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Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on October 15, 2013 at 3:51pm

I'm sharing this with everyone because many aquapons have or want chickens and other food-based animals. Regulations are stifling, mostly because of the ignorance about what a "farm animal" is. So, people are coming together throughout AZ and beyond to put pressure on cities & states to allow us to grow our own food.
The hope is to start with chickens and move to all sorts of animals. There's a meeting in Chandler this Saturday at 7pm at the new Shoppers store. Search for the FB site: Backyard Chickens For All In Arizona for details.
This is a first step in protecting property rights and the right to produce healthful, sustainable, ecological, and flavorful food for our own homes.

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on October 13, 2013 at 9:32pm

Very nice Matt. One small suggestion. If the foam insulation on your fish tank does NOT have foil on both sides, then, if it would not mess things up, turn the foil side in towards the tank. In the summer, the foil as it is, reflects heat away from the tank. By turning it around so the foil faces in, it will help keep your tank warm by reflecting the heat that is trying to get out of your tank, back in to it. Just a thought.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on October 13, 2013 at 8:42pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9L9JhRmP6g

Comment by John Malone on October 13, 2013 at 3:15pm

Solar Panel Upgrade

Now that I've got the fish tank temperature monitored, I can tell that it's too cold for my poor little friends.  Time to resurrect the solar water heater.  Oh dear - looks like I've got a leak or two.  No drama.  Uh-oh - the pipes are all mooshed. (Technical term).  *Sigh* - time to do a full rebuild and not cheap out on the pipework.  Here are the photos.

Collapsed Irrigation Pipe

Rebuilt Solar Panel using PVCLive temperature chart: Click here.

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on October 13, 2013 at 12:54pm

Sing it John!  That is the truth...  I bought some Stevia seeds a little while ago and couldn't get one to germinate 

Comment by John Malone on October 13, 2013 at 11:01am

Hello Miriam,

Unfortunately Aquaponics isn't quite the wonder cure-all that that the evangelists make it out to be.   Much to my disappointment, I actually had to learn how to grow plants.  i.e. Plant at the right time, protect from the elements (either hot or cold), use viable seeds, provide nutrients and minerals that might be missing, etc, etc...

My first tomato plants went ghostly yellow.  It was weird.   Turns out that high pH will do that.  Who knew?    Bean seeds go moldy really easily.  Didn't know that either.   I went through about 200 bean seeds doing trial and error until I figured out what they like.  I had one tray of tomato seeds with 100% germination.  Yay - I got it figured.  Next batch?  Zero!

Some plants just don't play nice for me in AP, while others have roaring successes.  I'm OK with that.  I plant most of my area with things that I know will work for me and experiment with those I struggle with in my trial area.  This is the first season I've managed to get a squash/zucchini to set fruit.  Highly frustrating.  But lettuce and tomatoes I can do, so I've got plenty of those.

There's a reason that master gardeners are usually wizened elderly people;  it's taken many seasons of trial and error, and being out in the garden, to figure out what works.   If you know anyone who has a super green thumb, pick their brains.  I complained to my Dad that I couldn't grow beans from seed. "Oh - they don't like being wet after the first watering..."   He was right. If I'd bothered to ask earlier I would have saved myself weeks of experimentation.  Nothing, but nothing, beats experience.   Getting it yourself is a long and frustrating process.  Learning from an expert often shortcuts the process.

Good luck.

Comment by Miriam Badou on October 13, 2013 at 10:41am

Thanks for all the great ideas. I have tried planting seeds every possible way th do them. They either don't come up or they start to grow and then die off. I know you have to find the way that works best in your area. Haven't found it yet. I am going to try your ideas and see what happens. I have to find my green thumb.

Comment by Dr. George B. Brooks, Jr. on October 13, 2013 at 2:23am

I found on the web a neat way of planting seeds in DWC. Hope you find it useful.

Here is the link: http://bit.ly/16XR6dk

Comment by John Malone on October 12, 2013 at 10:24pm

I'm a big proponent of planting seeds.

As Matt indicated, you can just scatter the small seeds like lettuce in to the gravel.  I water them in with a spray from the hose so that they'll fall in the cracks.  Super easy.

Larger seeds I 'plant' in the gravel, but not too deep.  i.e. only one rock deep and I like to be able to see the seed peeking out.  It's pretty tough on a plant to grow with a rock sitting on it's head.

I've got a lot of self-sown tomatoes from fruit that dropped off the spring plants.  

Comment by Matt Miskinnis on October 12, 2013 at 10:00pm

I do both, I currently threw in seeds for lettuce and bok choy, but the only a few lettuce took, the bok choy on the other hand are did awesome.  I have bought plants from home depot with great success, but make sure you inspect the plants you buy to make sure that you are not introducing new pests.  I once bought broccoli plants that where infected with aphids and I ended up battling them for an entire season.

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