How To Make An Empty Milk Jug Into A Plant Drain Drainage Tray

As you can see in the VIDEO above, we converted an empty milk jug into a do-it-yourself (DIY) plant drain / drainage tray. We been buying drain pans for years for gardening small plants and plant seedlings that we plant in small pots. We like using a tray or pan for each of our potted plants in order to save some water for watering the plants, since most of the water used to water the plants will be catch by the tray or pan below, so the water that would have been wasted without using a pan or tray will be saved and recycle to water the plant, and it will keep the soil a little moist longer especially during the summer time when the sun is baking hot and most of the water in the plants evaporates pretty quickly after few hours of heat from the sun.

There are all kinds of drain pans and trays available in the market including hard plastics, clear plastics, metals, ceramic, clays, etc. We have used most of it over the years, but the ceramic and clays although highly decorative breaks sometimes and they are usually the most expensive ones. The plastic trays are usually the cheapest specially the clear ones but they usually rot and fade in the sun after just a year or so of use being expose to the sun constantly 24 hours seven days a week. And since we do several plantings that needs a tray for each planters, you do the math, things can add up, and for something that will only last for a year and have to be toss to the garbage or recycle bin, that is why I came up with using the empty milk jugs turned into a do-it-yourself (DIY) plant trays, quite often these days :-) Most households consume milk everyday, so there is hardly a shortage of empty milk jug supplies for most of us. Just wait for few days for the milk to get consumed, and you have another plant tray you can use for the planters. The best part of it all is its FREE, and hardly any spending guilt once it rot after one year of use because you got it for free, and to save the environment you can still recycle the milk jug plastic tray and put it in the recycle bin after you have a year use of it as a plant tray.

Due to its not so attractive appearance, its not very decorative, so I would only recommend using the milk jug trays for gardening vegetables, growing plant seedlings, and use the nicer trays bought in the store for decorative pots with flower plants, etc.