This is a great resource. They ask for a small donation to access the library which is very reasonale - but you can still access it for free. I found a link to download The One Straw Revolution by Fukuoka Masanobu who taught the art of using seedballs to revitalise land.
http://soilandhealth.org/
Some interesting info in there Hamish, I have just spent 1.5 hours following links and reading various articles on nutrients available to plants and plant health. These articles stress the benefits of nutrients produced naturally for plant health rather than nutrients provided chemically. The natural synergy between bacterium that takes place in a properly formed and aged grow bed, very likely has more benefits for plant health than we yet realise. The follow on from that is obviously our own health and well being.
The nutrient conversion and uptake by plants is enhanced by root depth. Artificial chemical fertilisers tend to provide bulk nutrient near the surface and therefore discourage deep root growth. Deeper in the soil there are micro nutrients and bacterial action that release important nutrients to the plants.
I suspect that the same would follow on in Aquaponic systems. As a grow bed ages, with the judicious addition of rock mineral and a healthy worm population, a wonderful micro "soil" must develop to provide a myriad of nutrients that would be hard to replicate in some other gardening system.
This would also require the fish food to be from a variety of sources, not just pellets. BSF and worms and in the case of Jade perch some vegetable matter. This will ensure the fish health and therefore follow on via the fish waste to the accumulation of micro nutrients in the grow bed.
I have read somewhere of a trial conducted and findings that a aquaponics system takes about 3 years to mature, and at that time produced better than any other comparable system. Does any one know of such a study and can reference it ?
I think you are correct Murray. I dont think it is my imagination playing tricks on me - and I cant really quantify this statement with any hard facts - but I get the feeling that the growth in my system is accelerating.
Might just be the turn of the season - but then again it also might be that my system is maturing. Gary mentioned that systems take up to 6 months to really get going - so good things are still to come! My system has only really been going since 23rd May (8 weeks) and the fish and most of the plants have been in much less time than that. So pretty happy with the progress so far
Very interesting thread.... I hadn't thought of this fundamental difference between Aquaponics and Hydroponics until I cleaned out my pipe system and filters recently. I was amazed to find the number of baby earthworms in both filters and in the pipes. After cleaning I put these babies into my earthworm farm in the backyard. I can only imagine what a healthy ecosystem is growing in the bottom of my growbed in between the air spaces and charcoal pieces and clay ball fragments.
I had previously thought that worms wouldn't survive all the flooding and draining but realise now it is no different to my back lawn which is constantly flooded and drained on a weekly basis by tropical downpours here in Brunei.
My system too is definitely maturing and becoming more fertile. Some bayam seeds I accidentally spilled on the growbed are even sprouting on top of the clay pellets.
Dave
Hi
It will take at least six months for nitrification to fully develop in a new system. AP systems will continue to evolve well past that.Gary mentioned that systems take up to 6 months to really get going - so good things are still to come!
Dr Nick Savidov is a researcher from the Crops Diversification Research Centre in Alberta. He has determined that Aquaponics systems will generally only produce 70% of the yield of a conventional hydroponic system in their first year - but that, in their second year, they can produce 30% - 40% more than a hydro set up. He suggests that the micro-organisms that influence productivity take a year to develop the right balance.
Gary
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Arthur Schopenhauer
www.microponics.net.au - for candid dialogue on integrated backyard food production.
www.urbanaquaponics.com.au - the home of the Online Urban Aquaponics Manual.
Hi Dave and All,
I just wanted to mention a great contact for those wanting worms. Watts Worms. Bob Watts at Lockington in Victoria has been farming pigs and worms for more than 30 years. He hasn't used chem on his paddocks because he spreads vermicasts and the ground is beautiful. I got back today from picking up a 7x5 foot trailer load of pure castings, full of worms and egg capsules for $50. Unbelievable value and a real gent. He also gave me some left over Ridley's fingerling crumble from Glenwaters Hatchery where he'd gotten his Silvers last year. AND he had duckweed and Azolla which he was happy for me to help myself to. I get my 120 Murray Cod from GlenHaven next week. Very excited.
A point with regard to the advantages of interrelated and symbiotic organic systems. Mycorrhizal fungi existed throughout much of Australia. Not only were some probably important to indigenous groups as a food source, but the hyphae formed extended root systems on the native flora. We all know about legumes and rhizobia re nitrogen fixation, etc, but little is understood about the relationship which exists in eucalypts for example, where the mycorhhiza attaches itself to the roots of the tree and sends its roots, hyphae, out, effectively as massive extensions of the tree's rootsystem. The relatioship is symbiotic. These hyphae spread in vast networks and are probably the largest single, connected organisms we have. They seek out and assimilate micronutrients some of which are passed on to the host plant. In ancient soils, nature had provided partnerships for success.
Now, in some agroforestry, and particularly in riparian regeneration, seeds are innoculated with these fungi before germination and eventual planting out. Indeed, the hyphae are so extensive that it may be that these fungi are even more effective in consolidating soils in attempts to prevent erosion, than the trees planted. Cheers Jim B
Wow - that is a bargain Jim! Cost me almost that much for a bag of 1000 worms!
Jim, can you supply an address and contact details for Glenwaters Hatchery so we can add it to the list of hatcheries please.
Glenwaters Native Fish Ph: 03 57978384
Break O'Day Rd, Fax: 03 57978425
Glenburn, Vic
3717 glenwaters@westnet.com.au
Will offer some feedback after picking up my fish. Its a 6hr round trip.
Jim B
Here is a list of Hatcheries provided by PIRSA.
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