Recirculating Vertigro

[M Cosmo]

As you may know I am currently using Vertigro stacks. I have 12 stacks of six pots in each stack. Most Vertigro systems are not "drain and collection" but anchored to the ground.  Many are large u-pick strawberry farms. You can see lots of pics on the Vertigro site. I have been growing in them since last spring.  As far as I know I am one of only a few that are trying to use them in an Aquaponic system. Vertigro does make a patented " drain and collection" system. 

http://www.vertigro.com/products/showroom/rotastack.php

There are some problems with this when using it in an Aquaponic system.  This collection system is for thier drip - emitter watering method. This may sound confusing but how this works is there is a 12" metal EMT pipe  that goes through the entire stack into the "Tee" at the bottom. The hole in the bottom of the pot is 3/4 of an inch.  There is more involved here but to make a long story short this system can't process the flow necessary for a Recirculating system. I have a solution to this problem.  I am installing Uniseals in each pot.

Check these things out.  They make it for standard PVC and threaded fittings. 

I will connect the pots to an additional 1" line PVC line that will drain to the sump. This is simpler than re-eingineering the collection pots. I will post pics of this system when I have it done. 

http://www.aussieglobe.com/uniseal2.htm

You can't grow in the bottom pot as it is collecting the flow.  

I will be changing the distrubution plumbing to something closer to way Nate is doing it. 

I don't know the right flow rate yet or the right media mix. I know a few of you have had some experience with Vertigro.  Tell me what you experienced. 

[M Cosmo]

Vertigro - The Good the Bad the Dirty
The Good - Working at a convenient hight. Rotation of stack for even light. Confuses bugs. Excellent use of vertical space. Mobility of the stacks. Insulation in high heat exposure. Long established track history and lots of data on use in large commercial installations. Low cost. $4.50 or less a pot. Uses Coir and pearlite. Can be installed over a collection tank or trough.

The Bad - Little to no information on its use in Aquaponics. Needs some engineering for an effective plumbed recirculation system. Not a lot of information on Organic nutrient feeding.

The Dirty - One of the problems I have found is that when you harvest a plant above more plants below you get some loose coir on the lower plants. This can be washed off or blown off. I have modified a dust pan to to make this cleaner and easier. For a home system this is fine. For a larger commercial system you would have to plant the whole stack and harvest it at one time.

[Ron Thompson]

Michael,

I should just call you with this, but am working today without a phone. Another option would be to simply drill holes in the EMT and allow it to act as a drain as well. However I think your solution is better. I am still thinking of going with a 5-gallon bucket for collection (esp under the tomato stacks).

[M Cosmo]

Ron has a system that is outside. The tomato towers are 3 pots with a few feet below the third vertigro po until the collection pot. The wind can cause the water dripping from the bottom of the third pot to blow outside the diameter of the collection pot. So a lot of what is going in this stack is lost. By using a larger 5 gal diameter pot Ron can have a greater collection circle. Ron - put up some pics of your system and some closeups of what this looks like. Also post your organic Maxicrop mixture on the other thread.


Ron Thompson said:

Michael,

I should just call you with this, but am working today without a phone. Another option would be to simply drill holes in the EMT and allow it to act as a drain as well. However I think your solution is better. I am still thinking of going with a 5-gallon bucket for collection (esp under the tomato stacks).