Thursday 24 January 2013

Renewed Energy!

I'm back!

Had been months since my last update. I didn't feel like updating my blog for so long because many of my plants were dying due to the lack of direct sunlight at the back of my house. My plants became sick and weak, and turned into easy targets for various bugs and fungi. The lack of plant growth leads to the accumulation of nitrates. To counter that, I reduced feeding rates of the fish to the point of stunting their growth. All these failures had drained my aquaponics motivation level so much that I had neglected my maintenance duties other than feeding the fish.

But then, good news came! Last week, after months of lodging complaints and sending letter to my residential management office, they finally decided to prune that big tree behind my house. Finally, my grow bed gets to be bathed by direct sunlight! The back looks brighter now; I was joyful and I smiled...

Here are some pics:

The tree after much of its major branches removed. I'm sorry tree, but you need to slim down.
Right grow bed: Mostly weeds, dead genovese basil, and dying okra.
Left grow bed: Hundreds of tree saplings, a chilli plant, kang kong, and one surviving japanese cucumber.
This is the one and only cucumber plant that survived. Unfortunately, the main stem at the bottom broke when a tree branch fell on my system while pruning the tree. It only bore one fruit.
To reach for more sunlight, this kangkong had turned viney. It is producing lots of seeds though.
Tilapia tank.
I tried to get a full view shot, but there's a wall behind me.
Chilli fruit.
My favourite harvest, the single cucumber fruit before the plant died.

With my spirits lifted, I proceeded to clear the right grow bed for new tenants. Here's a good chance to show you some of the red wrigglers that has been living in the beds for some time.

Cleaned grow bed.
Can you see them?
Here's another pic... See any worms?

I then bought a new batch of seeds. They are: Kai Lan, Aster Pink, Red Okra, Pak Choy, Coriander, and Tomato.


 Thanks for reading!
:-D

4 comments:

  1. You needed a heliostat :)

    It's nice to hear you got your sunshine!

    I know someone also in Adelaide, South Australia (where I live) who bought a house in an "Eco-Village" that prided itself on designing the roof angles so that everyone got sunshine into their houses. Some new people bought the house behind him, and put up solar panels on their roof. It's good that they put up solar panels, but they cast shadows on my friend's house, blocking all his sunshine for his aquaponics project and also blocked the light into his house.

    It can be difficult to fight for sunshine.

    It's nice to hear someone regained their share of nature :)



    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah~ I know who you mean!
    Sejin from Backyard Aquaponics!
    I love his system!

    Thanks for the heliostat suggestion. Unfortunately, I am living in a community town house. There are rules to follow. I cant build something too high or out of the boundaries of my house. Even fixing a fibre optic cable for my internet took me several months of appeals, complaints, and community meetings... :P

    I appreciate your comment.

    ReplyDelete
  3. if you want to change from tilapia to freshwater lobsters,
    they grow much faster and much more delicious to eat
    contact me, on 016 5688969 caesar

    ReplyDelete
  4. As per study added by Value Market Research, the Aquaponics is a soil-less culture system with the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics water-based system. Aquaponics includes cultivation of the variety of fishes such as carp, goldfish, etc. and plants such as chives and lettuce. The market of aquaponics is growing mainly due to technological advancement. The major driver of aquaponics market is that it helps in enhancing the ultimate productivity with minimum inputs than traditional agriculture and aquaculture practices. See More @ https://www.valuemarketresearch.com/report/aquaponics-market

    ReplyDelete