Im building an aquaponic hoophouse

[spuds]

I broke a garlic clove and planted the cloves,they are sprouting.What Im doing is pulling them out of the media gradually as they grow roots,getting til the clove rests on media completely out of water.I had a volunteer come back and thats how it did it,exposed clove.
Sooooo....we shall see! 

Man alive but do I have a ton of beans.If they all bloom I will harvest,blanch,freeze then can if/when I have enough.They are really crammed in,if this works I could do literally a couple hundred plants in a single bed/jungle.Again,we shall see! 

Moved a potted tomato outside,still have 6 in big pots in hoophouse,another experiment to determine the optimum tomato growing trick for here. 

My goodness am I having a fun year.Also the basil....I just cut the leader out of the plant,leave a few small leaves and stick into the aquabed ,viola! New plant,and the old plant bifurcates at that spot sending up 2 leaders making it bushier,Im loving it.

Also that celery from last year keeps dividing! The base just separates into 2 separate plants,pull the baby out of the roots and I have yet another new plant,WOW!

My gosh but the Koi are growing,I feed them at least twice a day and the big guys eat 5 or more pellets in a pass,they are getting REALLY big!

So,amazing year thus far.

[spuds]

Basil cuttings




Garlic cloves



Koi growing up!







This one on the bottom right is real friendly,looks right into your face

[spuds]

My tree clones didnt make it,but my grapes and tomato clones going fine.

2 of 3 tomatoes in pots got knocked over,by dogs I recken.They spent night bent over at stem bases,YIKES!! All wilted and a major heat wave!

Put them on fence outside,tied stems upright to fence.Covered from umbrellas and all still alive and didnt lose any buds,so i might be ok.Dont know if stems will ever recover to be strong again,or if where they are now is where they stay,attached to fence,but they are OK so far.Almost lost 2/3rds of my potted,biggest plants,YIKES!!!!

First,the maters.Pretty wilted....attached to fence.....


Covered with a small umbrella,then added big one,intense sunlight right now,record temps,bad timing,eh?
3 days later.looking good,dodged a bullet I hope.This is best tomato plants ever,hate to be zapped a setback.


Standing tall!


Some tomato clones and standing tall are grape clones.Would be nice to make for friends I think....




Koi say Hi!


Garlic rooted fast,about a week,already have cloves above water level


Bed 2


Bed 3,going crazy,snowpeas and blooms on beans

[spuds]

Making tomato clones.I cut out a sucker,the growth at the 45 degree angle


Then i trimmed off some leaves so the stem doesnt have to try and feed them.The lower stem end is cut at an angle to increase the exposure of stem to water,then stick it into the bed that is constantly wet,or moist as it is at night.

The small ones on right are from my smaller cherry tomato,I couldnt find more plants so made clones.The larger left is the new clone from the heirloom purple,my best maters this year


How are  the tomatoes doing? The 2 in buckets outside all the time are at most half fence high and a distant 3rd in plants competition


The inside aquaponic plants are 2nd largest,and are really coming on now.I suspect they might catch up to the best toms






The plants in the bucket raised in greenhouse are the largest,4 are outdoors and 2 remain in hoophouse.They are a foot above fence


The fava broad beans are flowering like crazy


I tied up the mass of beans in bed one to see how they will do and to get an idea how much I can stuff into a bed.There has to be at least 75 plants there,assorted beans peas and a few tomatoes


Tomatillo,its like a green tomato for salsa and Mexican dishes,flowering well too,I have high hopes for these as they naturally are big producers,grow like a weed in Mexico.


The garlic experiment,looking good.Think they can make a head of garlic?Bulbs are firm,and roots in water level in bed

[hikerman]

Man Carl! It's like everything is supercharged!  Nice work!

[spuds]

Thanks for the comments Gene,comments very much appreciated. 

Really taking off.Here is beds 1 and 2


This is the year of the clones.Tomato and grapes have been proven to work,here is a potted plant,a bean top,and three various size cuttings from the tomatillo,also another tomato experimental on how to prepare roots.


