Plowing Her Fertile Fields: QQ's Gardening and Horticulture Thread

[Gorbian]

Here's the gardening thread for the four of us here with an interest in plants.

 

[None of your bee wax!]

Was driving to visit my niece-in-law a few day ago when I noticed some of the neighbors having individual green houses for their plants. (Strawberry`s, Cucumber`s and spinach.) And found myself wondering if such a set up is worth having a temperature controller added, with moisture sensor to automatically water the plants? All I remember from my childhood is rabbits eating all our produce from the backyard garden.

 

[manatherindrell]

I once had an aloe vera that I didn't water for a year. I'm pretty sure it was still alive when I threw it out.

 

[Keldin]

I'm here to steal the quartet's fourth place.

 

[Gorbian]

I once had an aloe vera that I didn't water for a year. I'm pretty sure it was still alive when I threw it out.

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I had 4 aloe vera plants next to my house growing up. We never watered them once, so they survived off the "lavish" amount of rain that the high desert gets. They're hardy little things!

 

[Bear Ribs]

I'm in my second year experimenting with an aquaponic setup. I have three IBC tanks (250 gallons each) with hybrid bluegill for the aqua source and split barrels above filled with expanded clay growing media. I'm running it for the second year now.

Notable experiences:

Half-barrels of growing media don't work well. The main issue is that with large tall plants like tomato vines they can become top-heavy and roll. I plan to replace them with flatter rectangular grow beds in the future. In hindsight perhaps it would have been best to do a chop-and-flip, I got greedy and went for maximum space for the fish.

After some missteps, I have the flow go from the two outside IBCs to the center. This maximizes flow and also if a grow bed rolls and dumps out too much water, only the center tank runs dry.

Although I've read that root crops grow well in an aquaponic, I've had no luck with them so far. All my tries for ginger root and tumeric rotted.

 

[None of your bee wax!]

I'm in my second year experimenting with an aquaponic setup. I have three IBC tanks (250 gallons each) with hybrid bluegill for the aqua source and split barrels above filled with expanded clay growing media. I'm running it for the second year now.

Notable experiences:

Half-barrels of growing media don't work well. The main issue is that with large tall plants like tomato vines they can become top-heavy and roll. I plan to replace them with flatter rectangular grow beds in the future. In hindsight perhaps it would have been best to do a chop-and-flip, I got greedy and went for maximum space for the fish.

After some missteps, I have the flow go from the two outside IBCs to the center. This maximizes flow and also if a grow bed rolls and dumps out too much water, only the center tank runs dry.

Although I've read that root crops grow well in an aquaponic, I've had no luck with them so far. All my tries for ginger root and tumeric rotted.

Click to shrink...

What fish are you using; any bottom feeders to keep algae down or do you have a couple of shrimp filling that roll?

 

[Bear Ribs]

What fish are you using; any bottom feeders to keep algae down or do you have a couple of shrimp filling that roll?

Click to shrink...

I use a UV filter to kill waterborne algae. I'm planning on adding some channel catfish the next time I get a chance though.

I had gone with shrimp last year but as it turns out, hybrid Bluegill have significantly larger mouths than normal Bluegill so...

 

[Jamesson Locke]

All I remember from my childhood is rabbits eating all our produce from the backyard garden.

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See what you do with that is just eat the rabbits instead.

 

[warwick]

Half-barrels of growing media don't work well. The main issue is that with large tall plants like tomato vines they can become top-heavy and roll. I plan to replace them with flatter rectangular grow beds in the future. In hindsight perhaps it would have been best to do a chop-and-flip, I got greedy and went for maximum space for the fish.

Click to shrink...

I recon NFT(floating) would be best for maximum fish capacity, but it need bigger filter Im afraid, and limited vegs/plant selection

Although I've read that root crops grow well in an aquaponic, I've had no luck with them so far. All my tries for ginger root and tumeric rotted.

Click to shrink...

how deep is your bed and how thich is the region that always submersed?

 

[Bear Ribs]

I recon NFT(floating) would be best for maximum fish capacity, but it need bigger filter Im afraid, and limited vegs/plant selection


how deep is your bed and how thich is the region that always submersed?

Click to shrink...

I'm using bell siphons on a flood and ebb system so no more than maybe an inch at the bottom is always submerged and the ebbing water always pulls in fresh air under it. The beds are half barrels so maybe a foot deep or so.

 

[Amazon Climber]

All I remember from my childhood is rabbits eating all our produce from the backyard garden.

Click to shrink...

Trap crops help. We've been planting clover any time we get a patchy spot, and they're much happier eating it. Pity it doesn't help with the slugs…

 

[Gorbian]

Trap crops help. We've been planting clover any time we get a patchy spot, and they're much happier eating it. Pity it doesn't help with the slugs…

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Have you tried beer?

No, seriously. Slugs absolutely love beer, so if you bury a cup of the stuff to the rim, the slugs will fall in and drown.

 

[Gorbian]

My grandmother just gave me a metric fuck ton of roasted coffee beans to add to my potting soil. Do I have to grind them before putting them in? I don't own anything to grind them up with unless I want to go full caveman with a mortar and pestle.

And yes, I know how weird it is to own and use a mortar and pestle and not a coffee grinder. I'm picky with my seasoning.

 

[None of your bee wax!]

My grandmother just gave me a metric fuck ton of roasted coffee beans to add to my potting soil. Do I have to grind them before putting them in? I don't own anything to grind them up with unless I want to go full caveman with a mortar and pestle.

And yes, I know how weird it is to own and use a mortar and pestle and not a coffee grinder. I'm picky with my seasoning.

Click to shrink...

why not keep in in the bag and just back-over it in your car a few times, should reduce it to a manageable grain after a bit.