Batavia Coast Aquaponics

earthbound

Nice new bed... :thumbright:

Is that a passionfruit I see hanging down? Is it growing in the system?

gtkmarine

Thanks Guy's
earthbound the passion fruit is growing in the ground, but it's watered with AP water. It runs the full length of the fence in the back yard & I get buckets of fruit of it.

gtkmarine

So it's the school holidays & I sent some time away from home, was well surprised to find new sprouts in the new GB. I hand watered the new GB for the fist few days after set up & We had 40mm of rain here the other day.

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earthbound

I like it...... seedlings planted but loads of stuff popping up in between..: :thumbright:

gtkmarine

A month later & the new bed is filling out, with more seedlings popping up from the reused media all the time. We have had a lot of rain this month which has helped random dormant seed from the previous GBs' germinate, mostly celery. A bit of weeding of the ferals to be done to make room for the keepers. I've planted some cabbage in place to fill the spaces.
Unfortunately the Chinese veg seedlings that I planted have decided to bolt to seed, maybe transplant shock ? Ill leave some to go to seed & try again later. They are attracting beneficial & providing pollen for my bees in the mean time.

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gtkmarine

I've been over seas for the last 3 weeks. There's been a quite significant changes to the system in that time. Nearly all the bok choy have bolted to seed. The cauliflower & broccoli have headed up & in general more growth all round.
https://youtu.be/j3WeIiG6DPA

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boss

Wow! Three weeks away and it still looks pretty damn good. That Cauli is huge! Did you have an AP sitter?

gtkmarine

Gday Boss. My kids looked after the AP system while I was away & I told them to keep the feed rates to a minimum, so no dramas with water issues. The Cauli was made into a delicious soup & it was the biggest one I have ever grown, it grew out of a 70mm NFT pot which was most impressive.
The bed needs a bit of a clean out now & it's time to start some summer planting in before it gets too hot. I guess you would be getting ready for the winter months?

boss

70mm NFT pot, wow that must've been busting the sides! We have one purple Cali coming. I never grew one before, its pretty cool looking.
We are, but not hurriedly so. We had a late Summer hail a few days ago that damaged most of the outside veggies, knocked peppers and leaves off. They may get a chance to do a little come-back before the frost, but then again I'm often naive about when first frost is.

gtkmarine

Noticed that the system has had a water leak lost aprox 200L in the last 3 days :dontknow:

I found 2 small leaks & then after a more of an examination found that one of the NFT pipes was backing up because of the amount of celery roots. :sad3:

So a quick harvest of the celery, trim of the roots & thing are back to normal. :thumbright:

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gtkmarine

Today was the first warm day of spring here in Geraldton 33*c. So spent the day prepping for warmer weather mulched the garden, removed spent & seeded winter plants. Then removed the lid, pumps from my well & climbed down to remove the root growth from the well walls. This should improve the water quality of my main source of water for the AP during the summer months.

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gtkmarine

The blockage in the NFT pipes was still causing problems today. So I removed more of the celery plants & root to fix the problem. I was amazed the amount of growth that can amass in a 70mm pot in a short period of time & how the celery can destroy the NFT pots.

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gtkmarine

Managed to knock off work @ lunch time today

So I spent some time working on the AP system. I noticed some damp sand on the ground & a slight drip on the side of one of the big GB's. I removed some of the media near the drip but couldn't find the cause of the leek. After looking further I found that an over grown Brahmi plant in the corner was causing problem, allowing the water to travel under the trim & drip out some 40-50 cm away.

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boss

I had to look up Brahmi and found it interesting reading.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacopa_monnieri
I'm now a couple months away from 65 and looking to fill deficits "medhya rasayana–class herb taken to sharpen intellect and attenuate mental deficits."
Looks like it also makes a good bog, pond and aquarium plant
What do you do with it?
Brian

gtkmarine

Hi Brian

I think it's called the memory herb ? ? Can't say it's done me any good :oops:

It grows really well in the AP or once established it will grow strait in the water.
I just eat a few of the fresh tip of the plant when I'm passing the AP, It's not the greatest tasting herb quite bitter. On the label when I first got the plant it suggested Brahmi tea. I tried it but it doesn't improve the flavour. Like most medicine get it down quick & a little bit often is the way to go.

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