On to bed 2...the fly problem has really been knocked out.Second batch of lady bugs have about finished them off.Under control.This is Freddie,the last mantis.Either the others escaped,died or Freddie is a serial murderer,not sure which


San Marzano Roma babies in 2,and heirlooms on other end




Potted tomatoes,marzano and heirlooms in pot




Sweet 100 going crazy


In bed 4...


Garlic experiment working so far,bulbs are growing


Our other garlics,rather small,eh?


3 tomatoes,laid on sides and heading into bed three


Had to pull tomatillos from above bed 4,too hot,arent pollinating,they too are growing sideways into bed three.


The peppers are growth spurting right now,babies forming


Snooky says Hi


Girl says Hi


Girl watching her flock eat a watermelon

[SmokinKat]

You are going to have a tomato bonanza on your hands there!!  Our sweet 100 has finally started some teeny baby green tomatoes, looking forward to those ripening-- love to eat them right off the plants!   Unfortunately so does our golden retriever, so we have to keep those away from the dog fence.   

Beans are looking great-- excellent idea to stagger the plantings to keep 'em coming. 

Good luck with Freddie-- might want to sleep with one eye open, just in case!     

[spuds]

Heehee! Love the mater eating dog Kat!Good luck on yours..... I have such high hopes on ours,its heading into a fantastic year....so far,barring an asteroid hit or ? ? ? ? ? ?
I love the Girl pic,she lined up just right,she DOES actually take watching HER birds seriously,chickens love her too,no fear of her at all.She is so good at not alarming them at all with her size.

[spuds]

Plants Really suffering.Made several dumb mistakes.

1-over planted beans,they did poorly and ate ALL the nutrients fish could produce.
2-All plants suffering horribly,see #1 above.
3-Let water level fall too much,added too much fresh water,with too much chlorine,fish suffering

Really messed it up.Running pumps full time to Filter out the chlorine,2 days later looking much better

Didnt have kelp fertilizer (see 1 above),and kept putting off going down the hill (HOT!) to get more.Talking to neighbor,he was going next day for supplies.He picked up a gallon of kelp for 30 dollars.Took half of it to feed tanks.Plants looking better but at least half of tomatoes in hoophouse will not survive.

i have 12 tomatoes outside.Looking at my best year,they are about 2-4 weeks behind,i see a lot of green maters coming.....Only now are the sweet 100's starting to produce.

So YUP,I did mess things up,frustrating!

[Smokin Don]

You have some good looking greens!!! My dog is the same way with birds, he likes to eat outside and the sparrows raid his water bowl and food, he just looks at them! It's different with squirrels and rabbits! Don

[spuds]

LOL Don.The chickens literally will walk over Girl.Sometimes they peck at her....Move your feet Dog!She just looks away from them,treats em like babies.

Now Snooky,its more like.....You are very lucky you arent lunch Chicken.You have NO IDEA how lucky.If Carl wasnt around you would be snack food!

Speeding up pumps has saved fish.Still going to lose a lot of green in the beds.Cant believe how careless i was,dummy!

[spuds]

Well I just finally have something to report....

First,we have 3 preying mantis's!







Fish say hi,doing well



Grew a beet and a couple turnips in aquaponics,who would have thought that?They need an earlier start though,maybe overwinter them?





Finally the tomatillos.All they did was flower for 2 months,FINALLY put out female flowers and POOF,its making lanterns.Thats where the tomatillo forms,they look like green tomatoes,used in salsa and Mexican green sauce for enchiladas and such.Have 4 plants that grew really well.

[Smokin Don]

All looks great Spuds and looks like you have fun with your hobby and get to enjoy the harvest too!!! I had a Dalmatian that loved tomatoes and usually got the first ripe one of the season. You have two great lookin dogs!!! Don

[CDN Smoker]

It's been some time Carl but I do enjoy watching your adventure. 

[SmokinKat]

It's been some time Carl but I do enjoy watching your adventure. 

Indeed!   Growing the garlic that way was really interesting to see.   Glad you got the fish and plant balance sorted out after over-doing it with the water!