Larry Hall's Gutter Video Gave Me An Idea!

I recently moved into a new home in Tennessee. The new house has what I call a "Mud Room." It's about the size of a large greenhouse, but does not have enough sunlight to be a REAL greenhouse. Anyway, the summers here are shorter (zone 6b) and I live across the street from a lake, which I won't go into (but it complicates things a little). This means I have to start seeds indoors in March/April, then transplant them outdoors in early June. I was going to use my flood trays to  start the seeds Aquaponically, on floating styrofoam, but I don't like having to wrestle the seedling roots from the plastic slotted net cups, which breaks the roots and sends the plants into a dangerous shock.

I was watching one of Larry Hall's YouTube gardening videos called "How To Build a Self Watering Rain Gutter Grow System," and here's where Larry's idea gave me my idea. He drills holes in the bottom of buckets, for a slotted net cup that goes into the water. Then fills the bucket up with compost and potting mix. Then plants the seeds way up at the top of the bucket where only a few of the roots (larger plants) grow through the net cups. Why couldn't I do the same with my flood trays?

I could place a batch of buckets on the foam, drill right through both the bucket and the foam. Put some supports in the water to hold the foam up, then place the bucket with the net cup attached back down in the hole in the foam. I could use grow lights in the mud room for "sunlight." Then when the weather is right, I can take the buckets outside daily in May so they get used to being outdoors, then in June I can do the transplanting.

This of course, will be an experiment, because I doubt it's ever been done that way before. But it's worth the time and effort to me to see how this turns out. I'll let ya'll know. LUV U Larry!