Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Getting ready to place seeds in new beds, was wondering hat people have had the most success with in warmer climates.I would like to start with lettuce,parsley and maybe some indeterminate tomato.Don't know how well the lettuce will do with the oncoming heat.I'm also factoring the cycling of the system, I guess about 6-weeks.I hear Armenian cucumbers and malabar spinach like the heat.

Right now were 50's-60's in the a.m. and 70's and 80's in the late afternoon.I hear temperature parameters change a bit with AP so I'm not sure but we'll hit the 100's within 6 weeks and it will be here to stay till mid September, solid triple digits for about 4-months!

You are apparently in the southern or low altitude part of the state. I am in the northwest corner at 3500 ft elevation and my annual high temp is about 105 F and that will be only a few days. Tomatoes do well in the winter in an AP greenhouse as does napa cabbage and chinese cabbage. I have been enjoying all of the tomatoes we could eat and some to share. Swiss chard does well year round. Sereano chillie peppers have been yielding for months. I have had poor results with lettuce. My first system was completed and cycled last spring , the second completed and cycled last summer. So I do not have a lot of experience to share.

One of the great advanatges of AP is draining fish water off to dirt garden or fruit trees. I devote one 150 gal. fish tank to the orchard. It only has a very small grow bed, and twenty 3 inch gold fish. So I drain 60 gal. off to one tree or another every day. I had a bumper crop of peaches last year and my first apples. The gold fish are to be replaced with bluegill this week. The 1000 gal pond in the yard has four large catfish and supplies nutrients and water to the raised bed dirt garden.

I've found Aloe likes AP especially if it gets a little extra shade.

I've done well with lettuce, broccoli, kale, snow peas, carrots, parsley and many other cool weather crops over winter. Peppers, tomatoes, and many herbs (basil) do well year round in a greenhouse if you can keep it cool enough during the daytime. During the warm (not hot) season almost everything seems to do pretty well for me. During the really hot season, the cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, Okra, and sweet potatoes did well. I've also gotten some nice jicama out of the AP system.

The AP system has also been great for rooting bamboo cuttings.

[quote="brydon2"].Don't know how well the lettuce will do with the oncoming heat.quote]

I had a nice crop of romaine lettuce growing. They were about 5-6 inches high and i was expecting a harvest in a couple weeks.... then it got real warm for a weekend and next thing i know they all had burned tips and had gone bitter. I dont think lettuce will make it unless you can keep it cool, say less than 80 degrees or so

for a summer green that will do as lettuce in salads and sandwiches try bok choy. It to will eventually bolt but is a tender fairly heat tolerent green that does well in AP. Sow direct or transplant.

over at the urban farm they have a nice calendar for when to plant what in Arizona(Phoenix Area).

http://www.urbanfarm.org/Planting_Calendar.pdf