Wow 1000 seed that is a lot. You can maybe try newspaper pots. Very cheap but wow again I say 1000 seeds.

I save my toilet paper rolls and paper towel etc but I do it all year...I put them in a plastic dishpan with the bottoms still open and the root has plenty of room and I don't have to disturb it wnen I stick them in the dirt...

Hey i do the tp thing too. DH think i'm nutso.
I don't know if it's cheap enough but the Dollar Store has those seed starters with the clear plastic domes for 3.50. That's the cheapest I've seen so far. Not sure if there are Dollar Stores were you live.

I got three seed starters with the plastic lids brand new at a local Habitat for Humanity store last week for 1.50 each.

A habitat for humanity store? You mean like the houses for Jimmy Carter? I have never heard of those, but I will check. THanks.

I can't remember ever seeing this type of store where I used to live in Texas either. To answer your question, yes these are related to the program setup by Jimmy Carter to help build homes for low income families. Here in Ontario many building supply stores like Home Depot as well as housing contractors donate goods to the HFH (Habitat for Humanity) stores and they resale those items to the public, funds made go into the program. If you can't find any where you live try those stores that specialize in reselling things for other people, you may get lucky and find some good deals.

I do the toilet paper roll thing too, but I use a 10 or 20 gallon aquarium to start my seeds in.
It works great cause it has a light and stays warm and moist.
{{gwi:50051}}

Where on earth do you get that many toilet paper rolls? I'd have to save them up for ten hears to get that many. but then again I have neither women nor children in my house and I have heretofore been unsuccessful in training the cat to use the toilet paper.

But seriously, what do you put in the bottom of them? I have used newspaper pots in the past which are good for vegetables but I am not good enough at origami to make smaller ones for annual flowers.

These are great suggestions! I thought I was cheap! LOL
I just put in a request on freecycle.com for an aquarium, collected all the TP rolls in the house before the DH throws them in the trash.
I have a Habitat for Humanity Re-Store in my town. I love it! You can get doors, windows, tile, lights, drawer knobs, sinks etc etc etc for pennies on the dollar. Most are used, pulled out of remodeling projects, but in my neck of the woods (Sonoma Co, CA)many are brand new due to upgrades in million $ homes!
Just in the last couple of years I have bought a BRAND NEW,Never used Kitchen Aid dishwasher for $75 and a 2YO trash compactor for $110! Each of these would normally sell for about $700.00!
Nancy

zachslc, I just told the wife at the end of last summer to never throw the tubes away. And, she hasn't.
As for the bottoms, I don't put anything on the bottom. The roots have gone all the way down by the time I get ready to plant and that holds everything together.

So I am thinking I need to find some tubes from wraping paper rolls. Thanks.

So I am thinking I need to find some tubes from wraping paper rolls. Thanks.

It seems like wrapping paper rolls would be alot thicker.
Paper towel rolls are thin and could be cut into 3-4 "planters". Why not ask some local place that has a public bathroom to save them for you? You could ask the local Starbucks to save them along with the coffee grounds for your compost! NT

Have you tried asking at a grocery store? Perhaps ketchup or salad dressing bottles are packed with those dividers?
Make friends with a stock person or manager and maybe they'll save them for you?

There are Aldi's grocery stores around here, sort of like warehouse stores, dont' know if they're nationwide or not, but I imagine there's something similar in your area. The items are not placed individually on shelves, they're just left in the boxes, you might be able to scrounge some dividers there , they allow people to take the empty boxes, don't know why they wouldn't want to get rid of the dividers too.

Or maybe somewhere like a dollar store? It seems their glassware would have protection of some sort.

you can find a local ReStore here
http://www.habitat.org/

Greetings - I too use paper towel-tp rolls for planting. I found that the mini sized paper cupcake liners fit perfectly into the bottom of each tube section. Also, I used a woodcutting bandsaw to quickly cut each tube to the correct length. If you contact your local bakery or supplier they will probably sell you large quanities of these liners at a minimal cost. Think Spring, Cleo

Ok, so if you use the tp rolls, do you cut those in 1/2 or no? They just seem pretty big, but then I've never started seeds (my first year doing this - and I have coffee filters in baggies as we speak!).

I don't cut mine in half.
This gives them room to send roots down further.
When the seedlings are big enough, I plant them tube and all.
This keeps them from getting transplant shock and the cardboard just breaks down in the soil.

cleocrafta, I love the idea of cupcake liners inside the TP cellpacks!

katrs5, I haven't used TP rolls, but I probably would cut mine in half, just because I don't go through that much TP or paper towels. I also winter sow and transplant as soon as real leaves appear, so my roots do most of their growing when planted.

happycthulhu is right, too, about having more room for roots if not cutting the tube. I love that in gardening there are many right answers, depending on your own needs/preferences.

Finally, I ask my friends, family, and especially fellow gardeners to save their cell packs for me each spring and I use them the next season. (I know! Some people actually *pay* for stuff, lol!)

Finally, try curbside shopping. Find out what day of the week trash is collected from the most ritzy area in town and then drive by the evening before or morning of that day during the height of spring planting. I used to garden for others and many folks in upscale neighborhoods hire someone to, at the least, put in some annuals. This means lots of trays and cell packs are thrown out, not to mention pots, often not even in trash bags. (Of course, others garden and discard cell packs also, but upscale neighborhoods offer higher "hit" ratios, plus larger quantities per house.)

In threads in previous years, people have also said to check the dumpsters of nurseries and big box stores who will throw out dried up annuals (cell packs and all).

Monica