Don't rush to throw away plastic bottles - they're extremely useful for plant lovers

1. Make a Seedling Box from a Plastic Bottle

Ideas and photos: Abang

Find a mineral water bottle and cut it into three parts. Keep the top and bottom parts, and set the middle part aside for now.

Fill the bottom part of the mineral water bottle with potting soil, water it until damp, and sow seeds in individual spots.

Cover the bottle opening with plastic wrap, place it in a spot with bright indirect light and good ventilation, keep it moist, and in a few days the seedlings will come up!

Once the seedlings emerge, you can tear off the plastic wrap and give them ventilation and light. But seedlings are very fragile and cannot handle strong wind or full sun, and that's where the top part of the plastic bottle you cut off earlier comes in! Remove the cap and put it on like a hat. It protects the seedlings while still allowing ventilation. Isn't that clever?

2. DIY Succulent Leaf Propagation Tool

Most people know that succulent leaf propagation can be done by placing leaves directly on soil, but many don't know that water propagation works too. Although it's a bit more troublesome, water propagation roots and sprouts faster than soil propagation, so it's worth a try!

Ideas and photos: noxdido, Miaolv Huaqiao

Beforehand, twist off the succulent leaves you want to propagate and let them dry in a spot with bright indirect light and good ventilation for 2 days.

Find a mineral water bottle. According to the size of the leaves, use a knife and scissors to poke holes in the middle and upper parts of the bottle. It's best to cut the holes into oval shapes. Note: only poke one hole in the lower part of the bottle as a water-filling hole, so it's convenient to add water later.

Add water to the bottom of the bottle, making sure the water level does not exceed the water-filling hole, then insert the leaves facing upward into the plastic bottle. Place it in a spot with bright indirect light and good ventilation, and be careful not to expose it to strong sun. Add water when the water at the bottom runs out. If the leaves feel shriveled, you can mist them with water.

The water at the bottom increases humidity and promotes rooting and sprouting of the leaves. Soon, the leaves will grow roots and small buds. At this point, you can take them out and place them in soil!

When taking them out, do it carefully to avoid damaging the roots and young plants. If you really can't get them out, just cut the bottle. Of course, if you're really worried that the bottle opening will damage the roots, you can try the method shown below: put water at the bottom and secure the leaves on top with tape.

3. Plastic Bottle Branch Cutting Method

Original author: Xiluo

When drinking mineral water, leave about 1cm of water in the bottle and tear off the advertising label on the bottle.

Cut a branch about 5-8cm long. Do not trim the leaves; keep them all. Put the branch into the mineral water bottle so that the water covers the end of the branch. The shallower the water, the better.

Place the mineral water bottle in a spot with bright indirect light and good ventilation on a south-facing balcony, and try to face the leaves toward the sun. Do not cover the bottle opening.

After a few days, callus tissue will appear, and roots will form after a few weeks.

Be careful not to expose it to too-strong direct light, and control the temperature inside the bottle, otherwise it may be scalded to death if the temperature gets too high.

After roots form over a few weeks, transfer to soil culture. First use a disposable paper cup for water culture, then slowly add soil, adding clean plain soil, which is less likely to breed mold.

Summary

The air humidity inside the plastic bottle is high, and keeping more leaves means better photosynthesis, making rooting easier; mineral water is clean and sterile, which can greatly reduce the chance of black rot. Most plants such as roses, gardenias, geraniums, and succulents can be propagated by this method.

When using this method with other plastic bottles for cuttings, be sure to wash them thoroughly. They must not contain sugar or salt.

4. Make a Hydroponic Bottle from a Plastic Bottle

Ideas and photos: Caoyuan Laosheng 8

First, pick up a mineral water bottle. See, I didn't even say buy one - it saves you so much money. Hurry up and praise me.

Cut open the upper part and use a red-hot wire to burn a few holes. The size and number are up to you.

Then place the upper part upside down into the lower part.

Add water, put in the plant, perfect!

