I'm wondering if this will work, would like opinions please.

Could you make a substitute peat pot out of blended newspaper?

(By blended newspaper I mean a newspaper slurry made from paper and water in a blender)

I know some people are concerened about the peat boggs and by making them yourself you can make custom sizes/shapes/whatever to fit your personal garden.

Best Wishes
Amino-X

Best Wishes
Amino-X

If so, that might just work to an extent.
Paper pulp is best fresh. If you dry it out and then re-wet it you have to work it a lot in order to get the orig. pliable dough texture back. I think that feature, which is annoying when working on art projects and making a lot of pulp in advance, would be useful for pot discs. A disc that wasn't over-watered would hold up pretty well for a while probably.

I'm not sure if it would expand with the same quickness and loft that peat moss discs do though. Also you will likely encounter some mold (ever try starting seeds in a glass between the side and some paper towel so you can watch the seeds sprout? that yellowing you get along the top of the paper after a while you will see on the paper pulp pot) within a couple of weeks (sooner in a covered flat, which will also likely spore and smell).

If what you wanted to do was make pots out of paper mache using paper pulp, that will work just as well as any other pot. You'd need a sealant to keep the pot from dissolving though. I'm planning to do this myself, but with papercrete (paper pulp, dirt, sand, small stones, and perhaps cement) so I get a carved out stone look to the pots.

Now I'm curious as to just how well newspaper would work as expandable pot discs. I think I'll make some and see what happens.

I think it would work if we had molds made up. You'd need an inside "cup" and an outside "cup" about .25 Inches diameter difference. The void between the two cups (when nested one into the other) would be filled by the slurry of paper. Then you would have to squeeze out as much water as possible, unmold and see that the darn thing would not collapse in the drying process. Hm, and you might need a binding agent in the paper slurry too...or it may come apart as you water the seedlings. (That would be a bummer.)
This requires a well thought out plan, but I can't see why this wouldn't be a good do-it-yourself-project.

Best of luck!
Maryanne in Massachusetts (who used to be a mechanical designer, believe it or not!)

If you are looking for a substitute for peat disks: I think the reason for the expansion is simply to save space in shipping and because it looks cool as it happens. Why compress the substitute if you don't have to? This may simplify the process, but will slow drying.

Flour acts as the mastic in paper mache. I would assume that flour with sugar would provide good nutrition in the substitute pot.

I found that mouthwash acts as an antifungal in water based paint (Got this out of an old book and it really does work.) Maybe mouthwash incorporated into the pot with the rest would set up a pot that would support growth well and resist damping off.