Best Plants to Grow in an Aquaponics System

3:57 PM in an, Aqua, aquaponics, best, grow, in, plants, system, to

 Best Plants to Grow in an Aquaponics System

There are many plants that grow well in soil less farming.  These include vegetables, aquatic plants, flowers and even fruit trees.  There are other vegetables that will not work well in an aquaponic system.  Root vegetables such as carrots, onions and potatoes should not be used in these systems.  You can grow them, but it would not be easy.  They need a medium close to soil like sand in order to grow.

So what plants should I grow in my Aquaponic system?

Leafy Green Vegetables

Cabbage and Lettuce are two of the most common grown vegetables in aquaponic systems.  They grow really well and are easy to take care of.  Other good choices are basil, peas and green beans.

Fruit Vegetables

Some of the top vegetables you see in a typical garden are tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers and even corn.  They all can be grown successfully in an aquaponics system.

Viney Plants

Plants that produce vines are a great choice for aquaponic systems.  They are only rooted in the growth bed and can grow elsewhere leaving more room for the other plants.  Examples of these are cucumbers, pumpkins and gords of all shapes and sizes. 

Flowers

Finally there are flowers.  I have seen greenhouses running aquaponics systems that are full of flowers.  You can have a successful business especially in northern areas by selling flowers to local businesses.  There are many popular flowers that can be grown, roses are lilies to name just a few.  They all will grow fast and well in this type of system.

The trick to being successful with your plants is to try a variety of plants to see which ones will grow well in your climate.  Your plants will need a lot of care at first in order for them to really take off.  You may want to find some supplements.   Seaweed is a very popular supplement that is used in aquaponic systems.  The seaweed extract are great for growth, but you need to be careful what you add to your system.  An additive that helps your plants grow, might cause issues with your fish or bacteria.  Make sure you find additives that will ensure your plants, bacteria and fish all will thrive in your system.

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Vertical Aquaponics Grow Pots

10:24 PM in Aqua, aquaponics, grow, pots, vertical

Six weeks later the vertical grow pots are doing fantastic. There is so much space this is saving and running on my 650 litre system does not increase the load on this system. This system is still running at 50% capacity in my opinion. I can easily add another few more vertical grow pots and two more regular grow beds. Periodically I have been adding a little seaweed extract which seems to take care of some of the micronutrient deficiency. Compost tea is the next addition which I will be trying soon.

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A One Year Meal Plan Or What Should We Grow This Year

12:31 AM in a, Aqua, grow, meal, one, or, plan, should, this, we, what, year

This time of year is prime time for garden planning around these parts.  As we were thinking about what we might want to grow this year, we came around to the question of, "Well, what did we eat last year?"  We have a partial record of what we made right here on the blog, so that was a good place to start.  From there, we just had to fill in the things we normally eat for breakfast, lunch, and supper that we dont blog about. There is always a lot of variability depending on whats available (or on sale), the time of the year, how much time were at home, how much snacking on high-sugar dried fruits we do while waiting for the other to come home so we can explosively greet them when they walk in the door (like Hobbes greets Calvin), etc., but as a ballpark figure, could we make an estimate for food intake, assuming three servings per person per day?

The answer is yes!  And the estimate is fascinating. [...says Jake as Katie snores...]  If youve been following this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that a spreadsheet is about to appear.  And so we begin, with three sets of columns: one each for supper, breakfast, and lunch.

Into each set of columns, we enter recipes (copied and pasted from memory or the internet), specify the number of times per year were going to prepare them, and make sure units and ingredient names are consistent (e.g., that we dont say tomato in one recipe and tomatoes in another).

Then we use a pivot table (one each for supper, breakfast, and lunch) to count everything up.  Its a bummer we dont know how to make a pivot table from more than one range at a time (theres probably a way), but thats ok.  The workaround isnt too hard. From each individual pivot table, we create a master pivot table.  From the master pivot table, we can estimate how much of everything we need to acquire during the course of the year.  For example, we learn that we need about 54 dozen eggs, 49 gallons of milk, and 110 loaves of bread (assuming 12 slices per loaf).  If youve been in our kitchen, you know that works out to a surprisingly accurate figure of roughly one dozen eggs, one gallon of milk, and two loaves of bread per week.  And also 23 pounds of mushrooms, which sounds delicious.  Model validated!

More importantly (and to the point), we can estimate how many pounds of vegetables well have to grow and how many pounds of meat well have to catch to be self-sufficient.

Clearly, if we want to keep taking carrots to work for lunch, well need to grow a ton. (Or, a one-fourteenth of a ton, rather).  Similarly, we can see that we ought to devote a lot of our remaining garden space to tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, and greens.  Of course, were going to grow a larger variety of veggies than that, but the quantities we tend to eat (and would need to find storage space for) are instructive.  And honestly, well probably try to grow more winter squash, green beans, and peppers than the chart suggests.

On a similar note, if we want to keep on our current diet, well need to grow another batch of chickens and catch one large deer and a quarter of a pig. (Or raise one deer and catch a flock of wild chickens.  But we dont have space to raise both!)

All things considered, its a pretty balanced diet, not too far from Harvards Healthy Eating Plate.  Were a little heavier on the veggies, but hey!  Maybe well end up being a very localized blue zone.

Its important to keep in mind that these numbers are just guidelines; were not locking ourselves into a whole year of rigidly following recipes.  We substitute veggies and meats in and out of a recipe like a Wall Street bankster swaps stocks (although we hope none of our meals would be considered subprime or toxic assets).  But its nice to have a set of go-to dishes we can pick from and toss together from stuff in the fridge or pantry if weve already spent our creative energy for the day and still need to make supper.  Whatchagotamology at its finest!

We wont vouch for the user friendliness of the spreadsheet, but if you want to play around with it, you can download it here.  Suggestions welcome!


Do you make meal plans?  Whats your planning strategy?  Let us know in the comments section below!

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Using Aquaponics to Grow Food Naturally

7:24 AM in Aqua, aquaponics, food, grow, naturally, to, using

Aquaponics is the growing of plants and fish together in a polyculture farming system, where each crop complements and maintains the other. Aquaphonic systems are intended to consistently supply fresh herbs, vegetables and fish without the use of chemicals or man made fertilizers. This zero waste food farming method is suitable for small scale home use or larger commercial farms.

Aquaponics is different from traditional types of systems in that it allows producers to breed fish and grow vegtables and herbs in the same water. The waste from the fish is pumped into a holding area where it is usually treated with natural bacterial agents that help break it down. Then the treated waste is pumped in the plant area to be used as fertilizer for growing, and the used water is pumped from the plant area back to the fish. Artificial chemicals or fertilizers are normally not used in this type of farm system. The goal is to create mini self contained eco-system.

While aquaponics has been increasing in popularity for decades, in depth research began only recently here in Canada. Large scale commercial operations are slowly being implemented as more and more farmers realize the systems potential for profit as well as its potential to improve waste management problems in the fish farming industry. Read full article here.

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