my pilot project

[francois]

photos of peppers
i want to only grow peppers in this system.
higher value crop
Yust me thinking

[francois]

more

[francois]

nice white healthy root system

[francois]

some pepper plants and..............

[francois]

some pepper plants and..............

[francois]

growing my pepper seed in my pump sump???????
works ok this is the 2nd lot of 40 pepper seeds +- 8-9 days planted apart
the 1st lot have started coming up

[davidstcldfl]

Hi francois....looking good.... :D

[francois]

Hi All
I opened my worm filter today and scratched to check how the worms are doing.
1000…..of mossy’s……
I have the filter covered with shade cloth and then a layer of lace curtains to keep the mossy’s….. Inside and then other shade cloth layer…keep’s them all inside and still air moving through the filter
Most of the worms are at the bottom and happy
I did this mod today...
I now have water running into the system on all four sides
I want to get rid of dead spots
I have the water flowing and in contact with oxygen on all sides
Yust me thinking

[francois]

The peppers in the system are reaching roof height....good
I am very happy with starting to make and add the lye for potassium...my peppers 100% better
The plant in total looks better......
I added 4-5 litres of my home brew lye per day for a few days and then stopped...
The peppers planted in 5-8mm gravel and in shade net bag...looking good
and the anchorage seem to be good

[francois]

and a few more

[francois]

Hi All
just wanted to update the growth of the duckweed......
both trays are full......

[commander]

Man! How big are those tanks and what are they made of?

[francois]

Man! How big are those tanks and what are they made of?
Hi Commander
works well cheap and lasting
each tray 200h x 300w x 6500l = 400liters water when full
hdpe roll 2mm thick 6m wide and 30 meters long that i bought
i cut and folded these trays

[francois]

Hi all
an update on plants...peppers

[francois]

the beans

[francois]

the bean end has grown full...this photo was taken from the other side

[francois]

Hi All
Yesterday I raised the top of the mini tunnel. Looks better and more user friendly.

[francois]

The peppers in the system look happy.

[francois]

The beans I was going to leave for the seeds but far too much.
I picked some beans to eat and I kept some for seeds.
The rest of the beans I will pick as I go along

[francois]

I cleared two of the rafts today to do a mod…I want a open space between raft and water surface

[francois]

Instead of the raft lying directly flat on the water I have now glued strips down the two sides, so now the raft floats on the two sides and down the centre there is space between water and raft bottom.
I will with time and in stages do the mods to all the rafts.

[stucco]

good idea!

[foodchain]

I don't have a raft system. So this may be a obvious thing here. But why is it important to lift the rafts up? Most raft systems I have seen have the raft directly on the water surface. This would put more of the root mass in contact with the water. Does this then encourage root rot or limit you on type of plants to those that will tolerate wet roots?
Floating the rafts up off the water may help with that.

[keith_r]

it will definitely help with oxygenation of both the water and plants, by clearing up all that surface area..
as always francois, great work!

[foodchain]

For gas exchange. Okay that makes sense. Is there any other reason?

[francois]

it will definitely help with oxygenation of both the water and plants, by clearing up all that surface area..
as always francois, great work!

Hi all
I have not seen this done but to me it makes good sense that with lifting the raft
Of the water surface can only do good
Yust me thinking

[francois]

Hi All
Happy New Year and May it be a good one.
God bless

[francois]

Everything almost back to normal after our Christmas break
I have started rearranging the rafts in my system.
In the 1st 2 rafts I reworked I planted capsicum seeds.
In the planting pots I used gravel and coco coir.
I filled the pot 2/3 with +-6mm gravel and on top of the gravel I planted the seeds in the coco coir.
The rest of the plants look ok.

[francois]

the rest of plants

[francois]

Hi All
I managed to take some photos of the fish today.
The Male tilapia fingerling I added to the tank.
I have about 3-4 months of really hot weather coming up and I want to see how big I can get them in this time.

[francois]

I changed the media (PVC pieces) to +- 5-10mm stones in shade net bags

[francois]

I started preparing and removed 2 more of the rafts with the old beans and lettuce’s
Food for the worms

[francois]

Last week …few days ago I planted seed directly into rafts using small 5-10 mm gravel as base in the planting pot’s….not working….to heavy…silly me.
I have to redo but I am waiting for the seedlings getting a bit bigger so I don’t lose them…but I will change
I have gone back to the way I planted most of the last batch of plants.
Worked well…light, cleans very easy and you can re-use

[francois]

The plants left…some of the peppers look good but some…?

