Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi All, our school's system has 2 problems currently.
1. The seedlings die about 1-2 weeks after being transplanted. The stems near the roots turn black and then they shrivel up and die. Fungus maybe?

2. Our green onions are growing OK but they are very weak and fall over. Any ideas? We can't figure it out.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

HN

What height is the gb floading to. And is the system inside. Plants with no wind will fall over.

can't be 100% sure, but it sounds like you are putting the seedlings in too deep. i.e. the stem/leaf section which was above the soil or raising medium is now below water level and is getting collar rot.

Ok, we flood our growbeds about 0.5 to 1.5 inches below the surface. The surface is usually wet when the GBs are full. The system is indoors, we recently started running a fan. I think it was after the onions grew.

Thanks for the info, keep the info coming! Thanks folks.

If the seedlings are really really tiny when they die, it sounds a lot like damping off to me. Having a fan moving air around in the greenhouse could help a lot. One preventative I've heard of (though not tried for myself) is spraying cooled chamomile tea on/around the seedlings daily from emergence till they get their first true set of leaves and are past the damping off danger period. This is something I've read for soil gardening and starting seeds in potting mix. I don't know that it would apply to seeds started in AP but I don't see how a spritz of chamomile tea on the media could hurt the AP system.