Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

So our Aquaponics plants are wilting and I'm trying to figure out why.

I tested the PH last night and it was normal.
We have about 20 baby catfish now, and 5 goldfish, with 10 green beans, 2 bell peppers and 1 brussel sprouts, 1 cucumbers and I think that's it.

Do any of y'all have any site's that will help me figure out why?
Or have any idea what might be wrong?
Do you think it might be because they are over watered(it drains out back into the fish part 3 times an hour)?

We are new to this, so thanks for any help!

when I was killing plants it was because I had the stand pipe too low and the water level was not reaching the roots enough.

Is the wet spot on your media at the level for your root systems?

Yes it is.

Are you able to post a photo of your setup? I bet there are a few people that could give your some help from good photos.

Have your sprouts been getting beat up from rain maybe?

I will get a pic asap.
They aren't really sprouts anymore, we have been getting a few beans and peppers.

Ok for the pics!!

Whats left of the brussel sprouts


The green beans are turning yellow






We have these little ugly bugs on our green beans too


Our cukes are looking bad


Our bell peppers.





Here is what our Aquaponics looks like.

The first obvious thing is to get rid of he catapelars with some dispell. Flood your grow beds above the media to drive out he ones hiding in the gravel, and feed them to the fish. I had an attack a few month ago, I managed to take care of it by flooding the growbeds. The plants bounced back after.

Btw, welcome! That is a neat little setup you have. You should start your own members thread, that way you can have a nice tidy place to ask questions, and people can see your setup and what you have done to be able to give better advice.

How long do I need to keep the water in the grow-beds?


If I can figure out how to do this I will!! lol

Just a few minutes longer than caterpillars can hold their breath. (Not sure how long that is)

Is your bed drained by a bell siphon? If so, you could pull the bell off the siphon and stick a coupler and another bit of pipe onto the stand pipe so that the bed will flood deeper while you do this caterpillar removal. Be sure the bed won't overflow out over the edges or make sure you stay right there to turn off the pump once you have flooded over the media to see if it floats out some caterpillars. Then once done, pull off the extra bits of pipe, replace the bell and turn the pump back on. Use dipel dust or some other bacillus thuringiensis product to battle the leaf eating caterpillars. Probably just remove the poor brussel sprouts to put them out of your misery, I don't really see that recovering.

Most of your other plants don't look too terrible. What do your water tests say? Have you dosed with any seasol?

Definitely not worth saving the Brussel Sprout in the pic. Looks like a combination of things including caterpillars and possibly some bacterial or fungal wilt.

It is easy, go to members systems, and click on "New Topic" at the bottom. Call it what you will, and copy a link to it here so that those of us that have been following thus far can refer to it easly.

Yea we just about gave them up for lost!




Oh, hey! That's easy enough!

When we get rid of the caterpillars will our plants start growing again?
They have almost completely stopped growing!!!





I can't find it!!

Plants are seasonal, and some do well in winter and some in summer.

In my part of the world brussel sprouts and peppers are in opposite seasons.

It might just be that the season for the sprouts is past and the plants are getting sleepy. (I have no idea where Covington is)

Start a system thread by going here and clicking "new topic"

Pick a decent name because it will end up being your home for a while...

No pressure