17 replies to this topic

[wildedibles]

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I was lookin for ideas for my endless supply of plastic coffee cans and I found that video and I wanna give it a try :)

I wanna use my fish tank water like they did in this video but you can use hydroponic nutes I just have an endless supply of fish water ;)

I use my gold fish in a pond all summer they eat the misquito larva just fine and the water I get off my roof runs into the pond so I can water my gardens outa the fish pond so I get the extra fish nutes for my veggie gardens :)

This year I want to line my veggie beds with coffee cans that have this aquponic growing style in them this way I can have an above ground veggie beds lined with the coffee cans kinda half burried in the garden and they can hold this water

since I dont have anything to plug up no tubes or piping to circulate the water as long as you have an air space and a water space in the can you should be ok I may change out the water here and there if nessary anyway I wanna experiment with the growing medium since I do not have access to rock wool or clay pebbles so I will experiment with clay pots broken up, perlite, bit of peat moss and egg shells ( I may use coco coir instead) and to help the roots that are not estabolished a cotten string for a wick, it will wick up the water a bit and help the roots to follow it down into the water

I dont have the pots either but margerine dishes will fit and I can drill or cut holes in the containers to fit in the coffee cans ;)

[wildedibles]

http://www.powerhous...c-grow-mediums/
I found that link its on alternative substrates for hydroponics

http://www.powerhous...y/grow-mediums/
and that one is more on grow mediums

That site has good info on city gardening :) I am blessed I have property lol .25 acre but its big enough to have some gardens .... there was nothing on my yard growing but grass when I moved here oh ya a huge Liliac bush my fav purple ones :) and on the other side of my house I have a Balsam fir tree :) and some cedar trees :) There is a popular or cotten wood trees that come up all the time have to keep some cut back lol and cherry trees that do that but i use the black cherry trees as a bush to give me some privacy cause with a side yard instead of a back yarrd you have no privacy ;)

I am growing a hedge of fruit trees along the front of my yard on my side where the sidewalk would be if there was one in my front yard I also plant herbs and native flowers in this hedge ....Im making it wider this summer and planting more veggies :)

Ive done well we will call it reclaming it from the grass waste land my yard was to a well thrifty :) use what you got to grow some food plants :) I see more and more baby apple trees every year :) planted from apple cores many many when I first moved in knowing thed take for ever to grow from seed

[MrBiscuits]

Not to be a downer, but those roots don't really look all that healthy other than the ones that are exposed to air...as you would expect.

 

Not debunking this, but it would be far more effective, had it a source of air in the water. I would image that the slight aeration that they are getting, keeping them from rot, is from the beneficial microbes in the water performing their own respiration. Essentially carrying out a minimally aerated Deep Water Culture

 

A wicking system might be more effective for a no-energy option.

You could just stack two coffee cans - the top with your growing media (even normal soil, but ideally something like perlite and vermiculite)  - the bottom with your pond water - and a wick connecting the two (something as simple as knitting rope.)

 

Or you could do like the Aztecs:

 

 

[wildedibles]

Not to be a downer, but those roots don't really look all that healthy other than the ones that are exposed to air...as you would expect.
 
Not debunking this, but it would be far more effective, had it a source of air in the water. I would image that the slight aeration that they are getting, keeping them from rot, is from the beneficial microbes in the water performing their own respiration. Essentially carrying out a minimally aerated Deep Water Culture
 
A wicking system might be more effective for a no-energy option.
You could just stack two coffee cans - the top with your growing media (even normal soil, but ideally something like perlite and vermiculite)  - the bottom with your pond water - and a wick connecting the two (something as simple as knitting rope.)
 
Or you could do like the Aztecs:
 
aquaponicmerry1.jpeg

Don't feel like a downer I like the helpful ideas .......I was thinking about a wick using a cotten one or something I used this in garden last summer cause it was so dry the climbing plants loved climbing on that wick it was like a spider web when I was done lol....anyway...... I was gonna usea wick too cause the roots on young plants or seedlings would not reach the water so you would have to water...I need to bounce these ideas off you guys in here before actually digging in ;)

and the microbes would be good in the fish water ....my fish water has much more alge in it and it will make some O2 but I think your right on more air in the water maybe instead of an air stone bubbler I could change the water as I water the garden water it from the coffee cans and replace with freshly poured fish water so I can get lots of bubbles in there ?? haha like replacing the gold fish bowl water every day or few days

[PsyBearknot]

The non mechanical hydroponic methods like Kratky method can and does produce plants with healthy roots. This can be done. I like the eyedea of repurposing the coffee cans. Tho they seem a little small and may require a lot of maintenance each time you switch water out and water your garden.
Oh the ideas that abound during the off growing season. Growers make great day dreamers eh?

