Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Peas love aquaponics. Long harvest is quick to start after planting and is very productive. Plus, if you have not tried a pea freshly picked from the garden, you have not tasted a pea yet. So delicious, they never make it to the table (just another benefit of being the farmer of the family!).

I use the Little Marvel variety of peas (in the Maker's Mark bottle).





After harvesting the peas planted in my hanging bottle garden, we planted new seedlings and transplanted in our new NFT rain gutter garden. Growin like a weed already!

You're so lucky, all my peas i have planted have always turned to crap.
I have got a few in my GB that have managed to break past thier resistance point, i think because i have been dosing heavily with iron, less or no iron = they get to 3 inch high, then turn white and die.

I have the most success with snow peas.
They are so sweet and tasty!

Yep, snow peas are pretty easy to grow... you can grow them in anything...

I grew peas in my DWC this last winter. Much tastier than our dirt garden ones.


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So say the people who can keep them alive.....

I know how you feel Yavimaya. All the leaves on my first pea plant turned yellow, then brown, then crisped off before the plant ever even flowered!

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've learned it's relatively easy to keep peas (and virtually any plant) alive in AP systems if you follow these 6 easy rules:

1) add Sea Kelp or MaxiCrop plus Iron weekl to ensure
2) add BoneMeal or animal bones from the kitchen table for calcium and phosphorus monthly
3) bury banana peels for potassium from time to time
4) stock system with enough fish & feed them nutritious organic fish food
5) make sure your water is well aerated with air stones and/or a NFT or drip method grow bed
6) lastly, keep the pH stable between 6.8 - 7.0 to ensure plants can easily absorb everything

Happy gardening!

Sounds like a hydroponic system...

What do you mean a "drip method" grow bed???

And, sorry to be picky... (it's a bug bear of mine)... but media filled pipes or troughs... or even flooded pipes... are not an NFT methodology... they're either a form of constant flood.. or SWC... (shallow water culture)...

lol rupert, arent they all? even you add most of that stuff, or atleast tell people to.

Maria, do you replace the bones monthly (if you are using old cooked bones off your plate)?
Or do you leave them and just add more?
how many would you let build up before removing some?


I used the media in pipes method last year, it was pretty bad, the plants grew, but i had corn that was only 1 foot high with root bases that were almost impossible to remove - over 3 times as long as the plant was high.
You will cop alot of flack around here for calling SWC/media filled tubes, NFT. NFT is a very specific thing.

My "NFT" system is neither on constant flow or is any form of SWC. Rather, it uses gravity to deliver a small Nutrient Film of water over the bottom layer of the Growstones in my system. The top layers of grow material really only serve to shield the water from the sun and to make the system look more attractive. I put each plant in its own net pot (also filled with Growstones), just so I can easily move the plants around in my system (and which also makes it easier to prune the plants' roots (more on this below).

In my opinion, NFT systems without grow media are simply wasting very precious space that could otherwise be colonizing bacteria...at least throw some sponges in there!

The "drip method" to which I refer involves water dripping down from one planter to the next in a vertical line -- also using gravity to do the job. My glass bottle aquaponics system utilizes this "drip method." I have the timer set on both grow beds set to pump water 15 on / 45 off.

Yavimaya -- I would not use cooked bones because applying heat means nutrient loss. Just debone or deshell before cooking and bury directly in your grow bed (maybe even crush them up and mix with the rest of your grow medium). Just be careful, adding a ton of bones and shells tends to increase your pH so keep an eye on it, tho I doubt you will add enough to have any effect at all.

I was also overwhelmed by root growth the first time I used the good ol "media in pipes" method. Then I learned that you can prune roots just like you prune the leaves and branches on a tree. I'm currently experimenting with "air pruning" techniques (google it -- dare I link!), which my plants seem to prefer over me actually trimming their roots with shears. Just leave at least 1/2 the root ball in tact. Also, I would wait to transplant seedlings into any NFT ...errrr... NFMT system until they develop good root systems (using, for example, rockwool cubes and seedling domes) -- usually for at least 2 - 4 weeks. This will lead to a denser better developed root ball, rather than a long, straggly, tangled one.

Here's some pics I took while pruning my Okra plant a few days ago.





Note: you should probably use sharper scissors or a knife, but at least you know a blade suitable for a 5-year old girl will work, too. None of my Okra plants displayed any signs of stress in the aftermath.

I follow steps 4&5. The others haven't seemed to be required yet.
Don't tell my plants, they might stop growing...