Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey Forum,

I'm just curious if a lot of dead roots in the flower beds can harm the plants? There is only a few worms in there and I'm trying to reuse the filter from a previous grow, but I didn't bother to take out the dead root mass at all. Is all of that decomposing organic matter ok in the system?

How much is a lot of dead roots? If there are so much roots in the grow bed that you can't get a trowel in to plant your new plants, then it might be a bit of a problem. If there are so much roots that the water doesn't flow through the media, then it might be a problem. I have had beds get that way before and I just left them fallow for a while to let the worms work on them but I always had enough beds on the system that I could plant elsewhere while I let the clogged bed digest a little. I've only experienced that kind of clogging with three types of plants so far 1-mint, 2-Banana, 3-Lufa vine.
The size of your media will also play a role in how fast a bed might become clogged with old roots. The smaller the media, the faster it could happen.

If your system is sized with plenty of grow bed compared to bio-load (fish load) then some old roots decaying in the grow bed are just some more bacteria and worm food and not a big deal.

If your system doesn't have enough grow bed and you are really pushing the limits of your filtration compared to fish load, then a grow bed clogged with roots could be a problem.

Excellent advice. I think I shall get some red wrigglers and toss em in.

Just make sure to get wigglers that are composting worms and I would advise avoiding worms that have been fed fresh manure in the past 4 months.

Now if you already have some worms in there, they will breed and expand in population so you may not need to add worms unless you have a very minimal worm population and an extreme amount of rotting roots to dispose of quickly. Remember that it is actually bacteria that break down the roots. The worms just support that by squirming along slurping up the bacteria goop, and providing us with their wonderful poop (or for those who don't like the idea of worm poop, call em castings.)

Ahh, good tips.

Why is it an issue with fresh manure?