Look forward to seeing what you do with this Wilde!

[MrBiscuits]

The non mechanical hydroponic methods like Kratky method can and does produce plants with healthy roots. This can be done. I like the eyedea of repurposing the coffee cans. Tho they seem a little small and may require a lot of maintenance each time you switch water out and water your garden.
Oh the ideas that abound during the off growing season. Growers make great day dreamers eh?

Look forward to seeing what you do with this Wilde!

I realize and have experienced that they will grow and grow relatively well. But I don't think near optimally.

The roots that lady took out of that Folgers can were pretty nice on top near the netpot, but clearly unhappy on the bottom, except for the meristems/root caps.

It would be more effective of a one-waterpot system to trim the roots so that they are just barely submerged in the water. But why not use two to your advantage if they're abundant? If hydroponics can teach us anything, it's that the air supply is of equal importance to the water/nutrient solution.

Hope I don't come off as harsh...just trying to offer ideas for a better option with what might be at hand. I've used wick systems with wonderful success and very happy plants. And, as far as low-maintenance, no-energy goes, you can't beat it.

[Phungivore]

for passive setup , wick system are good. a variation on the concept is earthbox,earthtainer, or global buckets

been toying with setting up my fish tank and adding and bed of crushed lava rock instead of the expensive hydroton. local rock supplier has the crushed lava 1/2- size about 1.5 cubic feet volume for like 3 bucks or less . for that system i will be pumping the water using air , in those systems should be a lot more reliable and more in expensive for me since i have a few good air pumps. the recent creation i seen they where using small aquarium pump to drive water with over 5 feet of lift. airlifts has been used for years.http://www.globalbuckets.org/

if you have access to bentonite clay powder ya could dig out part of the yard and lay down layer of bentonite then fill with water and it will hold it there.

looking at the kratky, my feeling is maybe start out with water near roots, but after the roots get longer would seem might be good idea to add a hole in side of coffe can so that water level is regulated at say 3" deep, and would allow you to just pour water in and have water in container cycle out, and maintain area with air.

Edited by Phungivore, 19 February 2017 - 09:52 PM.

[wildedibles]

Thanks for all the help Im lovin it :)

MrBiscuits thanks for apoligizing but I really do wanna hear your ideas too I wanna hear it from all sides so I can put some eally good ideas together :)

I like the idea of a hole in thee side of the pot so if you over water it will come out of the hole and water the garden ;) I will have another gravity feed hose or something to help move water out of the pond and into the garden :) U should see me come unexpected thunderstorms moving water around so I can be at maxium water so come dry season I wont run outa rain water ;) I wait til the lightning stops or calms down a bit ;) (dont play with water in thunderstorms it can be dangerous ;)

The lettuce pots I bought were planted in peat pots so I riped them open a bit and cut a hole in the lid of the coffee can and placed the pots in the lid ....filled with water less then half way up so there is lots of water and air in the coffee can the bbottom of the peat pot is in the water.....did this a few days ago and they are looking better than they did ( they kept drying out and wilting the lettuce if I didnt water them everyday) I will take pictures the next time when I put my celery in one I just needed a quick fix for my lettuce ;)

Thanks again I will look into thoes ideas love that you all are sharing them with me :) very lucky I have smart people to help me :) If I wanted Optium roots everything would have room in my garden (good soil with sand and compost and poop and fish water) but with all the weeding that gardens need sometimes pots can be easier / better then having to compete with a weedy garden if I cannot keep up on pulling the weeds around my veggies ;)

[wildedibles]

[Direct Link]

Great ideas :) coffee cans dont stack but I do have lots of thoes pails around I plant in them all the time :)

One q tho does the dirt go in that coffee cup or do I have to keep it outa the cup resivoior??
I would put holes up the side of the inner pot to add more air to the roots.....I have piping material around the house too ..so I have some ideas for small plants and larger ones too :) the less weeding the better you can spend hours everyday keeping weeds pulled out

