Make Your Own Seed Tape

At the Multnomah County Master Gardener Demonstration Garden in SE Portland we make many feet of seed tape every year.  

Seed tapes

What is seed tape?  Some seeds are really tiny, making sowing them tedious and requiring lots of thinning when the seedlings finally emerge.  Making your own seed tape lets you space tiny seeds at the correct measurement with much less thinning when they emerge.

Some vegetables that have very small seeds are lettuce, kale, chives, onions, radish and carrots.  Seed tape does not work with larger seeds like peas, squash, cucumbers and beans.

What do you do with seed tape?  Once you have made your seed tape, all you have to do is make a furrow in the soil at the correct depth for that seed, lay the seed tape down, cover it with soil, water, and wait for your seeds to emerge.

What is needed to make seed tape?  All you need is a board (about 4-6” x 1/2” x 24”) marked with ¼” increments, a spray bottle, seeds and toilet paper (use the single ply kind). 

How do you make seed tape?  Making the tape is best done on a moveable surface, such as a board, since once completed, the strips can be difficult to move as they are fragile when wet and bend and tear easily. 

Steps to making seed tape:

  1. Cut toilet paper into strips about 2” wide and about 20” long, which is about 5 squares. 
  2. Fold toilet paper into thirds lengthwise.  Open the paper and spritz just the center section of the   paper very lightly, to better hold the seeds in place. 
 
Making a seed tape
 
  1. Place seeds desired the distance apart in center of toilet paper. 
  2. Fold toilet paper lengthwise over seeds and spritz well, pressing paper between seeds.
 
 
 
 
 
  1. Let the strips dry thoroughly.  You might need to dry them slightly before moving them to their drying spot.  At the Demo Garden we use several boards and rotate them as the tape dries. 
  2. Place the strips in plastic bags and refrigerate until ready to use. Make sure to mark the tape so you know what seeds are in the tape. Ball point pen works if marked before spraying.
  3. Place seed tape directly into soil. Be sure all of the paper is covered by soil or it will act as a wick to pull moisture away from the seeds.      
 
Seed tape in the garden bed
 

Note:  If you are making more than one type of seed tape at a time, write the name of the seed on the paper with a ballpoint pen BEFORE getting the paper wet.  If storing, place each seed type in a separate plastic bag (in case some seeds fall off the tape.)

This article was written by Linda Goldser in February 2021.  It is a shortened version of an article originally written by Heidi Nichols for a Demo Garden Propagation Class.