Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yes. (short answer).

Rats - the list is too long. But honestly the best success I've had is with the cheap $1.50 spring traps and peanut butter. Water bucket with peanut butter on a PVC spinner gets a couple. Everything else was mostly a waste (Ratinator cage, electronic trap, etc.).

Raccoons - Pellet gun repeatedly and they have not been back. Apparently I left a lasting impression.

Coyote and rabbits - not a problem...yet

I don't really have issues with flies, but for aphids and similar pests I use Dr Earth spray - pepper, peppermint, garlic, etc. - fish safe and natural. has been working well so far.

Powdery mildew is my bane. I'm constantly cutting leaves (mostly squash and melons) and spraying with potassium bicarbonate blend.

Additives: I use Maxcrop powder, DPTA iron chelate and rock dust. About 2 Tbsp a couple times a month or so in my 1000 gal system. I'm considering calcium carbonate but not needed so far. I do have shell grit in bags in my systems.

The best recipe I've found for rats is 1/3 each of rolled oats, honey and peanut butter, blended and rolled into pellets, then placed on rat traps as needed. Holds its shape well and not easily removed. Works well on mice too.

I'll give it a try, Thanks !!

A while back I started some okra in my dwc. One got too big to transplant so I left it. It outgrew the ones in the gb's by 5x and got way too big for the dwc. I supported it with slats and planks for a while, but it finally overcame the support system. It still seems to be doing well, but it's probably time to remove it and make room for fall and winter plants in the dwc.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's an enthusiastic plant all right! XD

>> That's an enthusiastic plant all right! XD

I like that it still has its original basket in place at the bottom of the stem

And the little label so I know what it is!

Well, for future reference you know that okra really likes living in the DWC... maybe if you planned out a support frame for them in advance you could keep them standing?

wow, I've read through this thread two or three times and for some reason never followed it so hadn't seen the updates this year.. I just watched the growing passion episode, pretty exciting! You have an AP system made for TV!

Thanks. Yes it was pretty cool to be on the show. I was lucky that my yard showed well on TV, I think it looks pretty good. Kudos to my wife for the brick pattern and color selection. If only she had installed them too! That kinda work is hard on the back. But we did have a work party to get that done. 25 friends came over and I filleted 50 tilapia and served fish tacos to everyone for lunch! We prepped and laid all the bricks, installed the decking and built the staircase to the upper deck.

Nice. Work parties are one of my favorite social events. Love fish tacos too.

It's been an interesting month for electrical issues. I have a lot of electric devices running with two AP systems, 9kW solar system, a backup generator, an electric car, central AC and a small machine shop at the house. A while back I installed a sub panel and a rotary 3 phase converter for a CNC machine I acquired.

Since that time I've been examining my electricity usage and equipment performance. I found several issues that I would like to share, one of which likely would have caused a house fire.

Last week I was adding some powerheads to my large pond to aid with circulation and aeration. These are 110 volt units that submerge in water. Earlier that morning I was in the pond up to my waist removing and cleaning the drain screen. After I installed the powerheads I put my hand in the water and felt a small but sharp tingle, or electric shock. I immediately unplugged the new devices, but I was still getting a small shock when I touched the water. This is bizarre in the extreme as I have a grounding conductor in the pond, so the GFCI breaker should have tripped. This could have been a very bad day:

I have a little 3-light plug in tester that has a pushbutton for testing GFCI circuit function. Everything I checked looked good, but the breaker I have for my rear yard and AP system would not trip when I tested the GFCI function. It turns out the breaker that I thought was a combination AFCI/GFCI was actually only an arc-fault breaker. This is dangerous around wet locations.

Ultimately I found a wire for future expansion that was taped up at the end may have been damp, though I could not see or feel any moisture. I capped the individual wires and re-taped the end very well. I found another connection that might have been loose an re-installed the wire nut. After replacing the breaker with a proper GFCI I turned on the power and everything seems fine. The breaker also trips now when I test the GFCI function.

Two weeks before that, I noticed my main electric panel was getting warm when my car was charging. I checked several things but mostly the 100 amp main breaker and the surrounding panel area were very warm. I was using less than 50 amps, so this was unusual. I removed several covers and started checking temperature with an IR thermometer. My main breaker was hot (110 °F), but the two incoming wires seemed to be the problem. One wire was 100°, the other was over 230°F!

I called my utility but they were reluctant to send someone out as "anything past the supply wires" is my issue. Call an electrician they said. Well once we checked the supply wires behind the electric meter, this is what we found:


The bare wire area is supposed to be covered with insulation. It was getting so hot the insulation melted off. Yes it is touching the adjacent wire and almost melted through that insulation also. These wires connect my main breaker to the electric meter, and if they shorted out would have all the power the utility can provide feeding a short circuit arc. This was likely very close to setting my house on fire.


We replaced the aluminum supply wires with copper, but things were still getting hot. So we disassembled, cleaned and tightened all the meter connections. Still not good, one wire was 80° and the other was 150° under a moderate load. So I had to replace the entire meter socket. After that, everything is fine.

So, end of electrical safety announcement. Be safe everyone and test those GFCI outlets and breakers!!

Holy cow. I like the thermal checker idea. Glad it worked out. Lot's of good information on electrical safety here. Thank you for posting. I need to get a gfci tester and use it.

I was very happy with this sweet potato. It's hard to see but it's just over 2 lbs. I cheated though, I grew this in dirt - call it a decoupled wicking bed.



Are you supposed to dry, cure, or otherwise age potatoes before eating them? This one went straight from the dirt, washed, peeled and cooked. It was delicious.

Awesome.https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/cure-sweet-potatoes-zbcz1310