Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Had an idea that could increase the efficency of my green house.

If there were plants that like shade they could be grown in gravel beds on the ground while all the plants that like lots of light are grown by NFT above.

I know wasabi likes lots of shade but it also likes cool temps so it has to be grown in a cool house. What light loving cool requiring/tolerating plants are there?

Finding things that like lots o sun and warmer temps is easy but what about plants that would grow in the hot house in the shade?

If you are after consumable plants fro AP, many of your herbs (especially those in the mint group) can tolerate quite low light levels.

Vietnamese Mint is one of my favs. No issues in low light, tough (will grow in a glass of water), and is a great substitute for Coriander in Asian dishes.

Your problem is that the lower levels of a greenhouse (with plants higher up) are generally VERY low light. There are not many plants that can be consumed and will do well in those lower light levels.

If you want to use that space, how about just having the containers hold water and stock it with fish or crustaceans. The water will act as a nice thermal sink helping to keep the greenhouse warmer and more humid (if that’s a plus for your setup).

Useless info for you, but in my glasshouse (non-AP and tropical) I have orchids in the lower regions, though all the plants in my GH are shade loving anyway!

AJ

AJ
Thanks for the quick reply.

Wasabi is grown under 80% shade cloth commercially. Is this low light, very low light or VERY low light?

If you wanted to put them _really_ low maybe they could go down into a cool trench, with reflectors or white surfaces to get them some lighting.

For edibles, leafy greens require less light, apparently cukes, and peas, too. Fruiting plants require more light.

Mushrooms.......

AP?

That would be cool. Great to make use of every dark corner.

Crikey though, another topic to research.

I was speaking arbitrarily, so there is no scale/relativity to my "VERY low" comment. I was making a comparison to my setup (the GH is pretty well overgrown higher up) where in the lower areas there's not much light and only shade LOVING plants grow there well. There are certainly no cropping/consuming plants I’d bother top try there.

To give you an idea… In the summer months I run two layers of 50% shade cloth (white on green). In the winter a single layer of 50% green and a layer of bubble wrap.

As I have done over the years, your best bet is to just try things and see how they go. Maybe design any grow beds in a way that if plants don’t do well, you can easily covert to fish/stock holding instead?



The problem there is that the lower the light levels, the weaker the plants. Then throw them in a greenhouse where air circulation is going to be poorer and they’d be very susceptible to disease.

Although those plants named can do OK in lower light situations, they still need decent amounts to crop WELL. But hey… only a couple of bucks for a punnet of seedlings… so give it a go!

AJ