Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

While the growth of my beans looks great I'm a bit concerned about them.

The plants are up to the roof and they are flowering well but the beans don't seem to be developing



I don't think its lack of pollination because there are plenty of bees and other insects about.

Now it could be that things will improve now that the nutrient balance is a bit better. Given the growth of the zucs since I added more Ca and Mg may a couple of days will tell

Sorry Stuart missed this,i would it can’t do any harm,when you spray do you do each nutrient separately or do you mix them,i ask because Potassium and calcium won’t mix to spray,the calcium will precipitate out of solution,hence the deposits left on the leaves.I tried spraying Pot sulphate and it did the same so I stopped using it for that purpose.

Thanks to advice I didn't add any Ca but I did put KSO4 and MgSO4 in the same solution.

I'm thinking of getting some CaCl for foliar applications. I think I found a source for KCl which would be handy. Haven't looked for MgCl so I don't know if you can get it or whether its cost effective.

Things are improving. I now have the first of my beans (the fruity bit) actually growing. they are very small but they are there all two them (that are definitely growing) so far.

Also the growth of the cucs and toms has really picked up. The tomato clips show the daily growth:



However I still has issues. This is the Zuc that was looking almost perfect yesterday.


As you can see it still has a deficiency:

I'm thinking its still needs more Mg.

Put some MgSO4 in the system and gave a foliar spray to everything. While I think the Zuc were looking Mg deficient I think some of the Cucs are looking K deficient. There is only slight yellowing and slight burnt leaf edges on the older leaves.

Calcium Hydroxide is only barely soluble,how do we dose it,do we mix it first then put it in or put it in as a powder and let it dissolve in the system,yesterday i added some to a bucket of water and then added it to one of the dwcs,today its still there where i poured it in....... And if its so insoluble how is it` available to the plants ?

Slow release

I put it in places where it is going to constantly have water moving past it. Such as in or underneath the water inlet to a GB.

Stuart,in regards to the salt traces on the leaves,in your post you say you mixed calcium and magnesium in the same mix,some thing to try next time,mix both in water before adding them to your spray, i am going to try mixing this way,see if it helps.Another thing to try is adding a surfactant,this also helps in the formation of the water droplet on the leaf,aiding absorption.
Ok on the Calcium i will have to be more careful how i add it,rather than just dumping it in.....

I use a few teaspoons of Ca(OH)2 at a time and just mix it with a couple of litres of water and tip it into the ST. It's all dissolved within a day, as water is flowing over it just about continuously.

How many litres in the system/sump ?

Not quite I mixed K and Mg SO4 in the same mix.



Yeah i forgot the surfactant, Ive got a good organically based one. The things is though that since surfactants reduce surface tension wouldn't that make for smaller albeit more spread out droplets?

6000 l/~2000 l when full, and ~300l at low tide

Whoops.... I knew that should have checked what i posted, Yes more spread out droplets more surface contact on the leaf face,more absorption.
Another thing i have read up on this week and am going to try,well i did the first spray last night and going back to that i am going to start spraying early on a morning at this time of year to make benefit of 90% humidity first thing in the morning,is Black Strap Molasses again this is a sticker and has many beneficial properties when added to a Foliar spray.I added a full teaspoon to 5 litres and will now monitor the results,if there are any...

What are the supposed benefits of molasses?