Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

By taking off, I mean bolting. Do you have any type of shading (shade cloth, clear plastic roofing, etc.)?

Well this is my first system and really the first time I've grown on my own. My father had a midlife crisis about 6-7 years ago and turned half the backyard into a garden. No sports car, etc. Just a huge garden. The eggplant he grew did very well in the summer. I draw a lot of experience from him. Still have lots to learn. For the Bok Choi, it has been doing very well since we started to get this heat.

As of right now, I have no shade cloth on the system. I need to build some sort of lattuce for the tomatoes and cucumbers, but nothing at the moment. As for the bolting, I'm just planting and going to see what happens.

I hear ya on midlife crisis'. My dad went the gun collecting route. Has the benefits of shooting some awesome guns though!

Nice, please post your progress and any hardships. I'd love to learn from others victories/mistakes. Good luck with your grow!

The guns were my obsession. Just didn't have that much money to get the ones I wanted. Anyways, plan on doing so. One mistake I made was transplanting some seedlings way too soon when we were having our weird cold spells. Had too much faith in Florida getting hot early in the spring. Everything I transplanted died (basil, hybird 100 tomatos, lettuce, bunching onion), except one tomato seedling. I learned the hard way that you should really wait a month before you consider to transplant the seedlings. Smaller the seedling, the more shock it goes into. Nice thing is that the sole tomato plant is now starting to grow. (I've never spent so much time on something so small just to keep it alive) Three weeks or so... no growth. Now in the past three days.... two seedling leaves to five non-seedling leaves. I think its amazing how a few degrees difference at night can change everything and how fast plants can actually grow. But only if you're not watching. Kinda like boiling water. The days I have off seem like the days that have very little growth. The days I'm busy with everything else has an explosion of growth. Like an entire bare stem just turned into a blanket of leaves overnight

Ya, I hear ya on money involved. I couldn't justify buying a $1,200 pistol as my dad does.

I hear ya on the temp. I have a bunch of seeds I am trying to sprout, which are left outside in plastic "greenhouse" containers. I think these cooler nights we have been having are throwing everything off. Might bring them inside at night. My bell pepper plant that was looking the roughest is still shooting up, but the leaves are looking beat up still. Jalap plant is still sitting there the same height. I am going to take a picture this afternoon, when I take another water test, and ask some advice on repositioning my bell pepper plant and my tomato plant. I put them to close together and will need more room when they start growing.

Im in Pinellas Park FL, anyone from around the tampa area let me know...i have set up my first system using 55 gal drums one plant bed is established using foam blocks at the base covered with crush shell and river rocks..i added the plants and have only 7 goldfish and 2 crayfish in the fish tank at the moment..i planted a variety of plants..tomatoes, lettuce ,greenbeans,okara,mint,parsely,cucumber...so far the system is doing its job with only a hand full of fish...any hints or tips i will be gladly to hear them since i am new to this technique of gardening...i have a green thumb when it comes to soil plants but soiless is new relm..look forward to hearing from everyone..

Hey parker, welcome to the thread and AP realm. This is new to me, both the aquaponics and gardening. You should start a thread and post some pictures of your build. I currently have a two week old system going here in Tampa. It uses 55 gallon drums as well and is flood and drain, with river gravel. Current fish are 5-6 goldfish, but adding 10 Tilapia on Friday. I too have Tomatoes. I also have Bell, Jalapeno, and Banana pepper plants, Rosemary, Oregano, and Culantro. I am trying to get okra, greenbeans, and cucumbers going from seed, but nothing has started yet. As for the lettuce, I have read it is way to hot here in the summer time to grow lettuce, spinach, kale, or other leafy greens. They are winter crops and will bolt at anything over 75*F. Let me know how it works for you though. Good luck on your grow. Not to many people are active on this FL Thread, maybe we can change it

