A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Which plants work best with trout?

Dear members,

Those of you who have grown trout, which plants grow best?

I have a few ideas for cold water crops. I am curious if there is

a vegetable that grows exceptionally well.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Walls on November 24, 2010 at 9:21pm

I have had good luck with lettuce, usually grow a mesclun mix, chards of any sort, spinach, basil, beets (for both greens and roots). My cucumbers and tomatoes grew very well this summer but alas that time has passed.

Last winter, when it got really cold I had some miners lettuce (claytonia) going and it grew like gangbusters but I wasn't too fond of the flavor.

Trying some carrots in vermiculite this winter. Last winters beets worked really well so I figured I would try carrots.

Good luck! Have fun!

Permalink Reply by Growitright Aquaponics on November 25, 2010 at 1:33am

Beets.That's a wonderful idea! Carrots sound good too.
Thanks for all your suggestions. I love to hear what others are
trying and what is working well.
K :)

Permalink Reply by Sylvia Bernstein on November 25, 2010 at 6:01am

Last winter when I had trout I just generally focused on whatever I would grow outdoors in the spring. I'd add sugar snap peas and broccoli to the list above.

Permalink Reply by Growitright Aquaponics on November 25, 2010 at 8:59pm

Great idea Sylvia. Thanks for that. BTW when you grew trout did you keep them in tanks or fish runs? I am working on gathering trout info. In Northern, CA the county where we live fish and game has the toughest restrictions in the state. Rainbow trout may be an option for us in the future. Thanks Again , K :)

Permalink Reply by Sylvia Bernstein on November 26, 2010 at 11:14am

It was a long, narrow tank constructed with pond liner, so probably more of a "run" than a "tank". It was about 8' long, 2' wide, and 18" deep. Worked out well.

Growitright Aquaponics said:

Great idea Sylvia. Thanks for that. BTW when you grew trout did you keep them in tanks or fish runs? I am working on gathering trout info. In Northern, CA the county where we live fish and game has the toughest restrictions in the state. Rainbow trout may be an option for us in the future. Thanks Again , K :)

Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Walls on November 26, 2010 at 3:58pm

Tank-650 gal, cone bottom nice solid removal properties!

Growitright Aquaponics said:

Great idea Sylvia. Thanks for that. BTW when you grew trout did you keep them in tanks or fish runs? I am working on gathering trout info. In Northern, CA the county where we live fish and game has the toughest restrictions in the state. Rainbow trout may be an option for us in the future. Thanks Again , K

Permalink Reply by matthew ferrell on May 13, 2011 at 5:28am

We have grown...

Best:

Red Sail lettuce, its nice because you can harvest at least 3 times before replanting. In fact we harvested least Thursday, and yesterday it was almost full size again.

Ok:

Corrabi

Kale

Chard

Broccoli

Poor:

Lettuce Butter Crunch

Tomatoes

Cucmbers

Most of these grew better when the greenhouse temps are higher than when the plants would traditionally be grown outside. Our water temperatures never exceeds 60 degrees.

Permalink Reply by matthew ferrell on May 13, 2011 at 5:30am

Mr. Walls,

What water temperatures did you have when you were growing your tomatoes?

Jeffrey Walls said:

I have had good luck with lettuce, usually grow a mesclun mix, chards of any sort, spinach, basil, beets (for both greens and roots). My cucumbers and tomatoes grew very well this summer but alas that time has passed.

Last winter, when it got really cold I had some miners lettuce (claytonia) going and it grew like gangbusters but I wasn't too fond of the flavor.

Trying some carrots in vermiculite this winter. Last winters beets worked really well so I figured I would try carrots.

Good luck! Have fun!

Permalink Reply by Jeffrey Walls on May 13, 2011 at 10:02am

No need for the formality. Jeff is fine :-)

High 60s is the average, with occasional ventures into the 70s. I ran the plants up string to the top of the greenhouse where they got plenty of warmth. Both cukes and toms loved it. I am going to build different growing system for them this year using buckets and taking the water off of the collection end of my settling tank to see if I can boost their productivity even more...

Greenhouse temps get quite toasty tho. I have my fish well shaded and the tank is buried so they stay pretty cool. I have experienced several die-offs and these are the hardiest of the school. I would really like to breed them this fall when they spawn to see if I can develop an more aquaponics-hardy strain of brookies. Thes ones have truly seen the worst of the worst :-) (Once water temps got to 86! Not the reason for die-off, BTW)

I have some tomatoes going right now that are doing pretty well. I have been up to my eyes in lettuce. Buttercrunch, mesclun, black seeded simpson, all leafy types. I have been eating beet greens consistently for two months now. I have some VERY fat strawberries that just keep getting bigger but not ripening. I also pulled up some wild strawberries from the top of my driveway and put them in the system. They look almost exactly like the ones from Burpee except the berries are much much smaller. There are significantly more of them however. Ok, now I am salivating...

I have a few carrots in the vermiculite that are looking good but it will be awhile. I am building more grow tubes to accomodate a local restaraunt that will "buy as much baby spinach as I can grow". I have sold a bunch of lettuce this spring as well to several rests.

Just put two crayfish (yet to determine what type as I got them from my daughter's classmate's science project) in my settling tank. They were exploring when I left but they had been scrapping a little so I am going to go check on them now. I may have to seperate them but I sure would like them to breed too!!!!