howdy from another northeastern ohioan

[Big Al]

hey keith, by the way nice pictures. very cool, and nice growth how long was that growth. forgot in my last post later.

[keith_r]

thanks Big Al..
i planted the first round of seeds may 6th or 7th, had stuff sprouting in a week, all the rain we had did in some of the sprouts..
i put some more seeds in about 2 weeks ago..

i really like working with the hydroton, if you are looking for any, let me know, i found a place that sells 50 liter bags for 19.90
i think you'd need a little over 2 bags to fill a half barrel, i used river gravel in the bottom half of my barrels to hold down the drainage pipe in the bottom of the barrel, then 1 50l bag of hydroton in each half barrel.. makes transplanting easier than straight gravel

i'm not even sure what all is coming up, but i think quite a few seeds got washed away (the real tiny ones)
next year i'm either going to wrap small seeds in tissue and put that in the gb, or maybe those little "plugs"
and i'm going to try to put the growbeds where they can get full day sun next year (the dirt garden is doing better than the ap garden so far)
the floating raft stuff seems to be doing pretty well

edit; it looks like it took about 3 weeks for my ammo to drop to 0

[JCO]

Keith,

It's too late for this year, but here is a lady with a handle on being ready for the spring planting and it fits right in with AP because she uses water from her fish tank to start and water the seeds.

[video:1eo88tvz]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQL0MLvWwqE[/video:1eo88tvz]

[keith_r]

hey JCO, not sure what you mean that it's too late this year? do you mean planting seeds? i'' probably be starting different seeds throughout the year, as i harvest and clear up space..and before first frost i'll be bringing in at least 1 pair of growbeds, i have a 55 gal fish tank for an indoor system, and a single growlight (i can set this up in the basement)

while i'm looking at everything i do with or on the system as learning, i also want to try a variety of plants/densities to see what works under what conditions, and i'm having a ton of fun (i lost 10 lbs in the couple of weeks of building the system )

[JCO]

In that case, setting up a seed starter system like that should be the "Cat's Meow" for your way of growing. Get after it and know off some more weight...I could use a little less nutrition myself or something..

[Big Al]

hi keith, thanks for the tip with the eggs i put 6 in each tank thursday morning and saw a difference thursday evening. i found another place for perch but they wont sell them until september due to the heat stress on them. it's a place in andover. im also waiting on another place to call me back about them that is close by also. i'll let you know when i find out. later Big Al

[Big Al]

hi keith, we bought our perch last night. will be delivered next week things growing well in our system. nice to see the growth happening. later Big Al

[keith_r]

good to hear! (how many did you get?)
i have to call butch back, he left me a voicemail but it's been crazy this week.. i won't need to buy what he was going to set aside for me, but my son might want them..
i'm really happy about how the perch started feeding.. i was really worried the first week, but they've settled down, i think they ate the last of the minnows that started my system, and they're really hitting the food..
i've got to get out to thompson to get more fish food sooner than i expected, and will probably be getting a bigger size feed.. i'm using 2mm pellets right now, but will probably go up to at least 4 with the next bag.. butch recommended a brand, but i can't think of it off the top of my head

[badflash]

Stick with the 2mm pellets. That way you can feed any size fish from fingerlings to adult. That is what I do with the tilapia.

[Big Al]

hi keith, i got 450 perch there 1.5 -2" long the feed is silver crop i believe. he said the next ones he has are larger. so here go . later Big Al