tray for holding solo cups?

[JRinPA]

Has anyone found or come up with a good way to keep solo cups upright? By solo I mean, plastic 16 oz whatever brand. I don't use cups much, this is part of the reason, but I've filling a bunch with strawberries and, oh annoying things to put in the pickup bed, move to here, move to there, everything wants to fall over unless it is dead level.

I'm thinking maybe just really stiff cardboard and a big enough holesaw, which of course I don't have, and some corner blocks to keep it high when set down. I googled for ideas and I saw one tray that had a bunch of pot plants that looked stable. Hmm, should I click....Clicked on that, then hitting back on the browser didn't want to let me, wanted me to choose YES/NO on some pRon...of some type. I cleared the last hour's cache.

So be careful what you click on....

Just want an array to hold cups!

[JRinPA]

I see a post on Tville
Alittlesalt has $4 HEB 16oz cups in dollar tree baskets. Course that 8 year old prices and products. That would work, if $125 still carries those.
http://www.tomatoville.com/attachment.p ... 1461818216

In a 2015 thread he lists the measurements of the dollar tree tray and says the bottom holds 1/2" of water.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost.php ... stcount=31

Yes $1, Two sets of Inside measurements from the bottom (13.75" x 9.75" and 4" tall).

Upper Measurements Inside (14.75" x 11")

Overall Outer measurements: (15.75" x 11.75 and 4" tall.)

[JRinPA]

Another Tville thread, crazyoldgooseman says he uses 2x4 wire fence as the grid, bent slightly to hold cups.
http://www.tomatoville.com/showpost.php ... stcount=11

So that's an idea.

[MissS]

You could try to get some liquor boxes. They come with cardboard dividers in them.

[JRinPA]

2x4 fencing sounds like a great idea. Can cut to size and fold down two ends for "feet". Or a bigger piece, cut out the corners and make four sides of feet. Two would be easier to stack and make. If left out for rain, they won't rot like cardboard.

I also need to make onion/garlic drying racks from the material. The actual steel scrap price on it so incredibly low versus how useful it can be- it is 95% air, after all. I have rescued some rolls.

I kind of miss tville from 10 years back, lots of activity. Lot of names didn't come over, or just don't post about tomatoes anymore.

[Sherry_AK]

I always thought the perfect thing would be the tray that holds drinking glasses for a commercial dishwasher. I see restaurant workers unloading the glasses and wish I had that rack they're coming out of. Maybe a restaurant supply store carries them. Or if you have connections at a restaurant, they would let you have an old one they're removing from service.

[Cole_Robbie]

I remember this issue and I just gave up and bought a "sheet of pots" product from a greenhouse supplier that is an insert of 4" pots that fit in a web flat. The "deep" model works well for tomatoes.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

I always thought the perfect thing would be the tray that holds drinking glasses for a commercial dishwasher. I see restaurant workers unloading the glasses and wish I had that rack they're coming out of. Maybe a restaurant supply store carries them. Or if you have connections at a restaurant, they would let you have an old one they're removing from service.

These are called glass racks - only thing is they are not cheap.

My shelves are 16" wide. Once I pot up into a 9 oz. red solo cup after germination, I use Rubbermaid (?) clear bins that are 14" x 11" x 3". They can easily hold 17 - 18 9 oz. cups but I tend to start with a dozen or so per bin. The bins have a depressed lip that runs along the inner ledge that can throw the outer cups a tad off balance if they get knocked around. I like the smaller bins as I can easily relocate groups of plants under the lights as needed.

From the 9 oz. I will pot up to tall 4 in. square pots and those for sure are limited to a dozen per this size bin. As I start moving my plants outside, I may opt for larger sweater size underbed storage bins but the small ones are the easiest to move in and out as I get older - more steps for me but the bins are lighter.

[patihum]

Check with any of the places like Walmart that sells plants. They often just toss the trays the plants come in. Work great for holding cups!

[karstopography]

Check with any of the places like Walmart that sells plants. They often just toss the trays the plants come in. Work great for holding cups!

This is the free way, repurposing, dumpster diving, whatever it is called. All my starter containers and holder trays are repurposed, “borrowed” from the trash pile.

[worth1]

I tried Solo cups one year.
Biggest pain in the butt I ever saw.
Frigging cups flying everywhere at the slightest wind.
Premature cracking.

But if one insists I would go the hole saw route and make the hole big enough so the cup drops down so the center of gravity is below the hole the cup sets in.

The only thing I made myself was half pint ball jars with a half inch hole drilled in the bottom.
Those worked great and I still have them.

