Aquaponic Gardening

A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Permaculture Aquaponics

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Permaculture Aquaponics

This group is to explore aquaponics in the context of permaculture. So how is your system interconnected beneficially with your landscape? Polyculture. Water harvesting. Aquatic ecosystem design. Passive heating and cooling.

Website: http://www.urbanfarmguru.com
Members: 141
Latest Activity: Sep 29, 2019

Discussion Forum

Growing Root Vegetables in Aquaponics.

Started by Miguel Afonso. Last reply by Dave & Yvonne Story Feb 8, 2015. 10 Replies

What root crops grow well in you aquaponics system?  Potatoes and sweet potatoes are often touted to not do well in aquaponics systems. If you were to able to grow then in a light medium with a flood…Continue

Harvesting Rainwater with Aquaponics System

Started by Miguel Afonso. Last reply by larry poe May 31, 2014. 12 Replies

We all know you can capture tons of water off your roof, and more often than not there is no way to store it all. There are also factors related to the health of rainwater captured from a roof,…Continue

Warm Blooded vs. Cold Blooded Aquaponics

Started by Miguel Afonso. Last reply by larry poe May 30, 2014. 17 Replies

It is often touted that aquaponics should be strictly done with cold blooded creatures to mitigate the chance of spreading human diseases. What are the factors influencing this?For those of you that…Continue

Tags: fertilizer, manure, ducks, aquaponics, Permaculture

Perennials in AP

Started by Josh. Last reply by Linda Logan Apr 7, 2014. 3 Replies

One of the main points of focus in permaculture is the use of perennial plants as opposed to annuals. Here in the Florida Keys, many plants that are usually considered annuals can be grown as…Continue

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Comment by David Waite on August 16, 2011 at 8:40am
 I have taken readings for nitrates at both my gravel bed intakes and outlets as well as my rafts which are downstream of my rafts and the nitrates are even through out the system. My system mimics TC in that the rafts show more nutrient defeciencys than my gravel beds do. My plants personally do much better in gravel vs rafts with the exception of lettuce crops. Part of my problem is not only nutrient uptake but areation in the rafts could be improved.
Comment by TCLynx on August 15, 2011 at 8:19pm
Well the calcium carbonate is good for buffering the pH up but you may need occasionally to provide potassium instead of calcium since an over abundance of calcium can lock out potassium.
Comment by Miguel Afonso on August 15, 2011 at 7:35pm
I put a chunk of coral in my raft system, and this has settled the ph real nicely (6.8 steady).Still yet to see how this works over the long term. Apparently calcium carbonate (coral stone amongst many sources) should settle the PH in the system as it neutralizes the PH as the system tends to become more acidic. In theory this should ward of any nutrient lockout.
Comment by Sylvia Bernstein on August 15, 2011 at 7:29pm
Great idea for a group, Miguel!
Comment by TCLynx on August 15, 2011 at 7:14pm

No I don't think that putting greedy plants at the start of a raft bed or NFT is going to leave the plants further down starved.

I do think that perhaps the NFT or Raft are likely to leave plants suffering more in situations of unfavorable pH causing nutrient lock out.

Comment by Miguel Afonso on August 15, 2011 at 6:56pm
So are you saying that you think this is a concern for NFT and Raft systems?
Comment by TCLynx on August 15, 2011 at 6:49pm

No it really doesn't matter much in my experience.

There are other far more critical factors like the sun exposure or where the water inlet to the bed is and how the plant feels about wet ankles and so forth.

I have noticed that many plants seem to suffer worse deficiency problems in the raft or NFT positions in my systems as opposed to the gravel beds.  This is interesting since I've had many people insist to me that in a nutrient limited situation that the constant flow portions of a system would fair better than flood and drain but my experience seems to be showing different.  Now I suppose if solids were removed from a system and one was comparing raft or nft to flood and drain with only the water bringing nutrients then maybe the constant flow would be better but with the flood and drain gravel beds providing my solids mineralization, the gravel beds seem to do better.

Comment by Miguel Afonso on August 15, 2011 at 6:42pm
Does where you place a plant make a difference in terms of nutrient uptake. For instance I hypothesize that it is better to put your heavy feeders at the end of the system so that they do not hog the nutrients. Does this even matter in your experience? Are nutrients consistent though out the system?
 

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