Building a raft

Once I decided to give Aquaponics a try, I needed to figure out what was the best way to do it. For me, that means the cheapest.  Going back to YouTube, I found this video...

A simple raft with plants rooted in the water. That might work. Some plants don't like wet roots, so it probably won't work for them, but other stuff, lettuce, cabbage and the like, stuff with a high water content should do fine.

The finished raft

So I went to Jerry's and picked up a couple of sheets of Styrofoam at about $2 for a 2'x8'x1" sheet. I figured that a 2" thick raft would be sufficient to hold up anything. I made the rafts roughly 18"x36" with the plants about 9" on center. I used a Styrofoam cutter to cut the holes for the baskets. It's basically a hot (warm) wire that cuts through the foam like a dull knife through cold butter. I also used a hot glue gun to glue the sheets together.

Styrofoam Cutter

I used 2" baskets that I got from In & Out Hydroponics in Junction City for about 50 cents each. While I was there I also picked up a bale of coconut coir for $11. I used less than a bucks worth to pot all 12 plants.

The basket-pots

Ground Coconut Husks (aka Coir)

Next episode: planting and launching the raft.