I'm missing something...?

[Shas]

A lot of people seem to be using trout in their aquaponics systems.
Raising trout would be a natural for me
as I have a very cold year-round creek a hundred feet from my house.
(I haven't measured the temperature,
but now and then one of us has to take a deep breath
and turn the valve located 40 inches below the surface
for our domestic water system,
and it's an instant brain-freeze!)
And trout grow very well in our local glacier-fed rivers and streams.

But how the heck are my tomatoes supposed to survive
having their roots douched every hour or so with icy cold water?
I know that when the air temperature gets down to 60 degrees
my tomatoes and peppers just go cross-eyed.

Please educate me on this one.

[foodchain]

Green house, cold frame. We grew our tomatoe's when I was a kid in 5 gallon buckets, and double stacked car tires to help retain the heat. Wasn't AP. But it worked for what we did.

[urbanfarmer]

Green house, cold frame. We grew our tomatoe's when I was a kid in 5 gallon buckets, and double stacked car tires to help retain the heat. Wasn't AP. But it worked for what we did.
I'm STILL doing that! :lol:

[Shas]

Okay...
But if we warm the water for the benefit of the vegetables,
the trout are not going to be happy.
Yes?

[foodchain]

How warm you thinking? Warm the air via the green house, keep the fish outside. Use fast moving shallow water, and it will help cool the water too. Slow it down, and it heats up.
Honestly though, the trout I have kept are happy to about 60 degrees, sometimes a little higher....but the cooler the better. Even here in TX a lot of people farm them in the winter as a winter crop. They can't handle the heat.

[commander]

Being a totaly NEWB and not really having any experience I am loathe to comment here, but it seems to me that you would need to run your system temp at the upper end of the trouts limits and the lower end of your vegetable limits. Only if the overlap would you be able to make it work.

[foodchain]

Yup, that's the short version of what I have been saying. Thanks for wading through the rabble here to explain it better.

[abitcrunchy]

Only grow cool weather crops?

[sarookha]

Green house, cold frame. We grew our tomatoe's when I was a kid in 5 gallon buckets, and double stacked car tires to help retain the heat. Wasn't AP. But it worked for what we did.
Exactly! Most garden vegetables like warm air, but their roots prefer cooler temps, as found in the dirt they normally inhabit. As long as the air temp and day-length is good for the veggies, and the water temp is good for the trout, it should be fine.