Bundy's second system....a new beginning

steve

VB, you've had a fruit tree in AP, what do you think of my odds on having small fruit trees in a BK tub setup? i could tie the trunk to the top tub and the roots could also anchor through the holes

veggie boy

Steve - I'm not sure my experience of having a 2 metre high Paw Paw in the grow bed will equate to having citrus for instance. The main difference is the Paw Paw is more likely to tolerate and do well from the rapid F&D cycling.

I'm not sure that the tubs are big enough Steve. I's not be inclined to plant a long term type plant/tree in a 20cm depth tub. The tubs that I intend to try fruit trees in are closer to 200 litres and are about 60 cm deep from memory. What type of fruit tree are you thinking of and in what medium? Jaymie and F&F are both growing citrus in their AP aren't they?

bundaberg kid

veggie boy wrote:

BK - my first ever system comprised 1 level of my Reln wormfarm (similar to your top containers - perched in a Nylex storage crate, with a drain in the bottom of the crate. Similar setup to what you have there, though I used gravel rather than hydroton and ran the pump continuously (using a grid for continuous flow). The only thing to watch is that in time the roots will start to impede the flow out of the bottom container. In your case this should not be an issue though if you are not running continuously and also it will be easy enough for you to lift the top container out and trim the roots if necessary. I'd be tempted to run continuous flow though, rather than turn on and off. I think on and off is better for F&D where the whole bed gets soaked (which doesn't happen as well with CF).

might give that a go VB, is sounding promising lol

steve

yeh, but i'm hell bent on doing a tub in tub (or simmilar) system. i know, i would have liked more than 20cms too.

i curently have apricot, plum, nectarine, grape, fig. am happy to keep them pruned small

veggie boy

Here is a couple of pics of the tub BK. The first one is just before I made my bigger system. When the bigger system was ready - I just pulled the slotted container out and put it ontop of the new growbed so that I could keep the plants till they were ready and transfer the bacteria to the new bed. I ran the big bed as F&D from day one - but the filling method was through a grid in the top of the old grow-bed until I removed this bed from the system. So during that period the little bed was operating on a timer (only just thought of that now).

bundaberg kid

VB would you say that gravel would be better than hydrotron? for CF and if so what size gravel

veggie boy

I think your problem with gravel might be weight BK. Although my slotted tray was inside the Nylex tub - it was only raised about 5cm off the bottom my having 2 cereal bowls (turned upside down) sitting in the crate. This meant that it would have probably had more support than your setup. If they can handle the weight - I'd be inclined to go gravel for the extra plant stability provided and also because using CF, gravel tends to wet better. I found when using hydroton for CF that the water tended to find a pretty direct path to the bottom - though this may change once you have lots of roots in the medium. The gravel I use is 10mm drainage gravel.

earthbound

I think hydroton would be better for CF because of the rough surface of the clay, it tends to spread water well with capillary action, probably better than gravel.

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Bundy's second system....a new beginning

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics