Upcycling: Plastic Cake Domes, Candle Holders, and Mason Jars
Welcome back to our upcycling series, where we explore common household items you can easily reuse for your houseplants! It’s always nice to save a little money, and recycle things rather than throwing them away. Check out the first part of this series here, and feel free to drop your favorite upcycled plant accessory ideas in the comments!
Plastic Cake Domes
You know when you go to the grocery store and you see their cakes inside of the clear plastic domes? Those work as really cheap, good places to put something that needs higher humidity, like a plant you’re trying to root. All you need to do is clean it out and add a little bit of water to the bottom of it if you think it needs extra humidity, add plants, close the top, and you’re done! I’ve rooted many plants and grown a ton of seedlings this way and it hasn’t failed me once. The only downside is that you have to eat an entire cake. On the other hand, you get to eat an entire cake, so that pretty much makes it worth it. If you’re not into eating cake, you could probably go up the bakery counter and ask them if you can have or buy a cake dome and they might give you one. I’ve never tried it, but it’s worth a try!
Candle Holders
I needed something tall that didn’t take up too much space to place a mature Hoya ds-70, but because the vines were long and lush, I didn’t want a normal plant stand. Luckily I had a pillar candle holder sitting around and decided to give it a try. I love it! It almost gives it a topiary effect and saves space. If you’re like me the saving space thing is a must. Add upcycling on top of it, and it’s a definite win! The only thing that you need to watch out for is making sure that the plant cannot get bumped, because chances are that it will fall over. Mine is on the top of a plant shelf where that shouldn’t happen, but I like to move plants around so I have bumped it a few times. Luckily it just did a bit of a dramatic sway and didn’t topple over.
Mason Jars
Just about everyone has one of these laying around, and if you don’t they are super easy to find. In fact, I’ve been to a few antique/thrift stores and that sell them for a very cheap price. If you find them, or have used Mason jars around, you may not have the flat lid anymore or even the metal band. I’m here to tell you that it’s fine. If you don’t have the lid, you can just use a bit of plastic wrap if you want the transparent top, or just about anything like a plate, a bowl, a decorative item, etc. The same thing goes for a missing screw band. Either way, this small single pot humidity jar will work well if you’ve got a tiny plant that needs some humidity, or if you have some seeds that you want to start.
If you have questions or want to check out more pictures of these three items and more, feel free to click here to head on over to our Facebook group House Plant Hobbyist.