Are you a designer or printer seeking to use plantable paper in your next project?

Botanical PaperWorks experts are available to assist you by phone or you can browse these online resources and fill out a form to see if your business qualifies for bulk pricing on seed paper by the sheet.

Below you’ll find tons of information about printing with seed paper including designer tips for how to make your plantable paper printing project successful.

Printing on Seed Paper

Yes. Botanical PaperWorks seed paper sheets contain seeds that have been selected because they are easy to grow and smaller in size so the paper is smooth and more suitable for print. However, there are some important things to note such as avoiding laser printers which kills the seeds. Learn more about the acceptable methods for printing below.

First of all, the sheets are approximately 85 lb cover weight but will vary slightly in thickness. They have smooth, trimmed edges and can be used for a variety of printing methods, however, results will vary. Read the tips below and always be sure to test seed paper with your printer.

When printing on plantable paper, we recommend using one the following methods of printing:

  • Inkjet (preferred for home or office)
  • Offset printing press, 1, 2 or 4 color
  • Screen printing
  • Letterpress

If you’re not a professional printer and plan to print on the seed paper yourself at home or at the office, we recommend using a top loading inkjet printer for best results. Below are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Use an inkjet printer that has a straight paper path that doesn’t bend the paper over itself when feeding (most HP desktop printers do this).
  • Because of the varying thickness of this special paper, you may have to help your printer feed the sheets through when it tries to grab a sheet by holding the paper straight. Don’t expect to be able to put a pile of paper in the rear tray and walk away! Most desktop printers are designed with plain paper in mind, which slides easily. The seed paper does not slide easily so, therefore, you have to watch and occasionally help the printer along.
  • Some machines will have a setting for less abrasion, which means thicker paper. This setting will lessen the chance of a head strike, which appears as smudges on the paper.
  • Test your print settings to see what works best for your design. If you have heavy ink coverage, be sure to print on HQ settings and always run a test print.

Most of our double thick stock’s caliper is around 20 – 22 pt. Use a micrometer as you would with any stock. Heating the seed-embedded paper can affect the seed germination, therefore we recommend turning off IR lamps. To assist with the drying process, add dryer to the ink.

  • Waterless Offset is preferable to conventional.
  • To ensure accurate alignment, we recommend printing 4-color jobs on a 4-color press, rather than doing two passes on a 2-color press.
You can screen print on seed paper but you’ll see some white around the seeds as the surface is not perfectly flat. The use of a soft squeegee is recommended.
Letterpress may crush some of the seeds so germination may be affected, especially when the seeds are larger like some of the herb or veggie seeds. Try to use ink that is low tack.
Plantable paper is uncoated so some slight bleeding will occur. Be sure to keep that in mind and avoid printing very small text on dark colored backgrounds. We recommend at least 8 – 9 pt. Avoid using heavy ink coverage if you can. If using photos of people, be aware that the seeds may show through on lighter areas on the face, eyes and/or teeth. Design pieces to be trimmed down in case there is any shifting of the paper and be sure to use at least a 1/4” inch margins rather than trying to print too close to the edge.

Want to see examples of print and design work?

Take a look at a variety of plantable seed paper case studies for clients we’ve worked with in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

Browse case studies
seed paper business cards and coasters from BizforClimate

See photos of seed paper in action

Browse through a wide variety of photos from our customers to see all the colorful blooms you can grow with seed paper!

Seed paper growing

Bulk Pricing for Printers and Designer

If you are a printer or designer looking for bulk pricing on seed paper sheets, you’ll be happy to know that Botanical PaperWorks can offer special pricing for those who qualify. Please fill out the form below to request bulk pricing.


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