[francois]

the rest of the system plants...old beans and

[commander]

Very nice. What is the media you are using in the net pots. It looks like old cassette tape?

[foodchain]

Shreaded pvc maybe? Common in filter medias...best guess I got.

[francois]

What is the media you are using in the net pots. It looks like old cassette tape?

Hi
i am using hdpe that was cut on a lathe....waste
Yes looks like cassette tape.

[commander]

What is the media you are using in the net pots. It looks like old cassette tape?

Hi
i am using hdpe that was cut on a lathe....waste
Yes looks like cassette tape.

Interesting, mind if I ask where you sourced it?

[francois]

What is the media you are using in the net pots. It looks like old cassette tape?

Hi
i am using hdpe that was cut on a lathe....waste
Yes looks like cassette tape.

Interesting, mind if I ask where you sourced it?

Hi Commander
I am in the engineering business.
It is waste that you have after HDPE was turned/machined on a lathe.
I get this from our workshop….you can possibly contact an engineering shop and ask them to save the swarf for you
Or buy a round solid piece of food grade HDPE and get somebody to turn the HDPE on a lathe into this form.
You can with the size of the cut and the feed of the lathe you get the thickness and width of the let’s call it tape. The smaller the cut and the slower the feed the finer the tape
In this form the tape has lots of spring back.
(You can compress in hand but when you open your hand it will take its original shape.)
hope this helps

[francois]

[/quote]You can with the size of the cut and the feed of the lathe you get the thickness and width of the let’s call it tape. The smaller the cut and the slower the feed the finer the tape
In this form the tape has lots of spring back.
(You can compress in hand but when you open your hand it will take its original shape.)
hope this helps[/quote]

[commander]

Thanks so much. I do have several friends with the capability of turning so this shouldn't be a problem. Perhaps a new market for industrial waste?

[francois]

Hi All
Well most of the peppers seedling +-90 gone…..dead…so much for trying to full the system with peppers…try again later
In the system I have celery, basil, peppers and rocket.
The 12 celery and 12 rocket seedling I bought…
The basil I have grown from seeds and they are taking of now…I have a few +-6 small pepper seedlings that survived…..and then the old peppers I moved…..cut down and left to take out later…new leaves and flowering again…so I left all the old pepper plants to see what happens
The fish are happy and eating well…….and getting big
Still feeding worms and pellets 4-5 times per day….the duckweed is growing now so I don’t feed to the fish.
I am very happy with the changes I made to the worm/bio filter….the filter has no more smell and the snails and worms are doing well with the breaking down of solids coming from the fish tank.
The snails I think can be good for breaking down solids but their numbers have to be controlled…
And that becomes a headache
All and all I am happy
Yust me thinking

[francois]

the rocket seedlings i bought
washed of the roots and planted in system
all the older leaves i have cut of....they were burned from the sun and or ?????
what is visible is the new growth

[francois]

basil seed grown in seedling growtray
i planted the very small seedlings into the system
now they are taking off and look good

[francois]

this is the old peppers i cut down with new leaves and flowers

[bsfman]

I had zero success with peppers in a floating raft system. But you will find the basil does very well!

[francois]

Hi All
Not much to post…I haven’t really spent much time on the system….and I have and gone and bought another 18 seedlings and planted them into the system…risky but I need plants…….
Today I planted lettuce seeds into small pots in the system
The fish are good and the system good no problems yet.

[francois]

more ......

[francois]

Hi All
After seeing success with BSF larvae and the amounts that can be harvested from a box/bin….
I am really impressed
I did a bit of research and I am very…very impressed……
As fish food they are very good free source…..
I have been finding the BSF larvae in-between the worms in my worm bin.
It has really got me going into making a box for the larvae.
I had this box lying around and the rest of what I needed to make a bin.
I sealed insulated the inside with black plastic and polystyrene I had… and
Painted it white ...

[francois]

the inside

[francois]

more

[francois]

celery i cut today

[davidstcldfl]

That's alot of celery... :) ...are you going to do with all of it ?

