Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

CG I am seeing all kinds of fry right now and will work this week setting up two more tanks (80 Gals total) with GBs for fry and female tilapia. not sure what I will do with the fry.

I do want to start passing fish out with the systems I place in local peoples' hands. I hope to see many of these systems around.

Has that leak healed yet dt?

Silverbeet will handle low light, not sure if it will grow fast but it will grow, lettuce should be ok too. Spring onions will be spindly but highly edible. (so strong and tasty mmmm)

You can cheat with tomatoes, train one from the corner of the bed around the corner to the direct light, they're a vine essentially, this I did in my herb garden (no direct light in there) training the toms out of the window, and a bean growing along the toms) now i got plenty of toms, still waiting on bean to start flowering and took a long time to get out in the light.

yeah, you were right. It did heal almost completely....didn't even bubble the plywood.

On the Toamatoes I am thinking of using a mirror to jump start them. The sun would be easy to reflect on them and then once they are long vines I can get them to the direct sunlight.

What in the world is silver beat? I hear a lot about it but have no idea what it is even after seeing pics. Would like to try it.

I got some Papaya seeds I want to try as well as green peppers.

DT, you might know it as spinach or chard (Spinach as in what popeye the salior man ate)

I'm planning to use reflection in Winter with a white board catching early morning sun and throwing it at greenhouse.

Interested to see how a mirror goes. I would get in trouble with mirrors due to air traffic including daily circling of police helicopter.

Silverbeet might be a type of spinach, they're 2 distinct plants from where I'm sitting - never seen a 1 metre spinach... Don't know chard so that could be it.

Pretty certain they are two different plants AA but the name sometimes carries over for some reason, as kids we always called silverbeet spinach Don't know why?

Hi,

Silver Beet is called Swiss Chard in some places.....it grows all of the time (unless you experience sub-zero winters like our US and Canadian friends) and it is a particularly useful vegetable......high in iron if I recall correctly.

Spinach is similar but is a Winter plant and, as AA suggested, it is a much smaller plant when mature than Silver Beet.

Many fish will happily eat either plant......and so do I.

Gary

Well that clears things up....I will look for some. I fear it may be to hot for spinach here.

Silver Beet is definitely Swiss Chard. Left long enough, it will grow a beet-like root, but woody and with poor flavor. Silver Beet/Swiss Chard likes cooler weather just fine, but I've also never had it bolt like spinach will in warmer weather. It grows from early spring to early winter here. It's only now dieing back here now since winter has been mild.

why would the police have trouble with a mirror?

The reflection is the problem, they're scanning the ground for bad guys getting away, the bush right back of my place provides cover for those on foot.

A mirror can easily blind the aerial guy's visual scan, and I'd really hate to dazzle the pilot.

I had thought of using mirrors to light up Queen St, Aucklands main street. Down beneath all those tall buildings... It's a cold hole. Council guys I spoke to said they had someone else who'd thought of it, but the problem was interfering with air traffic.

I reckon proper positioning would severely minimise this risk. But apparently, it is a risk.

I'm all for the cops catching the crooks. Burglars SUCK!

I can understand that...sort of.....Aluminum foil?

I'll use the reflective white side of Mylar. (I got this off a roofer) In my greenhouse thread you can see some, that growbed is actually in the darkest corner that would normally recieve only afternoon light. Soon as the sun hit's the mylar at the top as it crests the hill/house according to season, the whole place lights up.

Well most of the lettuce is up and the cilantro. Tomatoies still not doing much bet they are healthy.

I had to put salt in the water to take care of some fungus problems so I exopect it will set my plants back a bit. I hope not too much.

Well I am hoping the crisis is over! see http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... 6829#36829