Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I just got my Farm facebook page and website up incase anyone wants to check them out. Of course this will be an ongoing process but I figured I would go ahead and post them up since I finally have a bit of content on there

http://chattersonfarms.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chatterson-Farms/132659010103409

Here are a couple more current pictures:
Ripening Crenshaw Melon:

Yellow centered Watermelon:

The Tilapia are bedding...one cast and a backyarder is set!

About 50g

Recent Tilapia fingerlings we stocked into a new system:

Different types of heirloom tomatoes:


Cherokee Purples looking good:


I did a BRIX test using a refractometer on a freshly picked Aquaponically grown grape tomato vs a grape tomato that I got in a salad from Chick Fillet (Fast food resturaunt) the same day:
Side by side:

Ours (converted = 10.46 brix):

Theirs (converted = 7.06 brix):

Forgive my ignorance Ryan, but what is a brix? is that measuring nutrition, water content???

What breed of Tilapia do you have?

Brian

Have you ever heard an older person say that Tomatoes in the store don't taste like they did when they were a kid? Well...they are right. Organic compounds enhance flavor profiles and sugar levels in plants. When they were young, soils had a better nutrient profile, plants were getting what they needed and things tasted like they should. Yes, you can still find produce like this but it isn't the majority of what you see for sale at your typical supermarket.

Brix is a measurement of sucrose or sugar levels in the produce. High brix levels are a great indication that you are producing premium produce. High brix levels in plants have also been shown to detur insects. I'm doing a few experiments right now concerning manipulation of brix levels in a few different varieties of Aquaponic veggies which is why I was taking readings. I kept picking tomatoes that were less and less ripe until I hit the chic fillet brix...it was bright green! People have no idea what they're eating, I'm sure they are gassed with ethylene like most other cheap crap tomatoes.

Here are a few more pics!

Squash blossoms we fried

Greenhouse



Drilled a bunch of holes for the 2x6's that I'm going to mount to the sides this weekend. The metal strip in the pic will be mounted to the board.

Almost forgot- the ones I netted are aureus (blue), the ones in the tank are hybrid males (most look white when adults)

Tomorrows going to be a long day


10 day old Tilapia fry:


Awesome tomato:

Ahhhh...gotta love a Home Depot run!!!
Great looking tomato!!

Is your Dragon fruit in gravel Ryan?

Thanks for the updats!
Brian

Man....The Bunnings run is a love-hate realtionship with me....whenever I leave I always feel like i've got a gambling hang over or something.....or that I've been cheating on my wife and son.

I say "Bye Honey, I'm just getting XYZ, I'll only be N minutes"... turns into XYZABCDE and NxN minutes

Its even worse when you return with only X and it still took N*N minutes...WHY ARE THESE PLACES SO F#$K BIG!!!

Hi Ryan
May I ask how much is your green house cost, and the dimension? Yours work is an inspiration for me, everyday I have to log in to check your progress!
Thanks.

+1

Shoestring- I started them by taking a cutting, filling a 2" net pot with pea gravel and sticking the end of the cutting about 3/4 of the way to the bottom. It took them about 2 weeks to start showing roots, here is one of the cuttings at 4 weeks from the time I took the cutting:

Here they are after about 5 months whcih sounds long but 3 months was cold weather where they don't really grow.
A few have probably put on 8" in the last month. Im going to spread them out and try to get them to fruit this year.


Haha Luke, I hear ya! But honey...I REALLY NEED a 12' A frame ladder!!! It's only $300! Pretty please?!?!?!?
My wifes super cool with all this though so I lucked out.

As for greenhouse pricing, there are so many options that it really depends what area you are in and what options you choose for your specific house. With the options I chose, it ran me right around 12K.

Thanks Ryan,
I have been feeding mine fish water from the tank, it is still in dirt at the moment.
How will you get them to fruit? Is there a way to force them to fruit?
Brian

YW Shoe. No real trick... Get them as healthy as possible and then when they get a bit bigger they should start to bloom. I haven't fruited them in AP yet but if they get mature and don't fruit, I'll drop the nitrogen like with a lot of other fruiting plants and it should tell the plant to flower.

Forgot-the GH dims are 96' x 35' atenman

Might the dragonfruit like an ethylene kicker like pineapple and some other plants do to start blooming?

Hey if you think Bunnings is such a hard place to deal with just think of Lowes.. Bigger still nad they have a lot more stuff especially plumbing and are cheaper than what we pay.. for the same product..

Juergen..