Toilet paper – we all use it. But our daily bathroom visits result in a million little cardboard rolls that either end up in the recycling bin or the trash. What if there were ways to reuse toilet paper rolls in the garden that benefited our plants and kept this unavoidable waste from piling up in a landfill somewhere?
There actually are several clever ways to use toilet paper rolls in the garden. I’ll share how you can turn trash into garden treasure that solves a handful of common issues. From pests to pollinators to seed starting and composting, toilet paper rolls have varied applications in the home landscape.
Here are the best ways to use old toilet paper rolls to grow a better garden.
1. Stop Hungry Pests
One of the best uses for toilet paper rolls in the garden is to protect plants from pests. Seedlings are especially vulnerable to pests like cutworms and slugs, which can suddenly chomp through a stem overnight. Use a toilet paper roll like a collar around your young plants to protect their stems from hungry pests.
Squash vine borers are another pesky insect that can quickly kill your squash plants. Cut lengthwise down a toilet paper roll and wrap it around the stem of your squash plants to protect it from these burrowing pests. Cover the toilet paper roll in tin foil and push it down into the soil a bit at the base of the stem.
You can also create an easy earwig trap by filling a toilet paper roll with a damp paper towel. Place the toilet paper roll trap on its side next to the plants affected by earwigs, then the next day check to see how many pests you trapped. Place them in a bucket of soapy water to kill them.
2. Start Seedlings
This is a popular gardening hack that seems to take over the internet every spring, but it keeps resurfacing for good reason. Most of us have tons of toilet paper rolls lying around and want to save money when starting seeds in the spring. So using toilet paper rolls as seed starting pots seems like the perfect solution.
Although most toilet paper rolls are made from biodegradable cardboard, some are reinforced with glue that makes them break down slowly. If you plant them directly into the garden once your seedlings are big enough to transplant, it can cause circling roots that never reach the native soil.
To solve this issue, cut slits into the sides of your toilet paper rolls before planting, then simply fill the rolls with a high-quality seed starting mix, like this one from Miracle-Gro, plant your seeds, and grow! When it’s time to move plants outdoors, just peel back the rolls along the slits.
3. Turn Them Into a Bee Hotel
You can turn your toilet paper rolls into a pollinator-friendly hangout spot. To create a bee hotel, like this one from Amazon, where these beneficial insects can rest and nest, gather some hollow stems and sticks – bamboo is perfect for this purpose – and fill a toilet paper roll with them. Fill several toilet paper rolls and tie them together with twine to create a bigger bee hotel.
You can decorate the outside of the toilet paper rolls with paint or colorful tape that doubles as reinforcement in case the toilet rolls start to break down in the elements. Then place your mini bee hotels around your garden. You can put them near pollinators’ favorite plants or hang them in a tree where bees can stop and chill from the summer heat.
4. Add Them to the Compost Bin
As I mentioned above, toilet paper rolls are typically made of cardboard or paper that breaks down easily. That means they’re a prime brown material for the compost pile or tumbler – this compost tumbler from Home Depot is a good choice for small backyards.
To help speed up decomposition, cut up the toilet paper rolls into smaller pieces before putting them into your compost bin or pile. But like any other uncolored paper product, toilet paper rolls are perfect for composting.
