How to start salad crops?

[Cameron Smith]

Hello...I'm new to aquaponics. I have a pretty good grasp on the basics...i have a small tank that is nearly cycled and i have a few flowers transplanted and a cucumber sprout looking very hardy and proud. I have lost several herbs and lettuce seeds. I planted them two inches deep to get them watered every cycle. I even sprouted them before planting them, but after more than ten days they have not surfaced.

What is the right way to start salad crops?

[Cameron Smith]

Thanks Jim. That's a great idea. I will have to experiment with that on my next system since I missed the opportunity to install a gravel guard on my current system. But hey, that's the reason I decided to start out small...so mistakes wouldn't cost very much. 

Jim Fisk said:

Hi Cameron,

FWIW: I use an extension on my auto siphons to raise the level to just below the media for germination and simply remove it when the roots are long enough. Works great. Keep in mind that I use an Affnan/Bernoulli style siphon with a 2" top so I cut 2" pipe at 1.5 and 2". Same idea should work on most siphon designs. I even supply a set to customers who order more than 1 siphon because I find it handy for lots of reasons even washing and leveling media. Here is a photo of parts for now but I have a pic of it in action somewhere:

[Sheri Schmeckpeper]

TCLynx explained the seed timed system vs F&D thing very well.

Your bed should be dry on the top to prevent algae growth, which can literally suffocate your bed and everything in it. I sprinkle, then wiggle the top layer to get the seed down a bit, but not too much.

Jim, that's a very creative system for seeding!

Cameron, small is a good way to start. It allows you to go through the learning curve without a big expense. When you move to larger systems, you'll find they are more stable and the problems occur less often. Keep that in mind during the frustrating times. :)

[Cameron Smith]

I've had a couple other ideas in the past few days. What about: 

using a soil blocker to start seeds in a compostable medium (peat moss) and transplant the soil block into the grow bed when the seeds are >2" high

using layered unbleached paper towels as a starting medium; my seeds have been rooting themselves in the paper towels where they are currently getting their starts in life

[Cameron Smith]

Thanks, Sheri. Today I tested for the first time in five days, and my water is finally completely cycled! It's true that a watched pot never boils, I guess. I had been testing every other day for the past couple weeks. Sheri, I've started a new discussion about another problem I'm having if you'd be kind enough to read that thread and respond. Thanks for your encouragement and support!

Sheri Schmeckpeper said:

TCLynx explained the seed timed system vs F&D thing very well.

Your bed should be dry on the top to prevent algae growth, which can literally suffocate your bed and everything in it. I sprinkle, then wiggle the top layer to get the seed down a bit, but not too much.

Jim, that's a very creative system for seeding!

Cameron, small is a good way to start. It allows you to go through the learning curve without a big expense. When you move to larger systems, you'll find they are more stable and the problems occur less often. Keep that in mind during the frustrating times.

[TCLynx]

I've done soil blocks.  Mine I usually make out of my spent peat pellets (pealed apart) worm castings and some coir.  I wouldn't want to put huge amounts of soil blocks into a small system though since they could rather muddy up the media over time.

And I see aquarium pH down there, read the ingredients on it.  Many aquarium pH products are not all that compatible with plants and growing food and some may cause a build up in sodium or other salts in the system.

Now that you have bacteria living in your system, you should avoid using any sort of acid directly in your system.  Adjust the pH of your top up water and let it stabilize before adding it to your system.  Perhaps adjust your top up water down to a pH of 6 and let it mix and stabilize for a day or two and test again to make sure it is stable before adding it into your system.  This is by far the safer and gentler way to adjust pH down in a system. 

[Cameron Smith]

Does anyone else use worms in their system? I put some in my system when I put the fish in. I have no idea how they're doing down there. I would think the worm action would take care of any "muddying" caused by peat or worm castings. I guess the worm castings themselves would build up over time, but isn't that what the bacteria do partly--liquefy those solids so they can be passed through the system? 

[TCLynx]

Yep, definitely use worms here.

Now worms don't actually eat the solids directly themselves.  Worms come along with a whole host of beneficial bacteria that cause dead things to rot and the worms slurp up the bacterial slime and poop out nice little plant food packets we call worm castings.  Things like coir and peat don't break down quickly and they retain lots of moisture which makes them good for amending sandy or clay soils but not necessarily good to have too much of it in an aquaponic grow bed.  Peat and coir are often used as worm bedding but it isn't worm food, there really isn't much food value in it for them.

What you want the worms to be eating is the decomposing fish food, poo and old plant roots left in a grow bed.

[Jim Fisk]

I went out to ck on the woodstove the other night and there was one of my night crawlers sitting right on top of the gb "night crawling" You don't see much of them otherwise.

Cameron Smith said:

Does anyone else use worms in their system? I put some in my system when I put the fish in. I have no idea how they're doing down there. I would think the worm action would take care of any "muddying" caused by peat or worm castings. I guess the worm castings themselves would build up over time, but isn't that what the bacteria do partly--liquefy those solids so they can be passed through the system? 

[David Schwinghamer]

I put seeds in rapid rooter starter plugs in my raft bed and forget about them, great success.

[Cameron Smith]

That doesn't sound like something i can use in my gravel grow bed...?

[TCLynx]

Why not?  Rapid rooter starter plugs are just mainly peat stuck together with some polymer.  You can pull them out with the plants later just like you would with peat pellets.

[Cameron Smith]

I'll have to give it a try.