Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Growing algae in irrigation water?

permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: permaculture

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "John D'hondt" <dhondt@eircom.net>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Growing algae in irrigation water?
  • Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:35:57 -0000


We only see algae growing in highly "fertile" waters. Especially if they contain runoff from chemical Phosphate fertilizers.
john

Thanks Lawrence,

The shading from plants may reduce evaporation but that is probably more than offset by transpiration via the leaves.

I hit on the idea of trying to encourage algae growth in my irrigation system because of something I read about high fertility in some of the ancient cultures in which irrigation was used. It was assumed that part of the fertility was due to the algae that would form in the extended network of irrigation channels.

Dieter


--- On Sat, 11/19/11, Lawrence F. London, Jr. <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net> wrote:

From: Lawrence F. London, Jr. <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Re: [permaculture] Growing algae in irrigation water?
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Saturday, November 19, 2011, 1:06 PM
On 11/19/2011 5:14 AM, Dieter Brand
wrote:
> Hi, I have a request which may be a little strange and
perhaps there
> is no real answer to it. Anyways, it does occupy
my mind:
>
> I live in a semi-arid region with a prolonged and
severe dry season.
> So, every drop of water I can save counts. I
have a spring up in the
> mountain and several water holes which together
provide just enough
> water to irrigate about half an acre during the dry
season, if I use
> it very sparingly.
>
> I recently hit on the idea of letting the irrigation
water run
> through open channels or a series of containers where,
under the
> light of day, algae would form in the water. I
do believe that these
> algae would have a beneficial effect on the irrigated
soil.
>
> The problem is that I don’t want to expose the water
directly to the
> sun since I don’t want to risk that any of it
evaporates. What would
> be the best way to construct such waterways?
Should I cover them
> with some sort of semi-transparent shading cloth that
is permeable to
> air? Or should I use transparent glass or
plastic that isn’t
> permeable to air? I don’t want the water to
heat up under the glass
> or plastic. But if I use a shading cloth, I’m
not sure that none of
> it will evaporate. As I said, I can’t afford
to loose a single
> drop.

Shade it to keep it from heating up and put plastic over it
to prevent
evaporation

alternate: run the water into a small pool or pools,
containers, ponds
where you have many aquatic plants growing including
duckweed which will
completely cover the water surface, shading it and
preventing much
evaporation - you will get nutrients from the decaying
plant material -
you might get algae growing too but it will need nutrients
to survive
and the duckweed will also feed on those nutrients and
outcompete the
algae to dominate the water surface - introduce fish,
snails and other
organisms that thrive and coexist with other inhabitants of
a freshwater
environment. As for quality of plant nutrients in the
output of the
impoundment this may be better than water from algae
culture.

_______________________________________________
permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subscribe, unsubscribe, change your user configuration or
find out more about this list here:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
Garden Hand Tool Sourcelist and Biointensive Gardening
Guide
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/documents/gardening-hand-tools.faq
permaculture forums http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums
Market Farming Mailing List
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/marketfarming


_______________________________________________
permaculture mailing list
permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
Subscribe, unsubscribe, change your user configuration or find out more about this list here:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
Garden Hand Tool Sourcelist and Biointensive Gardening Guide
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/documents/gardening-hand-tools.faq
permaculture forums http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums
Market Farming Mailing List
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/marketfarming








Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page