DIY floating planter!

[TheFishGuy]

I got a bunch of watercress today! it was only like $2 at whole foods, and I coundnt decided where to place it in the pond so I used an old floating island design I had from a science project and now I have a floating watercress island! I will post links to materials for anyone interested! this also works with basil and many other quite normal plants, as long as you have some sort of growing media in the bottom! ( the whole thing is called aquaponics )

 

[poconojoe]

Very interesting, more details please!

 

[TheFishGuy]

Very interesting, more details please!

okay! so basically it is meant as a floating aquaponics system that can go anywhere ( I have them in my fish tanks as natural filters too! ) they cost somewhere around 5 bucks to make, and as long as you use only materials listed below they are 100% fish safe, I have tested them in as little as 1 gallon of water with a beta and some basil they work sort of like bog filters, in that the water comes through holes punctured in the sides and bottom of the cup, so that the plant can then suck in toxic fish waste through its roots, and clean the water.

here are materials:

1, 9 ounce ( bigger works to ) clear solo cup ( this has to be the flexible kind and not 100 percent rigid )

some sort of planting media, preferably something that inst very heavy, like aquaponics clay balls

a small board of Styrofoam

and optionally a cover for the top of the Styrofoam, this will be made out of clear plastic

step 1

puncture holes in the lower sides and bottom of the solo cup

step 2

using a steak knife or Styrofoam cutter, carve out a doughnut of Styrofoam, that snugly fits inside the cup, but has a middle hole big enough to put the pant through

step 3

put in you growing media to halfway full, the put the Styrofoam into the top of the cup, after this all you have to do is slip the pant through the top and wala you have a planter!

side note: you may have to do some balancing to get it stable, but adgusting how the Styrofoam sits should usually be enough

 

[poconojoe]

Cool! Great for individual plants. And the container is clear so it won't be easily seen. That will keep those mischievous koi from munching on the roots! I imagine you could use a larger container for bigger plants. It's all about the foam floatation.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Cool! Great for individual plants. And the container is clear so it won't be easily seen. That will keep those mischievous koi from munching on the roots! I imagine you could use a larger container for bigger plants. It's all about the foam floatation.

indeed it is! I plan on making more soon, hopefully to contain the water lettuce, as the koi chomped all the roots off last season, and thats why I have to buy new ones this year ....

 

[CliffandJoann]

That is very cool and fish safe too...The reason that I mention safety is years ago I got this idea
to make a floating Island for plants to keep them safe from the koi...I got small inner tubes
and sewed netting all around...Only one morning to discover a big koi laying sideways stuck in the Island.
Luckily we got him out in time...I removed the floating Islands.

 

[TheFishGuy]

That is very cool and fish safe too...The reason that I mention safety is years ago I got this idea
to make a floating Island for plants to keep them safe from the koi...I got small inner tubes
and sewed netting all around...Only one morning to discover a big koi laying sideways stuck in the Island.
Luckily we got him out in time...I removed the floating Islands.

Holy cow! I am glad I didn’t use something like an pool noodle, the die probably leached into the water. Probably the only thing that really made it all fish safe was that a lot of things are covered in fish safe silicone sealeant