Comment

Comment by Bob Campbell on July 22, 2012 at 9:36am

@Jason - Thanks for getting back to me about the bunk feeders. 

Indeed gravel is heavy.  I have begun to use pumice and like it a lot. 

It's heavier than water but very light and easy to work in.

The lower part of this blog post will describe my experience with pumice. 

Comment by Jason Childress on July 21, 2012 at 7:36pm

Bob-

The bunk feeders have worked out well for us.  We have had very good success with tomatoes, green onions, romaine lettuce, and basil.  We have had marginal luck with peppers.

They seem to be deep enough for those things.  They are pretty strong.  All 6 of ours have been in use for over a year and no major problems.  They do sag a little with the weight of the rocks, but that hasn't seemed to affect anything.  I have  noticed (on one bed)  a small tear in the plastic where he bolt goes through to hold it to the frame, but it doesn't seem to be growing yet.

I would use these again.  We have different sized gravel in some of the grow beds.  We seem to prefer the pea gravel over the river gravel.

Comment by Bob Campbell on July 15, 2012 at 9:06am

Jason, I'm going to expand my system and  I'm wondering how the bunk feeders have worked out for you. 

Are they deep enough? 

Are the strong enough?

What would you do differently? 

Comment by Jason Childress on May 11, 2012 at 4:41pm

Thanks.  They are not rubbermaid.  They are actually bunk feeders for cattle.  The liner is a hard plastic, the frames are galvanized.  You can purchase replacement liners, if they fail.  I purchased them at a local farm store.  One of my goals for this system was to build it with all "off-the-shelf" products.

Comment by Bob Campbell on May 11, 2012 at 7:50am

Nice grow beds!  Are they also Rubber Maid?  Did you have to fabricate the stands?