Gymgirl: Great tip! I haven't done the dry cleaning thing since my work days long ago, but I do like the idea of recycling plastic bags for this purpose! I've used the clear plastic bags my daily newspaper comes wrapped in for small containers and I've recycled and used 1gal and 2gal zip lok bags also. Just be sure to wash and rinse the zip lok bags thoroughly to remove any food residue if they've been used previously for food storage.

The following is not a cheap solution unless you already have a roll of extra-wide food film, or plan on starting dozens of trays every year.

Plastic food film ("Saran Wrap") comes in 18" and even 24" widths from food supply stores. One roll will cover thousands or perhaps millions of trays.

Or you can laboriously tape pieces of 12" food film together to get a sufficiently humidity-tight cover.

I think the dry-cleaner-bag solution is a great idea!

To all of it.

RickCorey said:This is not a cheap solution unless you have 100s of trays or plan to invest for years of seed starting:

plastic food film ("Saran Wrap") comes in 18" and even 24" widths from food supply stores. One roll will cover thousands or maybe millions of trays.

Or you can laboriously tape pieces of 12" food film together to get a sufficiently humidity-tight cover.

Actually, if you have a Costco/Sam's club membership, you can get the plastic food wrap there pretty cheap, like $15 for like 5000 ft. I bought one from Costco back in '06 & I'm STILL using the same box!!

goes to show you how easy I am.. I didn't realize what a cleaner bag was wash & wear baby!!!!.. wow I feel so dumb

I love my big box of Costco plastic wrap. I had one that lasted me about 11 years. I now have a replacement that I got this last summer.
Along with their large box of aluminum foil.

RickCorey said:This is not a cheap solution unless you have 100s of trays or plan to invest for years of seed starting:

plastic food film ("Saran Wrap") comes in 18" and even 24" widths from food supply stores. One roll will cover thousands or maybe millions of trays.

Or you can laboriously tape pieces of 12" food film together to get a sufficiently humidity-tight cover.

Rick,
You jumped my tip from "el cheapo" to "el dinero!!!" Everything I do is on a seriously limited budget, and, I'm not promoting spending $$$$ here. I've got closets full of old cleaner bags. And, I don't even use the dry cleaners much anymore, either. Those bags in the pic are HOSPITAL gown bags from my annual mammograms! I raid the disposal bin once a year, when I go for my annual. The bags hold the clients personal belongings for approximately 30 minutes, and then they are put into a disposal bin.

And, even if I didn't get those bags, I'd get FREE dry cleaner bags from my friends and neighbors who use dry cleaners...

Just keepin' it real!

Linda

Linda the miser.

I like misers! :>)

Shoe (King Miser, big time recycler, especially for garden goodies!)

>> Costco/Sam's club

Now I know where to go if my curent roll ever runs out! (Gee, now that you mention it, that WAS where I got my second roll. It was way cheaper than the restaraunt supply place 20-30 years ago!)


>> "el dinero!!!"

The "Saran Wrap" method becomes almost free if you already have a wide roll, since rinsing them off lets you reuse them for years.

I don't think taped-together lengths of 12" film would be easy to reuse. That's not very sustainable, just workable for someone with a tight time budget.

I agree with you that reusing something you already have, or that you can get from neighbors, is the most sustainable method.

My "baseline" would have been buying more of the rigid "humidity domes", GRAMS of thick plastic and multple dollars each. That's like a 'worst case' and yet many people buy those domes.

I never have had dry cleaner bags, though it might be neighborly for me to spend time meeting neighborhood strangers by asking them for something.