Comment

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on November 29, 2011 at 5:35pm

Ken, I like the red rocks on the floor for my girls. I will bring some of these rocks for the tour or let me know.BTW  I am planning to get off the grid, next year. let's talk.

 

Comment by Ken Richardson on November 29, 2011 at 5:04pm

Oh, by the way I am a new member, so that is why you haven't seen me before. I enjoy AP and think it is the farming of the future. I have been doing AP for a little over 2 years now, learning the whole time. There is so much misinformation out there, some times its hard to know what to do. Sylvia's group is very good and Murray Hallum is super with information too. Australia is far ahead of us in AP, but we are getting on board with the program. I am no expert, but have learned lots though trial and error, plus good information. I live on 40 acres in the mountains off grid, so don't have access to power yet that is dependable all the time. I deal with water that is between 7.0 - 8.4 ph out of the ground due to amount of limestone in the area. Thank you for allowing me to join your group.

Comment by Ken Richardson on November 29, 2011 at 4:51pm

Dave,    I would be interested in knowing more about the rocks your talking about, such as cost, sizing and if ph neutral. If they are shale that your talking about they are very good to use. I use the cinder rocks here because of being cheap, easy to get and ph neutral.

Comment by Ken Richardson on November 29, 2011 at 4:42pm

I am not anywhere close to you guys, living off grid outside of St. Johns, Az. about 200 miles from Phx. It would be fun to see what everyone is doing and how it is going. I have a small ap unit in my motor-home that is about 2 yrs old and works well except I cannot keep the temp up high enough during the winter. I have some tomatoes that are close to being ripe but I don't think they will make it though the cold coming this weekend. I have a much larger ap unit using barrels outside that I will start up this March. It will have 18 half barrels with a 600 gal tank and many "zip towers". It will be run by a 1200gph DC pump and I have 150 talapia to go into it. I am using cinder rock (a red volcanic rock) that is full of holes and is neutral ph. It is also very cheap in this area sized 3/4in. to use. The tank is a swimming pool 8ft wide by 30in deep that I got for $35 at Big Lots. I will use 4 half barrels for DWC to grow lettuce and other green leafy. I am building a greenhouse around this and hope to keep it going all year. I will try to add some pics of both soon.

Comment by Ken Richardson on November 29, 2011 at 4:11pm

David,  I wouldn't use pea gravel due to the clogging issues it has. Growing Power is the only one I know that uses it and they do so for growing certain types of lettuce. I wouldn't use perlite either due to as it gets older it tends to break into smaller pieces and can clog up your system too. The best and cheapest to use is 3/4 inch gravel. You have to be aware of where it came from i.e, limestone area that would drive your ph way up and not even know why it is doing that. When you set your system up it would be a good ideal to watch some of Murray Hallums videos if you can. He is super on the information he has. Good luck on your efforts.

Comment by Sheri Schmeckpeper on November 29, 2011 at 3:59pm

Hey, David S(chwing...),

An AP tour would be wonderful! Just a heads up if you don't know, Dennis McClung of GardenPool.org put out feelers for an AP tour about a month ago. I'm not sure how far he's gotten with the plans; I think he's been pretty busy. We've been meaning to sign up but we've been pretty busy, too. :)  Anyway, it might be worthwhile to combine the tours & efforts. Just a thought.

Sheri Schmeck...

Comment by David Kirkland on November 29, 2011 at 10:11am

Doh, I'll blame it on being so tired!

I only have a single IBC tote and it's not done yet, but I would be totally down with an AP Tour.  We could include the GardenPool.org (Mesa) in our tour, and there's a working single IBC tote system at GroLots (next to the Metro Mall behind Culver's).

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on November 29, 2011 at 9:54am

cool

near the top of this page    AP Tour

I have a great time experimenting and working with aquaponics and discussions

 

Comment by David Kirkland on November 29, 2011 at 9:39am

What AP Tour? Haha, everything you say makes me want to know more!

Comment by Dave & Yvonne Story on November 29, 2011 at 8:01am

aquaponics stones should be available this week. I will bring some samples to the AP Tour and or you can see and discuss them at my place, but I am in Tucson.

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