Pests

[justafarmer]

I was just wondering what people do to eliminate plant pests in an aquaponic system. Clearly chemicals are out due to the presence of fish in the system.

I have grown some Bok Choys which are doing well, but recently the leaves have become eaten by something ? grub/caterpillar.

What can I do?

[sillyoldfart]

Dipel seems to be used by many and to be safe and effective.

[Murray]

Dipel is the main grub control method and it works well. Obtainable at Bunnings and most plant places. It is a Yates product.
It has to be sprayed often if you have a problem with grubs.

[GaryD]

Hi,

I advocate the use of trickling bio-filters in conjunction with any Aquaponics system.....including those that use gravel grow beds.

The ability to disconnect the growing system from the fish tank for the purposes of treating fish or plant diseases or infestations is arguably the principle benefit of this arrangement.

If you have the ability to separate growing systems from the fish tank, you have a much wider range of organic treatment options......including pyrethrum and wide range of homemade remedies. Many of the homemade sprays include ingredients such as garlic, onion, cayenne pepper or soap.

Gary

[Miki]

You might try flooding your grow bed a little bit. If you have slugs they don't like this and will try to escape by climbing into the plants or along the side of the grow bed. I found this out by accident after the bugs had been getting into the lettuce.

Good luck

[justafarmer]

I seem to have an infestation of aphids and 2-3 other types of insects on my bokchoys.

I'd love to know what people use for this (I've used the Dipel to great effect for the grub/caterpillar - thanks for the advice), keeping in mind the need to keep the vegies organic (and edible) and the welfare of the fish in the system.

Here are some pictures of the little buggers!

[craigb]

One way you could control pests such as caterpillars is to build a moth free environment by using mosquito netting type material for the walls of the grow bed enclosure. Though it may be a bit time consuming you could even build a double entry into the enclosure like they do for bird and butterfly aviaries.

The material is light enough not to cause shade problems. Perhaps fly screens could be made with large sliding doors to make a more permanent structure.

As to the trouble with aphids I believe organic growers like to have lady beetles and will introduce them into their crops if they don't as they eat the aphids and keep them under control. Sprays will kill the lady beetles as well.

[GaryD]

Hi Craig,

You'll find that DIPEL is very effective against caterpillars....and harmless to other insects......and it's a lot cheaper to use that proofing against the moths that produce the caterpillars.

You're right about the need for aquaponicists to become interested in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) because that's the best long term option for pest control in AP systems.

GaryD

[gavinl]

Hi Craig:)

I also use Dipel for caterpillars and it works well. For aphids or other little nasties, I use a special concoction found on the net, which works well. It involves lots of garlic, cayenne pepper, bi-carbonate soda and a small amount of dish soap.

If you want the recipe, let me know and I'll send it to you.

gav

PS: if used in too greater quatities, it can burn a plant's leaves. As usual I got a little carried away and burnt some coriander and parsley leaves...nothing drastic though, considering that I bathed them in it.:)

[GaryD]

Hi Gavin,


For aphids or other little nasties, I use a special concoction found on the net, which works well. It involves lots of garlic, cayenne pepper, bi-carbonate soda and a small amount of dish soap.

Mate, I'd pass on this one for use around fish. If the cayenne doesn't get them the soap is likely to. I'd just wash aphids off with a stream of water.


GaryD

[gavinl]

Thanks Gary:)

Good timing as my toms in my aquaponics are just getting big enough for my usual spray. I will save this one for nft and soil-based gardens.

gav

[craigb]

Sorry for being slow with my response.

I found a mixture and made it up with some soap, garlic and onions. I can use it on my normal veggie patch. You don't need to use the soap, it helps it as a wetting agent to stick to the plant.

In fact if you use any kind of weed spray around the home, adding a squirt of dishwashing liquid will help heaps.

Gary, I would be surprised if any of the mixture actually got into the water in a quantity that would affect the fish. Especially if one was careful in how they sprayed the plants, and up under the leaves.

[fishfood]

The only thing that you would have to watch is the rain the soap would remain a resedual on the plants and rain would wash it in the more you spray the greater the consentration

[GaryD]

Hi Craig,

I
n fact if you use any kind of weed spray around the home, adding a squirt of dishwashing liquid will help heaps.

I wouldn't recommend using any soap product around fish.....period!

As Fishfood has said, it's what washes into your fish tank....through rain or when you perform any sort of maintenance.....or if your grow beds flood....that will help the soap and the fish get together.

The other thing to remember about growing freshwater fish is that just because something doesn't kill your fish outright doesn't mean you want it in your food chain.

