Michael Ryder’s Simple Rain Gutter Grow System in Alaska
One of the great things about Larry Hall’s Rain Gutter Grow System (RGGS) is the Facebook page. Larry’s Facebook RGGS page just hit 12,000 subscribers yesterday, and the subscribers there are a creative bunch. If you visit the page, you will see that subscribers are trying this system out and changing it to their specific site and circumstances.
One of these creative types is a gentleman named Michael Ryder. He built a great Hybrid Rain Gutter Grow System at his home in Alabama before shipping out to Alaska tom complete a project. I have gotten know Michael a bit through Facebook, and I think he truly is The Most Interesting Man in the World. I digress….
Michael traveled from Alabama to the small Village of Igiugig, Alaska, to install a river turbine (worthy of a post by itself, I am sure). Michael posted a video of his recent trip to the local greenhouse where he introduced a very simple Rain Gutter Grow System to the folks up there.
How simple?
A 1 gallon grow bag, some soil, a “runt” lettuce plant and a recycle bin with some water in it.
That’s it. Simple.
Results? Well, see for yourself.
As a final note, I am using this method to start all of my seedlings. Perhaps you might have noticed? I can attest: this does work! Try it out on a small scale; you might see a major impact.
Red Solo Cups in Water Trays – A Simple Rain Gutter Grow System
i’m just a noob and trying to figure out how to start growing my onw veggies. On the red cups pictured above,
1) did you sow the seeds into the red cup or was it transplanted to the red cup after germination ? If transplanted, at what height before it was tranplanted ? I’m growing green leafy veggies and herbs.
2) In RGGS, it was using net pots at the bottom. I’m assuming it was just holes at the bottom of the red cups and the tray is just refilled with water when required ?
3) Did you use Larry Hall’s potting mix in the red cup ? Or just seed starting mix only of peat moss, perlite and vermiculite ?
4) Did you pack it tight ?
Excellent questions! Let me try to answer them:
1) I did it both ways. Early in the season, I planted a bunch of tomatoes (9 varieties), peppers (several varieties), lettuce, spinach, dill, broccoli and cucumbers in regular seed trays filled with dirt. As the plants grew to be about 3″ high (for the tomatoes), I transferred them to the red solo cups. It was a chore because they had grown together and the roots had grown together. I would probably not let them grow that tall before transplanting them to the red solo cups.
Later in the season, I planted some green beans, cucumbers, dill, pumpkin and squash directly in the red solo cups. I put these cups in the seed trays and kept about 1/4″-1/2″ of water in the trays. The seeds took off and did VERY well. I was pretty pleased with the results. The red solo cups did have several drainage holes in the bottom. The holes not only allowed water to be wicked up into the soil but allowed water (from rain) to drain out. No holes = waterlogged and dead plants. Yep, it did happen to a couple of my 150+ tomato seedlings.
In the Hybrid Rain Gutter Grow System, I planted spinach and lettuce seeds directly into the basket in September. I transferred some of the plants into other baskets when the seedlings were about 1.5″ tall. Be careful with the seedlings, but they will bounce back from transplanting pretty well. This was a pretty slick way.
This winter, I will be using a combination of 3″ net cups and red solo cups to germinate seedlings. I will put the cups in seed trays with 1/4″-1/2″ of water to germinate the plants and then transfer them.
2) Yes, the baskets have a 2″ net cup in the bottom (I used a 3″ pipe). I did put holes in the red solo cups (see Answer 1).
3) I used a compost/peat moss mix. I did not use the full Larry Mix for the red solo cups. I have used the peat moss/compost/vermiculite mix in garden beds, and it works wonders. Larry’s Mix is a combination of Square Foot Gardening and Mittleider Method soil. Very good for growing!
4) I did not pack the soil tight.
Great questions! I think I will build this into a blog post! Thanks for asking and interacting!
“This winter, I will be using a combination of 3″ net cups and red solo cups to germinate seedlings. I will put the cups in seed trays with 1/4″-1/2″ of water to germinate the plants and then transfer them.”
for winter sowing, are you going to do this indoors or outdoors ? if indoors using a Daylight Florescent lamps ?
I guess the picture above was done during the summer so most likely you have done that outdoors. right ?
Indeed! I am gearing up to write about some winter options, including my indoor plans. I did it last year with a simple tray system and some lights hooked up to a PVC frame. I want a better system this year: self-watering, stable light frame, net cups…. I will post up how I did my seedlings last year. It did pretty well, and when I started using the solo cups, it was outside. I think they will do pretty well inside this year.
I’m building one of this in the next couple of days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAYpn2Md9eA
sow some seeds tonight on 2″ net pot, which is what I got on hand right now, then placed the net pot on a clear plastic short disposable cup no holes. I put aquarium gravel 1/2″ deep around the net cup to keep it moving. once it shows a little sign of germination I will place the cup under the light station and fill the cup with water up to the height of the gravel, self watering cup. what you think ?
was wondering if you can comment on a post I made on the RGGS Facebook group page https://www.facebook.com/groups/144745362329424/permalink/520334918103798/
just wanna know what you think ?
I guess you already did commented on it earlier. so you are using T12s. Right ?
Yep, T12s. I might need to get some more!
Yep, I am heading there right now to check it out and comment.