Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Taste yes, get some spring onions in there, oh boy they're so good!

I have to confess eating a few lettuce leaves and one big leaf off the biggest Silver Beet, and VB, you are right, the Silver Beet is sweet enough for use in salads. (fancy eating salad greens straight from the grow bed, should set up a table and chairs beside the grow bed !!)

Who cares about the fish, the salads are coming !!!!!

And, Hey VB, look ! I have a small tomato on my dwarf tomato bushes !!! (actually there are several now.)

I will be setting up my second Grow Bed tomorrow , got to get some more salad greens going.

Muzza

EB, I am a believer !!! I am a believer !!! I am a Believer !!!

For your information.......on the subject of bitter-tasting foods......

".......it turns out that bitter-tasting foods like cruciferous vegetables and citrus fruits tend to contain ingredients that may reduce the risk of cancer.

Cruciferous vegetables belong to the cabbage family and include:

broccoli
cauliflower
Brussels sprouts
Swiss chard - silver beet
watercress
radishes
kohlrabi
rutabagas
turnips
bok choy
arugula
collards
mustard greens
kale

They contain cancer-fighting antioxidants like vitamin C, as well as "phytochemicals" which often act like antioxidants. Antioxidants are beneficial because they "mop up" harmful free radicals that can cause cell or genetic damage that can eventually lead to cancer."

Having said that, I'm like you......not too much of a healthy thing feels/tastes good.

Murray,]

The "small" seedling tray.......is it hooked into your aquaponics system or are you watering it independently of your system? Is is flood and drain or continuous flow?

Gary,
The seedling tray is watered by hand with water from the fish tank. The tray is FG and holds one 65 ltr bag of Searls Premium potting mix.
Murray

Muzz - was going to wait till I had some more photos to introduce a new concept I have been trying, but since you have raised the seedling tray as a subject, here it is a bit earlier.

To take advantage of the flood and drain method to germinate seeds for new plantings into the beds (and the soil for that matter), I have filled some hydroponic baskets with perlite, put a liberal quanity of seeds on top and then put a bit more perlite. I have then burried the baskets into the grow-beds deep enough so that the perlite gets wet each flood cycle, but not so deep that it overflows due to perlite floating over the basket's lip.

The picture below is of a basket that I seeded on 24 September. It contains spinach I think (or it might be chickory - I can't rembember ).

I have used the same method with some spring onion, which have also sprouted but are yet to stick all their heads up - so no point posting a picture at this stage. I will leave the plants as they are to develop a few more roots before thinning out into grow bed gravel. It will be an easy process because of using perlite as the medium.

Nice VB. I'm always scared my seeds are gonna get picked up and drawn down the bed. Put 3 new beds in today and got loads of seed yesterday (I ruined my old stock the container they were in was compromised and got mould.)

I have many things to plant in beds, and if it doesn't rain will have 3 new beds to play in today.

You could possibly sow those a bit thinner, but good work!

That's good VB, I must give that a try. I had thought of something similar but the idea did not germinate. Trouble is I now have my grow bed flooding to about 3/4 full on each cycle and I am not sure the seeds would get enough water etc, but I will give it a go when I get the next grow bed running today I hope.
Muzza

AA - yes I was a tad liberal with the seeds. Muzz - envious of you getting a second grow-bed up and running. Where do you get them from

Excellent idea VB. I'm pretty much decided to seed stright into the beds, but this method makes heaps of sense.

Seeding straight into the beds presents quite a few problems in my opinion, not the least of which is that a lot of seeds will have trouble popping their heads up if they germinate under a piece of gravel. Another problem I found was that I was disturbing the seeds when stuffing around in the grow-bed (this one would not be a problem long term).

I'll definitelly be using this new method. After planting the individual seedlings - where I want in the grow-bed - I simply cover the seedling for a day or 2 with a pot to let them get used to the transplant and then they are away.

Nice gardening styles VB.

Nice beds Muzza! You're making it look all professional. On a side note, can you source a supply of deep cell batteries and associated hardware for Aqua backup power purposes. Might be a demand especially if you had parts a,b and c equalling what we need A one stop pro aqua shop, go there!

AA - I reckon a one stop aqua shop is good in theory, but the reality of it is that for big centres the ability to compete with places like supercheap auto for the suply of deep cycle batteries would be impossible. My deep cycle battery was a little over $130 for 70 amp hours. That is a pretty good price. They are friggin heavy (really really heavy - like a big 4 wheel drive battery) so posting them would not be an option. Some other products are different though. Take Muzza's fail-over switches for example. Great price and easy to post. These are the sorts of things that it will be great to have a source for. Elsewhere you can expect to pay $50 more for a fail-over switch.

What a wonderful and simple idea to grow from seeds -love it vb

also enjoy seeing how your system is coming together

Les