Hamish's System

[Hamish]

Hi all,
My system is one of Murrays balcony kits - with a larger 1250L tank in place of the standard 1000L one.

I currently have it set up with 1 x 250L growbed as I am waiting for the frames to be welded together for the other 2 growbeds.

My system has been running since 23rd May - so only 10 days. So it is still cycling.

I have 2 x 300W stainless steel heaters in the tank to keep the temp at a constant 27oC to help keep the cycling going.

I started the cycling by putting in 1tsp of Yates Urea each night for the first 6 nights. That got things kicking along.

I then added 10 goldfish - of which 3 died due to stress from the rough handling of the guy at the pet shop.

I will be adding Jade Perch to the system once it has fully cycled :)

[Hamish]

Here are some photos of my system as it is currently - next week I should have the other 2 growbeds set up :)

[Hamish]

Here is a photo of the duck weed that was kindly gifted to me :) Seems to be growing ok in the tubs. Not sure if I need to be concerned about the black plastic tubs being food safe?

[Hamish]

And here are the Moringa plants I ordered and received n the post. One of the trunks was broken so I have poked the broken part back in the soil to hopefully sprout again. The nursery tell me they will sprout again come spring.

For more about moringa google has a lot of links. Or have a look here:

http://moringamission.blogspot.com/2005/05/wondertree-100-facts-moringa-fact-12.html

http://www.moringafarms.com/growing_it.htm

[Hamish]

Here is a link to a very quick video of my system including some bad underwater footage :) I will get use to using the camera and hopefully future video posts will improve :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXRcTKXQBdY

[Hamish]

I have set up a BioPod to get rid of kitchen scraps and to have a supply of Black Soldier Fly larvae to feed to the fish when they get big enough. My Biopod has been running for about 3 weeks and is starting to mature with increasing numbers of larvae crawling off each night. Here are a couple of pictures of my BioPod. Also a picture of the hatchery I have made that is hanging in the tree. As I dont have a use for the larvae just yet I am to trying to seed the natural population of Soldier flies in the area where I live - so all the larvae are currently going into the hatchery with some wood shavings.

[Murray]

Hi Hamish,
I have not heard of Moringa plants before. I have had a read of the link you posted and it is most interesting. It is a plant the deserves more investigation.
Where did you purchase your two specimens ?

[Hamish]

Hi Hamish,
I have not heard of Moringa plants before. I have had a read of the link you posted and it is most interesting. It is a plant the deserves more investigation.
Where did you purchase your two specimens ?
Aparently Perch like to eat the Moringa leaves - and they have high protein content so great food for them!

There are a few places that you can order from online. I got mine from

http://paraplants.com/paradise/website/index.htm

Another plant I would like to get but cant find a place to buy from yet is sweet-leaf:

http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-herb-information/sweet-leaf.html (http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-herb-information/sweet-leaf.html)

And here is another good link to moringa information.

http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/free-herb-information/drumstick-tree.html

[Jonty]

Hamish,
Had a read. Sounds interesting. To hell with the fish. Sounds like it cures all known ailments. I'd do better taking it myself.
Regards
Jonty

[Hamish]

Hamish,
Had a read. Sounds interesting. To hell with the fish. Sounds like it cures all known ailments. I'd do better taking it myself.
Regards
Jonty
Hi Jonty - my 2 plants are looking pretty sick themselves - think they are the ones in need of moringa!

[Hamish]

Here are my latest test results - looks like my cycling is going ok - hope in a few days ammonia will be back to 0 - its already almost back there now :)

Ammonia 0.10
Nitrite 1.5
Nitrate 20
pH 7.8

[Hamish]

Added some tomato seedlings and lettuce seedlings today.

Also added some lettuce seed wrapped in a little bit of filter wool burried in the clay balls.

And yet more lettuce seed that I just sprinkled on the clay balls.

Will be interesting to see if they all sprout and if my first attempt at seedling transplanting will work.

This is the first time I have grown my own seedlings so will be fun to watch.

[Hamish]

In looking for a way to be able to share my excel spread sheet system journal I came across this web site - takes a few second to join up and works very well. Thought it might be of use to others. http://www.mediafire.com/

[Hamish]

And here is the first instalment of my system journal. This is up to date as of 1st June. Feel free to use the format for your own journal or if you have suggestions as to how it can be improved let me know. I have found it useful to track the cycling progress of my system. http://www.mediafire.com/?obmmjsmu3un

[Murray]

Hamish, I think that file extension you have used is Excel 2007 ? Is that right ? It is not backwards compatible, well, my Excel 2003 will not open it.

