Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi all,

Well, I am about to plant seedlings into my AP system.

I have lettuce, tomato, zucchini, parsley and water cress seedlings which I have raised from seed. I am also going to buy some more established seedlings (cucumber, eggplant, golden nugget pumpkin to name a few).

Finally I was planning of adding some seeds directly to my system.

While lying in bed (not being able to sleep as I think of all the different designs of my second AP system) I was thinking about planting densities. Most seeds have recommendations regarding distances between the plants. No doubt the distances are to ensure that the plants are not stealing each others available nutrients. However, in AP this is not an issue. So that should mean that I can plant closer together in an AP system.

I have seen many photos on this site that suggests that people are planting closer together. My question is, how close can you get away with. How close does everyone plant. Has anyone had problems with planting too close together?

My current system is relatively small (6 half barrels and a 500ltr fish tank) so I am wanting to make sure that I utilise my space well.

Any feedback regarding your experiences will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Simon

Simon, I would think that you can plant within the plant's size. For example a lettuce may grow to about 15cm diameter, so plant the next lettuce 15cm away. Bigger things like toms need a bit more space, but they will just crowd each other out anyway.

Check out how close these are[and growing well]

I use Square Foot Gardening in my dirt garden. Similar spacing can be used here. A tommie or eggplant gets one square foot, lettuce is 4/square foot, beans are 9/square foot. The idea is to space the plants so when mature, they just touch each other.

I am in F&F's corner - normal dirt gardens require space for root & plant growth...using aquaponics I am disregarding room for roots as nutrients are regularly supplied to all roots.

I then work on having the smaller sized vegies to the front of the GBs for more sunlight and climbing vines,etc to the rear - basically get in as much as possible to use up the nutrients, which then allows a greater stocking density.

My thoughts.....

I work on the priciple of planting heaps and really close. If something turns out to be too close, then pick it and eat it small (particularly if a leaf crop . It is easy to thin out the plants down the track if need be and seeds are afterall very cheap per unit.

I agree ...plant as close as possible and if things start crowding then thin them out by dining...

leaves less space for the gravel to be seen and for any evaporation from the gravel to happen more dinner too

The most important thing is to be a bit disciplined with planting tall and short thing in the right places so as not to block the sun from the smaller stuff. Also - planting a paw paw (papaya) tree in the middle of your grow-bed is not such a good idea