Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

This thing has some crazy roots and was starting to push the media out of the bed. Someone contacted me and offered to send me a pink lemon tree. They look more manageable so I might try it out! IF I can get a dwarf banana, I may do that too. It's fun growing something that no one else in the area has!

I think I've seen the "Truly Tiny" banana variety in some plant catalogs before (that one I believe is supposed to produce on plants that are like only a couple feet tall.) The banana plant that was in the 100 gallon stock tank bed right by my garage at the old house, I believe that was a "dwarf" where the plant was only supposed to get to 3-4' tall. Well if I stood on the stock tank next to it, the main stalk of the plant was only about 5' tall but of course the leaves and flower stalk jut up from there so while the stalk was close enough in size to the description, it still wouldn't have fit in my small hoop house since I'm sure the top leaves did reach close to 14' high. The roots on that banana were bulging the gravel up in the grow bed, it was like the hulk ripping his cloths as he changed.

Now I have seen papaya growing in AP inside greenhouses and their root systems don't seem quite as beast like as the banana. I was able to push mine over a bit when it started growing up into the hoop house and there are varieties that don't grow as tall.

What kind of thorns do the "Pink lemon" trees have? I have Meyer Lemon and those grow more like a bush than a tree. Some other citrus you may find interesting might be things like Kumquat since the one the inlaws have is only about 5-6 feet tall and produces a bounty of the little round sweet/sour fruit before Christmas down here.

Here's a few updates as to what we've been up to lately. As an added bonus, I answer a few frequently asked questions!

I love watching these updates you do Rob. You almost make me wish i loved somewhere cold so i could build a big greenhouse

As an engineer, your system is terrifically interesting and inspiring, and I definitely geek out every time I see one of your updates.

In the NUTS3 video, you're sitting beside some arugula? It looks like it is drooping into the water? Over in the chatterson farms thread there is some discussion of water contacting leaves and, for sale at least, a health risk. What is your protocol dealing with that?

Thank you Rob for a hugely inspiring build.

Thanks for the compliments! If you follow standard protocols, if you were selling the produce, these plants would be "contaminated"....even though we all know there are probably no pathogens in the water. They probably would have to go through some kind of a bleach bath to "sanitize" them.

With that said, I have little regards to what the feds say and I harvest this for myself and family. Everything that comes out of the system goes directly to the plate without wasting any more water washing it.

Your system is probably cleaner than most with being inside a greenhouse. There are lots of opportunistic pathogens out there but your never going to avoid them all. Personally I'd still give it a rinse in good clean water even though it might not be needed.

Im with you Rob. My garden stuff is ready for consumption right at the beds. I eat the celery and radishes and tomatoes right off the vines while I work on the system. Cherry tomatoes are for snacking any way. Radishes are a Plus. Really good in salads.

After several years of growing with the original strawberry towers, we revisit a different design based on the ZipGrow towers.

Well the proper advice is to tell everyone to wash everything. And keep the children from putting stuff from the ground or the floor in their mouth etc.........

But ya know, a certain amount of dirt must be ingested in order for us to have healthy immune systems that know how to fight off infections and there are people out there who drink the Aquaponic cool aid. heck, I've swallowed a gulp or two of AP water on occasion myself and snow peas, strawberries and celery don't always make it indoors to get washed before getting eaten and I grow right out under the sky for the most part.

There's a lot of truth to what you are saying TCL. The immune system is pretty durable and learns by exposure to the environment. I think everyone has to decide for themselves what's acceptable risk.

For myself, when I look at these strawberry towers, there is no contact of the fruit with the media surface or water, only with the air, so I'd eat strawberries straight off the plant, same with peas. When there is contact with the media/soil or water, rinsing the produce is my preference whether it comes from the dirt garden or AP.

Cheers

Ya mean you don't just rinse off with AP water while in the garden and snack away while your working??? I do and it has not gotten me down yet. I get into my tank every once in a while and work on the pump and screens.

I did have a bird get into the greenhouse one day and found a few droppings on my lettuce. I just chucked those plants into the fish tank as a little extra food.

If I was a commercial grower, I certainly would follow better food safety practices, but for my personal consumption - what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger.

I do pretty much the same except for the rinse and snack part . I have been known to rinse in AP water and then feed the fish though . Occasionally, like when the pipe to the solar heater sprang a leak, I'll even take showers in AP water .



I'd probably eat this - just not the poo part, that would go in the compost.

I’m a numbers guy… It’s exciting to finally start looking over some of the data that we’re getting with our growing cycles. It provides a realistic look of how much you can produce from your system…especially for those of us that grow with natural light….in northern climates! These numbers are the seed planting date and number of days to final harvest:

Group 100: 4/26/2013: 66 days
Group 114: 6/8/2013: 57 days
Group 134: 6/30/2013: 63 days
Group 157: 7/28/2013: 69 days
Group 162: 8/11/2013: 112 days

Groups 166 and 190 will grow through the winter and should be ready around mid-March. (That’s around 200 days!)

http://www.TrackMyPlants.com