Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'll probably end up putting some tomatoes in another growbed without the root pouches and see how they all behave. I keep telling people that the first year is for experimenting to see what grows best, but the truth is that I just keep going "Hey, what happens if I try this? Let's find out!"

Yeah, I do believe that F&D does make a big difference in whether or not you get dead spots, but it can still happen - a couple of the YouTubers I follow have run into issues with older / more enthusiastically rooted plants in F&D beds. The cleanout videos are pretty epic!

Wifey was telling me that some times people deliberately pot bound plants to make them flower more in a shorter time. The thinking behind it is the plant realises they cannot expand their roots anymore and time is limited so it'll punch out as many flower as possible.

I was thinking about what your trying to achieve and thought It might be better to do it in something the size of a 4.5 lt bucket that way your more likely to get some fruit and still be able to lift the whole container out in one piece.

Pete.

yep that works. If roots get out bottom they can really go for it. Another advantage of a pouch or pot is you can also get a deeper root zone in a 300mm grow bed. When you have small beds and tubs the tomatoes seem to put a lot of effort into sending out their roots to the extent and then growing - so that also seems to go with your root bound concept. Personally I prefer keeping tomatoes contained - all ones I have grown direct in tub/GB have had massive roots. Stuff I grow in my dutch buckets basically fill up the whole pot by time I chuck them out.

Plants in root pouches aren't supposed to get root bound the way they would in plastic pots - apparently instead of hitting the side and then circling around and around, the roots stop lengthening and put out a bunch of side tendrils. Something to do with the tip growing into the fabric a little? I forget the exact explanation. I know if you're using root pouches sitting in a shallow tray of water the roots air prune themselves.

yep. I actually meant roots occupying the available space rather than being root bound per sei.
seems to me the plant puts a lot of effort in to roots before doing much else - when I pull up plants & seedlings it is quite noticeable. In smaller pots I get flowers much quicker.
With the dutch buckets the productive ones have really occupied the space. When I have had them in grow beds they have very big root balls with not much more yield (sometimes less yield).

If you have a good balanced system your root system doesn't need to be big.

A bato bucket holds 11 liters/3 gals. of media, but is capable of growing 2 Indeterminate tomato plants in each bucket for 10-12 months of the year, with the vines growing 120-140' per year.

"Aquaponics" you need to realize is just another Hydroponic system, supply the plants with the right balanced of nutrients in water 24/7/365 and the feeder roots have found their Fountain of Youth.

Think of the following.

Why is Veal so tender?

How do you get a Chicken to lay 3 eggs a day?

I have silver perch! Ordered 48, three were DOA and another four really didn't travel well... we'll see how they go. But I have teeny baby silver perch!

No pictures because they arrived an hour before I had to drive to Goulburn, and if I wanted to give them a salt bath on the way into the aquaponics (yes. yes I did want to.) I didn't have time to be taking glamour shots.

Big moment

Good time of year to be getting them.

Probably a good choice Mel, my brother in law was in a hurry to take a pic, fumbled and dropped his phone into a septic tank.

Pete.

Not such a good update... twelve of them died overnight, and a couple more look to be on their way out.

Looking at my handy-dandy silver perch diseases PDF, I think it's tail rot syndrome; it can cause huge mortality after a stressful catch or transport. Aaaaand there's not much I can do about it except what I'm doing already, which is have salt in the system, keep the water quality good, and take out the dead ones.

That really sucks Mel. I hope you don't lose too many more.

Ditto

Pete.

Thanks, guys. That was not the sort of post I wanted to be making as my 500th!

Did some tests to confirm that my water quality is still good for them, and yup - there's barely a trace of ammonia, and zero nitrites and nitrates. Not so great for my plants, which is why I wanted to get more fish now, but excellent for helping the survivors heal!

We're up to 26 dead (seven yesterday, four this morning) and 22 remaining. At least it's tailing off and I don't see any more that look like they're struggling?

Sorry to hear that Mel

Do you know of other buyers from the same breeder who've had this problem?

Pete.