Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Was wondering if anyone has tried Apple and/or Peach in AP? I believe I read about various citrus (lemon, lime, maybe mandarin) before in AP, but not sure if Apple and Peach would do well in AP, especially in Perth, where there are hot summers and cold winters...

Anyone has comments/thoughts??

I expect you would need to choose a dwarf variety and plant it in a very big/deep grow bed. I've not tried anything like that cause my area is very marginal on the chilling hours to get good fruiting from either of those.

I don't know if anyone has such stuff growing in AP but it seems it should be possible if you are in a climate where you can get the chilling needed but without the deep snows (read frozen pipes if in an outdoor system) of a cooler temperate climate. Then again I suppose you could perhaps have a system in a greenhouse with a few remote tree grow beds out doors that could be turned off for the dormant season.

Well I believe there are apple and peach dwarf varieties that would grow well in my climate that I can purchase from the local nursery.

My intentions are to have each tree in a blue barrel on its own. Probably a 3/4 height barrel.

I don't think we will have an issue with frozen pipes in Perth... well not that I have heard off, but I suppose it could happen....

I don't see why they wouldn't work, I've seen both of them in a hydro set up before, if they can do ok in hydro, they should be ok for AP...

Thanks. I will try them out. Hopefully a blue barrel will be big enough for a dwarf variety.

I think "Dwarf" may vary depending on species (like a dwarf lemon or tangerine is going to possibly be a patio plant) while apple or peach might be a little more challenging.

However, I know many types of apples can be espaliered so that seems to indicate to me that they could grow severly pruned and perhaps a blue barrel would be big enough. I don't know much of anything about peach though.

Give er a try, worst thing that might happen is you decide later that it didn't work so well and you try something different.

It is common with apple and peach trees to top them off to make harvesting easier. Keeping a dwarf variety in check should not be to difficult (as TC pointed out) provided it is a "dwarf" enough like a lemon or lime. The non-dwarf peach I put in the dirt two springs ago is already larger then the house. It has grown faster then any other tree I have put in.

Good luck...show us some pictures when you get them in!

Thanks everyone. I will try it out. At worst, it will become another growpot for something else.

Pinkabelle apple should be worth a go.

I know apples need a certain amount of days under some temperature to set fruit right. I wonder if it's root or leaf temperature which is the main factor?

When the tree goes deciduous, would you keep the water up to it as per usual or would you reduce the number of times you would pump water to it?

Well that I am not too sure...

It is a question I am asking myself... I know when the tree goes dormant they do not use the nutrients (or do they still require some?) but I think their roots still need to be wet. To reduce the number of times water is pumped to it would be pretty difficult as it would mean a separate system or quite a bit of stuffing around with the current setup...

I suppose the possibility is to shut off water pumped to it completely (using ball valves) and just allow rain or hand watering to keep the roots wet... and then open the ball valves again during spring time..

Anyone??

On further reflection, they would probably be fine in the system getting the regular flood and drain because when they sit dormant in the ground they would sit in wet soils when it rains and don't rot off or anything.
It will be interesting to see how it goes though. With the water temperature perhaps heating up sooner than the ground would have would bring them out of hibernation sooner and perhaps stay in leaf longer. I suppose the chill time factor may be something to take into account?

Dale

I think I would cut way back on the flood cycles during the cold season. Not so much for the sake of the tree, but to keep water temps up as much as possible. I could see F&D happening only once or twice a day during the warmest hours. This of course would require the tree(s) be on a different timer/pump from other functioning growbeds. Perhaps a media that would retain water better then river rock might be appropriate too.

Also if you had worms in those beds, think about their needs also. Not sure what those would be off hand.