Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

A bit of drama over the weekend... i have been harvesting 1-2 pounds of greens a day, juicing, eating raw, making sauerkraut.. i was working around the rafts and i saw something black with a tail under the leaves slip into the water.... 

It really messed with my mind, i wasnt going to be able to harvest anymore greens until i figured out what it was... so i took out each raft one at a time until i caught him.



In this area there is a very poisonous water viper named water moccasin or in this area that are often call "cottonmouth".  As it turns out it was something harmless.. I let him go out on the easement after explaining to him he was not welcome.



Does anyone have any experience with these vibrating/inaudible snake  repelant solutions? like https://www.amazon.com/Vensmile-Repellent-Repeller-Control-Waterproof/dp/B01N5JRXEH/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1497894749&sr=8-2&keywords=snake+repellent+for+yard


Sorry some of the pictures are blurry i was working in water , plus it was 95 degrees outside hot sweaty and humid and i think i got the lens wet.

I have never tried lacto fermentation.. as my father used to tell me, "you wont learn any younger"

That would have got my adrenaline flowing

Yikes. I just found a Garter Snake in our greenhouse. He was near where the Spade Foot Toad had been hanging around. The Toads were in the sump. It was when I scooped the toads out that I saw the snake. Nothing like finding a snake looking down on you.

lol... well I learned something new today... I've been told to watch out for the cottonmouths at our property in TN, didn't realize they were water moccasins, we have water moccasins here in Michigan, although they might be different because I don't think they are venomous... I don't think we really have very dangerous snakes here other than the Michigan rattler. If there are other venomous snakes here I don't think they are deadly to adults (might be for young/old though).

I keep running in to garter snakes every couple of days and it always scares me when I see them but just because they are always someplace I didn't expect them to be. My wife freaks out about snakes, she found a garter snake in the garden last week, I just picked him up and told him not to come back then tossed him out in the tall grass field. Then a couple days later I was in the garden and something was moving under my weed mat, I thought maybe a mouse or mole or something so I was stomping trying to squish it and another little snake came out. It was a different color and more aggressive so not sure what it was, but I chased it out of the garden, didn't pick him up and haven't seen him back since.

Discovered a garter snake living on the edge of the greenhouse last weekend. I had some wood laying on one side and boxes of vinyl siding on another side and I've noticed mice living under them so I started to clean up the wood and moved a box of siding to work on putting it up and found 3 mice and a garter snake. I managed to kill two of the mice but the third one disappeared. Pest control to keep those critters OUT of the greenhouse!

Some pictures of the bluegill tank at feeding time.. theres about 300 bg and res in this tank give or take

Just a tiny update. Fish are still alive and made it through the summer.


~100 large-ish ~1 lb channel catfish outdoors in 1250 gallon tank (aquaponics)
~12 feed trained black crappie indoors (aquaculture)


The crappie part starts at about :52




I just noticed my picture links are broken... I moved my domain and didnt realize this part isnt working. I will fix it sometime this weekend,.

New system looks great Bcotton

+1

Springs here and i am running way late (as usual) trying to get the yard prepped, cleaned and planted. I am taking some time off of work and taking a long weekend to hopefully get caught up.



THIS MAY BE THE YEAR I GET IT ALL ONLINE!? i am pretty stoked.



Here's an visual idea of the work ahead of me....

one bed at a time! That is a bit daunting looking though... and it seems like there are weeds in your AP beds... I didn't know weeds would take over an AP bed...

Kidding aside, trying to bring 'it all' online, does that mean those beds get converted to AP?

I know I saw pics of that double AP DWC bed last year but now with nothing in it, for some reason it's really speaking to me that it is a good idea... do you have a preference between that bed and your single beds as to which works out better for you? Is the difficulty of not being able to access one side of the plants without removing the raft overcome the space savings of not having a path between them? I am constantly thinking I want to expand to an outside system in the summer time, just haven't bit the bullet yet.

No those with weeds are raised soil beds. Well some of it is actually edible weeds and some is st augustine grass which is viney and is impossible to keep out or get rid off. I will prep the soil beds first then clean up the aquaponics which was damages by some sever storms late last year as well as intermittent freezing temps


As for the side by side beds, its a conveyor belt type system, i put the rafts in from one side and harvest from the other so i dont need to be able to walk between them... It *should* be in production year round but like i say,m the system was damaged by storms and i have had a busy winter at work so its repair and getting it back online has just been delayed.

i have turned over the soil grow beds, this weekend the plan is to repair and clean the aquaponic grow beds, fish tanks and get the aquaponics planted

The cleanup is going good. I am still planting, i am WAY behind (as per usual) on planting but the projects and backyard cleanup are almost done..

the heat is starting to affect my ability to work outside.. mid 90's right now and still rising and my body just isnt conditioned to do physical work in these temps.. maybe i am getting old.. maybe i am just out of shape.. maybe i just need more time to adjust.. maybe all of the above.

Looks like you can produce a ton of food there Brian...