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Comment by Matt Miskinnis on July 30, 2014 at 4:34pm

Hey kim, I never got it implemented, but it would easy to create. It would be a simple cheap motion sensor that could be set up to a cheap motor that would have ribbons or reflective material that would be spun by the motor when the motion sensor gets triggered. Then just place it were the birds would land to scare them off. If you want me to, I'll look into what it would take to create.

Comment by Kim Romen on July 30, 2014 at 2:35pm

Matt, i am reading through posts from last summer trying to get a sense of what the heck will grow in the systems in the summer.  u had posted something about coming up with a unit that will turn out with a motion sensor when birds go near the system.  did u ever try to implement that?  the pigeons are just hanging out drinking water in my system and the two tiny watermelon that started to grow got devoured by something, pretty sure a bird.  i want to be ready for when the system starts growing something again.

i will say i was hesitant to pull dead stuff cuz i thought it shades the green plants, but i pulled it cuz i wanted to plant some more and not look at so much brown.  i have a tiny forest of okra in the system.  chives still going good.  i called Ribah farms and they said they only have herbs and small lettuce plants growing in their system. 

Comment by Jeff S on July 30, 2014 at 6:41am

I'm not in AZ but couldn't you bury your water line(s) 3-4' down and take advantage of a constant ground temperature?

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on July 29, 2014 at 10:54pm

This summer has indeed been a bitch.  Last weekend I went all out to cool my system.  I have the plants - 9 + pepper plants in my tall grow bed and they have been stagnant in the heat, they are alive but not producing flowers. My second grow bed has 3 tomato plants which two have died.  I planted 8 or so strawberries - dead, and a basil plant.  So the second growbed is basically now just the on tomato plant and basil (the basil hasn't flowered like it was but is still growing).  My water temp got as hot as 93, but now I got it to a  manageable  80-82 degrees by shading the FT 100% complete with a tarp and also opening the lid and  aerating the water that goes in with a 12 volt fan blowing on the water (imagine a mister system going into the tank with a fan blowing on it to add to the cooling)  I also surrounded any PVC that moves water with reflective insulation to make sure the sun wont heat those pipes.  along with that I added a fan to directly blow on the pepper plants.  That seems to have stimulated some flowering now on the peppers, I still need to add a fan to the second grow bed also.  I am in the process of creating the fans into ice chest fans to blow cooler air during the day  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITtlxjvLQis so I'm hoping this will be enough to stimulate the plants.  Good luck with the heat every one, here is my current temp right now... 

Comment by Azwildbill on July 29, 2014 at 4:32pm

Hi has anyone ever been to the shrimp farm at Gila Bend?  I think it's parcel number 402-03-011w  on the http://maps.mcassessor.maricopa.gov/ web site. It's owned by az-wood holdings. It is listed as agriculture/vacant land and it has been that way since 2011 according to the website. Google maps has an old photo  

47510 Old US Highway 80

Gila Bend, AZ 85337

33.014749, -112.670792

Could someone verify that this was the location north of town.  

I will do some updates of my garden.  Our tomatoes, strawberries, chard and peppers are still alive. Our basil is doing great, the cabbage is still alive however it is covered in bugs and has been eaten by bugs.  Asparagus is still alive and the rhubarb is still alive.  The summer heat here has been very intense and we have lost several plants.  The Moringa tree is now 5 ft tall and full of blossoms.  It is planted in dirt.  Our raised beds are struggling.  We lost all our cucumbers but our watermelon is still growing.  All our squash was eaten by squash bugs and we lost them all with in a weeks time. We've hit temperatures as high as 116 degrees in our back yard and it has been very intense.

Comment by Arlene Baker on July 29, 2014 at 12:42pm

@Timothy: I'll try giving you a shout on Wednesday, since I am busy running errands and taking take of crap I couldn't get done while working.

@Matt: video kind of dark, but hopefully, you have something left after the storm. The north area got hammered badly. I'm in the heart of town, and we have not only managed to escape any bad storms, alas, we have also escaped any rain too.

@all:  everything is dying in my system but the fish (thankfully). I keep ending up with floaters of wormy-looking caterpillars of some sort. they are hairless, and pink on the top, and otherwise fleshy looking. Where are they coming from? I have my tank under the back awning, and sun shade on the east side, plant growth elsewhere.Looking at it from the north. Nothing seems to be growing, including my basil. And the darned mite, or whatever, keeps eating leaves. I looked at the California site recommended, but there doesn't seem to be anything organic that I can use? Who else is having this problem that has solved it? Or do I just need to wait another month before replanting cukes, peppers, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and zucchini, which is what I want to grow in the AP, along with a few herbs. It started out awesome, then just fell apart.

Comment by Kim Romen on July 28, 2014 at 3:27pm

John, what were u able to grow last summer?  the only thing that's making it in my garden, really, r okra, sunflowers, and marigolds which while using them for pest contril ironically had white eggs on them.

Matt, did your greenhouse stand afterall?

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on July 27, 2014 at 12:55am

hope everyone is dong okay, just had a monsoon come through, took a quick video capturing my garden getting blown away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUbNKxGhhNc&feature=youtu.be

Comment by Timothy Borg on July 26, 2014 at 2:05pm

@Arlene, congratulations on retirement!!  I would be happy to give you some worms though I checked them this morning and they did not seem too happy.  I think it is the heat.  Give me a call and we can set something up, 602-513-2798.  I am just down the road from you.

Comment by John Malone on July 26, 2014 at 2:00pm

Return to AP

After managing to kill all my large tilapia and all the new fingerlings, I decided to let the system sit for a while.  Couldn't be bothered.  Nothing likes growing in this heat and I didn't know what to do to save the fish.

A good month or so has gone by and today I got back to the AP system.   I pulled out all the tomato plants, which had finished fruiting and weren't setting any new fruit in this heat.   The beans never set fruit either.   The only thing that is doing half decent are the peppers, basil and mint.   Heat loving plants.  Who knew!

I built a air bubbler rack out of 1/2" PVC so that I could disperse air throughout the whole of the fish tank.  Bought a 'commercial' air pump (Elemental O2 Commercial Air Pump, 951 GPH) and hooked it all up.   I am pretty sure that I've got enough air in the tank now.  The fish can take up surfing if they want.

Since AP really falls apart quickly, as I discovered, if there are no fish in the tank I got 20 goldfish from the pet store as sacrificial test subjects.   8 died over a couple of days, but the rest seem to be holding up OK.   I bought another 30 today to see how we go.   Cheap goldfish are notoriously weak and die easily (as is evidenced by the floaters in the pet shop tank, if you look closely!) so I'm working on the theory that if I can keep the goldfish alive I should be ready for tilapia.   

The current water temperature is about 86F which is getting high for goldfish, so there's another factor to consider.

I'll start thinking about planting for Fall soon and get this show back on the road.

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