Raychel A Watkins

Female

Waianae, HI

United States

Profile Information:

How did you find us?
surfing aquaponic sites
Are you an aquaponic gardener already?
yes
If so, what type of system? (pick all that apply)
I have only being working at it for 4 months. I love to experiment to see what works best. My fish are very healthy, my water is good. My plants need iron I think. Does anyone know what type of iron is safe for the fish?
Please tell us something else about yourself.
I have lived in Hawaii off and on for over 42 years. The land is the love of my life. I really started going green about 10 years ago. I work in the medical field to support my fish habit.

Comment Wall:

  • Sylvia Bernstein

    Hi Raychel,

    Thanks for joining the Aquaponic Gardening community! I hope you find it a fun place to explore aquaponics. There is a real blend of experienced and new aquapons in this community, so please don’t hesitate to get in there and start asking questions. A great place to start is by checking out the forums and groups. Everyone is quite happy to help out new members – no question is too basic.

    We have just one rule: keep it cordial (no flaming!).

    As to your question on iron, I've used iron chelate in the past, in very small amounts. What you might be experiencing, though, is iron deficiency in the plants because your pH is too high. Iron is the first element that plants can't uptake when the pH gets much above 7. I suggest you start a new forum topic around adding nutrients to aquaponics and get others opinions as well. You'd be doing the community a favor - this could be a very interesting topic that hasn't been pursued here yet.

    Thanks again for joining us, and I look forward to getting to know you.

    Sylvia

    Mar 16, 2010

  • Shawn

    Yay! another member from Hawaii! Aloha from Volcano...

    Mar 16, 2010

  • Sylvia Bernstein

    Well, looks like your pH is pretty perfect. Looks like you are getting some good ideas from some of the other members. I have a baggie of chelated iron here, but it came from a lab at a place I used to work so I'm not going to be a lot of help!

    Mar 17, 2010

  • Nate Storey

    Cool, I always love it when people I meet have been to Wyoming. I'll try to post more system pictures and maybe some schematics soon. Hopefully that will make the design a bit more understandable. I'm going to try to do a video walk-through of the system one of these days and show how I plant and what the towers do after that. I'll let you know as soon as I get it posted on YouTube. That's cool that you're in Hawaii. . . I've always wanted to visit- some of the photos I've seen have just been mind-numbingly beautiful. As for the folks who know everything- well, some of them do, and some of them don't! I started into this knowing next to nothing, and arguably still know next to nothing, but knowing next to nothing has let me do some fun stuff that might not have happended if I'd listened to some folks. . . I had a few people tell me that my project was stupid and wouldn't work- because everyone knows that vertical hydroponics just doesn't work!

    May 1, 2010

  • Sylvia Bernstein

    Hey Raychel...I'm so glad you finally put up a photo of your lovely self on your profile!

    Jan 5, 2011

  • Sylvia Bernstein

    Ah, Raychel.  That is why I am looking forward to the second half of my life.  No one left to impress...so now it's time to get down to the important things...And you are beautiful, BTW.

    Jan 7, 2011

  • Sylvia Bernstein

    I agree, Raychel, we are kindred spirits and lucky ladies indeed!

    Jan 8, 2011

  • Sahib Punjabi

    Namaste

    May you all by safe and protected from this International disaster is my prayer to the Supreme Lord.

    God bless

    Mar 11, 2011

  • AlbertF

    Hi, I hope you can make it to the meetup on April 10 over on Olomana!

    Mar 23, 2011

  • AlbertF

    The 1st Saturday of May sounds great!
    Yes, please send your 2 friends to stop by Olomana Gardens!

    Mar 24, 2011

  • AlbertF

    So I announced the event here. Please look it over and let me know if the info is correct.
    http://aquaponicsinparadise.com/APforums/index.php?topic=777.0

    Mar 24, 2011

  • AlbertF

    You mean for the meetup?  Whenever you want.  For home meetups the flow is different.  So name a start and end time that is convenient for you.  I'm sorry you cant make it to Olomana, that was the availability that Glenn had.

    Mar 26, 2011

  • kelsey harvey

    Hi Raychel,

     

    Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you. My mini lanai system has been running very smoothly with the minor tweaks here and there. Thank you for your welcoming me to the site. You're right, it is great.

     

    Aloha!

     

    Kelsey

    Mar 28, 2011

  • Maggie Culver

    Not much!  I came home and got right to work clearing out my greenhouse and getting a 300 gal. tank!  Still getting it situated.  Hope to have it ready for water in the next few weeks.  Raychel, you are a fabulous person and I really enjoyed meeting you.  If we don't see each other before, I'll see you "on the other side". ( But I do hope we can both do the 2012 conference!)

    Sep 22, 2011

  • Maggie Culver

    No, I don't Skype but I really should learn about it.  I believe you're right about assembling together. My husband said to tell you that we'd love to come visit you as soon as you tell us how we can DRIVE there since neither one one of us wants to fly!

     

    I'm having trouble concentrating on anything other than getting my greenhouse set up for aquaponics. I have drawings and measurements and I"m pretty sure now how I'm setting it up.

    My cow had her calf yesterday so I am training her to be milked now.  Today ended up pretty good with her standing still (AMEN!)

    My hubby is home for the weekend and he just fixed me a burger....gonna go eat!   Take care!

     

    Sep 23, 2011

  • George

    My wife recently informed me that our elephant ear is Taro.  Any thoughts on whether this is a tasty variety?  I assume you wait until it is dormant to harvest but am not certain.  Any suggestions?

     

     

    Nov 7, 2011

  • andrew namiki robert

    Hi Raychel, 

    Thanks for the tour yesterday it was a great learning experiance and gave me a lot of idead and things to work on, (my wallet is hurting already)

     

    Thanks 

    Andrew (London)

    Nov 23, 2011

  • Chris Schup

    Hey Raych...got a call from a woman at the Comp named Ann. Her garden club is anxious to tour your place (Grace was right!). They’ll love your AP 101 presentation :) ... Got some good vid clips of you last week. Will have a final compilation soon-ish. Talk soon.

    Dec 29, 2011

  • Larry Yonashiro

    Hi Raychel, honored to have you join our group.  Thinking of moving to Maui?

    Jan 15, 2012

  • moonyguy

    Thank you very much Raychel. Just trying to learn things so any help would be much appreciated. Not much going on here on the North Shore :)

    Vishnu

    Jan 16, 2012

  • Carey Ma

    Hi Raychel, Thank you so much for turning me onto natural farming. It's definitively changed my world for the better. Big hug and warm smooch!

    I hope all is going well in your world.

    Cheers

    May 1, 2012

  • Natalie Dias Cash

    Thanks Raychel,

       I know what you mean, been doing this and that's. But I made it. Now I can do something here. TTYL

    Jul 18, 2012