Make Your Own Seed Tapes

Make Your Own Seed Tapes

​I love seed tapes for lots of vegetables that are directly sown, but I particularly love them for those that have small seeds, which makes them hard to sow thinly. If I sow the seed too thick, I must then spend hours every summer thinning my plants, or I end up with skinny, stunted plants. My favorite vegetable to use seed tapes for is carrots, as I have difficulty getting these seeds thin enough when sowing. I have even tried mixing the carrot seed with sand and using a shaker to spread the seed more evenly, but I still end up with carrots too close together. The convenience and speed of planting seed tapes are also nice as you can just lay them down and top them with soil (just don’t try it on a windy day).

These are completed seed tapes that are laid out flat to dry.

​The big disadvantage to seed tapes is that they are much more expensive than just buying the seeds alone. Additionally, the varieties you can buy them in are limiting. My favorite part of gardening is trying lots of different varieties, but generally, you can only get very common varieties in tape form. Although making seed tapes is time-consuming, I find that I prefer to spend my time in the late winter making my seed tapes, when I am less busy rather than taking the time to thin plants in the summer, when I am much busier. Plus, most gardeners I know have a hard time thinning as they hate to kill any plant.

Flour-water mixture with a paintbrush that I use to make the seed tapes.

​I found two common methods online to DIY seed tapes. One method is to use school glue and the other is to use a flour-water mixture. I tried the flour-water mixture first and it worked so well that I have never bothered to try the glue method. You will need toilet paper (either one-ply or pull the two-ply apart so you use one sheet), toothpicks or a paintbrush, a small container to mix flour and water in until you get a runny paste, and a tape measure. The steps are simple:

The flour mixture is dotted out at set intervals and a seed placed in each dot (left). The flour mixture is placed along the entire bottom/side edge of seed tape to seal (center). Seed tape is folded over to seal it and labeled with the variety (right).

1. Roll out the toilet paper to the desired size. Separate into 2 sheets if it is double ply so you only use one layer. My raised beds are 4’x8’ so I make my seed tapes 4-foot long as 8-foot tapes would be too hard to handle.
2. I fold the paper in half the long way, so I know where the center is and then fold them back open to make the tap. You will eventually fold them in half at the end when you glue the two halves together using the flour paste.
3. Use your paintbrush or toothpick to place dots of flour mixture at set intervals depending on the spacing the seed pack recommends. I prefer to use a paintbrush, but both options work well.
4. Place a seed in each dot of flour paste. If your seeds are old or you often have difficulty germinating, you can place more seeds per dot but you may end up needing to thin them.
5. Use your paintbrush or toothpick to lay a line of flour mixture along the bottom edge/sides of the toilet paper. This will be the seal along the edge of the tape.
6. Fold your toilet paper the long way using the flour mixture to seal the edges. Press down gently to make sure you have good contact.
7. Allow the seed tape to dry, fold it up, and store it in a dry location until it is time to plant. I use a plastic tote that is easy to carry out to the garden.

I fold up the seed tapes once they are dry and store them in a plastic tote until it is time to plant.

​Last, some lessons I learned using seed tapes:

1. The seed tapes are rather delicate so be careful not to rip them. Also, do not make your flour mixture too runny as too much water wets the tape too much, making it more prone to tearing.
2. Do not attempt to plant seed tapes on your own when it is windy, trust me, you will regret it.
3. Do not forget to close your garden gate after planting seed tapes (or any seeds) allowing your chickens to get in your raised beds and destroy all your hard work.