How to Make a Germination Mat Out of Dryer Lint

I have collected dryer lint for many years. For 8 years I worked at a USDA plant disease research facility where we had to shower out of the containment greenhouses. I washed loads and loads of white fluffy towels every day and a lot of lint gets trapped on the screen. I figured I might as well save it to make paper out of someday. That day has arrived.

I initially thought to make fancy craft paper but that project has never made it to the top of my list. Then I began setting up my grow bench in the garage to grow fresh spinach during the winter. I am also starting other salad greens and assorted veggies and flowers for spring planting. I already grow wheat fodder in the basement for the chickens and it seemed a natural progression to grow microgreens for us under my lighted, heated set up in the garage.

I researched microgreen growing on the internet, wading painfully through some way-too-long You Tube videos and digging around on seed and supply sites. I decided, as with most projects, I would rather come up with my own cheaper version of what they are selling out there. I collect all kinds of useful junk, horticultural and otherwise, and a look around my sheds, closet and garage can usually provide the goods I need.

I grow wheat fodder, which is sprouts allowed to grow into small lawns, in plastic kitchen dish pans with drain holes drilled in the bottoms. Wheat is a big seed and only a few sometimes get stuck in the holes.

Kale, radish, amaranth, lettuce and broccoli are much smaller seeds and need a way to stay moist while not falling through their drainage tray.

Seed quilts, absorbent cellulose mats, can be purchased, but they are expensive and the seeds already cost plenty. I decided to make my own seed quilts using the dryer lint stockpile.

Making paper seed quilts is easy and you can use just about anything that is compost-able, which is where it will finally end up. Newspaper, leaves, dried chopped grass, dryer lint, etc. can all be used to make and these absorbent paper mats, which are much thicker than papertowels. I am thinking that using some dried horse manure might work and it would add some built-in fertilizer. This would require a dedicated blender, and not my kitchen tools.

How to Make  Seed Quilts

You will need:   One wooden frame to staple window screen onto and an optional second frame to keep edges cleaner, and a plastic washtub big enough to immerse the screen with a little spare room for jiggling. I found some cheap picture frames that worked. Ideally, the frame size will match up with the tray size you will plant in.

1. Soak about a cubic foot of dryer lint in a bucket and soak an hour
2. Scoop 3-4 handfuls of soggy lint into a blender and add water to fill line
3. Blend on medium for 1-2 minutes

   

4. Dump into the washtub and repeat until it has all been blended
5. Stir the soggy mess
6. Hold the edge frame on top of the screen frame
7. Slide the screen down under the surface of the mush and lift, keeping screen level

   

8. Clean up edges with your fingers and press palm down on screen to expel water
9. Turn upside down onto fabric covered towel

   

10. Refill screen and repeat
11. For thick, absorbent paper, lay flat and air dry
12. For thinner paper, cover with fabric and towel and press with rolling pin
13. To speed drying, lay flat on racks near heat source. I laid them in open grid type seedling flats on a heat mat to dry

    

When ready to plant, lay the quilt on an elevated grid in the seed tray. The store bought kits use a plastic grid about a half inch tall. Maybe a paint roller grid would work. I will use the open grid tray inside of a 1020 hole less plant tray. You want to lift the quilt above the water in the tray and be able to water the bottom, not the greens.

Saturate the quilt and sow seeds evenly on top. I will be measuring to see what the right amount is and will be planting Kale for my first crop. Too thick and they will grow mold. Cover loosely with a dome or plastic sheet until you see sprouting.

Set trays on planting heat pad set at 68F. Heat depends on particular seeds needs, as does light. Once they germinate, turn the lights on with a timer for 12 -16 hours per day. I use T-12 fluorescent fixtures that I have recycled. Hang them about  8 inches above the tiny plants. You can use LED lights but you will need the blue and red spectrum, which my eyes cannot stand to be around.

-Wendy lee, writing at

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