[francois]

Hi David
That's alot of celery....my mother inlaws loves the stuff
celery I cut back last Saturday 7 days ago and look at the new growth …

[francois]

I have cut the basil back and the neighbours to whom I gave it all can’t believe the quality

[francois]

I have changed the pipes to allow more water in the fish tank….fish are getting big
Use to run with 500 litres and now I have about 750-800 litres water in the tank.
Open the tap and the dam level drops to 500L water...a by pas to drop water to level so I can clean the tank...
I clean by hand...slowly moving the solid in the two corners where the outlet is...some solids collect in these two corners
that I help to the outlet pipe where it gets sucked to the worm filter the rest of tank stays clean with the flow of the water coming from the pump

[francois]

the records for november 2011 was the last i posted
this is for Dec/2011
what was added when and in what form
all dates refer to the ph sheet
Yust me thinking

[francois]

Dec/2011

[francois]

Jan/2011

[francois]

Jan/2011

[francois]

Feb/2011

[francois]

Feb/2011

[francois]

Hi All
Winter is here and I build a small mini plastic tunnel over the tank.
Not a lot of space inside ….but will help with better water temps….?
A hot box…yesterday with only one side closed temps went to 60 deg Celsius inside.
And today I closed up the other end…temps were 40 inside.
I packed bricks inside down the sides to store some of the heat for night times…?
My fish are all happy and the veggie’s….?

[francois]

not much space...

[francois]

the same old plants...celery and basil

[francois]

rekords for march

[francois]

rekords for march

[francois]

Hi All
The plastic tunnel has been a help with temps........
Not much but noticeable…+-2-3 Deg Celsius
It has been cold and we had a lot of rain.
My tank temps went down to 12 deg c
I want to find a cheap and simple? Solution for heating the water…
The fish are happy but very cold so I have not been feeding as much as I want to….
The plants…celery still going…look good
Basil…..growing but I am not to happy with the colour of the leaves
Beside the colour of the basil leaves, they are still growing bigger….?
I have a few pepper plants and some lettuce growing
I have in the meantime picked up that I was adding far too much iron to the system.
Weighed iron and Ca (OH)2 right when I started and somewhere down the line lost track
I was adding 13 grams of iron thinking it is 3 grams ….3 or 4 times over the last2-3 months.
Ca (OH)2 I was adding 9 grams and thinking it is 3 grams but I was checking ph so did not matter
I am not sure but I think the basil leaves are showing signs of the over dose of iron
Lesson learned

[francois]

celery picking every +-10 days

[francois]

more

[francois]

plastic tunnel...sorry i have posted

[francois]

the duckweed still going....no sun

[davidstcldfl]

Hi francois, It's hard to get an idea of the size in the picts.....is that regular cellery...or is it 'cutting' cellery?
I've been raising the 'cutting' cellery at Sahibs'. It seems to do pretty well and doesn't take up as much room. Just have to get used to using the smaller sized cellery.

Like seeing your pictures .... :)

[francois]

Hi francois, It's hard to get an idea of the size in the picts.....is that regular cellery...or is it 'cutting' cellery?
I've been raising the 'cutting' cellery at Sahibs'. It seems to do pretty well and doesn't take up as much room. Just have to get used to using the smaller sized cellery.

Like seeing your pictures .... :)

Hi David
cellery seedlings i bought....?
not sure

[davidstcldfl]

If the stocks get bigger then about 3/8 of an inch across, then it's not cutting cellery.

[francois]

I cleaned to of the rafts today and re planted lettuce and celery seedlings I grew.
The older lettuces have been in the system for a few weeks.
Look at the roots.

[francois]

The older lettuces have been in the system for a few weeks.
Look at the roots. The basil roots the same…white and healthy

[francois]

replanted 2 rafts

[francois]

i havent posted here for a while...
the system still going,fish are happy and the plants.....

[francois]

the system still going,fish are happy and the plants.....

[davidstcldfl]

Hi francois....I see you still have the 'green' turned on .... ;)

[francois]

This is celery that I have never cut from seedlings…just left to grow
2 of the rafts broke with the weight and expansion of the pots with the celery.
I replaced 2 of the rafts today and planted with basil seedlings in small pots.
I will do this in stages of 2 rafts at a time until I have replaced them all….
The last lot of rafts have lasted more than a year.
The other old rafts still in the system are not broken but I will replace anyway.
The previous rafts had 5 big holes and 5 smaller holes….this time I only made 4 big holes per raft spaced at 250 mm.
I think I would be able to go a lot bigger in growing area with the system....
I find using the bigger pot and then dropping the smaller pot into the bigger pots works well for me.

