Post by lew92 on May 19, 2014 16:57:47 GMT -5
You'll need:
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 cup water
Inexpensive two-ply toilet paper (I buy it at Dollar Tree and it works perfectly)
A long-bladed box cutter/utility knife
Clear tape or narrow masking tape
Marker or pen that will work on tape
A small bowl, either clear or white will help you see the seeds better
Eye dropper, needleless syringe, or zip-top bag (I prefer the eye dropper)
Veggie seeds
Toothpick
Indoor clothesline, clothes rack, dowels over chair backs, clothes hangers, or some other place to hang the tapes while they dry.
Start by mixing the cornstarch with cool water, then bring to a boil, stirring/whisking constantly until it comes to a boil and thickens. Allow to cool to room temperature. Because I never am able to use it up in one session of making seed tapes, I keep it in a covered container that can go from the fridge to the microwave.
Being very careful, use the long-bladed box cutter to cut a roll of toilet paper in half, length-wise around the roll. For me, it takes several passes around the roll to get all the way through. I go through the cardboard roll at the center, too, because otherwise the paper can get caught up when you are unrolling it.
Attach a piece of tape to the end of the narrow roll and label it with the type of seeds you will be using. Roll out the paper onto a table or countertop. When I first made these tapes, I kept them no longer than six feet, but gradually got more comfortable with longer lengths and now make mine ten feet long. You need to be able to handle the seed tape without the side with the seeds touching another side or your seeds will come off or stick in places you don’t want them – better to start short until you know how it will go.
If you will be using a zip-top bag, put your cooled cornstarch gel in the bag, zip the to shut, then snip a very, very tiny hole in one corner. Otherwise, use an eye dropper or syringe to suck up some of the gel. Consulting the seed packet for spacing, make dots of gel on the toilet paper strip.
Empty your seed packet into a small bowl, then dip the tip of the toothpick into the gel just to dampen it. Use the toothpick to pick up one seed at a time, then swipe the toothpick through a gel dot, leaving one seed behind. Repeat until you have a seed in every dot of gel. Occasionally having two seeds in a dot is okay, but the convenience of seed tapes is not having to thin the seedlings, so better to keep it to one seed per dot.
Carefully pick up the seed tape and hang it over an indoor clothesline, the back of a chair or wherever it can hang for a few hours, undisturbed, to dry. I hang mine on the clothesline in our basement, otherwise the cats and dogs would mess with the tapes.
Once the tapes are dry, roll them up starting at the un-labeled end. I put all the tapes of the same types of seeds in a plastic bag to keep things more organized. As long as the tapes are completely dry before you store them, you can make these up months in advance of gardening.
When you are ready to plant, use your hoe to make your row in the garden soil, simply roll the tapes out, then cover with soil to the depth appropriate for the type of seed. In windy weather, I just roll out a few inches at a time and cover as I go, leaving the end uncovered so I know where to start with the next tape.
Notes:
I generally make up two or three tapes at a time – any more than that can get tedious. One ten-foot tape takes me a bit less than ten minutes to make up, with a stop for a sip of coffee, check the weather report, etc. I try to make these up over the winter when I get the gardening urge, but obviously it didn’t work out that way this year!
If you don’t use up all of your gel in one go, put it in the fridge in a covered container. Use up or discard within one week. When you take it out of the fridge to use again, it works best to warm it up a bit as it gets clumpy when it is cold. I’ve found the best way is to take the lid off, cover it loosely and microwave for ten seconds at a time. I keep mine in a little horseradish jar and put the lid back on and shake it really hard in between warming. That gets all the clumps out.
I started making these from instructions I found several years ago and have improved my method over the years. The zipped bag works okay, but is kind of hard to control. A needless syringe works, too, but I always seem to get big globs of gel instead of nice dots. The eyedropper works the best for me.
Another tip – when making your dots, DON’T put them on the perforations between sheets of TP – I made that mistake when making beet seed tapes recently. I think because the seeds were heavy and my dots got a little big, it ended up tearing apart in several places.
