Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It's looking beautiful, DT!

Congrats to your son!

Thanks all. I am fighting some black caterpillars on my passion fruit. I found hundreds of little ones on what I thought were just brown blotches on the leaves. As I looked closer there were lots of big ones about 3 cms. I have hand picked all I dould find and reach and crushed them. I hope I can keep them controlled tha way but I have my doubts as most of the plant is way out of my reach. Is there a spray I can use that will spray that high without hurting the fish?

I am wondering if that peppermint oil would be an option. I am growing mint and spearmint in the system, I don't think it would be hard to extract the oil.....

[url]http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:qm6upNd7YUsJ:www.thegoodscentscompany.com/msds/md100305.html+peppermint+oil+fish+toxic&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2
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Toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment.

Bacillus thuringiensis is an organic that gives leaf chewing things the terminal belly ache. It is approved for organic garden use.

BTW, here is a link to Howard Garret's site:

http://www.dirtdoctor.com

He is a very knowledgeable organics guy.

Ron

I am not sure how familiar people are with passion fruit blooms so I thought I would send a few pics before the caterpillars cut them all off. I am still having a hard time controlling the caterpillars since the vine has climbed nearly 7 meters off the ground. Some I can get by reaching out the window but there is a security grate on the window so my arm is all I can fit. Hopefully I can save the fruit on the bottom half.

Put them in the "Photo Comp" thread DT

Ditto! The flowers, the hard-working girls...very nice.

Great pictures, beautiful flowers and it's nice to see bees, they have become rare around our place for the last two years.

I didn't think the pics were that good. I just wanted people to see a passion fruit flower.

Thanks.

Yeah the bees are nice but they are Africanized so can be a bit testy at times. Ususally not too bad if there are only a couple.

Awesome pics of beautiful flowers and bees!

I tried again to make the Ferro cement tanks and this time had really good success. When made in mass so you can distribute the cost of the forms, the cost per grow bed for tomatoes is about $14.00 each. That is a GB that is 300mm x 300mm x 2.80 meters. That will hold 20 plants. I want to have about 15 of those grow beds connected to my system to have about 300 tomatoes or maybe add in some cucumbers and eggplants. At present I have 40 plants in a system on my upstairs terrace. I need for this to be more than just an expensive hobby.

Also, I am working with a Peace Corps volunteer who lives near by. We worked on a grant proposal to install a 2000 gallon system with lettuce flats, tomato grow beds and some floating plants to use as a training facility. He was awarded a grant for $2500.00. I am excited to see this setup in place so we can start teaching the benefits of AP.

Hopefully a new thread and pics will follow.

What a fantastic passionfruit vine David. I'll be interested to see more about your concrete beds. Are you doing them the same way as your original ones? I must go back again and have a look. I can't remember if you used any reo...

I used MDF for the mold and then wrapped that with black plastic sheeting. That kept the cement from sticking to the wood and the mold came out very easily. Then I wrapped the mold with chicken wire. The next step was then to simply plaster the box with a mixture of 3:1 sand to cement and work it till it was smooth.

I will post pictures soon so you don't have to figure out what I am saying.

The plaster ended up about 250 mm thick and the boxes weigh close to 100 kg. You don't want to carry them long distances by yourself but they are attractive and long lasting. (I HOPE).