[francois]

the roots

[francois]

the old and new

[francois]

plants left in system

[francois]

Hi francois....I see you still have the 'green' turned on .... ;)
:D

[francois]

I have spotted the first bsf flying around my bins last week

Looking into one of the bins today………. I now have larva...not a lot but they are here... I am just to happy knowing they the bsf are around…and laying eggs I want to be prepared for them this year

[bsfman]

I have spotted the first bsf flying around my bins last week

Looking into one of the bins today………. I now have larva...not a lot but they are here... I am just to happy knowing they the bsf are around…and laying eggs I want to be prepared for them this year

Those larvae make great food for your fish, francois!

[francois]

:D

[francois]

Hi All
Time has really past quite quick this last 2 months…very busy with work.
I have work lined up for into next year ….no reason to complain but I am working long hours
I have not spent much time with the system….no problems.
I have still only replaced 2 rafts for now…I am waiting for my seedlings to get bigger before planting in the system…I need all the bigger/older plants to do what they have to. The fish in my system I was hoping to have replaced by now but…when?????
I still have not checked water parameters??????
I think I am at the point where I will have to start checking ammonia and…….
I need to know what these readings are with the system as is now…
The fish are eating 2 kg of fish pellets every +-40 day’s min. waste
I also feed them worms 1-2 times per day…..they wait for the worms
The plants I think can look better??????
All the fish are still alive and happy.
I am happy

[francois]

more

[francois]

celery grow well

[cspaugh]

WOW what a fantastic read, beautiful builds, great layouts, fish, duckweed, worms, compost, fly larvae, hoop covers..........this has all my gears turning, thanks for the wealth of information! :ugeek:

[francois]

WOW what a fantastic read, beautiful builds, great layouts, fish, duckweed, worms, compost, fly larvae, hoop covers..........this has all my gears turning, thanks for the wealth of information! :ugeek:
:D

[francois]

Bsf make excellent fish food and are excellent in breaking down food and....a long list…….. from onions to meat fish...you name it.
There are programs in outh africa where they are planning on using these incredible little creatures to break down the waste from abattoir...blood and all other waste into compost. They are planning on producing tons of the larvas that they dry and use in the making of fish food
Now I was approached by somebody in the same town as I live wanting to know where he could get some of the larva…..he saw I had some on one of the Aquaponics forums I subscribe to and that is how he got hold of me
He had put bsf traps/bins all over the town and he has had no luck….
He had contacted a nature department for this area and they told him the population of fly’s had with the drought died out….?
I gave him a hand full to kick start his setup but this also made me more conscious of how scares they are and I placed an ad on gum tree…response was good..
People from as far as 1000 km away in South Africa wanting to buy…
Nobody has available and by the looks they who have don’t sell
They are really incredible little creatures and one of the wonders of nature

[francois]

Hi all
I am not new to the bsf larva thing but it has really bitten me.
Last year in summer I had enough bsf larva’s to feed the fish a hand full every other day….they the fish love the bsf.
Through winter there were very few larvas’’ around but summers here and I have seen a few males around my worm bins and larva in the bins…
I want to use this summer to getting to really know these incredible composters
I want to house and feed them in a white shade cloth house and get a breeding setup going….
I added worm casting as a base and +- 30 bsf larva that had already crawled out of the feeder and
Are ready for the next phase of their lives...
Let’s see how it goes??????

[francois]

update
i cut all the plants back and introduced the 2nd 2 new rafts

[francois]

..................

[francois]

this is what the celery did...
i counted+-10 plants per pot
split some pots and some of the rafts

[francois]

.........

[francois]

I have now caught and released the tilapia I had in the system for 14 months
The growth rate poor
Ok….I did not heat any water so they had a cold winter….
From +-35mm to the biggest +-180mm

[francois]

Now the Kio and tilapia in the tank are fed the same food
I fed max. every day…min waste
Pellets, worms, snails all year
Duckweed and bsf in summer only
They the Kio have grown to a nice size….
Would be very good fish to grow if you can eat
I think they have a very good growth rate

[francois]

the plants

[francois]

more

[francois]

Up to now I have had 4 bsf in the small indoor breeding house I build I released all 4…. Around my worm bins I have seen 2 bsf flying around
Today I sat next to the worm bins with a camera sat there for 15 min and then I saw the 1st bsf and at the same time there was another 2 bsf together at once and this is photos I took of the one….Difficult to get both bsf in same shotThis one kept on coming back
:D ;) :D ;) :D

[francois]

