Most empty toilet paper rolls go straight into the recycling bin. This fall, Balkan news sites have been urging gardeners to keep them instead, and US extension services have recommended the same cardboard tubes for years. Kept dry in a box over the winter, they turn into compost, seed pots and plant protectors by spring.
In short
- Shredded, they’re a carbon-rich “brown” for the compost pile.
- Opened flat, they make a thin layer around plants that slows weeds.
- Folded at one end, they become biodegradable seed pots in late winter.
- Cut to size, they protect spring transplants from cutworms.
This fall: feed the compost
Fall means piles of kitchen scraps and garden waste. The EPA lists shredded cardboard as a carbon-rich “brown,” as long as it has no wax coating, tape or glue. Browns balance the nitrogen-rich “greens” such as food scraps: the agency recommends at least two to three times as much brown material as green, by volume, and covering food scraps with 4 to 8 inches of dry leaves or other browns. Tear the tubes into strips so they break down faster.
Around your plants: a thin weed barrier
The Serbian site Nova.rs, which shared the trick this month, suggests cutting the rolls lengthwise, opening them flat and laying them around plants, overlapping the pieces, then dampening them lightly. The cardboard blocks light and slows weeds, and it adds a thin extra layer that softens temperature swings around the roots as it gets colder.
Late winter: free seed pots
Keep a box of tubes in a dry place, and they’ll be ready when it’s time to start seeds indoors. A Master Gardener article published by the University of Georgia Extension explains how:
- Cut each tube in half to get two pots.
- Make cuts 1 to 1½ inches long around one end, about half an inch apart.
- Fold the flaps toward the center to form the bottom, and set the pots on a tray. Tie them together with twine if they won’t stand.
- Fill with moistened seed-starting mix and sow. Larger seeds such as beans, corn and cucumbers work well.
- Keep the mix moist but not wet.
After a few weeks, harden off the seedlings outdoors a few hours a day, then plant them tube and all. The roots aren’t disturbed, which helps plants that dislike transplanting.
Spring: a collar against cutworms
Cutworms are a classic spring threat to young transplants. The University of Maryland Extension recommends wrapping seedlings and transplants with cardboard collars, and notes that “cardboard tubes from paper towels or toilet tissue can be cut to size for collars.” Slip one around each transplant and push it into the soil to hold it in place.
The limit
A few tubes won’t replace real mulch: the cardboard is thin and breaks down quickly once it’s wet. Tubes with glue, plastic coating or glossy print stay out of the compost, since the EPA excludes glossy paper. When you plant a seed pot, tear off any cardboard sticking out of the soil: the UGA article warns it “will wick moisture away from the roots.” And cardboard pots dry out fast, so check them every day.
Cardboard has more garden tricks: here’s what covering beds with cardboard this fall does by spring. Gardeners are also changing how they fight weeds: see what they use instead of white vinegar. Kitchen scraps have second lives too, like potato peels mixed with baking soda.
Keep the box dry, and by spring it’s a garden kit. That’s the trick.
