Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Considering all your initial trails and tribulations, you've got to be happy with the progress Tony

Hi Tony .....

I guess the pics that you have posted will service our dear friend Rupes pics demands!

Well done my friend ... I may be calling on you for a little mixed fry in late february ...

Rupe .. I think I am going to need you to gently talk me though getting rid of this damn tojan I am having to deal with ...

BTW .. my cream bucket AP pergola tomatoes in cocopeat ...

They are doing very well in a shady spot ...

Sun has been intense in perth the last couple of days ...

PM'd ya Johnnie

Brett,
I hope that the sweet potato tuber will look as good as the ones from the dirt garden.

Photos WILL be taken at an appropriate time.

Hope I didnt sound sceptical. Im currently transplanting all my half cooked to death dirt plants into my AP system, just wanted to know what is worth the effort.

BTW (and without hijacking) anyone tried AP passionfruit?

Brett, I WANT to, I just don't have a plant. I LOVE passionfruit, and it grows fine here in melbourne. Should be fine in Perth too.
Perhaps a visit to the nursery this weekend.

Still on the topic of passionfruit, the nellie kelly variety, at my parents place in clay soil with very little water gave huge plants and plenty of fruit but when I put the same plants into my sandy soil with mulch, plenty of fertiliser and water are not much bigger after 9 months.

humm perhaps a traace element issue?
Maybe they prefer the way water hangs around more in clay.
if you have sandy soil then perhaps they'll not be so great for AP... Only time will tell I guess.

Hey Tony, nice system mate... I'm going to grab some dipel tomorrow from Oakfords as I have a major caterpillar problem at the moment. I have to pop in there every couple of days to pick up hardware/retic parts for work, the owners are really nice people and decent prices too for plumbing gear etc... I'm heartened to hear that that it did the job, I expect to be doing some evil sniggering of my own in the next couple of days

I opened one of the Dipel internal packets and shook about 1/4 of the contents into a 500mL hand sprayer, then added water and agitated. I sprayed the plants all around, up and down. then waited for the looper caterpillars to die :more evil sniggering: :evil laugh:

I need to do it every 2-4 weeks, but by only mixing up a small amount, I can afford to do it regularly.

Don't keep the unused spray as the bacteria will die off if not fed. Don't know what to geed them though.

Tony

I did the same to my system this evening, mixed about 25 grams into a 500ml hand sprayer and went to town

I even spotted a large one feeding on my celery but rather than pick him off by hand I thought I'd check the same plant tomorrow and see if he's carked it. bwahahahah

Thanks for the tip on the unused spray. I take it the dead caterpillars are safe to feed to the fish as well then?

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Yep!!!! - you definitely have the caps lock off DD

Passionfruit should be planted facing east, they like the morning sun, otherwise they do poorly, where is yours situated?

They grow and grow and grow, be carefull in AP, i'd say that they will cover a fair big surface if not pulled away on a treillis.
They must consume a good amount of nutes too.
I'm sure it can be done, just need to know the future problems before.

Use the Bt only when need since it is biologic the caterpillars can get used to it and you'll have to change variety of Bt. To feed them you'll need caterpillars because they are an insect disease and like the flu live on the sick individuals or go to sleep until they can strike again. It is also argued that Bt has an impact on other insects, and positive ones too like worms and ladybird and bees. It is not because it is organic certified that it doesn't have an impact on the environement specially if it is repeted every month.