Make a Record

Record the date, time, and weather before you begin outplanting.

Clip the boat into the growline.

If possible, orient yourself on the downwind side of the array, so that the bow of your boat is moving into the wind as you pull yourself along the growline. Outplanting upwind or up-current affords you more control. It can be helpful to rig a carabiner or clip to the bow and stern of your boat and “clip into” the growline. This will help stabilize the boat and keep you from drifting as you progress.

Detach from the anchor line.

Detach one end of the growline from the anchor system.

Prepare the seed spool.

Gently remove the seed spool from its travel container, and tightly grab the unbeveled end with a pair of vice grips. Thread the growline through the seed spool so that the vice grips are facing the direction of travel and the beveled end of the spool is facing the detached end of the growline. The seed string should spool out behind you as you move forward along the growline.

Reconnect the growline.

Reconnect the detached growline to the anchor system with a bowline knot or c link, depending on your growline configuration.

Splice the seed string to the growline.

Open the lay of the growline using a fid, and feed the first 6-12” of seed string through the strands of the growline. Tie a few half hitches to securely affix the seed string to the growline.

Walk down the growline.

Begin to slowly walk, or motor the boat, parallel to the growline while holding the spool with the vice grip at a slight downward angle. The seed string will slowly begin to unspool and wrap around the growline as you travel. It’s often helpful to have one person in the bow pulling the boat along the growline, and one person in the stern holding the seed spool. If you’re clipped into the line, you’ll want the clips to be ahead of where the seed is unspooling.

Look for tight wraps of seed string.

As you move along the line, try to get tight wraps of the seed string to nestle into the lay of the growline. This will allow the holdfasts of the kelp to grow to attach to the growline itself. If you go too fast, the seed string will not lay tight against the growline, and slack loops can develop. Left unaddressed, this can lead to your kelp not properly attaching to the growline or cause the seed string to break. To remedy any slack you might be seeing, pinch the seed string at the spool, and gently tug until the seed string lays flat against the long line. You may have to make these small corrections multiple times.

Secure the seed string routinely.

Every 20-30 feet, you’ll want to secure the seed string to the growline. There are many ways to do this: you can lash the two together with twine, you could use black electrical tape, or you could use rubber surgical tubing to tie the two together. Some farmers use zip ties, but GreenWave has found that they tend to chafe and cut the seed string over the course of the season, so we recommend using other methods.

Connect growline buoys.

When you reach the points on the growline where you plan to install your growline buoys (approximately every 50 feet), there are a few options for connecting the buoy lines. If you pre-spliced loops or soft shackles into your growline, you can pass the loop through the seed spool and connect your buoy line. An alternative method is to splice or tie your buoy lines directly to the growline, but this significantly slows down the outplanting process. If you go this route, it’s a good idea to lash, tie, or tape your seed string on either side of the buoy line connection to reduce the risk of chafing, causing the seed string to break.

Splice the seed string at the end of the line.

When you reach the far end of the growline, you’ll want to cut the seed string and use the fid to splice it through the growline, like you did at the beginning. If there is a slit in your spool, you can cut off the remaining seed string and pop the spool off the growline. If there isn’t a slit, you’ll want to untie the growline connection and pass the spool off.

Pull tension and reattach the growline.

If you’re connecting your growline to the anchor line with a knot, this is a good opportunity to pull slack out of your growline. Using a trucker’s hitch, or another tensioning knot, pull any remaining slack out of the growline, and tie it off securely with extra half-hitches.

If you’re using pre-spliced c-link connections, you’ll need to relieve tension from the system to disconnect the c links, remove the empty spool, and reconnect. To temporarily relieve tension from the system, you can use a come-along or small block-and-tackle system as shown in this video.

Repeat this process for the other growlines on your farm.