Bath towels

Hi all i have a few old bath towels that are a bit worn and going thin can i cut them up and add them to our compost bins.
As ever thanks for any advice.

Josephine.

 

I am sure you can Josephine. If it was anything other than a towel, the chances are that it would contain man-made fibres, which won't rot. But man-made fibres are lousy at adsorbing moisture, so towels are invariably made from pure cotton.

But how about using them for capillary matting. For instance if you go away, you could put them on the draining board with one end in a sink full of water, and place all your pot plants on the towel. Because the towel is so good at wicking water, it will draw up water from the sink and deliver it to the base of the pots. The pots must of course be in good contact with the towel. If the towels are thin or have holes, use two or three. I have done this in the summer, and my indoor plants have been very happy for two or three weeks.

Or you could organise the same sort of arrangement in a greenhouse or even outside. You just have to fill one container with water rather tha water all the individual pots. Just one point - the container of water must always be below the pots, so the water is drawn up. If its above, the water will flow down the towel and empty the container in 10 minutes.

 

Thanks Peter, what great idea's of yours for other uses of my old towels as we are going abroad for our hol's later in the year,
Yours gratefully.


Josephine.

 

Glad to be of help Josephine. If you have not done it before, it is probably worth a dry (or should it be wet) run beforehand when you are there. The principle of capillary matting works well. The only weakness is if the soil in the pot is not in contact with the wet towel. With most pots it will be OK, but if there is any pot that might not be OK, you can always stuff a small wick into the bottom of the pot to complete the circuit. A small wick is anything that moisture could travel along. It could be a piece of string (not man made) or a strip of fabric or even a wodge of paper.

 

Peter, that is a useful bit of advice, thankyou

 

Yeah, I'll do that too, thanks Peter.