Aquaponics build

[sissy]

They have a book out with all the old remedies in it .I remember mom mom out spraying stuff like black pepper and hot pepper sauce she made up to keep deer and rabbits away from her veggie garden in PA .

 

[Nepen]

Wow, this looks so great!

Can I ask where you get those big black tubs you use? I want to buy square tub but most are not big enough.

 

[MitchM]

Thanks Nepen.
I got them from a hydroponics store. They are made from ABS plastic.

 

[Waterbug]

Looks great. What kind of low temps are you getting inside the greenhouse? Running the stove at all?

 

[MitchM]

Thanks Waterbug

I didn't let the greenhouse temperature get down below 11C/52F on the mediabeds this past winter. There was a lot of cold air coming off the greenhouse glass at times so I kept a thermometer on one of the beds itself to make sure they didn't freeze.
We had a colder than usual winter here so there was ice formation on the inside greenhouse frames.
At times we dropped to -40C/-40F plus windchill.
I ran the woodstove whenever the outside temperature dropped below -10C/14F and we went through 2 cords of wood, more than double last year.
Now the greenhouse low temperatures are around 18C/65F. I don't expect them to drop much past that again this season.
I won't need the woodstove again until next winter.

 

[Waterbug]

I think that is pretty impressive keeping 11C/52F in Alberta. And only losing 10-15F currently at night is also better than I would have guessed.

 

[MitchM]

An observation..
This is a picture of the tomato seedlings that I transplanted a couple of weeks ago.
The seedling closest to the window is about 3 times larger than the seedling closest to the camera.
I don't know if it's light or heat or depth of the roots having more water available.
I'll be keeping an eye on it. The space between the 1st and 3rd seedling is only 12 inches.
I also placed a dirt based tomato seedling to the right beside the one closest to the window to see how that does.
It has been sitting with the slower growing seedlings, so it's a bit behind in growth right now.
I think Waterbug suggested trying that comparison before.
The dirt seedling on the left is a tomatillo.

 

[crsublette]

Did the two plants you mention germinate approximately at the same? This would explain it as well due to just a day's difference can make a noticeable difference in root growth thus the height of plant. I see this most often in my own farm fields, that is where the plant's height at young ages was dependent on when they first poked out of the soil. You could find out quite easily by very gently excavating the two plants so to compare root growth; although, that medium might make the excavation tough to do since roots really like to attach to it.

 

[MitchM]

That would explain it.
I didn't record when each one germinated, but when I was separating the seedlings from each other (I had a few seeds in each seedling dirt pocket), I damaged some of the roots too.
Thanks.

I didn't think there was that much difference within each media tray that would account for that much difference in growth.
The depth is difficult to judge as well because this media is so coarse.

I also did find a supplier up here for coconut coir, by the way. I may change out the third media bed with the coir.

.

 

[crsublette]

I also did find a supplier up here for coconut coir, by the way. I may change out the third media bed with the coir.
.

Just keep in mind of possibly having to properly wash the coir, to wash off the excess nutrients, since I have read it tends to be quite high in other nutrients that could cause other nutrient deficiency problems.

Did a quick google and found this that might help ya... GrowGH Blog > Rinse your CocoCoir! Soak out the Salt!

 

[Waterbug]

Lots of things can be explained, and I think a lot of people consider that's enough. Experiments like you're doing are actual data. More data leads to better theories, more understanding. So thanks for doing the experiment. I would guess over the future years you would start to see patterns, maybe not. The more an experiment is duplicated the more reliable the result.

The more detailed your observations the faster the learning. Some people keep journals to document as many details as possible.

Thanks for doing the experiment.

 

[MitchM]

Thanks.

One benefit of this system that's becoming obvious is that I don't have to have to be concerned about over or under watering the plants. The media beds fill and drain every 15 minutes or so. The plants all seem happy with that, or have adjusted accordingly.
Already I have found a couple of the dirt pots a little dry, so the plants in the pots are not going to do as well by virtue of me not staying on top of watering them.

I'm pretty sure I can adjust the nutrient levels and keep up with the bugs, but it's nice to know the watering aspect is taken care of.

On the bugs side of things, the H2O2/alcohol spray doesn't affect the aphids. I still have to use insecticidal soap.
I'll keep on looking for solutions that are available in Canada.

There's also hair algae starting to grow in the media beds lately.
I could harvest it and throw it out, but I want to see if it continues to grow as we come into spring weather.

.

 

[crsublette]

On the bugs side of things, the H2O2/alcohol spray doesn't affect the aphids. I still have to use insecticidal soap.
I'll keep on looking for solutions that are available in Canada.
.

To try to keep the aphids off your vegetable plants, then try to attract them to rather stay on another plant. Look into the Tropaeolum Majus, which I have seen referenced in companion planting guides used as a "trap crop" for aphids so to try to consolidate aphid infestations on a single plant so they are easier to kill.

 

[MitchM]

That's a great suggestion Charles, thanks.

.

 

[MitchM]

Bright sun today, temperature at the media beds was about 32C/90F.
The pak choi in the dirt pots were not holding up well under the heat. The pak choi in the media beds were showing no signs of heat stress.
The dirt pots needed more water. Something I don't worry about with aquaponics plants.
I didn't purposely let them go without water. The dirt actually was a bit damp, but obviously not enough.