Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi guys,
Do you know of any square/round containers that can support fruit trees in a aquaponic system?

horizontally cut blue drums, so you end up with two big tubs

They get real heavy too so make sure the base is supported well.

Im going to paint them cream also to please the mrs..

Yeah the blue can clash with well... Everything.

Blue barrel or IBCs.

Hi all,

I was curious to see how your trees how well this solution is supporting your trees? I was thinking of trying to plant an avocado tree, but I was concerned about the tree getting top heavy and tipping over...?

Thanks!
Jeff

I usually just use the stakes that come with the trees for a while.

Hello and welcome, chappy74!

I think judicious pruning will be necessary in order to keep the avocado tree to a manageable size, much the same as I expect to do for a fig, a mandarin and a lime tree growing in half drums alongside the Puddle. The mass of these grow beds should be such that they will be less likely to topple over than would an equivalent tree in a large pot on your patio. As Ronnmaggi says, though, stake them until they have settled in - and then prune to both keep them to a manageable size and to prevent them from becoming unwieldy.

With avocados, pruning is essential for decent fruiting anyways.

Thank you all for your feedback!

My initial goals is to start with one, but then move onto a much bigger operation.

I bought a house a year ago and we have about 150 avocado trees which I sell the fruit to the Avocado Distributors. My biggest 2 issues are root rot and my water bill.

I just planted my first aquaponics garden ~ a month ago purely from an efforts to expedite the growth of my Koi fish. The garden is growing so well, I have this hair brained idea to regrow all of my trees aquaponically. It seems it will solve both of my issues.

I know the initial infrastructure cost would be expensive, but from the success that I have seen from my small garden, I think it would actually be a worthwhile investment. My biggest concern of course is the stability of the trees as they grow. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to set it up to help keep them upright? I was even thinking of using metal framed 330 gallon ibc plastic totes filled with rock.

Thanks again for all of your recommendations.

-Rookie

I'm planning a modified bonsai system - I've got 6 20L buckets and plan to grow my trees in them - when they get to the appropriate height, it will be root-pruning time to stop the vertical growth. Fortunately there are any number of bonsai instructions on the web...

For larger trees, I would imagine ferro-cement cistern type wells, lined with pond sealer, and filled with gravel would be the way to go, as long as the roots don't grow through the ferrocement.

Avos drink a lot of water, id be considering that. A avo farmer i know said his trees take 700l a day when fruiting?

I wonder how much of that just soaks into the ground and isn't actually used by the tree. If I put 700 litres of water on my sandy soil it would still be bone dry.