Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Looks good KE14

Yesterday I made a cow-pat shaped and sized lump of fly attractant.
Its made of sugar cane mulch soaked in milk with a slice of bread and an egg all mashed together. Overnight it seemed to have "ripened" and today its sitting on some fine mesh over the fish pool.
It certainly seems to be attracting the flies - been covered in blue bottle all day - so I have high hopes

Looks like it's time to create a maggot farming thread......it's called (not surprisingly) Maggot Farming.

Hi,

Last night, I ate silver beet out of my growing system.

The mignonette lettuce reached their peak and appear to be going to seed and the Cos lettuce look like they might be heading the same way.

Everything seems to be growing like topsy.....with the exception of one small capsicum plant.

In normal circumstances, we would not bother gardening in SE Queensland at this time of year......due to insect infestation and harsh weather.

My growing system seems to have very few pests in it and, while the weather here has been hot and nasty for the past three weeks, things are still growing (perhaps too well).

The performance of the coco peat trays and satellite pots is exceeding my expectations and the gravel bed is still maturing but otherwise going well.

Since my tank is inside my shed, I'm avoiding the algae problems that appear to be irritating other members.

I still have 44 Jade Perch and they are growing really quickly now. I'm currently feeding 160 grams of feed per day......a bit over 3% of the weight of fish in my tank.

Duckweed production is limited but I must confess that I've not given it the attention that it clearly deserves. That will become a focus in the coming year.

This system appears to be stable and functioning well. It must be time for another one.

Gary

Gary, Your comment about not normally gardening at this time of year is so true, we have now had 8 days straight with temps above 34 deg the top day being 38 deg. My lettuce run to seed almost as soon as they start to get to any size, but they are still good to eat. My Tomatoes that I planted on Sept 3 are almost finished now having been knocked around by the salt in the water (to treat the itch) but still gave more tomatoes than we can eat. Last night wife had a big tomato stewing session, stewed tomato into containers and into the freezer for later use. Great stuff.

Hi,

My approach to vegetable growing is highly experimental.

When I lived in South Australia, I had a much better sense of the seasons but, since we moved to Queensland, I'm confused about seasons. Many things appear to grow here all year round.......if you can keep the insects off of them.

For some inexplicable reason, the insects don't seem to be doing much damage to my growing system. The occasional grub is quickly transported to the fish tank where it gets to take part in a brief but spectacular competition to see which throat it disappears down.

Gary

I had the same experience regarding insects - for a while. It did not last. Once the buggers found tthe lush growth, they invited all their mates around. The main ones at present are grasshoppers and those green stink-bugs. Aphids also end up on some plants and some seedlings just get mown down overnight by I don't know what.

I have not tried any organic controls yet - will do in due course and this shoudl help.

VB, did you ever explain to us the difference between a good lady bug and a bad one?

Good ones eat the pest and bad ones eat the plants. Don't have any pictures handy - but a quick search on the net will provide some. Can't remember the spot numbers.

dumb bad ladybugs...............

Are you referring to potato beetles? They look almost like ladybugs, but the coloration is different, and ladybugs eat aphids, where potato beetles eat plants.

How about Mexican bean beetles? Potatoe beetles are striped. Mexican bean beetles are in the same family as lady bugs, and look a lot alike.

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/veg/bean/ ... beetle.htm

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/veg/leaf/ ... eetles.htm

Sorry Janet-
I typed before double-checking myself. I remembered that there were 3 or four lady-bug -looking insects, some of which were bad for plants, and I remembered that the potato beetle was one of them. My bad.

Hi,

The problems that I had with growing vegetables in the peak of our summer was what led me to think about growing indoors.

I've concluded that the majority of insects can be controlled by exclusion.

In the past, I've made up mini-shade houses which have served a dual purpose.......they've excluded the flying/crawling pests and taken the edge off the extreme UV.

If you can control the flying insects, you can rely on ladybugs and similar to sort the aphids.

Of course, because most of my growing systems are non-recirculating (and portable) I can, if I choose, take them inside the shed and give them a little touch up with Pyrethrum or Neem oil or some similar organic preparation......without impacting my fish.

VB.....the little green grasshoppers (Leaf Hoppers) can be a pain but I've discovered that I can catch them and knock them around a bit until they can't hop....before chucking them in the fish tank, where they quickly disappear. I find that this spectacle actually motivates me to go looking for them.

Gary

Hi,

This system is mature and stable......we're eating the silver beet, soft herbs and lettuce and everything (with the exception of capsicums) seems to be growing well.

Our 44 Jade Perch are kicking along nicely, too. Some of them have an appointment with my chef in about 8 weeks.

I'm happy for the moderators to move this thread to the "Completed Systems" section. My new system is in the planning stages.

Thanks......Gary