[terry d]

Hi
I planted some brussel sprout seeds in toilet roll tubes they germinated ok and started to grow but i noticed that after a few weeks they did not seem to be getting any bigger i transplanted some of them into polystyrene containers with the same compost as the ones in the tubes and they really started to grow away ok but the ones in the tubes are still the same as they were 3 weeks ago not dead but not making any progress has anybody had the same experience if so what do you think is the cause something in the makup of the tubes maybe

Terry D

[cacran]

last year I tried growing some carrots in toilet roll tubes and some straight into compost. the ones in the tubes were rubbish. I have not bothered with them since.

[DD.]

Hi terry, welcome to the forums.

I'll move this to GYO, as "Chatting" is for off topic, light hearted nattering.


Perhaps you'd pop into the welcome forums to say "hello".

[richyrich7]

Some toilet roll tubes contain chemicals that inhibit plant/fungal growth better of with paper pots next time 

Paper pots

[SG6]

Guessing at 2 things.

As Richy says there is something in the cardboard (preservative/fungicide) that inhibits the plant.

The other one is that a toilet roll tube is narrow and I would expect that you have kept them (the tubes) relatively dry otherwise the tube would fall apart. So the plant roots have gone out hit an inpervious wall and growth has stopped.

I think that if you plant the tube out then the tube must be well burried in order for it to rot. Again any preservative in the cardboard will not help this.

All this is guesswork as I have not used toilet roll tubes for growing in.

[Stoatus]

I have grown parsnips in toilet rolls for two years now. The toilet rolls tend to go a bit mouldy, but that doen't seem to affect the plants. Last year it worked fine and this years parsnips (planted in the ground in April) are looking healthy. Maybe better for roots than brassicas?

The other handy use for bog-rolls is as collars for leeks to keep out the light to blanch them. 

[mumofstig]

The other handy use for bog-rolls is as collars for leeks to keep out the light to blanch them. 

Good idea but kitchen roll inners are even better, cos they're longer, at keeping the mud out of the leeks when earthing up Tried it last year and it worked a treat