Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yeah it does. Slow is a speed too. And it is always relative to something that you can't do any thing about anyway.

Don,

I planted out some cuttings from a mulberry tree a few months back, just before start of Autumn. The leaves all fell off, and I thought it was a major fail. They bounced back quickly and fruited, but it was too cold for them to ripen. Will be planting them out into (AP?) pots come spring. Hopefully get some mullberries this year.

Good luck with the dwarfs.

Does your supply line come directly from the pond or from one of your buckets? You have a picture of the take off and then a picture of the valve and filter to shut it off so I'm a little lost

I'm itching to get your opinion on those drippers. How long have you had them running on this tree project and do you know what size micron your filter is? I have plenty of drippers and irrigation line that I would love to use but I didn't think it would be worth the fight to keep them clean.

I got the system put together a couple of weeks ago so it has not been running long. and yes the drippers clog up too much. My pump runs all the time so I get water on the drip supply line all the time. The take off you see is right above the pump in my tank. I have a 200 screen in the filter and needs cleaning about every 5 days. I am using 2 GPH drippers but I would use bigger if I could get them. They need cleaning every other day or so. If I change to flood and drain I will have to lift the buckets about 8" higher for the first 10 or so to get a siphon action to drain the buckets. Now they are all constant flood. I have had the trees in the buckets for a two or three months. I cant remember just when I got them now.

..that sounds about right.

I'd like to play with different products to do a similar approach to berries. To use any sort of a drip system I don't THINK its worth doing without several types of filtration before the supply line...radial/swirl/and a fine particulate filter. If I had to constantly clean something I'd just as well put them in the ground and use system water on them. I planted a few different trees and bushes in late spring and they are thriving on fish water. The poplar trees were maybe 2 ft when planted and they are almost 6ft now, in about 2 month time!!


Have you read or do you know anyone doing what your attempting without all the maintenance?

Yes others are doing the same thing in various ways. Jerry&Julie is doing a system but using plants not trees. Several other threads have trees mentioned in them. I started a thread on Dwarf trees and it has several pages of posts. Look at my signature for the link.

I keep seeing everyone with the 55 gal barrels, but I do not know where to go to get them. Sure I could buy them, but I am on a shoe string budget. Do you by any chance know if I could go somewhere and get some for free? By the way, I have enjoyed reading your posts Don. I have learned quite a bit. I did not realize I was supposed to add salt to an aquaponics system. Thank you taking the time to post all of this information, especially where things go wrong. Besides you learn from mistakes, and I am learning from your mistakes.

Hi glad you enjoyed the posts. They do teach you about what not to do. I bought these at various places from time to time. You have to be sure that you get ones that had food safe stuff in them. I paid from 5$ to $ 12 each. I got them at places that sell recycle stuff. You might get lucky if you have places that repackage stuff. They usually are in big city. You can use any thing that is not poison caring for beds and tanks. I have seen plastic boxes bathtubs hot tubs swimming pools and dirt tanks. Use your imagination. Oh pond liners also. Read these threads to see many other things.
One the front page of the site you can find the Ebook IBC's of Aquaponics to download and read for FREE. Lots of info to help out

I think it would have worked better if I had setup a flood and drain on the trees. I cant figure out what to do about the spiders and their webs that seem to kill the leaves on the trees.

Don doesn't make mistakes.....he simply tries all options anyway so none of the failed ones feel bad about themselves.

Don, I'm inclined to think the spiders aren't the problem because I've never seen any that cause plant problems and I didn't see anything similar come up on a search.

A few ideas you've probably already thought of but if not...
1. Look for spider mites, they are very tiny and make webbing. They make the leaves look like they were sandpapered and eventually the leaves fall off. These really like warm weather and you'll need a magnifier for most kinds to see them very well. I'm guessing these are the culprit

2. Scale insects, look like little bumps on the stem, they only move when they're young, as they get older they secret a coating and become stationary.

3. Using black pots in Summer in your area could be roasting the roots.

4. Could just be simple water stress.

One thing you could try is wrapping a plastic garbage bag over the pot around the stem and securing it with a bungee cord around the top of the pot. You can usually do several pots with one bag. Harbor Freight has the bungee cords at a reasonable price. I do this with my potted fig trees and it keeps the weeds down and the pests out of the soil. I'm not sure how it will work with other trees or in your climate so proceed with caution. I got the idea from figs4fun - here's a link to a pic so you get the idea -- http://figs4fun.com/fpix/FP866-22%20800.jpg

Hope this helps

hi Scotty, You have given me good advise before and I will look at the plants with a better eye. I am pretty sure that transplanting them when I did was very detrimental to the trees. I think they would have fared better with flood and drain. I do have some that do very well when the water is not even circulated. Just keep the level full and the leaves turn green and do well but if I mess with it they start to fall off. I found a large spider in one of the drains about a month after I set the system up. I have seen spider webs on all the trees and plants here but not the mites you speak of so I will take my magnifier and go look tomorrow. Thanks.

Glad to offer any help I can Don

Over here in Georgia, we've been fighting the damn caterpillars. There are a bunch of them in the trees, one of which is a peach tree that is having the leaves eaten. It's close to one of my systems where I've noticed the lettuce leaves being chewed on. Little buggers are leaving fine strands of silk/web stuff around everywhere.

Could it be caterpillars are an issue over there as well? Sort of the same type of climate as Arkansas. Off to do some research. Luck man.

Mr Bill Yes we have those caterpillars over here also but this is different on the Dwarf trees. Finer strands of silk and no visable critters.