Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ok I had said I would post some more pictures I think and since the little farmer is napping in the ergo carrier, I can work at the computer a little. (He is starting to get heavy for me to induce naps this way but it is so effective.)

Little Farmer the other morning


New bed with light media


Starting to get toms, I only planted little sweet varieties


Types in the picture include
Sungold
Yellow Pear
Indigo Rose
Purple bumblebee
Supersweet 100

and a grape tomato that is out in the dirt garden but not in AP.
Most of those came from Bakercreek seeds, except for the Sungold I think we got from Johnny's. The Grape tomato is probably something my farm helper had left over from last season.

Our farm helper also planted the same types plus a few more in the dirt garden he is working this season. I would say I'll let you know how they compare but since I really don't eat fresh tomato, some one else would have to give the review.

And there was a question about the towers.
Here is a pic across at the raft/tower system, sorry I didn't manage to get any good close ups of the towers.

Right now in towers I have Kale which has been growing since last fall, so most of those towers look a bit ugly with the algae/slime on the outside of the towers because they have been in so long. Still have crinkly kale and toscano kale growing.
I also have quite a few basil towers going. All sweet basil, I've never been much good at growing the more exotic basil it seems.

And I even put some celery in a hand full of towers again this season just because I had more seedlings that I knew what to do with a couple weeks ago. The celery grows in towers, it just bends the stalks a bit funny.

And in the rafts

I am growing Celery still in the peat pellets
And Lettuce in the grow grips.
You can see some of my "too close spaced" seedling rafts as well as the spaced out lettuce rafts on either side.
The lettuce that is spaced out there is still a bit too small as I had a few challenges with germination as the season changed to hot so I am still catching up.

Gee your little helper is growing up so fast and it's great too see him out enjoying the garden.

Boy that Celery is a bumper crop

Why don't you eat fresh tomatoes?, acid?, I find the flavour in fresh tomatoes is absolutely great, I also love dried tomatoes but for flavour you can't beat freshly picked tomatoes.

If it is acid most of the yellow variety's have a lower acid content.

I like the yellow pears, and like FF said, the lower acid doesn't bother my wife's tummy either. I love the Sungold. And I planted sweet millions this year and the fruit is so sweet, they don't even taste like a tom at all. Almost like a plum or grape...very strange to eat a tomatoe and have zero tart/acid. I like the Genovese basil the best too. But, I've gown the cinnamon and it does very well. I still have a few left from last year. They say that you can only cut them 3-4 times, but I've cut this plant 8-9 times and it still tastes good? I finally have celery...the first time. Seems weird to be growing when it's 93F, but it looks OK. Looks good TC! Your boy is growing like a weed too. Must be all that good AP food he's getting!.lol

Well dang, been looking to get a replacement liner for the failed bunk feeder.
Looks like it is probably cheaper to buy the whole feeder.

I'll see if I can get snap clamps the right size for the bunk feeder pipe frame and maybe just use the other liner to re-build the bunk feeder.

As to why I don't eat fresh tomato, I don't think it has anything to do with acid. There is just something in the tomato flavor that I don't like, never have. I've always been fine with tomato sauce, canned tomato, cooked tomato, dried tomato, etc, anything but fresh.

When I was a teenager and worked in a restaurant, I recall having a weird reaction, If I sliced tomato and didn't wash my hands and arms after, my arms would start itching. I'm assuming that there must be some enzyme or who knows what that is destroyed by cooking/processing that I am reacting to. Not a violent reaction but enough that I decided I wouldn't push myself to eat much in the way of fresh tomato.

Every once in a while I'll take a little taste just to check what I think but if I still feel any sort of aversion to it, I don't push myself. I tasted a sungold the other day and didn't have any urge to do more than that.

Thanks for the photos TC. I love seeing flourishing systems. Interesting that you have your towers on an angle - makes sense to try and keep the water in and gives taller plants like kale room to grow and have their place in the sun.

I've found that in my latitude, the sun angles are high enough most of the year that the plants at the bottom of a straight up tower suffer from more shading than I like. Remembering that the guy who invented these is in a higher latitude than I am and his sun angles come in much much lower most of the year.

I also tend to flow more water through them than they do since I am not growing in a controlled environment so the super small flow would heat up even more.

here are some photos of the towers, You can see what I mean about not looking pretty after months of harvest.


Hard to see the celery with the beans in the background


And basil for the heat of summer

My basil did well in the towers also. One of the few things that did almost as well as the media and dwc. That and chives. Even then, I got very inconsistent growth from the top to the bottom, like yours is showing. A combo of the nutrients being used up and the plants shading out the others. I did the same thing that your doing...leaning the towers, and it helped. My experiment in towers has ended. I'll stick with media and dwc, and if I ever decide to grow strawberries again, I'll use the old towers.

I like the amount of filtration the towers can provide but they come at a temperature cost. Whatever you grow in them has to be willing to accept the temperature fluctuation at the roots in an outdoor subtropical situation. I don't think the strawberries liked it that much.

I also notice that the water temperature through the towers might play a roll. As the water flows through the towers (and through the pipe to the end of the row of towers) it heats up. So things on the near end and in the tops of the towers gets the more stable water temp while the end of the rows and the bottoms of the towers get the extremes.

The towers have been good for Kale through the winters and Basil in the summers.

Chives grew well in them but destroyed the media so I would rather leave chives where they can grow indefinitely. Same goes for any perennial herb.

Hey TC,

I've been looking through your old systems. I was going to ask why you used such huge Rubbermaid stock tanks as grow beds, but I see you are now using Bunk Feeders. Do you like them? Are they deep enough? I am about to build my first setup indoors, it won't be big, but I'm trying to find a versatile grow bed that doesn't require a lot of fabrication. From what I'm reading, if I want to grow some of the heartier plants I need a 12" grow bed so that a heavier plant can build up a significant enough root structure.

Sorry to Hijack, but since you are the first person I've seen using such variations in beds, what are your thoughts on this? Are there plants you can't grow in a bunk feeder? I'm growing in my basement so I won't be growing trees, but i don't want tomatoes falling out. Also where did you source your bunk feeders from?

don't worry about tomatoes falling over because you tie them up.

I like the bunk feeders but they are likely to be difficult to get into the average basement and you should ONLY use them with light weight media.

For a basement system, I might be inclined to use 50 gallon stock tanks, they are 12 inches deep.

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