Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Markets change all the time too...

Gees I hope they didn't compost it, such a waste if they did, they could have value added, turned it into pesto or something.

They composted it. It was awful. In fact I believe they composted several rotations worth.

But I mean really, how would you sell 1000 bunches of basil?

dollar a pop at the local farmers market and you'd move that many pretty quickly i'd think

Basil and pistachio nut is the latest thing in the supermarkets here, other big sellers are the mushed up basil in a tube, pre-prepared for customers. And pesto, there's always pesto....

Have to change your way of thinking... See it as a money making potential, rather than a shameful waste.

Tis a shame. Throughout history, people have turned all kinds of excess into cash. I'm guessing the very first jar of pesto came from a glut. And the very first bag of fertilizer came from a pile of crap. People regularly turn piles of crap into cash. Basil doesn't even count as a pile of crap. As many have said, they could have found a market. But they must have walked down the road and found there was no market at the market.

It wasn't that long ago that a family working some fertile land would scrape by with just enough left over at the end of the year to buy a ribbon and some much needed brandy. These days its possible for a family with a pilot's licence or two, to round up a shipload of beef, and have enough money left over at the end of the year to buy a ribbon, a stack of brandy, and an amazing array of chemicals. Aquaponics is at that ribbon and brandy stage. It's only a matter of time before some geezer makes broadacre GBs by spraying plastic onto a field or something.

Sometimes you have to break a few eggs, compost a bit of basil, or lose a few astronauts to create FutureTech. But those who built those first successful grain milling machines, or those first successful looms, made some serious bucks.

So if bucks is what you are after, aquaponics is as good an emerging market as any, with a brighter future than most. If its the moral high ground you seek, you cant go past aquaponics. And autosiphons are better than TV. Win win win.

from http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/wb-timeline.html

1903
Orville and Wilbur Wright make first powered, sustained, and controlled flight in a heavier-than-air flying machine.
1906
Alberto Santos-Dumont makes first successful powered flight in Europe.
1909
Louis Bleriot, French aviator, makes first airplane crossing of English Channel.

Hold on to your hats people, and watch out for spray on GB's

Yah I know guys, hard to imagine that the grower couldn't sell the basil. There are some many things and ways they could have sold it. But I dunno, in the end they couldn't. It'd be interesting to know what they tried and how hard they tried.

I always dream of a commercial system so I can quit my job. But I think it'll just be a dream...

pa = per annum

Drip to waste is the form of production. Water and fertiliser are drip fed to the plants and then runs off as waste.

Is AP really viable as a commercial system?
Is there any successful AP commercial systems anywhere?
According to Taylor Made Fish Farms, you can't get the best out of both(fish and plants) with an AP system, fish production is best with a higher water PH and plants with a lower PH.

Depends on your market. A lot of AP systems see the fish as a side product.

Being so far from the coast my fish are worth a lot more, so they are the major reason for the AP system, vegies are just an extra.

Trout selling season has begun

Hydroponic Lettuce Budget Analysis (multiple bay)

http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/hydropo ... ltiple-bay

This might be just the thing that you are looking for and it will give you some ideas on expenses that you might not have thought of.