Gary

[Hamish]

Found this - looks interesting http://www.hhydro.com/cgi-bin/hhydro/HH00389.html?id=QYsLBUpV

[Murray]

I recommend being very careful spraying anything around your fish. Cover the tank before spraying ANYTHING. Don't let any spray fallout into the tank
I can tell you that I have found that out the hard way !!!!!!!

[Hamish]

I have some tiny white flies on my lettuce - any idea what they are and if they damage the lettuse - or are they harmless? Wonder if there is a good bug identification web site around? Might do some googling.

[Hamish]

I found out the the tiny white flies are called...... wait for it..... white fly!

They are actually a tiny moth and aparently the larvae will damage the plant.

I made a batch of Murrays recipie (garlic and chilli) boiled up and strained.

I have sprayed this on the leaves each morning for the last few days and is seems to have really helped. Reduced the numbers of the white fly considerably. I am sure the rest will get the hint soon enough.

Ok - here is a weird idea - what about adding some small tube offcuts scattered around the plants in the growbed and catch some small gekos and lizards and put them in the grow bed. They might take up residence in the tubes and eat the bugs?

[Hamish]

The other thing I have been doing as I move around the garden is catch any small spiders I see and put them on the plants in the grow bed.

They seem to stay in the plants on the grow bed - I have about 1 per plant on 5 of my plants - and those plants seem to have less problem with white fly.

The tiny jumping spiders dont seem to build a web which is great for the veges - they just seem to sit on the plants and protect them by jumping on any bug that lands on it.

I would also like to get some praying mantis eggs to hatch onto the plants. Aparently they also stay where they hatch so would be a great addition to the pest control army.

Anyone know where I can get some praying mantis eggs?

[Hamish]

Good bug sellers in Australia (just no praying mantis!):

http://www.bugsforbugs.com.au/index.php

http://www.bugcentral.com.au/index.html

[Hamish]

Another thing I came across to help with pest control is to get a cheap rechargable vacuum like the one linked below. Use it to vacuum your plants each morning when you have a bug infestation.

Then perhaps take the running vacuum well away from the fish tank and grow beds and spray a bit of insect spray into the running vacuum to kill the bugs. Or put a bit of tape over the end of the vacuum so the bugs cant get out and eventually die.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VACUUM-CLEANER-Handvac-Wet-Dry-Rechargable_W0QQitemZ350031868579QQihZ022QQcategoryZ43526QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmd ZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

[Hamish]

Ok - here is a weird thing - just after posting my 'where can I get mantis eggs' posting I went out to do my daily inspection of the BioPod.

Biggest crawl off of BSF larvae so far last night - see pic below. So the BioPod is maturing.

Anyway - I went to put the larvae into the hartchery I have hanging in the tree - and there is a Praying Mantis in the hatchery laying eggs! Amazing!

So these will hatch out in due course and I will transfer them to the grow beds to fend off the bad bugs.

[Murray]

I will have to get one of those BiPods.
I had some clients here today and after talking with them I really must get cracking on producing as many types of food as possible to minimise my use of pellets.
Good example to us all Hamish
Gary and you lead the way in the BSF stakes. :)

Gary and Hamish, would you recommend the small or large model ? And where do you get them again ?

[GaryD]

Hi Murray,

I've found the domestic model to be more than adequate. I will handle anything that comes out of the average household and it produces generous quantities of larvae.

We shut ours down several weeks ago and we are currently feeding out frozen stocks.

The only issue I have with any BioPod is the leachate container fitted to the base. We were putting meat scraps, dead chickens and even a cane toad into ours and the leachate was very much on the nose.

The researchers claim that this obnoxious liquid is a powerful attractant for female soldier flies. I can attest to the fact that it has the exact opposite effect on human females. In future, we'll leave the meat and chicken scraps out of our BioPod.

Gary

[Hamish]

Hi Gary,

I only put veges in mine (no meat, dairy, chicken etc) and the lechate is still very smelly - sounds terrible but it smells like vomit. Best description I can come up with. But dont let this put you off.

Mine only smells when you take the jar off to empty it. Currently for me that is once or twice a week. I tip it on the garden as far away from the house as possible and then tip a bucket of water over it to get rid of the smell. There is no smell to the BioPod when it is just sitting there working away - only when I empty the jar.

Murray - in your situation with so much land I dont think it would be a problem. Just position it away from the house.

You could probably even leave the jar off and just let it drain to the earth if it was away from the house.

Or if you got really carried away and wanted it close to the house just hook a hose up to the bottom and run the hose into a drain.