Growing Flowers

KenR60

Will all Flowers grow using Aquaponics? Now that the bug has hit me with success with the Vegi's I want to manage to have a nice Bunch of Flowers each week cut and brought inside in a Vase ( Extra Browny Points ) So what things do I need to be aware of to move into growing Flowers?

Food&Fish

In a word yes theres a few growing flowers already sorry i cant link [but i would have a dedicated grow bed outside for them]

KenR60

Food&Fish wrote:

In a word yes theres a few growing flowers already sorry i cant link [but i would have a dedicated grow bed outside for them]

Thanks, I was going to add them into my Pot System and mix them with my Vegi's?? Give a bit of colour and smell to the system ;-)

Chappo

Choose the right flowers and your pest / desease problems will be greatly reduced by attracting good insects such as hover-fly.

try diggers seeds etc

TCLynx

I've currently got marigolds growing in a few places in my system. Truth is there isn't that much difference between "flowers" and veggies since most veggie plants flower at some point.

The trick is choosing flowers that will like the conditions you will be putting them in. Giant sunflowers might not be a good choice for a 2" net pot hanging in a 4" pipe if you get my drift.

The more flowers and herbs you can mix into the veggie beds, the more confused the pests will be and the less likely you are to have pest problems and many flowers and herbs will also attract beneficial bugs to help you out even more.

Anyway, Marigolds seem to like my AP system just fine, they even re-seeded them selves for me so I didn't actually plant new ones this year but a few did come back. I have also planted Nasturtiums in my beds in the past but they were very prone to show Iron deficiency and the leaves turned practically white in my system last year when it was young. so Nasturtium might make a good indicator plant for Iron deficiency. Nasturtiums like it on the dry side so make sure they are planted in a bed where the surface doesn't get wet during every flood cycle. Nasturtiums are also edible, very hot, spicy flavor to add to salads.

Most anything that you can grow, can be grown in AP so most flowers can do just fine. If you do any bulbs, you might wish to plant them in such a way that it is easy to remove them and store them elsewhere for their dormant period since AP might be a little too wet for some of them.

maria_farmXchange

EVERY veggie grower should also grow flowers. Helps attract beneficial insects and birds -- which eat annoying pests and are ESSENTIAL for pollinating your plants. Plus, they look and often smell beautiful!

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As you can sorta see in the last pic above, I'm now attempting to grow Sunflowers, India Empress Nasturtium, Bee's friend, and other flowers in our new NFT gutter garden. Seedlings look strong and happy. :flower:

At first, I struggled to get both the rose and zinnia (and other plants) to bloom in my aquaponics system. Even the leaves on most of my plants were turning yellow and brown. After lots of research, experiments, trial and ERROR, I figured out what worked and what did not. Luckily, once you know what's missing, it's easy and affordable to correct -- see noticeable improvements literally overnight by adding these 5 non-toxic (and often free) plant fertilizers in the loop: http://www.farmxchange.org/fish-friendly-fertilizers/

For more pics of the rose bush in the last pic above, see http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=18875. So fragrant and mesmerizing... hummingbirds (and ladies like me!) LOVE ROSES.

Ryan

I've grown a bunch of types and didn't need any special additives. Just keep your waters nutrient profile healthy. Doing about a thousand tulips this year, should be fun!

RupertofOZ

How do you keep your waters "nutrient profile" healthy Ryan... :wink:

maria_farmXchange

Ryan...Chatterson... my hero!! (#5 Green Sky Growers) http://www.farmxchange.org/top-8-urban- ... the-world/ (don't yell at me OZ) I love your style and would LOVE to open a rooftop farm that works with local restaurants one day soon. Genius :notworthy:

RupertofOZ

I'm not going to yell at you Maria... I luv concept projects.... it's just that most of them either aren't practical, sustainable... or profitable... or all of the above... :lol:

Ryan

Haha thanks Maria!

Rupe-you look at the plants nutritional needs and match your waters "nutrient profile" with that of the specific crop you are growing....

Ryan

By means of using correct buffers and planting varieties with similar nutritional requirements

Ryan

I have a bunch of pictures but my photo bucket is not cooperating this morning

RupertofOZ

Ryan wrote:

Rupe-you look at the plants nutritional needs and match your waters "nutrient profile" with that of the specific crop you are growing....

By means of using correct buffers and planting varieties with similar nutritional requirements

So just standard methods as generally advocated... not any specific profile guidelines as TCL was enquiring about...

maria_farmXchange

Ryan, sorry, please explain again? The "special additives" that have worked for me include sea kelp, animal bones, banana peels, and quality fish food -- the fifth one is a balanced pH. I love aquaponics because you do not (cannot) use toxic chemical plant fertilizers. My system worked well for the first 6 -8 months without adding anything but fish + fish food, but then all my plants started showing signs of nutrient deficiency -- yellowish browning crispy leaves.

How do you know each plants' nutrient profile? And does this mean if you have very different plants, you must plant them in separate systems? (I have about 30 plant varieties currently growing on my balcony, so this would be an issue...). Plus having to know each plant's profile and then match it to your water profile for each plant you want to grow seems like tedious work!

When you say water "nutrient profile" -- do you mean measuring anything besides the pH, alkalinity, ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrates? I assume there is no easy way to measure the trace minerals in your water (but if there is, please do tell).

And how would one adjust this profile without any "special additives"?

Whatever you are doing, it's working! Your tomatoes and squash and spinach look perfect.

Backyard Aquaponics
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Growing Flowers

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Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

Growing Flowers

Who is online

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics