Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The onions pushed their way through the gravel too, but it looks like they had a hard time doing it!

Here's a couple of tricks I found worked well.
Plant things like radish and carrots in a trench in the grow bed then cover them otherwise they tend to grow on the surface and not deeper in the bed.(ie plant them deeper)
The seeds will adhere to the beads and not go anywhere unless there is vigorous water flow to wash them away.
Tip 2
I buy seedlings from the from the garden centre, pop them out of the plastic thing they are in, brush the fertiliser (snail pellets)from the top of the root mass etc and plant directly into the bed with the little bit of dirt/material they are in.
The important thing is to plant them when the bed is at full flood and they are easy to push down into the beads, fairly deep also.
The plant grows and fruits etc and when you remove it at the end of its life the material that it came in is still around the root base at the top of the bed, simply gather this and dispose of it.
Plants that are done like this do not even go backwards at all, a few hrs later they are thriving on the new water nutrients and establish fast.
Also noted that in the West Aust winter, change to a 15 min flood and 1 hr drain otherwise they get wet feet and slow growth is the result
Gav

Lots of small seeds are now available on a paper tape also. I think this would be good in a grow bed but haven't tried them yet.

...hmmmm... I wonder what the carrot will look like. It is a root crop and may have a funny form growing in the gravel. Keep us updated please, Johnny. Cheerz.

They grow quite nicely.

Roots seem to have amazing power to push things out of their way. Too many potatoes growing in a whimpy storage bin will likely bust the bin apart as they push the gravel out of their way.

Wonders of nature. I think I will try that, too. I love carrots. Thanks.

My gravel carrots turn out just fine.


The only thing that messes them up is if the bed fails to drain or it grows down to the water. They will rot off if left in standing water..