A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Raft hole spacing

I see there are chats on different hole spacing,, I have an urgent want of cuting my holes as I have net pots sprouting veggies. I have been putting this off for fear of screwing it up;;; those rafts are not cheep....

Does anyone have a spacing drawing or fomula to share? I have been toying with a few ideas but do not want to waste raft space or crowd my plants..

I was looking at maybe 4" and 6" on center for 2 inch pots and maybe 7" on center for my 3 inch pots.

looking to do leafy greens, Leeks, Basel and Romaine ... at this time...

Anyone have suggestions,,,,,PLEASE HELP I want to get this done by the weekend...

EDITED,, spelling and missing words... note to self: late night posting makes for poor editing,,,

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Hall on April 25, 2012 at 11:53pm

For what it's worth, just read an article about lettuce bolting and going to seed, besides issues such as light and temperature, they mention stress from crowding and that if lettuce is too close it will not develop nice sized leaves and will then try to bolt and seed to survive. They also said the seeds from that lettuce become genetically disposed to wanting to bolt and seed early.
Doesn't really answer your question, but thought I would pass it on. :-?

Permalink Reply by Brent Wheeler on April 26, 2012 at 5:41pm

Jim,

Thanks that is the sort of thing I was thinking about (not that I KNEW that for sure before) I know enough about plants to know they all have some feature and limitation in their profile.

SO as to my original question,.,. THIS is why I have put off cutting holes... I do not have all the data,,

so IF anyone would like to chime in, I have to cut holes soon VERY SOON,,,,,

Jim Hall said:

For what it's worth, just read an article about lettuce bolting and going to seed, besides issues such as light and temperature, they mention stress from crowding and that if lettuce is too close it will not develop nice sized leaves and will then try to bolt and seed to survive. They also said the seeds from that lettuce become genetically disposed to wanting to bolt and seed early.
Doesn't really answer your question, but thought I would pass it on.

Permalink Reply by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on May 6, 2012 at 8:37pm

Here are two examples of experimental 16/ft2 plantings of basil and marigolds. They worked well though may be a little dense. I am currently experimenting with 1/ft2 for large plants and 5/ft2 for lettuce. Note: I am in Phoenix Az and we have a lot of light. In fact many growers must use 50% shade cloth to be successful.

http://bitly.com/Lh0V9u

http://bitly.com/K1wgwB

Permalink Reply by Brent Wheeler on May 7, 2012 at 8:23pm

thanks for your input,,, I think I will go with with 6" on center holes... due to a few delays looks like it will be another week before i cut holes...

Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. said:

Here are two examples of experimental 16/ft2 plantings of basil and marigolds. They worked well though may be a little dense. I am currently experimenting with 1/ft2 for large plants and 5/ft2 for lettuce. Note: I am in Phoenix Az and we have a lot of light. In fact many growers must use 50% shade cloth to be successful.

http://bitly.com/Lh0V9u

http://bitly.com/K1wgwB

Permalink Reply by Joe Bifano on May 7, 2012 at 10:38pm

I just made 2 jigs for a 2'x4' raft with 42 holes in one and 43 holes in the other. I am using 5-1/2" centers and staggering the holes so they are not in a square but use a circle centers instead. I start my holes 2 inches off the edge and have 5 long rows. With this set up I made an odd raft and an even raft. I then have them so that when they are next to each other the spacing works and does not have such a big edge wasting space.

Permalink Reply by Brent Wheeler on May 8, 2012 at 8:33pm

interesting, you are going there... my partner and I were just working out a pattern much the same with the same thoughts... hmm maybe great minds think alike :)

Joe Bifano said:

I just made 2 jigs for a 2'x4' raft with 42 holes in one and 43 holes in the other. I am using 5-1/2" centers and staggering the holes so they are not in a square but use a circle centers instead. I start my holes 2 inches off the edge and have 5 long rows. With this set up I made an odd raft and an even raft. I then have them so that when they are next to each other the spacing works and does not have such a big edge wasting space.