Starbucks Coffee Plant Containers

coffee cup containers

Do you love visiting your local Starbucks for that perfect cup of coffee?  Or maybe you prefer an iced coffee like I do.

 coffee cup containers

 Well, my mother absolutely LOVES coffee and Starbucks is a frequent stop of hers.  The other day, she brought over a bunch of used coffee cups and sleeves.

 coffee cup containers

She had the great idea of using the sleeves for starting seeds in.

Of course when my mother has a good idea, I usually listen 😉

So I got to work….

 coffee cup containers

coffee cup containers

The kids helped me plant the seeds.

Then I started looking at the cups and I thought that they would make great planters too.

So I cut them in half and then cut out the bottom of the lower  part of the cup using a knife.

 coffee cup containers

Because there are no bottoms to the planters, it is important to place the containers before you fill them with soil.

I think it turned out pretty good, don’t you?

Tomato, Bachelor's Button and a Marigold plant

Tomato, Bachelor’s Button and a Marigold plant.

Once your plants are ready to be transplanted, simply plant the cardboard coffee sleeve in the soil.  The cardboard will break down.

The coffee cup containers won’t break down easily, so place the plant and container in your prepared hole and then simply cut down the side of the container and carefully remove it and finish filling in the hole with soil.

So the next time you stop your local coffee house, don’t throw away your cup – save it and use it for starting seeds.

**To learn more about how to start seeds indoors, you can read my earlier blog post.

Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
7 replies
  1. Deane
    Deane says:

    I've read that Starbucks is working on trying to create less waste with their cups – they should have a contest for things you can do with Starbucks cups. Your mom would surely win!

  2. Andrea
    Andrea says:

    yes Noelle, that's a very good advice, and we help the environment a bit, in our own way. I hope many will do things like that. A lot of trees are used in making those paper cups!

  3. My Journey With Candida
    My Journey With Candida says:

    Just yesterday I had a few seeds I wanted to plant and was turning the house upside down looking for little planters. I bet if I check my Hubs car, I will find at least one Starbucks cup.

    Thanks for the tip!!

  4. Manzanita
    Manzanita says:

    Yes, I love ice coffee …… even in the cold below zero days of winter but I only drink it when I need a zip of energy for an extra hard days work.
    What an efficient idea for starting plants. Yay for gardens.

  5. Anonymous
    Anonymous says:

    If the goal is to later transplant the seedlings, you might want to stick a coffee filter into each cup cozy so the dirt won't wash away each time you water the seeds. It would also put a bottom on so you could lift it up when you need to place it into a hole.

    *I haven't tried this yet, just blurting out an idea*

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