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Gather Materials(2 of 14)

Materials and Tools:

-mold—can be a saucer, dish pan, planter, or box

-plastic wrap, any type of lightweight plastic (say, a garbage bag) to line the mold

-containers to mix ingredients and for measuring

-gloves, rubber or latex

-face mask for the mouth and nose

-dowel rods, cut into six-inch lengths, for making drainage holes (ordinary 3/4- to one-inch-diam. sticks will do)

optional: 1/4-inch hardware cloth for screening peat moss

-wire brush to roughen finish on outside of trough

Trough Ingredients:

-Portland cement, one part

-peat moss, one to one-and-a-half parts

-coarse sand or perlite, one to one-and-a-half parts (Note: Perlite will make the trough lighter in weight, shown below right, but sand will give it a smoother finish, shown below left.)

-Water, one part

The standard recipe for hypertufa troughs consists of the following dry ingredients: Portland cement, peat moss and coarse sand or perlite. Water acts as a wetting agent to combine these three components together. There are various formulas for the mixture that range from one-one-one to one-two-two and depend on the weight and look that you desire for your trough.