Covering the System

Our aquaponic system was getting a lot of black volcano dust
on the vegetables. Spots were also appearing on the lettuce.
Some friends suggested the spots could be from the acid rain
we often receive as a result of living so close to an active volcano.

After a lot of investigation and thought we decided to
semi cover the plant part of the system with
greenhouse quality plastic.

We made hoops about 7 feet tall from PVC  pipe and put them over the plant troughs. Then we ran the plastic over the hoops but not all the way down to the ground. We brought the plastic down to within 18 inches of the plant troughs so
air can flow   across the plants and they do not overheat
in Hawaii's tropical sun. The ends of the hoops are
also open for air flow .

A month later and it is obvious this was a good idea.
The plants are cleaner and growing faster. The
spots on the lettuce have disappeared.

All is once again green and clean  in the garden.

TARO

Taro is a root crop grown mostly in the tropics.
The root is a starch that is eaten by many Polynesians .
The leaves are also eaten when properly cooked.

I planted a few in my aquaponic system and have had fairly good luck
growing them. I used 1 gallon food grade buckets for net pots.
Drilled lots of holes in the buckets before putting coconut fiber planting material
in  them, then I cut big holes in the  floats so the buckets fit.

Once everything was wet the buckets were sitting on the bottom of the system resting on the food grade expensive liner.
Not a good situation !
Solution was :
Put small chunks of float material under the buckets and all
seemed to be well.

Three months later and the Taro are growing  much faster than they did
in the garden.

Aphids in Your System

What to do when aphids invade ?  Screaming and cussing help you
feel better but you need something else to kill off the aphids without
killing off your fish.

A good beginning attack would be to make a tea with garlic cloves and chili peppers .
This needs to be sprayed on your vegetables several times a week.

To make the tea crush a whole bulb of garlic to a real mush. Do the same
with a handful of hot chili peppers. You  need to wear rubber gloves and eye
goggles when handling the chili peppers. I once got chili pepper
in my eye and thought I was going to die. (The cure for chili pepper in the eye
is cold milk in the eye…..lots of it.)

Add  two gallons of water to  the garlic and chili pepper mush.
Let it set in the sun for several days. Strain and spray on your plants.
Again, protect your hands and eyes.
Spray on your vegetables 3  or 4 times a week.

Wash your vegetables before eating.

Fish and other Creatures in your Aquaponics

Who or what lives in your aquaponic system ?
I have white Tilapia living in
tanks that drain into my vegetable troughs.  BUT  they are not the only creatures in
the system.

 Who else lurks  there under the vegetables? It probably depends
on where you live.

Here in Hawai :
Red worms magically appear after 6 months or so . Later a small shrimp that
cleans the roots of the plants appeared. These are both good guys that you want in your system.
The red worms and the small shrimp (gammarus) live on the bottom of our system as well as in the roots of the plants.

Pests occasionally found in the system include slugs , snails, and once even a centipede.

There are other creatures that you can add to your system too.
Prawns like to live in your troughs
under the plants.  They are very tasty but on the down side, they fight and kill each other
and even crawl out of the system at times.
Catfish can also live under your plants and if fed won't do too much damage to your plant roots since they are bottom feeders.

Old Guys ! No Weeding or Watering Your Garden !

Plant your veggies in an aquaponic garden and you will
never again have to pull weeds or water your garden.

Your seeds are planted in a net pot filled with coconut fiber.
Once the seeds sprout you stick the net pot into  a hole in
in the styrofoam float.

The water from the fish tank flows under the float and feeds and  waters
the plant.

Aquaponics is an ideal gardening method for those of us
starting to be bothered by age related problems.

Best Lettuce

I have come to the conclusion that the best lettuce grown in the aquaponic
 system , in Hawaii , is Butter head lettuce.

 I like the small miniature heads . They grow
quickly and they don't take over a lot of the space on the float.
One head makes a big salad for one person.

The mini Butter lettuce comes in 3 colors  green, red and a
kind of mix of red and green.

Butter lettuce  seems to not be too picky
about the weather. It grows  even when it is really hot outside
.
The secret is the  lettuce likes the  cool water in the system, so even when the weather and
sun are hot the plants have cool water circulating around their roots.

Aquaponic System needs Iron

Plants are growing again as we recover from the snail invasion.

Lots of green beans have been planted  in batches 2 weeks apart. They are jumping .

Summer squash is growing but has a lot of yellow on the leaves.

Taro is also growing but looking pale.

Butter lettuce is growing fast now and looks good.

Thai Basil is producing lots of tasty leaves.

Kale is just starting to grow.

Swiss Chard is speeding up too.

The yellow showing up in the squash and 

taro is a message. The plants are telling us that there is an iron deficiency in the system. So we will dilute some chelated iron 

and slowly add it to the system. The yellow leaves should disappear within a week and things will grow even faster.