Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thank you!

Hi Jason,

Thought of a question or two regarding the solar water heating setup.

Why such a high start point for the snap disk? Why not have it come on at a lower temp? The suns weak enough here that for my location I'm wondering if the unit would come on.

I'm curious how you have the pump and snap disk circuit setup and about the specs? I've got a 90 on 75 off snap disc lying around that I could use to automate a pump for when it's sunny.

Thanks

Cool System, keep going - jwnnova99

Banana's in aquaponics - Wow , please keep us updated.

Hey Scotty, sorry I've been absence on the site. I have two snap switches wired on either side of a 3 way pole switch. When the switch is in the middle its off, when its up, its sending power to the 90/75 snap switch and when its down it sends power to the 80/65 snap switch. My water is 70 deg right now which is why I choose to run off the 90/75 switch. I caught my system running last week, it was 40 deg outside on a bright sunny day. During the winter I only get 5 hours of direct sunlight on my panel and only when its not cloudy which is not very often. If I had the snap switch come on at 80 and off at 65 I would actually be cooling my water down to 65 before the panel would shut off. Since I'm still trying to raise tilapia, I'm also running a few bucket heaters to keep my water that warm. If my water was colder I would run the colder snap switch.

Thank you Sriprasad - I'll post some more pictures here. My banana plants are really tall and the base is starting to stretch out the 55 gallon drum heads. Not sure what I should do at this point as I'm not sure when they will flower.

I'm showing off my new year harvest. My GH is running really well with no heat except for a couple tank heaters. Outside temps are floating around 20 to 40, inside is 40 to 60.

Thanks Jason, I figured you'd eventually get back to checking your post. I like the idea of having a 3 way pole switch with the different snap disk controllers. There might even be some benefit in running my solar heater this way in Winter

Setup looks good and it looks like that banana tree is pushing the limits - hope you get some bananas before it gets too big. Sometimes when plants touch the greenhouse glazing the temperature and moisture will cause mold problems or just cause the tissue to die.

Very nice!!

Thats one system you have. decent harvest.

For banana plants, i would do remove some media in the drum to give more breathing space for the base of the plant, may not be a best idea, if you are fine, give it a shot!!!

Banana plants tend to multiple at the base, new plants arises, Remove all new plants to new place. then it should flower for sure

Thank you for the kind words and suggestions Everyone!

For the banana plants, I have removed all but one of the children. I was thinking maybe the parent plant won't flower until it knows it has an offspring to take over. Maybe I'm giving too much thought into it. Since I planted these in June and they just matured when it started to get colder, maybe they need to sense spring to flower. I wouldn't want them to flower right now with our two coldest months coming on. I'll take a picture of the base.

In dirt, you're looking at least 9-12 months for the flower here in southwest Florida then a few more months to plump up the fruits. I planted 6 tissue culture plants about 18" tall in the beginning of July and don't expect fruits till next summer/fall. In dirt, mind you.

Here are pictures of my Banana Tree. As you can see it is maxing out the top of my barrel. It is currently January and this plant will be one year old in June. Will it outgrow its container before it flowers and fruits? As you can see I can't dig out rock, Once it matures will the base stop growing? Should I cut out the offspring and try to plant it?

Thank you.

That is effin huge! The pups are definitely going to have trouble growing with the little room remaining at the edge there, as they'll want to get as big as mama in a few months time.

Hi jwnova99, that some big sucker you have in a small barrel, and he is definitely gonna outgrow it, with childrens he need double the size of the barrel.

I would suggest move the plant by cutting the drum, make sure that whether is not too hot nor cold, if it stays in <30, > 25, best time to do it. Here in india , we do all transplant in the evening's for best weather and plant will get needed rest overnight and do well in the morning.

as far as i know, if you can cut the barrel careful without disturbing the roots much, plant will survive 99%.

Reg flowering, ya i see its nearing maturing stage , it will flower probably soon in 3, 4 months. patience is key.

One suggestion, if you dont want take too much risk of moving it out of barrel, you can just cut the barrel horizantly on two sides, but dont remove it. the dirt will hold it back. you can drop it in to the ground along with barrel, after some months the plant will grow and push the barrel apart. risk free option.

Thanks Guys,

The barrel is piped into my aquaponics, the rock is lava rock and expanded shale. We have 4 inches of snow outside and below freezing temperature. Current temp is chilly inside the greenhouse 40 to 50 deg F. I don't have a lot of options on relocating it in the GH and it will die outside in the ground.

This is supposedly a drawf banana tree. I've seen youtube videos of people growing these in wider but much shallow containers. How deep do you think its roots or crown is? This is a 55 gallon barrel it's in but a narrow one. Should I get a wider 55 gallon drum barrel, or is a IBC the only container large enough for a banana plant?

Any idea how heavy this will be?

If I put it into a container closer to the ground I won't be able to pipe it into my aquaponics. Will it be ok in a nutrient solution?

Thank you.

Dwarf sometimes only refer to the size of the fruit itself and not the plant. Dwarf Nam Wah are still tall plants but only produce a banana 3-4 inches long. I Think tclynx was growing in the standard blue 55 gallon drums out there, cut in half to create 27 1/2 gallon pots