I like styrofoam cups too, mine are saved from Maruchen noodles(16oz, I believe). I cut slits in the bottom, cover the tops with plastic(cut from grocery bags)secure with a couple of rubberbands and poke holes in the plastic for ventilation. I place the cups in nursery flats or baskets to set them out. I don't have much storage space and the cups are easily cleaned, stacked and bagged for the following season.

I've tried a number of different containers but my three favorites are large kitty litter jugs, salad clamshells for plants I will plant out quickly and so don't need much depth for root growth and 10- to 16-ounce plastic cups (by preference with clear plastic lids with straw holes). The taller the plant, the taller the cup I use. The nice thing about cups is I can write the label right on the cup.

I also reuse my cups two or three years. I just cross out the old plant name and write the new one in black marker each year.

I never did have much luck wit hthe 2-liter soda bottle. Seems like they always dried out too fast for my seeds and sprouts.

I'm in zone 5/6 NE Ohio and am holding off on black eyed susan vine - they are annual in this area and I'm not sure how hardy the sprouts will be. Hope you'll keep us updated if you have success with ws'ing those! ;)

I have been using clear plastic cups this year, last year I used styrefoam. This is my fourth year ws'ing and I think so far the easiest containers for me to date have been clear plastic cups with drainage holes put into ziplock baggies with vent and drain holes. I can see easily into each baggie to see if they need water or have sprouted, and when I use sharpie black markers to label the cups the ink doesn't get worn off from over exposure to the elements.

I like styrofoam and plastic cups too, and have used them the past few years, mostly for the tender annuals and veggies. Mine are from my son's Cup O noodles and the solid colored plastic drink cups have been collected over the years leftover from parties or whatever (I don't frequent fast food but am thinking about raiding the trash in one of these places!). I haven't spent a dime on them so far and re-use them for years.

This year I decided to sow my more expensive seeds from Swallowtail in the 16 oz drink cups, 3-5 seeds per cup. Then covered them with a plastic sandwich bag poked with holes. Seems to be working okay, except that the plastic bag gets kind of foggy and they're not easy to take on and off. I still like the 1 and 2 liter bottles for perennials, and usually sow more seeds in those.

Here's a pic I took this morning of my containers so far:
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I use large pop cups from fast food places or the gas station. This is my third year with them and they are some of my favorites. They are also holding up well and I am still reusing from that first batch. I really like that you can slip the whole thing out without disturbing the roots much.
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I am tempted to try the drink cups but worry that they might dry out too fast in my high desert climate. Do you all just water more often or what?

I didn't get good germination rate using plastic shoe boxes. I got very high germination rates using milk jugs and 2 litre bottles. This year, I just used 2 litre bottles since they're very easy to work with.

I've also tried plastic cups and they worked very well. However, I placed them in a plastic mesh box(miniature greenhouse effect) then covered everything with translucent plastic. I made holes on top.
Honestly, plastic cups are much more easier to work with than 2 liter bottles. :)

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and my first wintersowing pics

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If I'm worried about watering then I put my cups in bins of some kind and bottom water. Or I keep them in the shade as much as possible. I also put my drainage holes an inch or two from the bottom on the sides so that some water is always in the bottom bit.

hi Bonnie,

The 2010 Salvia Officinalis are doing very well. I started them indoors last March 11. :)

for those of you who use cups and cover it up with plastic, how do you water them? Also if the snow falls on plastic it might break the plastic. wouldn't it? Do you water them from the bottom? If yes, if you just had couple of slits, does it soak the water or you have to have big cuts? Does the water make it's way from bottom to top where the roots would be?

I just sowed those cups about 3 weeks ago, so that was after most of the snow had melted. Honestly I don't know how they would have fared underneath 4 feet of snow?? I poked holes in the plastic sandwich bags and we've had plenty of precipitation so they haven't dried out at all.

For containers I like to use recycled materials (reduce-reuse-recycle), so I'm thinking those clear plastic drink tops would be ideal for the cups, but I don't have those so I used cheap plastic bags. They aren't perfect.

For surviving under several feet of snow, the 2 liter bottles in a big plastic tray or crate work great.

I use the cheap fold over plastic sandwich bags and just stretch them over my cups. I've seen them under two feet of snow and never had one collapse. I poke holes in the bags with a pencil or awl.

Are their any holes punched into your liter bottles for air circulation and moisture? Can't tell from the photo. Just curious!

I like bigger ones, so my usual is the bottom half of one gallon plastic water bottle.

Yesterday I finished off a salad I bought in one of those plastic containers- nice and deep, can't wait to use it.
Perfect size for me.
And good to re-use it instead of adding it to the refuse in the world.