Squash and Cukes!

By August, I had some great looking squash and cucumbers growing.

Cucumbers (left) and Squash (right) on 8/16/2011

The squash grew very vigorously and produced lots of buds this summer. Unfortunately, the three squash plants kept producing all same sex flowers at one time. As a result, there weren't many flowers of the opposite sex to pollinate them. I got all my squah from the brief periods when the two sexes overlapped (at the end of one cycle and beginning of another). Next year I'll stagger the squash planting to increase the likelihood of both sexes of flowers existing at the same time.

Outdoor Season Update

This summer's growing has been progressing steadily. I've harvested the basil a few times, and the cucumbers and squash now have fruit beginning. The cukes and squash have had flowers for at least three weeks, but until recently all the flowers were male - that means no fruit. I thought the lettuce might grow well under the shade of other plants, but so far they've just stayed small and dormant. Bell peppers have produced a few fruits but few new flowers. Nitrate levels in the water have remained very high (~80ppm) and I've put some Maxicrop plus Iron in as well. I started up the tank with pure ammonia, so I think there was a lack of some trace nutrients, including iron..

Grow beds on 7-26-2011

Squash (foreground), Lettuce, & Jalapeños (background)

Cucumbers (foreground), Peppers (mid), & Lettuce (background)

Basil (R) with Small Hot Peppers (L)

Tengo Muchos Jalapeños (y Otras Verduras)!

In the month since I took my tomato plants out of the grow bed inside, the jalapeños' growth exploded. They've grown tall and have a profusion of flowers. As I've mentioned before, the I was surprised that the jalapeños flowered, due to the predominately blue light of the metal halide bulb. Such light is best for vegetative growth.

Last week I harvested the first fruit: they are about 3 inches long and very spicy! They made for a piquant corn chowder. I have 16 more that will be ready to harvest soon and at least another 15 buds and flowers.

3" Jalapeños on 7/05/2011

Jalapeños Ready for the Chowder

Meanwhile, the chard has re-grown tremendously...

First Custom Contracted Aquaponic System Built!

I'm pleased to report that I have just completed construction of my first custom aquaponic system for a client based in Little Compton, RI. See more pictures and find out the details by visiting the new Custom Client System page!

First custom built aquaponic system: 4' x 2' x 1' grow bed with 3' x 2' x 1.5' fish tank using an autosiphon

Growth Spurt!

The tomatoes, chard, and peppers in the basement system are now growing vigorously! The tomatoes especially have surged in height. As you can see below, in just four days each tomato plant gained about five to seven inches!

Left: Grow bed on 5/27/2011 Right: Grow bed four days later on 5/31/2011

I needed to transplant these tomatoes, because I was heading out on vacation, and I worried that they would grow into the light, causing a fire hazard. Originally, I planned to transplant these into my outdoor aquaponic system; however, they had grown so fast that the outdoor system didn't yet have the necessary nitrate levels. Instead, I transplanted them into pots with soil. To make up for these, just before I left, I planted more tomato seeds, in addition to cucumbers and summer squash. By the time I return, I expect they will have sprouted and the outdoor system will have enough nitrate to receive them.  I'm interested to compare the growth and output of the tomatoes that spend their whole life in the aquaponic system, the ones I transplanted to soil, and others that I've had in soil since seedling stage.

I was happy to discover through this indoor tomato experiment that tomatoes could thrive in shallow grow beds. The expanded clay grow bed is only about three or four inches deep, yet the plants grew tremendously. You can see from the photos below that once I washed the clay pebbles out of the roots, they were only a few inches long. Of course this is a direct result of the aquaponic growing method: with nutrient rich water delivered regularly right to the plant, roots do not need to travel far to find sustenance.

Roots of heirloom tomato before transplant 6/1/2011

I reason that the shallow bed worked well because of the cool temperatures in the basement. Outside, such shallow beds would fail because the tomato's shallow roots would get baked in the sun. If I used this for future indoor projects, it means I could reduce the amount of media I need to purchase and the amount of weight the table must support.

Meanwhile, the chard has grown rapidly and the hot peppers have sprouted flowers (much to my surprise because of the dominance of blue light from the metal halide bulb).

Two types of rainbow chard in clay grow bed on 5/31/2011

Buds on hot pepper plants 5/31/2011