Issue 32
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Table of Contents:
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1. A subscriber speaks up
Boulevard, CA
To: "Hilmur Saffell"
Subject: Your Book
We've downloaded your book and are devouring it as I speak. I appreciate how straightforward the book is, and how much information is packed in each page. Thank you SO MUCH for making this available at such a reasonable price.
I was looking at hydroponic stuff on the web and came across your website advertising your book. It appealed to me for so many reasons, and I am very glad that I got it, and that it includes plans for a greenhouse too!
Since we are in Southern California - about 6-8 miles above the Mexican border, we have a fairly long growing season. However,at this elevation it starts to get cold at night in mid-November, and we get snow every winter. It doesn't stay on the ground more than a day or two, but we get it. The minimum temperatures get down to about 15 degrees during the coldest part of the winter. We can get down to 20-25 degrees at night clear up until the end of April. In the summer, we get very hot - as in triple digits.
I don't think it would work well for us to try the beds outside - as we not only have lots and lots of high winds, and hot sun - but also lots of rabbits, squirrels, gophers, grasshoppers, and tons of birds - oh, and a pack of coyotes that den on the bottom of our property!! I think we almost have to start out inside a greenhouse - don't you?
I am very, very serious about wanting to do this - and I will want to start out slow, get used to hydroponics and then grow as large as possible, commercially. My husband is also interested in this, and we are going through your book together.
Thank you again for your great book!
Sincerely,
David & Barbara Cooper
Editor's note: I thank you too, Barbara. And, yes, I do believe you will need a greenhouse if only to keep out the varmints. For those of similar interests, just go to http://www.mayhillpress.com for more details.
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2. Growing herbs with aeroponics
A research student at the University of Arizona has been concentrating on how to grow herbs using aeroponics. Teena Hayden and Bill Quiroga are interested in this method for cultivating native herbs and roots and doing it on a more consistent basis. Those herbal plants grown in the ground (or the wild) usually don't have the save medical ingredients from one plant to the other as those grown under hydroponic control. Teena is a doctoral student at the university.
These plants can be grown cleaner and more consistent through a new process featured by Native American Botanics.(520-883-8300 teena@nativeamericanbotanics.com) These people hope to get Indians throughout the Americas to grow these herbs and medicinal plants as a commercial venture.
Present experimental growth is concerned with burdock, a biennial which has been used by Indians years for purifying blood. Burdock is sold in the US in dietary supplements. It has a tap root anywhere from 1 to 3 feet long and can weigh as much as a pound in one season. Because of this long tap root, burdock is quite difficult to harvest.
Aeroponics can save a lot of time and labor. The tap root won't be nearly that long but it will still acquire mass. The reason for this is because the plant won't have to go looking for nutrients. Aeroponic spray will supply the nutrients.
The seedlings are held up by wooden frames. The roots are enclosed and then sprayed with nutrient. Using aeroponics is the best hydroponic method because more plants can be grown in the same amount of space. Teena's method allows roots to grow to the maximum while staying consistent in the medicinal qualities desired.
Other herbal plants are being considered for production. The main focus is on more efficient production and marketing to pharmaceutical as well as herbal companies.
Presentations of this technique have already been given to two Indian tribes: the Oklahoma Cherokee and the Tucson Pascua Yaqui.
Editor's note: substantial space is given in my book on growing herbs using traditional hydroponic methods. Go to: http://www.mayhillpress.com/hydroponics.html
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3. The expanding scope of aquaponics
The combination of growing plants with fish does two primary things: the plants use the fish excreta for food and in turn cleanse the water for the fish. The juxtaposition of the plants and the fish can be with the plants growing on the surface of the water above the fish or the plants can be located separately and then be fed with the waste effluent from the fish. In either case, two main problems are eliminated: the fish have clean water and the plants are well fertilized.
An important element must be present in order to prevent the fish from dying off from toxic water. Bacteria must be present which will digest the fish waste and convert the predominant ammonia to nitrate which the plants can then use.
Aquaponic research is conducted mostly in the US, Australia and Canada. However, an important facility is located at the University of the Virgin Islands at St. Croix. This facility is a happy choice because it has been set up especially for tropic areas where fish are becoming scarce and where fresh vegetables are hard to come by.