Today I moved all the fish I had left in my system tank (700L) I never weighed the 12 off tilapia that I moved 2 weeks ago but I guess they were all together…+-1.5kg I weighed every fish (Kio) today The total weight of the Kio together was 7.312kg I still have a few Kio in the duckweed trays that I left for the system to carry on running …. I can now do my sums/costs to see how it went…. I have enough data to put on a spread sheet Water, electricity, fish pellets, veggies verses what I received for the Kio…. Now having fish weight I can now do a report on how the system did over the last year I have 1 year of record keeping of other parameters…. The tilapia I gave away and the Kio I sold and received R1500 for the 14 Kio (give away). I will post results for the year once I have completed the spread sheet. I am trying to get trout fingerling to replace the fish …. Starting from scratch no experience with trout…I have never grown trout before…..this will be the first….a new challenge for me and this system capacity…I am very keen to see how I can do with trout…. I hope I can get some trout fingerlings

[francois]

the smallest 3

[alex281]

Nice update!

[francois]

Nice update!
:D

[francois]

just hatched bsf larvae

[francois]

I have been very patient with this BSF. Thing……………I now have the ball rolling…

[francois]

late yesterday afternoon i put this 500 gram bread into the bucket with bsfl

[francois]

what was left early this morning

[francois]

this afternoon 700 gram bread

[davidstcldfl]

Hungry little buggers... ;)
francois, have you seen the video of where someone puts a dead fish in a container of BSF....they do a time lapse video and it looks like the fish is moving.. :shock:

[francois]

Yes davidstcldfl...i have seen the video...excelent, mind blowing.
the larvae in the bucket shown......... they ate 2 x 700g breads 24 hrs.
very hungry
:D :D :D

[francois]

larvae

[francois]

Long time
I have not had fish in my system since 16/12/2012…..
I did some building alterations and the system is smack bang in the middle of the building work.

[francois]

Well the work now 95% finished I started cleaning the system and I added new fish on Wednesday
I think about 27 fish in total...22 comets and the rest shubunkins
The new fish

[francois]

BSF FOR FISH FOOD
Aquaponics leaded me to BSF farming.
From research people say each BSF cluster of eggs has between 500-900 larvae
These calculations are done using min factor of 500 and if I had the space and food to grow them all to craw of stage……. estimate
20 crawled of pupae = actual weight +- 6 grams
6 grams / 20 pupae = 0.0003 grams per pupae
A sum I did…….based on only the egg clusters I collected…..
In January I collected 8- clusters of BSF eggs per week
4 weeks x 8 clusters = 32 clusters x 500 larvae = 16 000 larvae
In February I collected 8 clusters of BSF eggs per week
4 weeks x 8 clusters x 500 larvae = 16 000 larvae
In March I collected 9 clusters of BSF eggs per week
5 weeks x 8 clusters x 500 larvae = 20 000 larvae
So in total 16 000 + 16000 + 20 000 = 52 000 larvae
52000 x 0.0003 grams = 15.6 Kg wet weight of pupae.
So to say in these 3 months I can actually produced enough live pupae to feed the fish in my Aquaponics system for a long time
This can be done in very limited space and min work and maintenance.
Over the last 12 months I fed the fish +- 12 kg of pellets
I have exact figure for the Kg of pellets fed to the fish but to lazy to check…very close estimate

[francois]

I did this exercise after I did the top calculations to get to 15.6Kg
In reality the figures change quite drastic
I took and weighed 5 litres of larvae and their weight is +-3 Kg
In the last month of April alone I have collected 15 litres of bsf pupae.
3 x 3 = 9Kg in one month…
I think this must/could be the egg clusters that the bsf lay directly into the food scraps and stay in the bins.
I currently have 9 Kg of pupae in a polystyrene container so this is based on fact
Plus to say thousands pupae walked of without me getting them

[francois]

I did this exercise after I did the top calculations to get to 15.6Kg
In reality the figures change quite drastic
I took and weighed 5 litres of larvae and their weight is +-3 Kg
In the last month of April alone I have collected 15 litres of bsf pupae.
3 x 3 = 9Kg in one month…
I think this must/could be the egg clusters that the bsf lay directly into the food scraps and stay in the bins.
I currently have 9 Kg of pupae in a polystyrene container so this is based on fact
Plus to say thousands pupae walked of without me getting them

[francois]

9 kg or 15 litres of pupae

[francois]