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 cup water
Inexpensive two-ply toilet paper (I buy it at Dollar Tree and it works perfectly)
A long-bladed box cutter/utility knife
Clear tape or narrow masking tape
Marker or pen that will work on tape
A small bowl, either clear or white will help you see the seeds better
Eye dropper, needleless syringe, or zip-top bag (I prefer the eye dropper)
Veggie seeds
Toothpick
Indoor clothesline, clothes rack, dowels over chair backs, clothes hangers, or some other place to hang the tapes while they dry.
Start by mixing the cornstarch with cool water, then bring to a boil, stirring/whisking constantly until it comes to a boil and thickens. Allow to cool to room temperature. Because I never am able to use it up in one session of making seed tapes, I keep it in a covered container that can go from the fridge to the microwave.
Being very careful, use the long-bladed box cutter to cut a roll of toilet paper in half, length-wise around the roll. For me, it takes several passes around the roll to get all the way through. I go through the cardboard roll at the center, too, because otherwise the paper can get caught up when you are unrolling it.
Attach a piece of tape to the end of the narrow roll and label it with the type of seeds you will be using. Roll out the paper onto a table or countertop. When I first made these tapes, I kept them no longer than six feet, but gradually got more comfortable with longer lengths and now make mine ten feet long. You need to be able to handle the seed tape without the side with the seeds touching another side or your seeds will come off or stick in places you don’t want them – better to start short until you know how it will go.
If you will be using a zip-top bag, put your cooled cornstarch gel in the bag, zip the to shut, then snip a very, very tiny hole in one corner. Otherwise, use an eye dropper or syringe to suck up some of the gel. Consulting the seed packet for spacing, make dots of gel on the toilet paper strip.
Empty your seed packet into a small bowl, then dip the tip of the toothpick into the gel just to dampen it. Use the toothpick to pick up one seed at a time, then swipe the toothpick through a gel dot, leaving one seed behind. Repeat until you have a seed in every dot of gel. Occasionally having two seeds in a dot is okay, but the convenience of seed tapes is not having to thin the seedlings, so better to keep it to one seed per dot.
Carefully pick up the seed tape and hang it over an indoor clothesline, the back of a chair or wherever it can hang for a few hours, undisturbed, to dry. I hang mine on the clothesline in our basement, otherwise the cats and dogs would mess with the tapes.
Once the tapes are dry, roll them up starting at the un-labeled end. I put all the tapes of the same types of seeds in a plastic bag to keep things more organized. As long as the tapes are completely dry before you store them, you can make these up months in advance of gardening.
When you are ready to plant, use your hoe to make your row in the garden soil, simply roll the tapes out, then cover with soil to the depth appropriate for the type of seed. In windy weather, I just roll out a few inches at a time and cover as I go, leaving the end uncovered so I know where to start with the next tape.
Notes:
I generally make up two or three tapes at a time – any more than that can get tedious. One ten-foot tape takes me a bit less than ten minutes to make up, with a stop for a sip of coffee, check the weather report, etc. I try to make these up over the winter when I get the gardening urge, but obviously it didn’t work out that way this year!
If you don’t use up all of your gel in one go, put it in the fridge in a covered container. Use up or discard within one week. When you take it out of the fridge to use again, it works best to warm it up a bit as it gets clumpy when it is cold. I’ve found the best way is to take the lid off, cover it loosely and microwave for ten seconds at a time. I keep mine in a little horseradish jar and put the lid back on and shake it really hard in between warming. That gets all the clumps out.
I started making these from instructions I found several years ago and have improved my method over the years. The zipped bag works okay, but is kind of hard to control. A needless syringe works, too, but I always seem to get big globs of gel instead of nice dots. The eyedropper works the best for me.
Another tip – when making your dots, DON’T put them on the perforations between sheets of TP – I made that mistake when making beet seed tapes recently. I think because the seeds were heavy and my dots got a little big, it ended up tearing apart in several places.