[karstopography]

I’ve jambed the round ~20 ounce Bonnie brand grow cups into the 18 place black square tray holders meant for the ordinary sized square type transplant containers. It’s not elegant, but the plastic on those containers deforms well enough and resists cracking well enough to be worked into the 18 place holders. It’ll keep them from tumbling or rolling around during transport. The deep aluminum roaster pans work pretty well for the round containers like solo cups, but there has to be enough cups in there to fill the whole pan. I take worn out battered and used from the grill aluminum deep sided roaster pans, wash them out and use those to transport my seedling containers. I like the rectangular or square seedling containers because of less wasted space, but the rounds work well enough. I think about 18 4” squares fit in a large roasting pan and maybe a few less rounds.

Solo cups, maybe different brands other than Solo do better or worse, but they sure as shooting will split vertically with ordinary handling. Not the most durable of containers.

[Seven Bends]

I always thought the perfect thing would be the tray that holds drinking glasses for a commercial dishwasher. I see restaurant workers unloading the glasses and wish I had that rack they're coming out of. Maybe a restaurant supply store carries them. Or if you have connections at a restaurant, they would let you have an old one they're removing from service.

These are called glass racks - only thing is they are not cheap.

What a great idea! Webstaurant store has them new as low as $12.99 ($11.99 if you buy a lot of 6): https://www.webstaurantstore.com/39727/ ... nders.html. But there's a big market in used restaurant equipment because so many restaurants go out of business; best bet may be to find the nearest used restaurant equipment broker or watch for business closure sales/auctions.

[worth1]

I've used with great success the peat cups.
I know a lot of people hate them but I have no problem with them.

[AKgardener]

I just did the cups and tossed them.. I got a bunch of crafting trays from amazon and square pots .. waiting for there arrival because I have them is these white grow bags and I do not like how there holding onto the water poor guys are flooded I have to squeeze it to get the extra water out

[JRinPA]

I don't normally use cups but I need them for strawberries, doing a tower, and I already have them to use up. Just no way to move them.

Okay I did some research at $1.25tree. I actually already had two of those particular tray, bought last year to hold medical supplies.
The dollar tree 14 pack of 16 oz clear cups are a good snug fit for 12 in the basket.
The 16 pack of 16 oz transparent colored cups are a good snug fit for 12 also.
The 16 pack of 16 oz red party cups are a poor, loose fit for 12.

I didn't buy any of those, I'm going with the fencing first, but I picked up a couple wire wastebaskets. I'll leave them at the compost piles for quick sifting.

Funny story though, there was a grandmother and her granddaughter in the store, ended up behind me in line. While in line I noticed the clearance area had something...in this particular dollar tree it's off to the side and I never see it until I'm already checking out. So after I paid I looped around and here is 50 cent boxes of cordial cherries. So a dime each...I pick up 4 boxes. So now I am behind them, and she is talking with cashier girl, here she has a whole bunch of stuff because they are "stocking their RV". So I say, hey you should stock it full of chocolate covered cherries...I hold up a box. Oh, I love those, she says. 50 cents each, I say. Really...eh we're already checked out. So I had the cashier ring up the four I had and I put two in their cart. Oh, thank you. Oh you're welcome. They leave, the cashier says, did you know them? No, I just thought they needed some cherrying up. Oh hehehe, that was so nice of you.

When I got home I opened a box and tried them, first one was I thought was decent, second okay, third one, eh huh they are not really that sweet. First ingredient sugar, then Milk Chocolate...Now I have the most horrible aftertaste from those things! Weird sour taste, almost like the cherries were rather sour cherries.

I hope they are laughing about it...I feel terrible...these are the worst cordial cherries I've ever had. Queen Anne out of Chicago. Yack. Sorry about that...I see now on the front it does "artificially flavored". We have some cheapie candy makers around here PA, but the stuff is still decent. I looked and saw product of USA and thought they would be okay. Chicago...

[JRinPA]

I needed a system for these cups

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These baskets would indeed work for two of the three cup types at dollar tree. Plus you could route string through the holes easily enough for less than 12. The red cups are too narrow at the bottom and maybe too big at the top.

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[slugworth]

staple together dollar store stapler

[Cole_Robbie]

A person could make a foam insert with spray foam, just spray around the cups in a tray. The cups probably wouldn't come out, but plant cups would sit in them.

[JRinPA]

Boom!
Super easy to make from scrap 2x4 fencing. I cut it at 9 wide (18"), took a 2x4 timber and used it to bend 2 squares of each edge so it supports itself. From 5 ft high fence, it is fifteen 4"grids long, two are wasted with cuts, so 13 grids makes a 15 holder and two 12 holders. Or just three 12 slot holders if you want them the same. Just bend out the wire for the holes, they work great, and support the cups up high with the weight in tension so they won't spill.

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