Seed Starter From an Ice Cube Tray

There are many seed starters you can buy at local garden centers and nurseries. You can even save money and be a little eco-conscious by making your own biodegradable seed starting pots. Then there's a whole world of possibilities in things you can upcycle into seed starter pots like a ghetto greenhouse made from plastic soda bottles, and this seed starter from an ice cube tray.

A little backstory: I came across this idea one day when I wanted to buy seed seed starting trays with individual cells for multiple starts. Instead of buying the seed starters to make I came up with the seed starter ice cube tray. The idea is similar to starting seeds in cardboard egg cartons, but this seed starter can be reused and can last you for a couple of years.

Make an Ice Cube Tray Seed Starter 

Here's a video I recorded that describes to how make your one seed starter. The video above is part 1. See below for part two of the ice cube seed starter.



Part two of the ice cube tray seed starter video shows how far the lettuce seedlings have grown and how to remove them for planting in your container gardens or raised vegetable beds.

To make a seed starter from an ice cube tray you will need an ice cube tray, obviously, a drill with a bit about equal to the circumference of a pencil, seed starting soil and seeds. The first step is to drill holes in each cell. Using a bit the same circumfrence as a pencil has two benefits: One, you create drainage for your seedlings, and two, you can stick a pencil or chop stick in the drainage hole later to help you pop out the seedling. Finally, add your seed starting soil and and sow your seeds.

Sprouting seeds in a seed starter from an ice cube tray is just as easy as sowing and germinating seeds in containers, tabletop greenhouses, and things like newspaper seed pots. As I mentioned above, these can be used reused year after year because the plastic is so durable. I've had this one for about three years now.

Salad growing in a seed starter about two weeks later than the picture taken above. I used it late this summer to create salad plugs that I used to fill in some bare spots in containers. But I've used these seed starters to grow seedlings for all kinds of annuals, perennials and edible plants for the garden.

Give a seed starter from an ice cube tray a try in your garden and you'll see how much better it is to upcycle things around the house into useful items for your garden. I have found that thrift stores are a good place to locate old ice cube trays for really cheap. Especially older trays because the newer trays, and those made for mini fridges, are a lot smaller than the ones made 10-20 years ago.

Give this seed starting tip a spin the next time you need to germinate a small batch of seeds.