Planting tiny seeds with help from paper towel and glue?

**madnicmom** on 3/3/2011, 10:13 am

ok, I read on the net that someone actually uses a paper towel (sized to 1 square foot) , makes his glue from flour and water.

Stated something about using a very thin towel.
dabs "glue" where he wants his seeds to be planted ( 16 spaces for carrots and radishes, etc)
placed seeds on the glued areas

let the glue "dry"

then placed in square foot and covered with soil accordingly.

Has anyone heard of such a thing? Tried it?

I tried to search this board for info but was unsuccessful, hope this is not a repeated topic.

thanks
Kim

elliephant on 3/3/2011, 10:46 am

I happened to stumble across this discussion on that very thing when I was looking for info on a similar topic!

**madnicmom** on 3/3/2011, 11:21 am

Thank you very much, I guess I picked the wrong topic words to search. LOL.

quiltbea on 3/3/2011, 5:42 pm

I just got an email yesterday on gardening with kids and the project of the month was starting seed on toilet paper with white glue.

Same idea. Cut long strips of toilet paper, place dabs of white glue the proper spacing, put one seed on the glue, allow to dry, then roll it up on the cardboard tube.
Prepare soil for sowing in garden or window box, roll out the paper, cover lightly with soil, water and wait for the seeds to germinate.

I've never tried it so can't say it works but it sounds like a fun thing for kids to try.

Blackrose on 3/3/2011, 6:19 pm

quiltbea wrote:I just got an email yesterday on gardening with kids and the project of the month was starting seed on toilet paper with white glue.

Same idea. Cut long strips of toilet paper, place dabs of white glue the proper spacing, put one seed on the glue, allow to dry, then roll it up on the cardboard tube.
Prepare soil for sowing in garden or window box, roll out the paper, cover lightly with soil, water and wait for the seeds to germinate.

I've never tried it so can't say it works but it sounds like a fun thing for kids to try.

I've been reading this thread and thinking that it would be a great idea for planting the small seeds directly in my SFG. Then I saw your post quiltbea and it's like a lightbulb went off over my head. :idea: I'm always looking for little craft projects for the kiddos to do and this is perfect! I'm going to build a 2x2 for them to put on our back deck as a spring/summer project and give each of them 2 squares to plant what they want. Glueing the seeds on paper towel first is a good segway to planting their 2 squares. cheers

quiltbea on 3/3/2011, 6:27 pm

Blackrose,
If you aren't sure about the glue part of the project, you could always just put the seeds in a jar cap, have the kids wet a tip of a pencil point, touch the seed and it will adhere to the point. Then they can put the seed where they like.

I do it myself with my tiny seeds like basil and carrot seeds so I only put one in each planting space.

Blackrose on 3/3/2011, 6:33 pm

Thanks quiltbea. I was thinking of making a paste with flour or cornstarch and water. I'm not too concerned about plain white glue anyway. There has been many a child that has eaten glue in the past and had no ill effects. Laughing

As for the pencil idea, that's a good one too. When I planted my broccoli, cabbage and kohlrabi in their little soil cubes, I used the tip of a toothpick in much the same manner. I love you

Old Hippie on 3/4/2011, 12:10 am

Blackrose wrote: I was thinking of making a paste with flour or cornstarch and water. I'm not too concerned about plain white glue anyway. There has been many a child that has eaten glue in the past and had no ill effects.

Doesn't every kid eat glue sooner or later? I thought that is why school supply lists said kids need two bottles.....one to eat and one to glue with? What a Face

Gwynn

Goosegirl on 3/4/2011, 2:47 am

Old Hippie wrote:
Blackrose wrote: I was thinking of making a paste with flour or cornstarch and water. I'm not too concerned about plain white glue anyway. There has been many a child that has eaten glue in the past and had no ill effects.

Doesn't every kid eat glue sooner or later? I thought that is why school supply lists said kids need two bottles.....one to eat and one to glue with?

Gwynn

Never ate the glue, but those jars of paste, yum! Who was the idiot that designed those jars? The paste spreader attached to the inside of the lid that looked like a popsicle stick. Give a kid a popsicle stick and he/she is going to eat!

TC

acara on 3/4/2011, 5:03 am

Also, if your worried about the glue, they make seed-tape (both pre-seeded and DIY), that even comes printed with spacing/measurement

Goosegirl on 3/4/2011, 6:40 am

acara wrote:Also, if your worried about the glue, they make seed-tape (both pre-seeded and DIY), that even comes printed with spacing/measurement

Thanks for the link!

I've always wanted to make my own seed tape, but something else always came up and I never ended up searching for the supplies. I have the link bookmarked for when I get back from vacation!

TC

acara on 3/4/2011, 7:43 am

No problem .... I stumbled across that after just about going blind trying to plant carrot seeds & thinking "there's gotta be a better way to do this".

Furbalsmom on 3/4/2011, 12:32 pm

I tried Quiltbea's tip using a pencil dipped in water to pick up one seed at a time, and it was GREAT for placing those timy broccoli and lettuce seeds in my Jiffy Pellets and cups of vermiculite. Not sure how easy it will be out in the garden, but I quess we will see.

you guys for bringing up the paper towel, bathroom tissue seed tape ideas again, as I had forgotten all about them. I will be working with children in the community garden this Spring and Summer. What a great project for them.

Goosegirl on 3/8/2011, 6:54 am

quiltbea wrote:I just got an email yesterday on gardening with kids and the project of the month was starting seed on toilet paper with white glue.

Same idea. Cut long strips of toilet paper, place dabs of white glue the proper spacing, put one seed on the glue, allow to dry, then roll it up on the cardboard tube.
Prepare soil for sowing in garden or window box, roll out the paper, cover lightly with soil, water and wait for the seeds to germinate.

I've never tried it so can't say it works but it sounds like a fun thing for kids to try.

Thanks for the great idea Quiltbea! I told a friend of mine about this and she is going to give this a try with her grandkids this weekend. She is 'Rower' but she has better success with carrots scattering in one 6" wide row rather than one thin row. She is going to use the full width of the TP and have her grandkids place radish seeds among the carrot seeds for the 'thinning' effect as they are pulled. It will be a great indoor gardening project for them since we still have SEVERAL feet of snow left to melt!

TC

Icemaiden on 3/8/2011, 7:09 am

I was listening to a radio gardening program and one expert said his mother had trouble sowing seed because she had Parkinsons disease. So she used to tear lengths of masking tape, put the seeds on and then just bury the tape. Not sure if you call it masking tape too? That light brown paper-y stuff that you use when painting?

Planting tiny seeds with help from paper towel and glue?

Planting tiny seeds with help from paper towel and glue?

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