spirulina, home made supplement

spiritrancho

You can find several automatic sprouters on line with pics and ideas, do a google. It is to dark right now for photos but here is a parts list and sources.
1. Arizona misters, with 1/4"hose and tees @ hardwares stores, or on line.
2. Saddle valve, like used for a icemaker tap, or a tee in sink faucet with reducer to 1/4" pipe and adaptor to 1/4" hose.
3. Pressure reducing valve with gage, with 1/4" hose barbs hardware store or online.
4. 115v. Solinoid valve 1/4", 1/4 ' hose adaptors hardware store or on line.
5. 24 hour timer with 15 min on every four hours @ pet or aquarium stores
6. Clear plastic tote at least 10" deep with lid.( I use one for wheatgrass and one for other sprouts, stacked) Size these to fit in sunny window on a shelf, or rig a flourecent lamp on timer. Found at discount stores or walmart.
7. Plastic trays to fit into tote and hold seeds. Drilled with drain holes at ends. Drawer dividers like for silverware will work. Found at discount stores or walmart.
8. Buckets to catch drain water or sink to catch drains. A bucket allows all the nutrients drined from sprouts to be used on garden plants. I use mine to dilute saved urine before pouting on fruit trees.
9. Sprouting seeds available @ health food stores and on line. Fresh organic wheat grass will sprout as will rye and whole oats barely.

Set up: Drill 3/8 holes in tote near bottom to recieve hoses holding mist nozzels every eight inches on each side. Rig a drain in lid of tote and place clear bottom on top. Connect water source to PRV and solinoid then to misters. Set up timer to run misters every 4 hrs 15 min during daylight in winter and every three hours 15 min summers. Set PRV to 15 pounds. Tote will need to be tilted to allow draining

Daily Procedure: Wet bottom of tray and sprinkle sprouts in, spray and place in sprouter. Radish, clover, alfalfa etc sprout quickly and will usually be ready in 5 days. Harvest a tray a day and replace it with more. If sized right a tote will hold 6 trays for table sprouts or four for juicing sprouts. Wheat grass takes eight days in winter to be ready. Juicers dont do well with sprouts, but blending with orange or other juice even water or ice will make healthy tasty drink

Pics to follow

hopeless

spiritrancho wrote:

I have been studing how to produce spirulina to supplement our diet with this superfood. If we can do this in a relatively inexpensive and sustainable way we can reduce the vitamins and minerals that cost ever more and are ever more required for health. Grocery store products are increasingly devoid of vital nutrients and loaded up with stuff that is less than health promoting. We grow as much of our produce, meat and dairy as we are able, with garden orchard and aquaphonics, but it is not enough. In the event that grocery store products are not available or to expensive how are we to cope?
My answer is to produce spirulina at home in a continuose supply, so the two of us will have five grams or more a day. Spirulina has over 50% protien and is loaded with amino acids, essential fatty acids and all the minerals required. The only thing missing is vitamin C.
A month ago I purchased a cheap 10 gal aquarium heater and air pump. I bougth some Guillards f2 nutrient, and ordered a 50ml culture of spirulina.
]http://ketomovement.com.au/keto-os-supplement/keto%20os%20supplement
I set this all up in a south(sunward) window and put additional light on a timer for 16 hours a day. In summer the light and timer will draw little or no power but now it makes it all work. Now I have to harvest the filaments of algae that stick to the sides and float on the water surface daily. This allows the algae to get sunlight clear thru the media. I place the spirulina in a 50mc strainer and wash it a bit and it is ready to use in a slurpy or in food prperation or to dry. My culture is not very dense yet but I still get 5to10 grams a day dry wieght of spirulina.
After drying thoughly the algae can be powdered and put in capsules for later use. The cheapest spirulina I have found is powder at $22 per pound plus S&H. We do not know if they use high heat or freeze drying and leave an inert product. We do not know if it is tested for contaminants, or if is short some of the nutrients desired. Our spirulina is from out home environment, and spiked with exptra nutrients, and handled to preserve it best

People have used bacteria in a bottle and other products but so far, I've not heard much in the way of positive reviews other than from Friendlies I think.

Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

spirulina, home made supplement

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics