Nature Crafts

Recycled Mini Greenhouses

Don’t spend your money on seed starter mini greenhouses – make your own from recycled food containers with a transparent plastic cover.

Those convenient domed containers used for rotisserie chicken make ideal mini greenhouses if you clean them thoroughly before use. I have successfully started calendula seedlings in homemade newspaper pots that were housed in a chicken rotisserie package placed on a sunny windowsill. I’ve also started lupins in jiffy peat pots, and this spring I just filled the base of the container with seedling soil mix and scattered the fine seeds of perennial baby’s breath on the surface. After two weeks, those seeds are just beginning to sprout.

There are many food containers with clear plastic lids that you can use successfully as a mini greenhouse – I don’t get them very often, but I do treasure those large clear rectangular containers used to sell fancy salad greens in the grocery store. I’ll also beg or borrow any cake platters that have a plastic dome lid.

Here are directions to make a Pop Bottle Mini Greenhouse, with cardboard pots made from toilet paper tubes.

This year, I’m experimenting with using an occasional spray made of 50% water and 50% hydrogen peroxide (the usual 3% hydrogen peroxide solution widely available at drug stores) to combat any “damping off” mold on seedlings. So far, so good. It seems to be working to stave off the mold and doesn’t seem to hurt the plants at all.

Mini greenhouses help seeds to germinate and provide a warm, moist environment that promotes the healthy growth of young, tender plants. If you find the seedlings bending toward the source of sunlight, turn the container around once a day to provide a more even source of light. As the plants get bigger, you can take off the plastic top for longer and longer periods, until it is no longer needed at all.

To harden off your seedlings, place them outside in a sheltered spot, protecting them from frost with the plastic cover at night or bringing them indoors. Gradually allow the plants to acclimatize to the outdoors until they are fully “hardened off” and able to withstand the rigors of the outside sun, wind and rain. After the frost-free date in your area, you should be able to plant all your mini greenhouse plants in the flower borders or vegetable garden.