Just remember that some solutions in soil based gardens will not work in AP. Some treatments (fertilizer, herbicide, etc) can kill the fish. Also, you don't need to have as much spacing as with dirt. Most gardeners that started with dirt tend to stick with the same densities as dirt. Guess its a force of habit. Anyways, welcome to BYAP. This is probably the most international forum I've been on so lots of ideas around here from a lot of different places. Just remember to be flexible with differences in culture (measurements, different dialects of english - the different ways we all talk, etc)

how do you add pictures,im new to this site,,need some help

here is my system that i just started it has a variety of peppers, tomatoes, lettuce,mint okara and cucumbers

Parker,
How is your system setup? Is that bed running constant flow? Its hard to tell with that picture, but is that the standpipe in the middle of the picture?

Hello Everyone!

I live here in Valrico, Florida. I am looking to start an Aquaponics system. I am thinking I would like to go the greenhouse approach to be able to moderate the temperatures and the weather. I am in the planning stages. I am thinking about a CHIFT PIST system, using fewer large grow beds versus many smaller ones. I am also considering a DWC bed in line with the media GB's to see how it does. I have been considering the blue Talipia, but not sure of the temps get too cool in the "winter" time. My objective is a year round growing system. Any feedback, pro's and con's would be greatly appreciated. I would be interested in seeing what others in the area have set up. I have no problems volunteering labor for the opportunity to see what others are doing as a means of gaining knowledge and experience. Thanks.

Tim

Parker,

You might think twice about shell in your growing medium. How is the pH of the system? From my experience the pH increases with shell material. This may lead to chlorosis by limiting the uptake of micronutrients like Fe and others. Just a thought. I am wrong if you have acidic water to start with, then it might be a good idea to keep the shell grit for the fish's sake.

CampLance, Welcome. Glad you're jumping into AP. I would have to say that a green house in florida would definitely help with the higher temps as well as the lower temps we've been having lately. If I were you, I would at least start a smaller AP setup to begin with. Mine is pretty small ATM, but its experience that I can't get any where else. The smaller setup will allow you to fine tune your plan for a larger system and give you time to build up resources for the later expansion.

As with the fish, I would hold off on Tilapia. I am using blue gill hybrids that I caught using a cast net in my system right now. They are hardy, can tolerate a wide range of temps, and are just plain hard to kill. Besides they are practically free. Just don't put ones that are smaller than an inch in your system when you're cycling. Slightly bigger ones just work better. Once you get the greenhouse, you should be experienced enough to handle a fish that you will have to pay money for.

Another welcome to the forum and the AP addiction! As Zeknix mentioned, start small and then move on. It is easy to get caught up in everything and bleed money out on this, trust me! It is very exciting but takes patience, which will be taught in this adventure. I thought I learned it with homebrewing, obviously I still haven't. Start off small then move big, it allows you the opportunities to figure out how to fine tune things and learn how to trouble shoot things on a smaller scale. Seems you have done your research and picked up on the lingo, but it sure takes a lot of hands on practice to actually learn everything. It is a continuous learning process with this stuff. As from what I have seen with greenhouses in FL, unless they are large (hundreds of sq ft) and properly ventilated the summer time heat will turn the thing into a sauna and steam cook all your plants dead. It is used more as a winter time tool in our climate. I could be wrong, but this is from my hours of researching the topic, as I was thinking the same thing. My plans for protecting the plants from summer time heat is to use screening or wood trellis material around the GB’s.

I am located just a few miles west of you in Tampa. I currently have just a small two GB operation going with a FT below. I will add my thread to my signature below so you can better find it. There isn't much to show off in person, but I am more than willing to talk to you directly and possibly lend a hand on your build. Just reach out to me PM. Towards the end of summer, if all goes well on my current setup, I am looking to expand my build with an IBC FT and larger grow beds constructed with wood and pond liner. If you are looking to build something like this I would be very interested to see your construction.

Good luck on your adventure and feel free to ask any questions on here.