Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have seen the video that features the IBC totes. Informative to say the least. I have a question regarding "verbage". When the young lady mentioned that the plants can be placed "closer" together than planting in traditional dirt gardens I couldn't figure out what she meant. In gardening books it is pretty cut and dried about how far apart the plants and rows are . Is there any rhyme or reason to follow with this system? The main reason I ask is for determining the number of beds I should have eventually to equal my traditional gardens productivity. By knowing this I can better plan my next building project for just this discipline of growing. My garden is outside and this system will be better served with some more protection from weather and such. Thank you.

Hi Tom I may be that young lady. I plant most things about a seedling punnet apart and often mix the varieties so that air can still flow. I plant opposites so that the low, medium and tall spaces are utilised.
Lettuce, leek, carrot and broccoli in a square utilise this space well eg root goes down broccoli grows up, lettuce down low and leek tall. Eg more in less space and not the competition for moisture and nutrients that you get in a dirt garden.
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To add to young Fayes reply..

Because nutrients/nirtrates are available throughout an AP grow bed through water distribution you will find you can plant a lot closer than a conventional garden. The plant roots dont have to fight for the availability of nutrients which is basically the reason seedlings come with a recommended spacing... not needed in AP.

When planting, I only give the plants enough room taking into consideration how large they will be so they recieve a good amount of sun without smothering each other.

So "closer" is as close as you like really.

I guess it depends if the gardening books you refer to base their spacing of plants on contention for foliage space or contention for nutrients + root space.

If it is the latter, then the reason is probably that the plants have a constant, high flow, stream of nutrient rich water running right over their roots in AP. Given the abundance of readily available nutrient and water, there is very little contest between the plants which would otherwise need to share the nutrient and water that is already available in the soil and possibly less frequently replaced.

If it is the former, then there may be little reason other than that the plants are already super health, so foliage crowding is less likely to result in disease or ill effects from reduced light????

Just a guess.

Bah... Took to long! You beat me

I never measure my planting spaces in the ground or in AP so I'm no help....

If I can see gravel, then there's not enough plants

But Faye definitely knows more about this than me

i space to how large the plant gets, so a cos lettuce may get to 10 inches around so i plant them 10 inches apart, fennel gets about 9 inches, etc.

I bought a punnet of leek seedlings, in each square there were a few leeks together and I planted them just like that. Now that the leeks are getting thicker should I separate them to give each more room?