Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Wow, here I was trying to encourage flowering. I was getting 1 or two peppers bigger than the plant when they set at all. I have been planting the seeds straight in the medium which may be another problem. I am planting Bell Peppers. I want to try Jalapenos.

Sorry for the hi jack

My pepper plant is 3ft x 3ft x 3ft roughly.

dthawk,

I have no problems with planting directly in the medium. In my mind it eliminates stress on the roots for transplant therefore faster growth. Encouraging flowering is important yes but from what my dad has told me.. He said that you want to discourage flower growth from the start of it till you get the size/shape plant you want. Once you do this you wind up with a enormous plant and it fruits like crazy. I am growing Jala's but the only thing to remember is that they like high heat in the germination to the tune of 90deg or 32c.

Truly 2007 is my first big stab at gardening I have never grown anything before other than begonias. Here is the begonia.

In full show there.
http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public ... flower.jpg
This was before I staked it.
http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public/begoniahuge.jpg
This is what it looked like after living through a winter.
http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public/begonia.jpg

LOL I keep it growing year round. I have not let it go dormant in 3 years. However I do whack back stems and what not to make it more uniform.

And do not worry about the hijack

Well I am having to start tying up plants as they are needing support now. Pictures to come soon.

I think I just tabulated why my system is running a bit on the low side of nutrients. I need about 28lbs of fish to equal enough nutrients for my beds not fully completed :/

What would you guys advice for getting that large of a quantity of fish? I got about 1lbs of goldfish in there lol...

Ordering some more

haha rupert. I am saying making it affordable

I am not quite willing to get my tilapia till I get the system cycled under full load. I do not want fish deaths :/

Ok here is whats been going on...

Ammonia, 0ppm
Nitrite, 0ppm
PH 7.5ish

Yet fish deaths keep happening? is it bad fish or what? I do not understand why they keep dieing

Please advise.. I need to get a load of fish this month to put in there so that I can replace my fertilizer loss...

SD, we need more data.

What symptoms do the fish have besides the dead part? Signs of injury, disease, discoloration, bloating?

What temperature is the water? Do you have sufficient aeration? Do you see fish gulping at dawn?

I see that you just have goldfish--are they the typical feeders? Feeders are not known to be high-quality fish.

yeah those inbred feeders are really hard to keep alive. I am down to about half of the original comets I started with. I had better luck with the goldfish I bought at the bait shop than the feeders from the pet store.

Been really busy since the new year will update things soon

Here is a image that is new for everybody to see. I have excessive out of control growth... But its producing stuff!!

Fish are doing good too I stopped taking water readings now I am pretty much not worried about it. Its stayed stable for long enough that I figure its pretty much good.

http://idisk.mac.com/slicerdicer/Public ... growth.JPG

Excessive image too!

And yes there are plants growing in the barrel lol.. I had no place to put them they outgrew their welcome where they were.

Hi SD,



I imagine that is what Day Of The Trifids would look like!

That's not to shappy for an indoor lighting system Slicer.... not to shabby at all.

Have you thought about varying the light spectrum to promote some more flowering at the expense of leaf growth.....

P.S. .... I've attached the photo of your "excessive growth" .... for those that might dialup and have trouble downloading it

errm what problems with flowering? there is billions of flowers

I did however switch it recently to 12 on 12 off. This has created explosion of flowers.

Sorry Slicer... was looking primarily at the toms... and could see some flowers but not lots..... guess they got lost in the jungle....

Yep... old trick.... shorten their "day" to promote flowering..... common trick on other "indoor" growing systems

Might be an opportune time to consider a supplementary pottasium source to help set the "fruit"