When I first started on this project, everything was pretty simple. Set up a vertical tube, put a pipe with small holes drilled in it down the center, fill the tube with potting soil, make plant holes in the tube, insert plants, connect a water hose to the internal pipe with the holes to water. Then, I started getting some ideas and some advice here and there. Now, what I have is the vertical tube with a halo sprinkler at the top, a base tank with a continously running pump, and a constant film of water running down the inside of the tube. So, how to get the plants to grow on the outside of the tube? After some good suggestions, I decided to use something that would soak up moisture. I found some foam hair curlers at the dollar store. They are about 1 inch in diameter, and about 3 inches long. They have a hole running throug the axis of the foam tube with a light weight plastic clip for the hair attached. I remove the plastic clip, cut the foam tube into two 1 1/2 inch peices. Then, to insert the tiny seedling, I cut up through the center hole so that the foam tube can be opened up. I place the seedling in the center and close the foam back up with the small leaves coming out one end, and the small roots out the other. Cutting through the aluminum wall of the vertical grower tube causes a lot of water to bleed out. A little bending of the metal around the hole reduces the leakage some, and then the foam plug is inserted into the hole root first. Sound fun? Well it is kind of fun. I hope that the little plants can addapt to their new environment, and don't drown. I stuck several plants into the system yesterday, and they still looked healthy today, so a added all the rest of the little guys today. My main concern now is that a really heavy hard rain might rip the little plants apart. Pictures will help make the discription easier to follow. Use the link below and click on the plugging link to see the results. chuck

Here is a link that might be useful: pictures o f foam curler plant pluging