Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Stu - you are right I think in that each strawb flowere has the male and female bits, but the male pollen needs to get all over the female bits to make the strawberry full. The best way to explain may be to liken it to corn, which if not pollenated properly will not have all its kernals. The strawberry is in effect made up of many little bits (I think).

Towers at the western end of the greenhouse may work. I have big dreams for a row of about 10 towers lined up and drianing into a pipe across the bottom, then into the sump. Good idea VB. North would give too much shade if you had any serious quantities.

If you were a "train spotter" that had enuf time you could go around with that little brush and "tickle" all of them

Another possible solution with strawbs is wind polination. It would mean having some little fans blowing across you plants, probably in a couple of directions. This may be an option as you would not have to run them all the time. Not suitable for towers though, more so for beds.

Nice one VB, a fan would help with circulation and ventilation in summer too

Steve - it is funny that your peas have flowerred so quickly. Somthing to keep in mind is that nature has plants flower early if it thinks thay are going to die . I am not saying they are going to die, as they seem to be loving the conditions, but maybe some of the factors have replicated this other condition.

what a bubble burster! Will keep you posted on the progress

Toms need to be handled lightly (slapped around) for better pollination and stem strength. A fan in a greenhouse is recommended for most every species for pollination and strenthening of stems.

A basting brush makes short work of pollination just 'paint' the first plant with a flick over the surfaces then continue over your strawb or tom or pepper flowers flicking very lightly around flower bunches.

It's fast you get the hang of it easily and only need to do it to supplement fan every couple of weeks when flowering occurs.

I don't know enough about cross pollination to comment.

Pansies and other blue flowers will bring the bees, on warmer days open your door and let them in. With the right planting you will also attract ladybirds and praying mantis who will set up shop and work full time for you eating insects that prey on your plants.

Be aware this could also decimate your crop. A good knowledge of insect repelling/attracting plants is invaluable here. I have a chart with many herbs and their functions. Ask and it shall be given.

Once again, good info from the Forum, I had not given the pollination thing a thought. Until a couple of years ago I kept a hive of bees or two, I am thinking I will get one again this coming spring.
A tower system outside the greenhouse would work fine for strawberries etc, separate pump on a timer to switch off the water at night would not be too hard to do

LOL, muz you're painting such a picture for me........now i've incorporated a mad bee keeper into my "virtual muzza" mental picture. Can't wait to meet you

please!
perhaps start another thread?

Update on my water parameters:

Everything had been going well, feeding the 35 jades two handfulls of 2mm floating pellets per day and seeinmg them splashing at the surface is good.

Today however there was not much feeding activity.

FIRST sign of trouble.

Sticking my head into the mini greenhouse covering the tank to look for any floaters and check the temp. Temp is good (20C) not floaters, BUT system smelled different, cant explain, just different.

SECOND hint of a problem.

This is where i break out all the test kits.

Ammonia was at 0.25ppm. still ok, but had previously been zero

Nitrites tested at 5.0 PPM ! definatly BAD as this had also been zero

Nitrates at 20 PPM showing that normal operation HAD been going on and that plants are starting to get a few nutes.

PH tested at 6.8 . A little low, but should not have made nitrites spike that high.

Re-read some of the info that i posted on nitrifying bacteria and i have a theory. Apparently nitrobacter (responsible for converting nitrites) is particularly suceptible to phosphate block. It NEEDS a certain amount of phosphate to synthesise ADP which facilitates in the oxidisation of the nitrite. With out it it will not process nitrites.

It is the only thing i can think of, as the temp has been stable (check every day, and PH although a tad low is only .2 to .5 below what i normally keep it.

I mixed up some PH down (sodium phosphate mono basic, NaHPO4 (i think )) and PH up (sodium bicarb) which yielded an alkaline end product of calcium carbonate suspension and sodium phosphate.

I did all this because i wanted to get some phosphate in there, but not to lower the ph any more.

I also added some sodium chloride and calcium chloride for nitrite protection.

Will check nitrites again tomorrow night and water change 50% if it has not come down. If it has then i can assume that i indeed had "phosphate block".

I think that algae also thrives and uses up phosphates, so this may have been what caused a deficiency to start with, as i only used tap water and the fish food i use is quite low in phosphates.

Will keep you all posted.

Moral of the story is: know your system, if it looks different or smells different then look closer

Steve

How old is your system Steve? The Aqua side of it. I think the chemistry you are performing is detrimental to the system finding equilibrium.

A phosphate deficiency would also show a lack of algae....

Lockout could be micronutrient orientated as well.

Better alternative is more plants, or less fish.

If the system is <6 months you are getting the usual bloom and spikes that makes people do all sorts of silly things to their water (been there). It doesn't look or smell right for at least a fortnight and is a very concerning sight.

If not, ignore me, this post will self destruct in 5

4

3....

AA, yeh i know all about "chasing you tail" with water chems, that why i thought long and hard before doing it and also why i mixed the ph up and down buffers before putting them in.

complete system is probable 2 minths old, aqua side is a year old, but did 90% waterchange when tank was dug in, bacteria algae film was still on the side walls.

AA its just that the ammonia is almost zero and its only the nitrites (albiet the nitrobacter are more sensitive) But you're probably right. I needed some KH in there anyway it was only about 30ppm.

Will check them this arvo and post findings. Thanks.

Steve

HI all, had a bit of a bad day, and now it gets worse.

checked water in tank when i got home.

1 dead fish

PH now 8.0 (AA, you told me so.................)
Ammonia still about 0.25
Nitrite seems to have dropped to 2.0 more than a 50% reduction, but its hard to be 100% sure as the colours towards the end of the chart are very close.

Normally i would be happy, due to it going down, and possibly patting myself on the back becasue i may have actually correctly diagnosed a phosphate block, but the dead fish took away all the joy.

Now did it die becasue it was already weakened from the ultra high nitrates and the rise in PH ofver 1 day to 8.0 further weakened it?

Oh damn, i just remembered something.............water that has a high algae population can have dramatic PH shifts between day and night due to the co2 level in the water.............a common mistake by newbies with marine aquariums.

it goes highest during the late afternoon and lowest before sunrise.

What i am decideing is should i do a 50% water change, which equals 500 litres, or should i wait until tomorrow and check again?

The reduction in nitrites would be good, but i have a feeling that the dramatic temperature shift due to 50% cold water will more than ofset this...............So much for a stress free night............................

I'm not willing to risk it as i am sure they are already very weak............... If i was correct in reading the 50%+ reduction in nitrite from the test, then it sould be well below 1ppm tomorrow afternoon, and this value is much more desinct on the chart...............

Muz i hope i don't have to beat you to that order

EB, AA, anyone, comments or opinions? please

Gary, i know that duckweed is good at removing ammonia as it actually prefers it over nitrate, but do you know if it will ustilise nitrite? I have almost .5 sq metre i can pop in there if it will haelp soak up nitrite. (clutching at straws me thinks)

I WANT SOME WARM WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!