Aside from the savings in labor and fertilizer, growers can market not only the fish but can sell their crops as organic, a large selling point to say the least.
Aquaponics is quickly becoming a big business. Fish such as tilapia, which are tasty and firm, are capturing the public's fancy. Other fish such as largemouth bass, crappies, perch, and bluegill or bream can also be raised. Is auquaponics new? Hardly. The Chinese have been doing this for centuries with carp.
The big bonus for most growers is the crops raised with the fish. For these two primary reasons, commercial growers are considering aquaponics as a growing solution more and more every day.
You can do aquaponics on a limited scale at home, furnishing meat and vegetables which are organic and free from pesticides. You no doubt can find several home models at your closest hydroponic supply or garden outlets. (An excellent listing of these sites can be found in the appendix of my book the details of which can be found at http://www.mayhillpress.com).
There are two basic aquaponic systems now vying for your attention. The first is the total waste system and the second is the liquid waste system.
In the total waste system, the plants are grown separately in media which can be either perlite, gravel, sand. In the total waste system all of the waste water from the fish tank is transported to the plants. The solids remaining from the waste can be composted and, after being treated with heterotrophic bacteria can be applied to garden or field soil areas.
One large disadvantage goes with this system: ammonia levels which get too high and clogging of the plant media.
The same criteria above applies to the liquid waste system. Here you don't have to worry so much about ammonia levels but you don't have as rich a fertilizer either. You're also obligated to buy a clarifier which is used to remove the solid waste from the fish effluent.
If you do use NFT or float techniques you will use the liquid waste system. For flood and drain or ebb and flow techniques you will use the total waste system.
Things to consider:
Fish Tanks: There are commercial tanks for home use and then there are the large long outdoor and indoor tanks.
Aeration: To get the proper DO levels to protect the fish, you need an air pump which is connected to what are known as air stones. Splashing the water or surface air generation won't do. The DO is measured with a meter which should read between 5 - 12 ppm (parts per million) and NEVER less than 3 ppm or the fish will be stressed and die.
Water Pump: Used to move the fish effluent to the plants and then back again.
Battery and alarm backup systems: In case the power goes out. The fish won't survive long without it.
Grow Bed: This is a bio filter for the bacteria you are going to use to cleanse the water in the fish tank. Plants fed by total waste will have their own bio filter, such as gravel or sand. NFT and float systems will need a bio filter made for them and used separately. These beneficial bacteria can be considered your third crop.
Other things to consider:
The quality of the water you are using is important. The pH level must stay around 7.0 which is good for both fish and plants. Kits should be on hand to measure pH, DO, water hardness, and ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.
Water alkalinity should lie between 20 ppm and 300 ppm of calcium carbonate.
Water temperature varies according to the fish being raised. The temperature should be agreeable to both plants and fish. A temperature range of 67-78 degrees F is good for warm water fish species and is also good for most plants.
Acceptable ammonia levels are .02-.07 ppm. This is ammonia in the form of NH/3. The other form of ammonia which occurs is NH/4 and is not toxic to an alarming degree to fish.
Plant pests should be dealt with by using beneficial predator insects such as green lacewing, ladybug. etc. Sick fish should be removed and treated separately, usually in a bath of one to three percent salt for a few minutes. This will take care of infections from parasites or fungus.
As in a greenhouse and its surroundings, cleanliness applies here too. This is especially true for the water, grow bed, and fish tank being used. You can also use ultraviolet filters - but NOT on the bacterial grow beds.
What can you grow? Some growers like watercress, lettuce and herbs for small operations. For large tanks plants such as tomatoes, melons, peppers and cucumbers can be tried. I'd say just about anything as long as you keep in mind the following: small fish tanks don't provide a high level of fertilizer whereas large fish tanks do.
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4. Aquaponics in the open air
How's this for a fish tank? At Andrews, NC a grower utilizes an old marble quarry nearly 3 acres large. This quarry has its own natural aquifer which furnishes water at a temperature of 56 degrees F. Perfect for raising trout, the grower says.
The grower has installed floating frames on which he has planted watercress. These plants will then help make the lake water cleaner. This grower is also thinking of growing grapes and fruit as part of this operation.