[Hamish]

Hi Murray. Sorry yes that is a 2007 version. I have converted it to an excel 2003 compatible version for those with older excel versions. Here you go - let me know if it works for you :)

http://www.mediafire.com/?4zxcbchgh5f

[Hamish]

Wow - with all this rain I just had to let some water out of the tank :) Will install an overflow to the tank when the sun comes out again :)

[Hamish]

When using clay ball media how am I best to grow lettuce?

Do I need to buy established lettuce seedlings, or can I grow from seed directly in the clay balls from seed?

If planting seed directly in the clay balls do I need to wrap the seeds in filter wool or cotton wool so they dont wash away?

I started some seed in a Yates incubator - and I transplanted them into the clay ball grow bed - but I dont hold much hope for them. The seedlings are so fine - like a peice of string. And they seem to almost get crushed by the clay balls.

Should I grow them out bigger in dirt first before transplanting?

Another option I thought of was growing each seedling in a fine gravel in a small pot and plant the pot into the clay balls.

[Hamish]

As an aside - something my grandfather use to do to protect young seedlings from pests, frost, hail and wind. He use to cut the end off a plastic coke bottle and turn it upside down over the plant. Kind of a mini greenhouse.

[nick]

hamish you are probably not going to have great sucess growing lettuce from seed in clay balls, they fall to the bottom in the flood cycle and are usually lost to the darkness.

It is advisable to get seedlings, either from shops or grow them yourself. The choices I have seen or heard are grodan( atype of hydroponic spun grow medium) the jiffy cubes, a peat cube that is available from most gardening centres you add water they expand and you place the seedlings in the top and then the whole lot goes in the bed.

Another thing i have been thinking would be to put a 5cm layer of coco peat at the top of the clay balls, so that just the bottom of this layer is flooded ad then to plant the lettuce in this layer. They are not heavy feeders and the roots should grow thourgh to the clay ball layer by the time they need extra nutrients.

Any way just a thought, and keep me posted on how you go with the jade perch.

Nick

[Hamish]

Thanks Nick.

As the Nitrates were starting to build in my system - and as the Jade Perch should be ready to collect this week I figured I had better get something happening on the plant front.

So a quick trip to Bunnings tonight and I have a carton of seedlings.

I just spent the last half hour in the rain (idiot!) washing the potting mix off the roots and planting them in the grow bed.

I had 2 beans and 3 cucumbers in the grow bed already that I had grown from seed. And tonight I added 11 Cos lettuce and 2 basil.

I have a few more seedlings (tomato and capsicum) ready to go in as soon as I get the other 2 grow beds set up this week.

I feel like I am cheating a bit with the purchased seedlings. I have a lot of seeds and this great little yates incubator. But to use it I feel I need to get something other than potting mix to start the seedlings in. Trying to wash soil off a tiny seedling and then put it into the clay balls without it getting damaged is almost impossible.

I will look into the grodan, jiffy cubes and peat cubes - they sound like the way to go. Thanks for the tip :)

So its happy days - should have lettuce in a few weeks :)

[Murray]

I guess I am a bit rough...I don't bother to wash the soil off the seedlings. I just plonk the whole thing into the grow bed......It works for me......
Those jify pots are a great product....work really well.

[Hamish]

Whatever works :) I am learning so all suggestions are welcome :)

[Martin A1]

I feel like I am cheating a bit with the purchased seedlings. I have a lot of seeds and this great little yates incubator. But to use it I feel I need to get something other than potting mix to start the seedlings in. Trying to wash soil off a tiny seedling and then put it into the clay balls without it getting damaged is almost impossible.


G'Day Hamish,
Mate don't feel like your cheating.. this is not a contest! I suffer with a lack of spare "time" and do the same. Sometimes I whack them in with plenty of potting mix still on?
My experience is that you can really rough up the roots of your plants without any adverse effect. Once they get water on their feet they really bounce back.
I get more disappointed with the fact that these seedlings are probably from engineered seed that will not reproduce like the heirloom seeds you get elsewhere. They are also usualy pre-infested with "bug" eggs.

[Hamish]

Bug Eggs :eek: