Did you know you can return plant trays and tubes back to our SOWN nursery?
We love members coming to get plants from the SOWN nursery and love it even more when you return the tubes in trays in a clean and undamaged condition.
Here are our four top tips:
- Use the ‘magic tap’ trick – To get the plants out of the tube please don’t squeeze the tube. Hold the plants gently and use a tool or stick to tap the top of the tube. This allows the plant and soil to come out in one piece and not damage the tube. See the instructions “How to Plant Tubestock” at the bottom of this page.
- Keep it clean – When you are watering in your plants give the tubes a washdown. A great technique we love is rinsing the tubes in a bucket of water and then reusing the water on your newly planted plants.
- If a tube is damaged recycle it – Although we love getting our tubes back to propagate more plants, if the bottom is broken we can’t reuse these. You can place the damaged tubes in your yellow-topped recycling bin. Don’t stack them, they go through the recycling depot machinery better as individual items.
- Don’t stack dirty tubes – While it might be fun to make a beer snake with dirty tubes, it’s best to resist the temptation. Stacks of dirty tubes are impossible to wash unless you pull them apart again. If they are in stacks the dirty tubes are difficult to pull apart as they get jammed together by the dirt. After they’ve been washed and dried, stack the tubes loosely before returning to the SOWN Nursery.
The dirty and damaged tube on the left needs to be cleaned and recycled. The tube on the right is clean and in good condition to be reused at the SOWN nursery.
Everyone loves a beer snake but please don’t stack dirty tubes.The dirt makes them jam together and difficult to pull apart risking damage. The tube snake shown above was at a Lugg Street planting in 2005. PHOTO: Mark Crocker