Special pumps and blowers will keep the water aerated as well as movement of the water for both fish and plants. There will be net pens seven feet deep. These pens will be shaped like a cone and at the bottom fish wastes can be collected. This waste can then be pumped to the grapes and fruits trees for irrigation and fertilization. Some of the solid fish wastes could be composted from which methane could be extracted and used as a power source.
One more thing. This grower is thinking of growing Spirulina platensis. This organism is composed of nearly 70% protein and could be an excellent source of amino acids, vitamins and fatty acids. In its dried form, this organism can be added to foods and greatly enhance their nutritional value with no side effects.
Take a small lake such as this grower has and raise only Spirulina and you could get protein in an amount 600 times as that produced by cattle in the same area, 70 times that of fish and 120 times that of corn.
Ladies and gentlemen, we may have just had a glimpse of the future!
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5. Deep Pond Floating Raft System
I really love this one.
The biggest hydroponic lettuce grower in the world is located in Mirabel which is in northern Quebec. HydroSerre Mirabel,Inc. does it all amid a great sea of snow, the last place you would expect a hydroponist to be. How much lettuce do they grow? How about Boston lettuce at 13.5 million heads every year?
The company operation is truly fantastic. The Japanese have been using the same technique on a lesser scale for years. My book which is discussed at http://www.mayhillpress.com has a chapter devoted to this topic.
The greenhouse is 700,000 foot-square! And it is entirely devoted to one huge pond nearly one foot deep. This pond has separate sections for different crops. The entire surface is covered with floating Styrofoam rafts filled with lettuce. And of course it's called the Deep Pond Floating Raft system.
The entire idea was innovated by Dr. Merle Jensen of the University of Arizona (some great ideas coming from that direction). Dr Jensen asserts that the lettuce produced at Mirabel has flavor that can't be beat and that's why the company has done so well. Seventy-five per cent of the butterhead and bibb are sold in Quebec with the rest going to the United States and Ontario.
The company also grows baby salad mixes which include arugula, mache, reen oak, tatsoi, spinach, watercress and red oak. More mature versions of red leaf, oak leaf and green leaf are also grown. The operation produces 500 plants for every square meter each year.
What makes this growing system so fantastic? First of all, once the pond is filled, no water is lost in soil, media or from the sun. The floating plant rafts keep out the sun and prevent evaporation. The water is never changed, but some may be added when needed. There is no loss of fertilizer. Each separate growing area is analyzed regularly and the correct fertilizer is added where needed.
There is no pollution of ground water because there is never any runoff. The lettuce doesn't bolt in summer because the water is always kept cool and in the required temperature range. With a constant cover of plants on rafts at the surface the water never gets direct sunlight and consequently stays cool.
There are no gullies or benches to set up. This makes it quite inexpensive to build and operate when compared to other hydroponic techniques. Once the pond has been filled, it's easy to keep up with additions afterwards.
To keep out pests and diseases a protective greenhouse is needed. Root problems are avoided by oxygenation of the water to above one hundred per cent. Pesticides and fungicides are never used. Since the plants are moved so often, big problems don't have time to manifest themselves.
If necessary, Bacillus thuringiensis, is used. This biological control is especially effective on caterpillars. But if a major infestation occurs, such as with aphids, there are so many plants that the few damaged plants can be tossed out. Lately, the company has been trying ladybugs along with other university sponsored biological control tests.
Extra lighting is provided from September through March. A computer supervises and watches over the entire operation. Conveyor belts transport the crops from one section to another. The seeding, transplanting and even the harvesting are all done with machinery .
It's obvious that this company not only is number one in lettuce production but also intends to stay in that position. It has growing operations in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzen and is in touch with American and European growers.
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6. Think about it...
All good work is done the way ants do things: Little by little.
- Lafcadio Hearn
Even if you are on the right track
you will still get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers
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bsaffell@mayhillpress.com...Last Update: 52008 copyright 1996 - 2008 by Hilmur Saffell
WE HAVE THREE BOOKS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU.
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"How to Start on a Shoestring and Make a Profit with Hydroponics"
"Big Dollars Growing Gourmet Salad Greens"
"Beneficial Insects - How to Mass Rear and Make a Profit"
If you would like a copy or copies of your own,
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