[Phungivore]

the purpose of the cup as i understand is to fill it with soil it sits in reservoir to wick water to rest of container, in my iteration of the earthbox, i used 2 buckets and a 6" peice of 2" dia. pvc as the wicking core long as you use medium like coir or peatmoss that wicks well it works great.. if i was to run kratky i would do it kinda how the earth box does by having an oveflow hole. it might take a cork to be able run container water level high nuff for young plants roots. i honestlywould be skurrd do kratky, cause when i did DWC and power went out for 3 days all my plants roots rotted off. but maybe they would not hat that problem if they where raised in passive system

 

 

closest i came to aquaponics was doing water changes from fish tank, then mixing in liquid organic feed, back then early days it was jugged stuff like for farm and pureblend and earth juice, now if i was doing that method, i would be making some blends based on recipes from this website

http://theunconventionalfarmer.com/

 

i would even use some of them fertilizers in a aquaponics system but i would apply the correct kind of fertilizer on a plant to correct deficiencys via foliar feeds , as to less likely give the fish dose of ferts, another thing i would do is use some celtic sea salt , or himilayan pink or sea90, all very similar the salt one would provide some micro nutrients, 2 would help increase osmotic pressure on the fishes gills in effect helping them breath better, and  3 increase slime coat to help with desisies Resistance. if you ever do media bed style aquaponics clay pebbles then it sounds like red worms are awesome tohave in your beds, but then need make sure water ebbs and flows

Edited by Phungivore, 20 February 2017 - 11:36 AM.

[wildedibles]

Thanks for clarifying that :) I was thinking the dirt wont get in the water cause the cup just has a slit and its held together ;)

Great ideas you have me thinking now :) Dreaming while I wait for the snow to melt ....this is the time to get pots ready tho ;)

[wildedibles]

cut small slits in the smaller container for water to seep in .... larger slits in the larger container for air

 

place small container in the bottom of the larger (margarine dish) one cut the bottom out so it will fit but not fall threw
cut a hole large enough for the margarine container to fit in but not fall threw the coffee can lid (there is a lip on the margarine container so it wont fall threw)

 

top view

 

side view the small container will sit in the water and the margarine dish will sit in air

 

planted a wilted celery in this one ....it always runs out of water first ;)

 

side view :) the celery looks even better now that it got some more water for the last few days it could use a bit more potting mix tho

 

lettuce hum they are doing good but they could do better if I planted them like the celery I think

[wildedibles]

I came up with a good idea to start seeds this way but using gatoraid bottles 3 of them in a coffee can....they are tall....making holes for air and water ....it has wicked the water all the way up....I have used my reg soil mix that I used potting up other seeds on my garden thread .....when I make another seed started I will take some pictures :)

[wildedibles]

poke air holes into the bottle and water holes too.....then cut the bottoms off to fit higher then the coffee tin to make it cleaner (no dirt falling into the water)

 

 

poke hole in the lid I placed them inside the bottle loosly and filled the drinking bottles with dirt ....put fish water into the coffee cans covering the water holes but not the air holes

 

I tried some seeds in one of these already the top of the dirt is nice and moist so it wicks up well

I used the reg potting mix I usually use peat / egg shells / perlite / vermiculite ....I do usually put a little bit of poop in there cow but my poop is frozen in the garden shed froze to the ground so the fish water will have to do......

[wildedibles]

I found worm poo, when I was lookin for more dirtless dirt :)

Edited by wildedibles, 06 March 2017 - 01:56 PM.

[PsyBearknot]

WOO HOO POO!

[wildedibles]

I came up with a good idea to start seeds this way but using gatoraid bottles 3 of them in a coffee can....they are tall....making holes for air and water ....it has wicked the water all the way up....I have used my reg soil mix that I used potting up other seeds on my garden thread .....when I make another seed started I will take some pictures :)

^posted March 3rd I started 3 seeds in the seed starter and I have a sprout :) !! 5-6days thats nice and quick!! Here's to the fancy tomaotes havin a good start....heres hopin its a girl:)

[wildedibles]

ok I made a floating top to my Goldfish tank :)

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pretty good but I need silicone the glue came apart again :( but its still working and making sure the goldfish stay in the tank :)

Edited by wildedibles, 25 March 2020 - 03:08 PM.