Homestead mailing list

["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw AT chilitech.net>]

From: "Viking" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>
> I have probably mentioned this before, sorry if I have, but I also have
> an aquarium, and when I do a water change in my aquarium, I feed the old
> water to the plants...basic aquaponics principle in that the fish waste
> and nitrates fertilizes the plants.
> Speaking of aquaponics....two questions:
> Lynn Wigglesworth, are you still doing this?
> Where is Paula Speraneo of S&S Aqua?

Yes, I'm still doing it. I have a 2000 gallon tank in my greenhouse. I
still have goldfish and koi in the tank, since I can't really figure out
what kind of fish I want. The fish are about 3 years old now and large.
The water in the tank is pumped into 3 4'x8'x12" gravel beds with plants
(there's one more gravel bed that I have to finish). The plant roots and
gravel clean the water and the fish waste feeds the plants; the water
drained back into the tank. I also have a smaller tank and 2 beds in my
small greenhouse.

I'm always amazed at how well plants grow in aquaponic beds. They grow
faster and cleaner and have less disease. I grow everything I can
vertically, tied to strings going up to the rafters; plants will get slimy
and rot if they sit on the surface of the gravel. And I do nothing but
feed the fish and train the plants up the strings.

I've experimented with lots of types of plants; right now I have
cucumbers, tomatoes, melons, peppers, florence fennel, strawberries, lemon
grass, and other herbs. Tomatoes and cucumbers do especially well. Pak
Choy does well, too, but the greenhouse gets too hot by about May, so I
have to time the Pak Choy for cooler seasons.

I have a PEX coil running from an old water heater  through the
tank, so I can heat the fishtank. I can keep the plants producing until
about December by just heating the fishtank to about 60 degrees. If I can
get them through the winter, they will start producing again in March.

Lynn Wigglesworth
Peasant Farmer
Tioga County, PA