barbhines2010
09-23-2012, 02:59 AM
My second season has not been as successful as my 1st.....for several reasons:
I placed a second fish tank into the ground which set the growbeds back as they were late being planted.
There was 6 weeks of hot weather from mid July & throughout Aug. Speckled trout like it below 60 F. For that period, the water temp baselined around 70 F. Therefore, the trout fed poorly during that time which proved to slow growth.
There was also a great size variation when my trout were purchased in the spring. This created a problem in an enclosed area whereby the larger trout stressed out the smaller....& I lost several to this. In turn, the growbed in this system did not get the fertilizer necessary for abundance.
There were only a few red worms in the systems this year.
Hopefully my initial tank will also be placed in the ground before the snow flies this year so that I won't be taken up with that chore in the spring. I want to be able to get the beds planted as soon as ground temp reaches 55 F.
I was able to experiment with a few other things this year tho'....beets & carrots will grow in the systems too.....I didn't think root veggies would do well. Also, cold weather crops such as kale, are great for getting started in the spring... & go late into the fall to use up nitrates...
I call this 'seasonal aquaponics' because I shut the systems down in the early winter, & harvest the trout, then start the systems circulating again about 30 days or so before fish delivery in May.
This year, I'm hoping to keep the systems running until the end of October or mid Nov. to give the trout time to reach about 1 lb. each. There is also kale, carrot, beet, & habenero peppers growing in the beds still to be harvested, so we'll see how late we can keep them going.
At any rate, planning for next year has already begun!!....[attachment=0:17ejf8ib]2012 243.jpg[/attachment:17ejf8ib][attachment=0:17ejf8ib]2012 243.jpg[/attachment:17ejf8ib]
I placed a second fish tank into the ground which set the growbeds back as they were late being planted.
There was 6 weeks of hot weather from mid July & throughout Aug. Speckled trout like it below 60 F. For that period, the water temp baselined around 70 F. Therefore, the trout fed poorly during that time which proved to slow growth.
There was also a great size variation when my trout were purchased in the spring. This created a problem in an enclosed area whereby the larger trout stressed out the smaller....& I lost several to this. In turn, the growbed in this system did not get the fertilizer necessary for abundance.
There were only a few red worms in the systems this year.
Hopefully my initial tank will also be placed in the ground before the snow flies this year so that I won't be taken up with that chore in the spring. I want to be able to get the beds planted as soon as ground temp reaches 55 F.
I was able to experiment with a few other things this year tho'....beets & carrots will grow in the systems too.....I didn't think root veggies would do well. Also, cold weather crops such as kale, are great for getting started in the spring... & go late into the fall to use up nitrates...
I call this 'seasonal aquaponics' because I shut the systems down in the early winter, & harvest the trout, then start the systems circulating again about 30 days or so before fish delivery in May.
This year, I'm hoping to keep the systems running until the end of October or mid Nov. to give the trout time to reach about 1 lb. each. There is also kale, carrot, beet, & habenero peppers growing in the beds still to be harvested, so we'll see how late we can keep them going.
At any rate, planning for next year has already begun!!....[attachment=0:17ejf8ib]2012 243.jpg[/attachment:17ejf8ib][attachment=0:17ejf8ib]2012 243.jpg[/attachment:17ejf8ib]