Peat pots

[Elijah Gunn]

I found a good article in backwoods magazine about how to make plant starting pots out of newspapers . However, they say to not use papers that have any color ink on them. I cant find any newspapers that do not have colored ink on them.Every page has some on it someplace. SO, I'm planning to by some peat pots. Which size would work best? This is my 1st time trying any serious gardening. So I'm just looking for a basic size that will work for most plants without being too small.
Is there another source,or kind of paper to make the paper pots?
While I'm asking about paper...
I was thinking about collecting the coffee grounds from work so I could compost them. So, is it ok to  compost the paper coffee filters right along with everthing else?
Thanks, Mark

[Graybeard]

Yes the coffee filters should be fine.

From what I've read MOST (but maybe not all) colored newspaper inks in use now are OK to use in the garden. I do in the flower gardens and have seen no ill effects from it. I'm not doing much vegetable gardening these days.

If you are only going to use these for starters and then get them into the ground fairly soon pots from 2" to 3" in diameter are plenty big enough for most things you'll pot from seeds and really even the tinier ones and 1" squares of peat seem to do OK. These days lots of folks are going to a long narrow style that is perhaps an inch square and as much as 3" long to get a good deep root system going. They do seem to work well.

[jvs]

It is my understanding that most Newspaper ink is now Vegetabe Based, as opposed to Chemical Based.  I believe that most Magazine ink is still Chemical, so I would stay away from that.

I never liked Peat Pots for starting seeds.  When I did use them, I tore them apart before planting and threw them away.  They never went in the ground, but that is my preference. 

Now I use empty cardboard egg cartons to get the seed started, then I transplant them into 4" plastic pots until the plants and conditions are ready.  4" pots or bigger give the roots plenty of room to grow and not stunted for the few weeks they are in there.  The more root system you have, the healthier and bigger the plant is.

You can get root bound in a smaller peat pot.  One year I just punched 1" holes in a bag of Potting soil and started my seeds.   

[Elijah Gunn]

Well, I found out that the newspaper here is printed with a soy based ink so I've made about 30 of the paper pots. Then today I  ran into a real good deal on some potting soil . Some of the bags had torn so they were rebagging the potting soil into some garbage bags and marked down the price to a dollar a bag for the 16 qt. bag size. I'm using the paper pots to start some sunflower seeds. Gonna make a patch of them near the back of my property and let them be food for the turkeys,or whatever other wildlife wants them.