How do we use paper under plantings?

Hi Daniel

I think we need more information. Do you mean in potted plantings, under potted plants, or outdoors in the soil under the plants?

Regardless, here are some pointers:

You can certainly use old paper under some pots of plants to soak up any water that drips out, but it may get moldy if it gets really wet.

Paper can be used to make a great "mulch" to stop weeds from growing above ground around your plants, and conserve water. Lay down a good 2-4 plys of newspaper or other paper around your plants. Cutting up the paper small and laying around your potted plants can work as well, but can be a bit unsightly for indoor plants (cover with pea-gravel or small stones for a nicer look if it matters.) Just don't over-water when mulching this way.

Shredded paper can be mixed in with your compost and it will break down and add humus to your pile. Consider it one of your "carbons" (compost relies on a mix of carbons and nitrogens to break down, or "browns and greens", greens such as fresh cut grass, typically being the nitrogens.)

The shredded paper can also be "dug in", or mixed into the soil, in small amounts, just make sure it's shredded very well, and mixed very well - if too much is compacted together under the soil, it can "cake" together and decompose poorly.

One more note - using newspaper is fine because newspapers are printed using soy-based inks, but you want to completely avoid using any paper that was printed on using laser printers - the toner used can be toxic - containing many heavy metals, and whether or not you'll be growing plants for food, you don't really want to introduce that into your soils (outdoors or in pots.)

As for ink-jet printers, I'm not really certain of the safety.