Well from a few pupae to hundreds……I see BSF composting as a top model for composting.
Very little effort….if you have the climate, food and space for them.
The last +-5 hot month’s was an excellent learning curve and I am happy I spent the time on the exercise…time well spent……
I will definitely use more of the larvae to feed my fish…good cost saving on food
I am going to try and keep a cycle going through winter….
Let’s check

[davidstcldfl]

9 kg of pupae...?
:lol: ...that's alot little crawling guys... 8-)

[JCO]

OK francois, no word from you on your project since May 5, 2013...how about an update and some photos of your BSF farm :mrgreen:

[francois]

Hi All
I have not posted much lately but I am still on the go....
the fish are getting big and they look happy..eat well
I have managed to get some plants growing...I had a problem with old seeds
very few of first and second lot of planted seed came up
new seeds and better results
I decided against the indoors with bsfl for now...did one or two tests indoors...not very successful but I learned some...worth the experiment.
I have more than enough BSF larvae in summer to feed the fish not doing much so I need to give more attention on how I am going to keep larvae...freeze or dry for the winter months.

[francois]

last summer at the time when things were really going well with the bsfl I never had fish to feed them to. I basically only collected some craw of larvae to take through winter and the rest did what they would do in nature craw of and pupate for the next summer. One of the larvae bins stood next to a stack of bricks in my yard.....I moved the bricks on Saturday and this was in-between and under bricks

[francois]

update on the plants

[francois]

the plants

[francois]

................

[francois]

something else I tried
growing baby leaf lettuces between two strips of polystyrene....

[francois]

small new plants

[JCO]

Everything look great and our experiment with the baby lettuce is fantastic....but what is the round tuber with the short green sprout (the last attachment above) :?: :mrgreen:

[francois]

im not sure, but it sure looks like garlic.
100%...garlic

[JCO]

Tell us how you started your garlic in the raft system, seed, bulb or magic :mrgreen:

[dback]

Have you tried to grow the garlic from cloves to see if it will make it to the 'bulb' stage?

[francois]

I wanted/was going to split the garlic cloves into single plants but I am not too sure now....the roots have grown and are white...healthy and long...I think I will split some and leave 1 or 2 to see what happens

[francois]

I cleared 2 raft today to make space for new plants
took some lettuce and beans out.
the beans were doing very well but....space for basil and celery

[francois]

lettuces are more or less same size this is 1 of the 3 plants

[dback]

I'm sure you already know this but you would need to place the cloves in something in which it could expand (sand maybe) to form a bulb and not in rock. It would be interesting to see if you can make it work. There are numerous varieties of garlic......some like hot and dry.....some like cooler and moist. I'm sure no expert but we have grown "some" outdoors with only moderate success. Probably could have bought a lifetime supply with what I've spent trying to grow it. :lol:

[francois]

I'm sure you already know this but you would need to place the cloves in something in which it could expand (sand maybe) to form a bulb and not in rock. It would be interesting to see if you can make it work. There are numerous varieties of garlic......some like hot and dry.....some like cooler and moist. I'm sure no expert but we have grown "some" outdoors with only moderate success. Probably could have bought a lifetime supply with what I've spent trying to grow it. :lol:
i have grown garlic before????
lets see what happens

[francois]

the plant in the Aquaponic system doing ok

[francois]

more

[francois]

........................

[francois]

plan coming together

[JCO]

Hey, everything is looking great..keep it coming :mrgreen:

[francois]

Hey, everything is looking great..keep it coming :mrgreen:
Thanks

[dback]

Francois.....a couple of years ago we spent about three weeks in the Phalaborwa area. We only made it south as far as Richards Bay and didn't travel west at all. Had a great time and was impressed with the agriculture and timber industries. I've probably missed it but where roughly are you located in South Africa? Is your growing climate similar to the area I visited?

[francois]

Francois.....a couple of years ago we spent about three weeks in the Phalaborwa area. We only made it south as far as Richards Bay and didn't travel west at all. Had a great time and was impressed with the agriculture and timber industries. I've probably missed it but where roughly are you located in South Africa? Is your growing climate similar to the area I visited?

Hi dback
i live in the friendly, windy city on the east coast of South Africa...Port Plizabeth
no the climate is very different i think any way...
:)

[francois]

the garlic is growing well

[francois]

the celery grows better than the basil at the moment....

[francois]

...................

[francois]

swiss chard

[francois]

the beans going mad

[dead_sled]

You have a good looking crop!