5. Make a Hydroponic Planting Basket from a Plastic Bottle

Ideas and photos: Netizen "Xiangguang Fengjing"

Buy a large jelly and eat it. (Someone will definitely say: Damn, Huahua, are you kidding me?) Don't worry, keep reading!

Keep the jelly container, don't throw it away, and wash it clean.

Following the shape of a planting basket, use a pen to draw an outline on the bottom of the jelly container. Then along the pen marks, use a utility knife or scissors to cut out the hole.

The size of the hole depends on the root system of the plant you want to grow hydroponically. Be careful not to hurt your hands!

And here's the finished product. Pretty awesome, right? With this skill, why would you ever need to buy a planting basket!

After cutting, fill the hydroponic container with water and pass the plant's roots through the hole in the middle of the jelly container.

Place the jelly container and plant into the hydroponic container.

Pick up some small stones and put them into the jelly container to secure the plant. Done!

If your hydroponic bottle has too large an opening, you can also put a hard shell around the outside of the jelly container, like this!

6. Make a Vegetable Growing Wall from Plastic Bottles

Idea: Willem Van  Cotthem

First, take an ordinary mineral water bottle.

Cut off the bottom of the mineral water bottle.

Use scissors to poke a few drainage holes in the head of the mineral water bottle. Note that the head of the first bottle at the bottom should have its cap on.

Put the pre-mixed nutrient soil into the bottle (soil mix  peat soil: perlite: vermiculite at a ratio of 4:1:1, mixed evenly).

Fix the bottle full of potting soil upside down onto an upright rack, railing, or wall.

Following the above steps, cut off the bottoms and fill multiple plastic bottles with soil. Note that the bottles in the middle should all have their caps removed, and they do not need drainage holes.

As shown in the picture, while filling with soil, stack the plastic bottles upside down on top of each other.

Place the stacked plastic bottles upside down into the plastic bottle at the very bottom.

Secure them to the rack, railing, or wall with rope or tape.

Take another plastic bottle, put the cap on, and use a tool to make a drainage hole in the cap.

Cut off the bottom of this plastic bottle, then place it upside down at the very top of the stack of plastic bottles.

Add water to the plastic bottle at the very top.

The water flows out gradually through the drainage hole of the top plastic bottle.

The water passes through the soil and drainage holes, gradually seeping down to the lower layers, all the way to the bottom.

Starting from the bottom, use a knife to cut out a square window in each plastic bottle. Note: only cut the top, left, and right sides of the square; do not cut off the bottom side.

This way, the square plastic piece can act like a door, keeping the soil and seeds inside so they don't fall out.

Open the plastic flap and use your finger or a hole punch to poke a hole inward.

Plant the vegetables, flowers, and seeds you want to grow into it.

And so on for the other bottles. Note that the top 1-2 bottles are used for storing and watering water, so do not poke holes in them.

Done. For watering, you can pour from the plastic bottle at the top. For fertilizing, you can dissolve fertilizer into the water and apply it as liquid fertilizer. After a few months, it will be lush and green, full of vitality!

This kind of vertical small vegetable garden can also be grown on walls and wooden racks. It is simple and easy to do, saves money, is eco-friendly, and provides fresh and delicious food. Your family will never need to spend money on vegetables again.

7. Odorless Composting in Plastic Bottles

Putting fruit peels and kitchen waste in flower pots as fertilizer is good for the flowers, but it really affects the appearance and can also cause odors and small insects. Don't worry, Huahua will teach you to solve the problem with just one plastic bottle.

1. Find an empty cola or mineral water bottle. The bottle height should be a bit shorter than the height of the flower pot, and its diameter should be 6/1 or 7/1 of the flower pot.

2. Cut off the bottom of the bottle, then bury it into the flower pot, leaving only the bottle cap exposed above the soil surface.

3. Stuff fruit peels, vegetable leaves, melon pulp... into the bottle through the opening, then tighten the bottle cap. Slowly, these waste scraps will become fertilizer in the flower pot, and it will be clean with no odor.

Dear readers, have you learned it? Will you still throw away plastic bottles from now on?