Goddard Aquaponic Gardens – June 2013

This is the second post about the Goddard Aquaponic gardens story (Click HERE to view Part I) now one month after the previous post in May. Since then, the corn stalks have grown some and are about to bloom after being top eaten by a cut worm and several small caterpillars. The okra has filled out nicely, but several of the squash plants have rotted out on the ends, probably due to major rain storms, and were removed, and the beans have matured and started growing new pods. The tomato plant also got a nasty caterpillar during the rain storms, while we were prevented from inspections, and the center stalk rotted out thus allowing us to restart the stalk as a new plant.  The pictures below attempt to show our progress. Squash last month on left and now on right getting ready to bloom (bud):

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okra now on left and in bloom on right:

Volunteer green bean plant from January now loaded with beans:

Secondary green beans blooming on left and with bean starts on right:

And next, our terrestrial Tomato plant with fruit starting to ripen:

In the picture above, you can see there are some branches missing in the top center where the bamboo poles stick out. That is where the center stalk rotted out. Below is the stalk in soil after it started sending out roots above the rot in a cup of water. We planted it in soil to hasten the root growth and restart it as a new plant. The milk crate is to prevent Ziggy from toppling the plant while playing ball on the back porch. Below is the evil Hornworm caterpillar that ate the center tops off the Tomato plant above. It was euthanized minutes after Frank took this picture. And finally, a picture of the third Swamp Hibiscus flower of this season. In the background, you can see the second blue Pickerel Weed flower of this season. Later that afternoon, I downed two large Golden Goddess bamboo trunks with dead ends at the top so that I can use them for fence planks.

Then later that evening, we were hit with another downpour rainstorm. After a long deluge of rain, one of the bamboo trunks bent over, weighed down with 5 dead Acrocomia Palm fonds. Then, within minutes, we heard a large SNAP and the trunk broke near the top of the bend. An exciting end of a busy day in the aquaponic garden.

Goddard Aquaponic Gardens – Summer 2013

26 May 2013 – This blog is an attempt to document the 4525 Goddard pond conversion to Aquaponic farming. The picture below is a bird’s eye view of the whole pond with blue gill, tilapia, flag fish, gold fish, and mosquito fish. The tarp at the top is covering the deep end to reduce the amount of sun that might encourage algae blooms. There are a total of 5 tubs in two sizes:  100 Gallon and 300 Gallon.

Goddard Pond Bird’s Eye View

The shallow end was fenced off to prevent fish from entering the shallow end but that didn’t work. The tilapia babies were able to invade along with the blue gill and have grown up on that side. Unfortunately, the tilapia have eaten the water lilies that were planted to offer more shade. They’re trying to grow back and so far haven’t been affected by the tilapia this year. At least they eat the Cuban tree frog tadpoles in the shallow end so we’re not propagating invasive species. Also in the shallow end, the tub functions a dual purpose of filtering detritus from water through gravel as well as creating a current to prevent stagnation. In the picture above you can see the 300 Gallon tub at the top of the picture (south side) and below is a full shot of the tub. The banana plant is a miniature variety, the alocasia (right) is a metallic variety, and nestled below that is another alocasia of the velvet variety.

300 Gallon Tub with Banana and Alocasia

The 3 tubs below line the north side of the pond and contain 2 types of substrate:  hydroton (bottom) and river gravel (top 2). The top 2 use the same pump to fill the tubs. The hydroton tub disperses water from the pond across the bed in the ladder tube hydration system.  To see how a bell siphon flush system works, watch the video below.

Once the bell flush system exceeds capacity, the water begins to flush out of the tub and back into the pond, as illustrated below.

North Tubs Blaring Return Water

The day I shot most of these photos, a native lily bloomed in the shallow end amongst the lily pads in the picture above.

The tub below contains the green beans and basil spice. The plant to the far right is a green bean that volunteered itself from last year and sprouted around January 2013. The other green beans from this year’s crop, planted in early April, appear towards the center and right front of the picture. The tall plants in the back are basil.

West 100 Gallon hydroton substrate with green beans and spices.

Focusing in on the more mature green bean plant, this volunteer has grown compact and tight, as illustrated in the picture below.

Volunteered Green Bean from 2012

Focusing even closer on the volunteer green bean plant, the picture below shows the beans and flowers maturing under the leaves.

Aquaponic Green Beans and Flowers

The picture below shows the summer yellow squash, also planted in early April. This is the middle tub that also contains okra.

Middle 100 Gallon Tub with Gravel Substrate – Aquaponic Summer Squash

The picture below is the eastern tub with an okra plant, a row of corn, and an eggplant.

East 100 Gallon Tub with Gravel Substrate – Aquaponic Corn Rows

2 Week Old Aquaponic Corn Start

In the picture left you can see a closer view of the 4 week old seedling. Due to the amount of nutrients and substrate contents, these aquaponic plants grow slower. In addition, this year has been cooler than normal and we’ve even had to endure a hailstorm in May. And finally, the eggplant. This specimen, pictured below, is about 3 years old and has never produced any fruit. It has bloomed constantly during the summer months but never became fertile. Normal life cycle is typically 1 year, so this is the end of this one and will be removed soon.

Aquaponic Eggplant – Non-producer

The main point of this blog is to log our experiments and learn to grow larger crops for better sustainability and reduced grocery expenses. We are also experimenting with 5 gallon buckets using soil, as pictured below of our tomato plant.

Terrestrial Tomato Plant

In the picture above, the first tomato appears just below the middle right side of the plant. There are about 5 more smaller fruit in various places throughout this specimen. Although the tomato is not aquaponic, it is an experiment to expand our backyard to a sustainable farm opportunity. Stay tuned for more…