Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Good feeling once the hard work is done. I'm glad it is working. They look like ideal containers for your purpose.

I just thought i'd add a bit more to clarify my statement above. I was in a bit of a rush clearly that day.

Generally all soils will wick moisture, even sands. Hydrophobic soils need time to moisten first to become more fluffy to do so reliably. The main reason for the caution on clay is saturation in wicking beds, and the retractive drying in standard raised beds, whereby the soil cracks away from the retaining structure when it drys out, creating a gap. Then with followup watering most water flows through to the ground before wetting the retained media, as was the case I described above.

Clay is good for building dams and adobe buildings though. I have a rammed earth chicken coop plan in the works, but whether it happens...

I'm glad that you got things sorted out with your wicking beds. They are an awesome thing. I find that they save me lots of water and time. As a side note, clay is definitely good for lots of things, as Asitis says.

Are you a potter or ceramicist by chance?

I had a ton of it from a hole I dug for a recent build, so I processed it, and made this. Haven't tried to fire it yet though.

I reread your post, and realized that I missed the part about adding clay soil. Sorry. i thought you were mixing in straight clay! Maybe you could put it to some other use though.....????

Hey, no worries!

I've topped it up with compost, top soil and rotted manure, still have a good 15-20 cm to the top, which I can use for topping up. I've not compacted the soil at all, just dropped it in.

Put some peas and soya beans in, let's see how they do... Once weather is better, some carrots will go towards the front. In some small pots I've done mini wicking buckets with some more peas and chillies... Let's see how we go!


Clay soil , I have a mixture of heavy clay (proper solid stuck together type) and some which is just small soil/clay balls... I've dug the heavy and mixed in rotten manure... Hopefully will help break it down... The rest, I've add some plant feed and compost/topsoil mix and put some tomato seedlings in...


Meanwhile, any ideas of I can plant veg on the heavy clay soil with the manure mixed in? It's well rotten but only put it in two weeks ago...

You are going into spring right? What is the weather like?

If it's warm enough cucumbers might be an option. They seem to like the high nitrogen levels, maybe some bush courgette or zucchini? I am guessing we are quite a bit warmer than you here, but the volunteer squash have just started popping up around the yard.

Even if it's a trailing type, it might do ok, as it can cascade out of the container.

Thanks for the tips- i misstyped my question - should have been " any ideas IF i can plant" rather then of - though i have courgette seeds ready to go out - though was thinking they may do better in the wicking bed - or shall i put them in the ground and provide a frame to climb up?

I have seeds for corn, peas, soya beans and courgette can these go in to manure/soil mix?

Carrots im looking to put in the wicking bed - no stones so hopefully grow fairly well!

Transplanted my seedlings from small tray to larger boxes, but the leaves are starting to die?


The chillies have pumace at the bottom, a weed membrane, then topsoil only.

The tomatoes are just straight in topsoil - with holes at the bottom of the pot for excess water...


I've been putting them outside in the day - been between 15-20 most of the time, and then brought them in overnight.

The chillies i have topped up water from bottom every 3-4 days, tomatoes been watered from top 1 -2 days.

Any ideas?

Bit tricky to see. Observe the new growth, how does that look? To cope with transplant shock plants will suck energy back in from the older growth and direct towards root repair/development. After they find there footing should spring back if conditions permit.

Some shade cloth will help protect the plants from sun beating on them while they get established. In my climate direct sunlight will wilt even mature established plants.

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

It looks like heat stroke,especially the tomatoes.
The air temperature is different to the leaf temperature when there is direct sun on them.

Put them in the sun with translucent plastic over them for a couple of weeks & then on a overcast day take the plastic away.Harden them off.

The above are all inside the house! Tomato'es perked up once I stopped watering them...

Peas though are not doing so well...

Photos attached...

Wicking bed is doing well (except the day a rat got in and dug up some of the soya beans!) Peas at the back right, put in new soya beans to back left. Middle is two gala melon seeds (trying to see if they will fruit!) front left i have put in some pepper seeds, and then carrots were "sprinkled" by my daughter so growing in clumps.


Peas were doing well, but then wilted...

The ones in the wicking bed are thick stemmed, the ones in the house seem week and not strong enough to hold their own weight.

The compost is the same, the seeds are from the same pack- only difference is the strong ones are outside in the wicking bed with a plastic sheet over, the weak ones are in the house.

Tomatoes, the yellow is the way the leaves are - i took off most of the dry and dying ones, and reduced watering - seem to be better now!

Chillies- dont seem to be gaining any height or strength...

All of these are inside in prep for putting in the ground/wicking bed once weather gets better... but looks like they will be dead before they go out!

Any tips?

Probably not enough light on the spindly plants. Sounds like you might be having some problems with damping off as well (although it could just be the light levels).

Thanks for the feedback scotty - interesting re the damping off, The peas are in "mini" wicking beds, and the pots are leaking so not much water retention, that said, i have stopped watering them now, and keeping an eye on the soil itself. The tomatoes growth is better when i stopped over watering them, but leaves have now discoloured! The soil did seem overly wet so over the last week or two i have greatly reduced the water amounts across all of the pot.

I will be putting them out in the day to hopefully get more sun, looking to setup a second wicking bed outside so will try and transplant the peas into there - will have a glass lid overnight so hopefully much more sunlight!

Just to update, the wicking bed works, i thought i planted melon seeds (which i may have done!) but also two courgettes, some peas, carrots... The courgettes have taken over, but the peas are doing much better then those i put in the ground.

I've also setup a second one, similar design, less top soil, (ran out and lock down meant i couldn't get more!). Spinich, a few strawberries and two more courgetts starting to grow in there - was done maybe a month or so after the above (wanted to make sure it worked first!) so a bit behind!

But both are working well.

One big mistake i have made on the gray box - i make the hole for the outlet a few mm to small - the outlet had to be threaded in, which actually means i havent got it as tight as it should be - so ive got a slow leak from it! on the next one, i make it big enough for the fitting to slide in and then the internal sealing nut could properly seal with a washer... so once that tub is dead, will need to fix that!