Making Your Own Seed Discs and Tapes

Making your own seed tapes or seed discs is a great way to prepare for the upcoming gardening season. The advantages are clear: Sowing is much more convenient, and half-frozen fingers fumbling with radish seeds are a thing of the past. Plus, the spacing is more regular, and homemade sowing aids are more affordable. It's also possible that seed tapes or discs aren't even available for your favorite plants. And finally, you can also process your own harvested seeds with them.

All you need to make seed tapes or seed discs are items typically found in any household: paper towels or paper napkins, cornstarch and water, a small teaspoon (or a syringe or a clean, travel-sized shampoo bottle as alternatives), your desired seeds, a pen, scissors, and adhesive labels.

Before you start, you should consider what areas you'll be preparing the sowing aids for (e.g., garden beds, balcony boxes, flower pots). They also make great gifts—heart shapes are especially lovely for this!

For seed tapes, it's best to take two to three sheets of kitchen roll (without separating them) and cut them into narrow strips. For discs or hearts, cut individual sheets of paper towel into the desired shapes. To do this, place a plate, the relevant plant pot, or something similar onto the paper towel, trace around it with a felt-tip pen or ballpoint pen, and then cut it out. Afterward, carefully peel off the top layer of the multi-layered paper towel and set it aside.

In a small screw-top jar, add some cold water and a few teaspoons of cornstarch. Screw on the lid and shake well until the starch has dissolved. Briefly bring the mixture to a boil. This should create a viscous paste that will act as a type of glue to fix the seeds onto the paper.

Once the paste has cooled down (to avoid damaging the seeds), you can distribute it in droplets at regular intervals using a teaspoon, a cosmetic bottle, or a syringe. This makes it easy to set the spacing for your seeds. If you like, you can mark the individual points beforehand with a pen.

Place a dab of this organic paste onto the lower layers of the kitchen paper towel for each seed, and then place the seed on top. Once a tape or disc is fully prepared, lay the reserved top layer of the paper over it and press down lightly. To ensure the project dries as quickly as possible, it's best to place the tapes or discs on a baking rack or a cooling rack.

Don't forget the appropriate labeling to indicate which seeds are contained. To do this, write the plant name on a small adhesive label and stick it to the edge of the top layer of the paper towel.

Only when the seed tapes and discs are completely dry can they be stored in a cool, dry, and dark place. A shoebox or a food storage container, for example, is suitable for this.