Floating Island is Doing Great
Floating Island is Doing Great
We planted a variety of plants, at different stages of growth. After a bit of experimentation, cosmos grow extremely well. These were cuttings we put in just a couple weeks ago, and they're already bigger than most of the other plants that have been in there for over a month.
The very young plants did not survive, but the larger ones did. If they're too small, they just get swallowed down into the cups by the bobbing of the water.
Seems like the plants need to be large enough to reach all the way to the bottom of the pots, and still stick out enough.
Going to be interesting to see what it looks like at the end of the season.
Really cool project. One day I'll have a pond to do something similar
I'm going to make one for my swamp! How thick is the mat? I have some old yoga mats, but I don't know if they're rigid enough. And how did you punch the holes? I was going to try cookie cutters.
I used 1/2" thick puzzle mat, which was plenty to keep things floating. I used a 3" hole saw, but only cause I had it already (ran it backwards so the teeth wouldn't grab and tear the mat.)
A yoga mat would probably do ok, but I had to add a little bit of weight to the corners to stop the mat from flipping up in the wind (see previous post) so the yoga mat might not be able to support that extra weight.
If you didn't need the cookie cutters anymore, you could probably put a board on top of one and smack it with a hammer to cut circles in the yoga mat, but it also may not work. You'd have to experiment a bit.
I've got hole saw bits, forgot! You can get 1/2" mats cheap enough, but wanted to try what I already have which is thinner.
Oh that's awesome to see I'm glad you didn't give up!
My experience with cosmos is you're going to have a lot of cosmos, in unexpected places, a lot of the time.
Don't bees love them?
Interesting, I hadn't seen your earlier posts but went back and checked out your profile. Neat idea
That's quite the recovery from your other post I remember seeing.
Awesome experiment. Keep the updates coming.
How are the hemp plants doing? /s
Are you filling them with dirt first?
We're using LECA as a substrate to keep the plants in there, but I think gravel would probably work as well, or possibly better. (the extra weight would likely help stabilize things)
Random LECA link: https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-leca-and-why-do-houseplant-gurus-love-it-5092763
I guess I should have said substrate. lol
What I was getting at was trying to figure out if you were just sort of setting them in the netting with the stem up and letting roots grow through the whole thing.
Like when you grow something in a jar vs full on hydro.
I was wondering what kind of fish would live in that little super protected area, or if could act as a miniature breeding chamber where the little fish fry are safe.
Which area/climate is this? Being outdoor I doubt it can withstand low temperature/frost.