[francois]

You have a good looking crop!
thanks

[francois]

well the worms the flies the larvae the pupae the aquaponic system....I am happy

[francois]

the garlic

[francois]

garlic chives and peppers

[francois]

garlic top

[francois]

I found the first cluster of eggs in cardboard strip for this season...many more to come

[francois]

I have not had any time over the last 2 weeks...system did its thing
I removed the basil and most of the celery today.
i want to clean all the trays and replant when i have time.
the fish in the system are fine.

[francois]

celery

[francois]

basil

[francois]

garlic

[francois]

garlic chives

[francois]

roots

[francois]

the plants and system after.........
a few celery plants and the garlic and garlic chives

[JCO]

Glad to hear from you again....everything looks great...hope you are doing OK as well. How about your fish, what are you raising now? Keep the updates and photos coming. :mrgreen:

[francois]

Glad to hear from you again....everything looks great...hope you are doing OK as well. How about your fish, what are you raising now? Keep the updates and photos coming. :mrgreen:
Hi JCO/All
thanks I am doing fine :D but have not had time to play with my toy...the system.
JCO I have mix of +-25 shubunkins and comet goldfish in the system not very big...the biggest +-60mm long...very small fish load
I want to replace the fish with tilapia but I just not had the time.
I hope that I can do this early next year and if I do I will have to heat the water through winter to get growth rates up.
I used the gold fish to kick-start the bio but that is as far as I got.
I have been using brewed worm tea as substitute for the plants.
seems to work well.....if I look at the few fish and the plants I have manage to grow in the system, it proves that with very few fish you can still grow some plants.

[francois]

cleaned out most of the plants and leaving only the garlic and garlic chives

[francois]

garlic

[francois]

celery i cut today

[francois]

celery roots

[francois]

empty holes .............i need plants

[francois]

small bsf larvae hatched in 14 litre bucket with food

[francois]

empty pupae shells

[francois]

the few fish in the system.........i want to replace...shortly... i hope with tilapia....

[francois]

duckweed

[JCO]

Looking good...glad to see you are still hanging in there. :mrgreen:

[dead_sled]

The celery, garlic, and basil looks amazing. It looks like the garlic did very well in the raft.
What are your water temps now? What type of heater are you planning to use when you get the tilapia?

Thanks for the update. :)

[francois]

The celery, garlic, and basil looks amazing. It looks like the garlic did very well in the raft.
What are your water temps now? What type of heater are you planning to use when you get the tilapia?

Thanks for the update. :)
Hi dead_sled
my temps now should be above 20 deg/c...not checked in weeks
i will have to heat the water for tilapia and i am not sure...maybe rocket stove
:D

[francois]

Looking good...glad to see you are still hanging in there. :mrgreen:
JCO
Been traveling quite a lot the last few weeks
i am home again and happy to be
hanging in there...
:D

[francois]

As for the bsf......I don't have the space and I am very close to the boundary wall...the smell in the bins where I attract the flies to lay eggs is a worry to me...........feeding the larvae is also becoming a problem...I need too much food to feed and keep the larvae I have right now...and then I have been collecting egg cluster every day and that I have in a separate bucket to hatch....I already have my hands full and there is still a few months left of the cycle.....

[francois]

Garlic and garlic chives average height 950 mm

[francois]

garlic chives average height 950 mm

[francois]

Garlic average height 950 mm

[francois]

celery seedlings i bought and planted into the system 20/12/2013

[francois]

26/12/2013

[francois]

6/1/2014

[francois]

i removed the galic and garlic chives..avarage height 950mm and only +-4 months in system

[francois]

garlic

[francois]

garlic chives

[francois]

home grown

[francois]

Only a few fish in the system

[francois]

the garlic I grew in the system after drying

[francois]

been a while.
I am still messing around with growing celery.
grows well not much of a mission...I am not sure if there is
really a market for celery but if there is it be a good crop to grow
I would say a good crop to experiment with when you start off...

[francois]

I dug up and removed the concrete slab that was casted in the middle of this bed...waste of space.I replanted the soil, garden.

[francois]

Update on the plant..celery in system. I have had a aphid problem with the celery and I have been trying and to some extent controlling them organically...now I am running away from the problem...had enough and I am happy with the results growing celery......move onto something else. I want to remove the celery and clean the rafts and re plant lettuce seedling I am growing

[francois]

As far as the bsf...all going fine and I am very happy with the results I am getting so far. My bsf larvae bin...lots of larvae. I have started feeding a dryer mixture

[francois]

dryer mixture larvae food

[francois]

600 grams collected over a few days.

