Biodegradable Potting Tubes

We put a lot of effort in to keep the ecological footprint of our projects minimal. This is why we have changed the pump valve design to be created from old potting tubes via upcycling them. As we are growing evermore seedlings, eventually the amount of destroyed tubes will surpass what we can actually upcycle.

As biodegradable plastics – produced from maize-starch – are on the rise in Europe for certain applications – e.g. “plastic” bags when buying fruits etc. we wanted to see how well do these hold up as potting tubes.

As Malawi has a moist, warm climate, we asked the manufacturers if they could send us various variations to test which are the most suitable.

There could be various benefits to biodegradable plastic bags apart of the obvious: when planting small seedlings out in a planting hole it is important that the roots and soil don’t get separated during the planting process, but when removing a polyethylene tube some soil gets shaken out. If the tree could be planted with the biodegradable bag into the planting hole it would be really ideal as also rainwater might be retained a little better (especially in sandy soils) until the seedling finally has the strength to grow out of the tube.

We will keep you updated on the progress.

Thank you Naku and Natural Bag for making this experiment possible!