Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

We call sandals with a strap between the first and second toe "thongs", too. Also "flip flops". But if it is singular, ie "thong", that's underwear or the bottom half of a bikini that men really hope is worn by a trim 19 year-old babe, rather than an over-weight 50-year old.

i stand corrected i just remember some of th looks i got in the UK when i asked for a pair of thongs LOL (not that ther is anything wrong with that! )

They talk funny in the UK. Very different language than American English. The classic joke the the guy ("bloke") from the UK who approaches the secretary in an American office to get some office supplies. He asks for a "rubber". She is aghast. He meant a rubber eraser. She thought he meant a condom.

we say rubber too..................

i've always smiled at the phrase american english............

me too Steve

It`s a bit too cold for thongs or flipflops..better off with belly warmers and furry boots LOL

I`ve almost finished the raised bed for the 31 cherry tom plants which were homeless. The bed was designed as a quick fix and is filled with compost but could be useful for AP with a few mods. It`s very simple to build and cheap.

It consists of an inner trough, which in this case is geotex. It contains the compost. Below the inner trough is a waterproof outer trough which will recycle any surplus water seeping through the compost bed into a container.

In an AP system the inner trough could be filled with hydroton and the waterproof outer trough provides an NFT flow to roots which grow into the space and down to the bottom of the trough.
You`d need to use shadecloth instead of geotex for the inner bed though.

I plan to test the theory by utilising the rarely used aluminium ladder in the background to support 22 x 10L gravel/hydroton filled buckets above a waterproof outer trough (nft) for homeless sunflowers.

I just have to figure out how to post pics now.. ok here goes nothing

by geotex, do you mean the black plastic sheet? I was told geotex was a grey fibre fabric that road builders put down between layers. ( someone gave me a leftover roll, very handy stuff )

Hi Jaymie
Sounds likely, this is black though, it allows water and air through.

Here`s a snap of the gap between the compost bed and the bottom trough (the steel struts are just to add some weight).

The upcoming bucket system will have adjustable outer trough depth to stop the roots from eventually restricting the nft flow along the bottom.

Great little concept HEX......

INteresting Hex... I found a roll of that geotex out in the bush not far from my house, must have been a 6m long roll by about 1 foot in diameter. I felt a bit guilty about loading it onto my car, so I left it, but wish I had now...

Thanks Rupert and EB,

The bed is 8ft x 2ft x 2ft high and it has about 200L of compost in it.
The cherry toms are tumblers so they`ll grow over the sides eventually, the next step is to fit some trellis to the sides.. wifes orders

The idea was to get plenty of air available to the root zone.

To my mind the toms roots should track down the sloping sides of the geotex trough heading for the bottom, they can also spread along the entire bed if they want.
Logically the roots will have ample access to air from above, below and the sides.
It should be almost impossible to overwater with any luck and a quick grope of the bottom of the inner trough should indicate whether they have enough moisture

I would have used shadecloth but i had a roll of this doing nothing so i thought i`d put it to good use... it`s the same story for the aluminium ladder.

that would have been a leftover, the new rolls are about 1m diameter (we're nearly finished our second l/o roll)

I`m all for recycling leftovers into something useful.
You should nip out and grab it, if it`s still there.. waste not, want not.

I have a load of old 12" singles that i`m going to attempt to reform into custom fit drip irrigation trays for my buckets.
The plan being to convert a constant flood into the tray into a nice even coverage of the hydroton.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained...they`re only gathering dust anyway

see my signature

Back when this thread started, there was nothing to see in my dirt garden but snow and the dead remains of last year's tommies. This is so much better....

Cukes, cantalopes, sweet potato, popcorn, tommies, onions, leeks, green beans, soybeans, cabbage, broccoli, winter squash, summer squash, lettuces, cooking greens, bell peppers, herbs and goodness knows what else.

Total area is about 18' x 24', with a 3' path down the center, and 2' paths everywhere else. In metric, that's 5.5m x 7.4m with 0.9m and 0.6m wide paths. Paths are slate pavers left over from re-doing the front walk to the house. Raised beds are made of Trex, and the fence is specially designed (by me) to keep the woodchucks, bunnies, dogs and deer out. It has done its job well except one spring when I didn't re-fasten the wire fencing that had come loose. Then one little baby bunny got in. I got real inspired to fix that quickly!