Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yep - redfin 8 times out of 10 !


Yeah, I'd like to buy him a big shit sandwich

Hey i like those but the bread turns me off

Sugar loaf cabbage.
Alot of people (but not all) know that broccolli will send out side shoots if you leave them after you have taken the main head,But sugar loaf will do the same as you san see in these pictures.

Hi Don, Can you tell me if banana do better in constant flow or flood and drain? I’m thinking about planting one of my dwarf banana tree in my aquaponic system.

Well done. I tried this with my goldern acre cabbages and the secondary heads were hardly as big as bustle sprouts, so I just pulled the whole plant and replaced it with another cabbage.

On the broccoli. For those that arn't leaving the plant to secondary sprout after the first head, then slap yourself now. We got a solid 20+ weeks worth of broccoli from about 6 plants this year, mostly relying on the secondary heads. Don't expect them to get big though...they look more like broccolini, but since they regenerate so fast you get a constant supply of broccoli.

I have only ever tried flood and drain but they seem to like it better when it cycles every hour .you will need a fairly pot or gb as they get very root bound.Cavendish don't grow as tall as most other varietys.

Great info on bananas all thanks
Here is a good site to shop for them
http://www.banana-tree.com/index.html

I've picked out 4 to try.
Hope they ship to your area
jim

Can bananas be prevented from getting too high? My GH is 2.5m in the centre so if I was to connect in as an AP part I'd have about 1.5 - 2m for growing height. I could set it up in a half-drum wicking bed which would give me a bit over 2m but that would be the limit.

If I recall correctly the banana grows as one main shoot doesn't it? Can it be 'trained' down to grow along a mesh or similar so I can get full growth without having it punch through the roof on a good growing day?

If you are restricted height I think the only variety that you could grow would be cavendish,they only grow to about half that of ladyfinger and some of the others .They have a small fruit but usually alot more of them.

I've been chatting with tclynx about height also.
her opinion is horizontal halved barrels are good just watch the usual roots clogging pipes.
I have 12' max height so I'll bury the beds to ground level to gain some distance. And I am planting them along the back wall of my gh which is a strong wall of a bldg, I also have trusses for the roof to tie the tree to so fall over isn't a concern.
Since they will be buried below my tank water level I will have to add a sump to return the water.
I think I will after the first bunch is gone and a new shoot is up, I will cut off the old tree as usual then hook a winch to the overhead trusses and winch out the stump. Trim excess roots, remove my gravel media, check plumbing for roots, re-install the stump and gravel. If they will grow in half a barrel cut horizontal or vertical it shouldn't be that much work.
I'm not sure about a round or square tank that's buried because if it cracks it may be hard to tell it's cracked. But then again if I remove it once per year then the stump/root ball size could be managed and the grow bed could be examined.
Maybe I'll try both methods?
Tough decision because I screw up enough as it is,, I don't want to add another to the list .
jim

It is quite a while since I have posted anything on here but it doesn't mean that I have given up .I think that I have it all up and running reasonably well but there is always room for improvement.My fish are doing very well at the moment and I am confident that I can have trout all year.One thing that I don't think I will ever regret is going for a big air pump.I gave up on the little ones because you were forever fixing them and when I used water pumps to aerate I had to clean them too often.I now have one big pump that feeds five tanks and a 12v back up that uses the same lines.The water seems to stay cleaner and the fish grow better.This photo shows how they are connected.

Lets see if the picture appears this time.

To keep the water in the trout tank cool in summer I have a tank outside the GH and covered with a white fabric.This type of fabric is one layer of black to block out the sun and has a white layer each side to reflect the heat.We have used this idea for years to cover pigs and it works well and that's how I got the idea for using it for trout.

I have a back up in place in this but I have never had to use it.Last summer we had a heat wave which lasted for a week and the water got to 24C.If it had got any hotter I would have started the pump to pump water onto the shade cloth like you see in this picture.

Sorry if I miss understood
But how does the shad cloth work in the tank like that.
Also were did u get Redfin and are they eating pellets yet