicker picker upper), and zip-lock baggies. You can label the baggie using sticky labels on the outside with the date and the plant's name.

Step 1: Take one sheet of paper towel, fold it in half and place it under running water until wet.

Step 2: Place the paper towel between your hands and press your hands together, working your way down the towel until all of the excess water is squeezed out.

Step 3: Lay the paper towel out on a flat surface.

Step 4: Scatter the seeds over the paper towel and try to stay away from the edges. If you are using a new seed packet only start as many seeds as you want plants!

Step 5: LOOSELY roll up the paper towel, starting at the smaller end.

Step 6: Place the paper towel in the zip-lock baggie.

Step 7: Do not zip the baggie shut! Leave the baggie open and place it in a warm location but out of the sun.

Step 8: In a couple of days remove the paper towel and carefully unroll it to see if the seeds have germinated. If they have not, then loosely roll the paper towel back up, place it back in the baggie and put it back where you had it.

Repeat Step 8 every couple of days. If the seeds have germinated then place the seedlings carefully in pots of light, well-draining potting soil. If the roots have grown into the paper towel you can carefully cut or tear apart the paper towel and bury the paper towel in the soil when planting.

Newspaper pots

To make recycled newspaper pots you will need some newspaper, glue (ex. Elmers), scissors and a can.

Tear the newspaper in wide strips starting at the top of the page and ripping down to the bottom. Separate the strips so that they are in groups of three to four sheets.

Before you start rolling the newspaper around the can, first pull the bottom sheet so that it sticks out farther away from you. Next, place the can near you and roll the paper around the can until you get to the end where the outside sheet is.

Squeeze some glue along this last strip of the outside sheet and press it down. Make sure that you have enough overlap at the bottom of the can so that it will cover the entire bottom of the can. Then, take the scissors and cut, from the end of the sheet towards the base of the can, the circle of paper into at least five sections.

Lay the sections down, overlapping each other and glue the last section down to create the bottom. If you have enough cans you can glue the bottom and leave the can in while you go on to the next few pots.

These pots are great because when you go to plant the transplants you can plant the entire pot too. Before planting though, remove the top of the newspaper pot (you can tear it off) to just below the soil line so that the top of the newspaper is not sticking up out of the ground when it is planted.