Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My pumkin grows and flowers like a madman and would have kept growing if I didn't stop the runner by pinching the ends but the leaves remain pale, fruit sets but then turns brown, mushes and fall off. Basil next to it in tub grows well and the leaves are nice and green and show no deficiency.

At present I have 16 goldfish in a 200 litre tank pH 7.2, Ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 40-60. Have added chelated iron and seasol.

Does anyone have any ideas why the pumkin fruit won't grow. Has anyone had similar problems.

Pic available in last post of members systems "Arbors Limited Space System".

I've never been able to keep a pumpkin plant alive for flowering, so imho, you're doing well
I think what you describe sounds like fruit not being pollinated.
Female flowers have the immature fruit below. If not pollinated, they will not set, then just fall off after flowering... probably go mushy too as they die.
Try getting a toothbrush, small paintbrush, cotton bud etc and manually fertilise the girls with the boys. All you need is contact.
another way if you have heaps of flowers, is to pick a boy flower, peel the petals to expose the stamen, and stick it in each of the girls.
I do this every day (with my dirt pumpkins) and cucumbers. I creates a lot of fruit.
Early death of the female flower signifies pollination, so I pollinate until the flower closes.

Looking at the pictures I'd say that KP is correct as far as the fruit not setting. As for the pale leaves, looks a bit like they need more light..willing to be corrected though.

I still strugle with cucumbers, but have one pupmkin doing really well..not quite as well as it's siblings in the dirt though.. so there may be some trace element which we aren't supplying in an AP system...somebody mentioned magnesium in another thread which may also explain paleness in leaves.

Himzo.

I only get 1 day the bees get there too kwik

yah, I wish. European wasps kill most of the bees in the city.
Paranoid suburbians kill or relocate the rest. (wasps too, but they're harder to get)
there's almost no insect life at my place, but since the instigation of AP 12 months or so ago, they've been increasing. I can only hope.
I just wish there was a safe and secure way to remove noisy mynahs (sp) and pigeons...
I'm thinking about building the cat run outside as DW suggested, cos I know I can catch mynahs in a possum trap. The cats would LOVE to catch their own food, I just wont let them outside.

Thanks for the replies. Now that I look I mainly have male flowers but will be looking out for the females to pollinate them. I thought the fruit was appearing because it was pollinated. Much to learn in the plant kingdom.

The tub I use kuda has a quick turn around 3 minute fill and about a 20 second drain. This maybe causing a high oxygen level in the medium and maybe why the pumkin is growing (just a theory) but an interesting thought. I like my small tank because this 20 litre tank airates my bigger tank and I have no need of an air stone.

Maybe this is a good line of thought and I would be interested if fill and drain times effect the growth and health of different plants. Has anyone made a comparison.

How long are they dry for between fills. I've been running mine on a fill and drain repeat and plant growth is not the best. Changed it to give more dry time between fills and the plants have improved.

It runs continuously 24 7. no dry time hence why it airates my bigger tank

Basil grows well in same tub

Interesting. Having the roots of a plant wet too much will rot the plant from the base. Because you have a lot of o2 in the system it could be helping to keep the plants going. But might explain why the fruit keeps going mushy. When you pinch off the tips you could be getting rid of the female flowers.

I have no dry time. I can't seem to grow tomatoes or pumpkin.
capsicum, basil, lettuce, strawberries, cucumbers, spring onion, silverbeat, princess lilies (pretty not edible), peas, rosmary, broad-leaf thyme, and peppermint all grow exceptionally.
Although some of these didn't look to good the first year, by season 2 they were going mad.

My tomatoes all died with too much water. Now have a 45min ish dry time and they are not dying. The plants that did get used to the wet GB's probably developed enough water roots in the top layer of media. The ones that sunk there roots down before they realized the media was too wet slowly died.

I will dig up and place the roots horizontally rather than vertically... I tried to get the roots as deep as possible (without having the stalks wet) )to make sure they got a good enough drink...

Kuda I note in your list of plants rosemary. Mine is not doing so well.

I did move it from an NFT tub and it had some root rot. Cleaned it up a bit but it just seems to hang on but does not grow so well.

I have two theories at present.

1. Water pH, I think tom's love acidity do the not maybe pumkins too. My pH usually sits at @6.6 to 7.0. Unusual to have it go higher. I think this is because I have to top up my small fish tank regularly with my Sydney acid rain water.

2. Need a new start rosemary with no root rot. I would have thought that with the high O2 some new roots would take off but maybe not.

You can sometimes save a damaged plant by putting it in the ground. Was to late in transplanting the paw paw. But a couple of the tomatoes enjoyed the move. I then took cuttings and put these back into the GB's. They never get away for long.

Arborlow, put rosemary into the list of plants that are good indicators of root rot from too much water. It must be allowed to dry otherwise you'll lose it every time. If you have simply replanted the plant that you noticed was suffering from rot then rip it out and start again. Once they've got it, they've got it! It'll always affect them to some degree.

Remember that Rosemary is an arid loving plant - it thrives in a mediterranean climate and needs to dry out.

Chatty