[francois]

This is the 1st year that I have noticed this fly
I see more of them around my bins every day now...

[samtheman]

Wow, that's awesome work! 8-)

[francois]

Wow, that's awesome work! 8-)
:D
thanks

[dead_sled]

Francois, any idea what you will grow in place of the celery?

Interesting looking fly. It appears that they tame pretty quickly. Species?

[davidstcldfl]

Hi Francois, glad to see your still at it.. ;)

[JCO]

Hey, everything looks great. You don't seem to miss a beat and that's even better :mrgreen:

[francois]

Francois, any idea what you will grow in place of the celery?

Interesting looking fly. It appears that they tame pretty quickly. Species?

Hi dead_sled
the fly is a specie of the black soldier fly...they dont mind people
i am thinking of planting lettuce and swiss chard...see how it goes

[francois]

Hi Francois, glad to see your still at it.. ;)
Hi davidstcldfl
Thanks

[francois]

Hey, everything looks great. You don't seem to miss a beat and that's even better :mrgreen:
;)

[francois]

feed time for the bsf larvae

[francois]

less than 24 hrs later

[francois]

:D

[topz]

The speed at which they pack away the food is very impressive.

[francois]

;)
Hi All
Been a while ...
i have a few lettuces, about 6 pea plants and then mostly garlic plants in the system.

[francois]

more

[francois]

Hi All
peas

[francois]

more

[francois]

:D

[francois]

;)

[francois]

;)

[francois]

these are planted in a pot with soil prepared with worm castings

:D

[topz]

Looks great. Keeping all that space growing must burn up a good amount of your off time. How long do you spend in an average week tending to your system?

[francois]

Looks great. Keeping all that space growing must burn up a good amount of your off time. How long do you spend in an average week tending to your system?
hi topz
i only spend a few hours per week.....3-4 hours if that much.
my system runs problem free....so far so i only really spend time on the plants
i took these out yesterday

[francois]

the aquaponic system starting to look good with new plants

[francois]

......

[francois]

I had a snail problem
the snail ate all 21 lettuce seedlings growing in the system
3-4 plants per night and I just could not find him.
eventually I found the destroyers

[francois]

black soldier fly mating indoors

[francois]

today i found the 1st larvae and eggs in this indoor cage
limited sun +-3-4 hours per day now and then.
still been cold most days and lots of rain
inside the cage night +-17 and somedays if the sun shines +-34 deg
not a lot of flies +-40 or less i count about 25-26 flies
feed time

[francois]

1st larvae and eggs in this indoor cage

[francois]

eggs

[francois]

a lot more flies lets see how goes

[topz]

Where there is a will there is a way. You system has come a long ways over the years. How are the brick grow beds holding up. What is your fish population like.

[francois]

Where there is a will there is a way. You system has come a long ways over the years. How are the brick grow beds holding up. What is your fish population like.
Hi topz
the grow beds are holding up...no problems so far..touch wood
I have a lot of gold fish and shubunkins..+- I would guess 30

[francois]

:D

[francois]

:D

[urbanfarmer]

This all looks great and extremely fun! :mrgreen:

[francois]

This all looks great and extremely fun! :mrgreen:
:D :) :)

[francois]

Hi All
i released all the fies today............the birds had a feast

[francois]

mating after i released....

[JCO]

Looking great there but a little buggy :shock: :o :lol: :mrgreen:

[francois]

Looking great there but a little buggy :shock: :o :lol: :mrgreen:
fun
;) :D

[francois]

;)
cut this today

[francois]

;)

[davidstcldfl]

Looks really nice.... :)
Everyone comments on how mine, has a salty taste compared to store bought. Have you noticed that in your celery francois...?

[jvision]

David, I just went to a research facility last week where they're trying to figure out WHY aquaponics is so much better than hydroponics or conventional gardening. One thing they're hypothesizing is that a few of the microbes present in a living system facilitate sodium uptake by plants - some tomatoes they measured had over 10x more sodium in their roots and stem than in other systems. In hydroponics, this isn't the case, and nutrient solutions have to be dumped from time to time. The water in their aquaponics system is quite balanced and they claim to only be adding dechlorinated tap water for evaporation top-off.

[davidstcldfl]

Thanks Jason....that sounds interesting. If you hear more...please share.
In my original system, I ran .5 ppm of salt. There, I could understand the taste. JMO...I still think a little sea salt, produces healthier plants.