Floating Wetlands

Building the Island

Materials

Un-accordian the Flexible Drain Pipe.
Stuff recycled empty (sealed) water bottles into the Flexible Drain Pipe.
Use the hole punch (or scissors) and make four small holes at the ends of the Flexible Drain Pipe (2 on each end, one on top and one on bottom).
Bring the two ends together and use zip ties to connect the two ends.

Try to shape the Flexible Drain Pipe into a square.
Stretch out a segment of the Tenax Hardware Fencing underneath the square
Unroll the fencing around the top of the square.
Bring the roll to the free-end of the fencing and mark that spot.
Cut the segment of fencing along that spot.
Before zip-tying the fence material together, stuff the empty square with coconut fiber matting. You want enough coconut fiber matting in the square to support plants to stand upright, but not too much you can't shove a plug through the material.
Zip tie the fencing material together, ensuring none of the coconut fiber can escape from the center.
The fencing material should serve as a support for the island to keep it taught and together.

Select one side of your island as the top.
Incrementally cut small cross-hairs in the fencing, allowing fingers or a pair of scissors into the hole to make room for plugs to be pushed into.
Take a couple of plugs and (as gently as possible) grab the base of the plug (near the roots) and push the plug into the hole. Ideally, you want the plugs to be near and/or visible on the bottom of your island. The plugs will die if the roots stay at the top of your island.
Repeat for however many plugs you want to stick into one island. It is suggested you document the number of plugs stuck into the island to determine how successful growth is at a later stage.

Take the floating islands to the body of water they will float in.
Using the rope, secure the floating island to either a structure in the water or something along the shore (e.g., a cinder block).

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