Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

interesting ... I have had a lot of tomatoes ripening... noticed that the romas in the pics above are going off... setting more fruit than I have ever seen on a tom plant. But they are ripening red... and I have never planted red romas... seems they have cross pollenated with cherry toms to make delicious red mini riomas... so not all cross polenating is a bad thing lol

Also picking zucchinis, cucumbers nearly (have picked 2), millions of toms, basil, lettuce etc. Cucumbers in channels are growing and looking okay, but behind the ones in the beds which are going bunta. Amazing the difference between useing bore and rain water. last year we couldn't grow cuc's. Pumpkins have set their first fruit. Ones in channels are showing deficiencies... obviously same as last year, the plants in the gbs are far better off... still expecting that the nutes are held in the solids in the beds for the use by those plants... and the eco system of a gb system with no solids removal is paying dividends. happy days.

Merry Christmas to you and you lovely family mon

Yeah, have a good Xmas Stu...

and to you guys too and all my fellow BYAP comrades

been picking stuff like mad out of the greenhouse. Nice to be eating pretty much entire salads from our own garden

read somewhere that zucchinis aren't a good crop for aquaponics (some blog somewhere ) We love zucchini slice so we planted half a dozen and now we are eating it daily the ones in the pics are 1.8 and 2.1 kg's (egg carton for size comparison). Normally veg this big tastes like shit, but these are superb... no hollows inside and small seeds still, so I am leaving them longer on the plants than I normally would. We just got back from a few days away, so picked few cucumbers too. First pumpkins have set after a few false starts... capsicums fruiting and eggplants flowering... more tomatoes than I can deal with so if anyone is passing by...
Cuc's and pumpkins in nft still showing deficiencies, so will be interested to see if they fruit.

Reckon my ph needs attention ... could that be the cause of this zucchini issue in my one bed BYAP system? (flooding and draining on an autosyphon) Anyone got any clues? They look fine, then the ends go skinny and start to shrivvel up.

pics of the leaves of cucs and zucchinis too. Am starting to wonder if the system is just too heavily planted. battery just went flat so didn't get a picture of that madness.
None of these symptoms are showing up in the main system... deficiencies? ph? Too wet or dry? Haven't tested the parameters yet but will do and will report back.

note the zucchinis in the last picture that look fine... seem to get a fairly good size then start to deteriorate

No idea. Seasol?

Hi Stu,

Just from the photos it looks like blossom end rot.. caused by calcium deficiency

It may be that your PH is out and isn't allowing the plant to take up the nutrients it needs, or you may need to add some calcium.

Himzo.

Hi Stu,

the zucchini leaves definitely have the beginings of powdery mildew. Not sure but the zucs in the last picture look as though they havent been fertilised. They develop under the flower, but if the flower is not fertilised the zuccs will start to die off.

Could be wrong and Himzo could be right with the blossom rot thingy.

The cucumber leaves look a bit like potassium deficiency.

Yep, I'd be dosing them with Potassium Stu....

Definitely blosom end rot. I have the same in my dirt garden. Fruit was fine at start but then after heaps of rain, wne to crap. For me I've gotta add lime, for you, I'm with himzol in that you need to add cal carb or another appropriate calcium source. What's your ph, if low then cal carb would be a good option as would address both issues.

Thanks very much guys.

Yea, looks like potassium def on the cucumbers and even some of the Zuc leaves.
Blossom end rot is often due to calcium not getting to the fruit so check pH to figure out what form of calcium would be best. I've also been told that powdery mildew tends to attack potassium deficient plants.
If there are no insects around to pollinate the flowers, then pick a male flower and pull the petals off and swipe it inside any open female flowers to see if that helps the fruit set without rotting away.