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Sometimes we see a few critters wandering around the farm and they usually keep their distance. This guy didnt care that I walked right up to him to take this video.

Got to spend the morning with one of my shale customers while they presented their system to CT Governor Dan Malloy and the Commissioner for the Department of Agriculture, Steven Reviczky. This footage was taken at the Arc of Meriden in their greenhouse

Other News Links:

Meriden Record-Journal
WTNH News 8
Patch.com

Lobster Farming In The Caribbean DIY and Total Method Kits Easy Setup See Now! See Our Products

Aquaponics is an easy activity which will provide you with the necessary vegetables and fish in a short amount of time. Join us

Aquaponic Gardeing - The Advantages

Aquaponic gardens can give you plenty of fresh vegetables and tasty fish, theyre fantastic for any kind of house at the same time as for any age and occupation you may have. However, theyll not take care of themselves! It is correct that they call for really small care, nevertheless it is crucial that you give them those few minutes every day each and every day to be able to get really good outcomes and maintain the farm making for any extended time frame.

The key process in aquaponics is aeration. If the water is correctly aerated, then your fish will be pleased and your plants will grow generally. Alternatively, in the event the water just isnt effectively oxygenized, then you will find really handful of chances that your farm will survive for greater than a couple of days.

The motives why aeration is so essential are very basic and easy to comprehend for everybody. To begin with, the dissolved oxygen is required for the fish to breathe. Although the fish live under water they still have to breathe and just like in case of other animals, they need oxygen to survive. When they lack oxygen they die, therefore the balance out of your aquaponic technique is lost and inside a matter of days your plants will start off to have yellowish and at some point die out.

As this was not adequate, the fish excrements are decomposed and transformed from toxic ammonia into valuable nitrates inside the presence of oxygen. Therefore, in the event the water is just not effectively aerated the fish poop will not be transformed, the plants will have nothing to eat, although the fish will die intoxicated with ammonia. This is not a really pleasant perspective, is not it? This really is why youll need to monitor the high quality of ones water each and every and every single day and have a back-up program in case the energy gets off and also the air pumps will no longer be capable of function. This really is the only way by means of which you are able to save your aquaponic technique and make it operate for any lengthy period of time. Your plants as well as your fish will thank you for that!

Vertical Hydroponics - New Dimension to Hydroponics Gardening

Vertical gardens and living walls add a complete new dimension to hydroponics gardening. Apart from space constraint, vertical gardening gives an appealing alternative for undesirable views, adds interest to boring walls, and produces the identical amount or perhaps much more fresh vegetables as a standard garden. Many of the fruits and veggies like tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, herbs, pepper, pumpkin and so forth. could be grown inside your vertical garden. While contemplating a vertical garden, keep the following issues in thoughts:

Place: Make certain your plants get enough sunlight; and for those who have seasonal winds, make sure the plants are well protected. In case you have a balcony or patio with limited sun exposure, select plants accordingly. Leafy vegetables like lettuce and cabbage do well in shaded places. Selection of vegetables: Practically any vegetable grown within the ground will work effectively as a container-grown plant in your vertical garden. Shelves work ideal for vertical gardening, as it gives you plenty of space for quite a few varieties of vegetables. The best kind of shelving would be the type with slats this allows far better circulation and excess water will trickle down from best to bottom. Trellises are excellent for developing trailing or vine crops, or you can also use fences, hanging baskets, tiers, or ladders. With minimum obtainable space you can effortlessly prepare a vertical hydroponics technique which is very functional. Its straightforward to preserve a vertical hydroponics technique however the building part requires small bit of skills.

Tools needed to prepare your very own vertical hydroponics garden: Screw gun 4 wood screws of size 3-inch Plywood of size -inch and 2-by-6 feet 3 rockwool plastic slabs, of 4-by-6-by-48 inches 12 eye hooks, -inch eight feet long nylon string Water pump 18-gallon tote Box cutter Black vinyl tubing -inch, 8 feet 2 T fittings, 1/4-inch 12 rockwool plugs 2 eye hooks, 3-inch Chain, 4 feet HPS bulb, 600-watt as well as the cooling unit Ballast, 600-watt

Easy method to develop your own personal vertical hydroponics garden with simple :

Repair your plywood in a vertical position onto the wall where youve decided to set your vertical hydroponics program. Fix the 2-foot side on the bottom on the ground. Set the rockwool slabs opposite the plywood with equal space in between them. See to it that there is 2 feet of clearance between the top from the slabs. Repair the eye hooks in the distance of six inches from above the slabs to ensure that they may be equally spaced and 18 inches in the edge of the plywood. Repeat this approach by sustaining a distance of 18 inches from the plywood bottom and assistance the slabs with all the help of nylon string. Now divide the vinyl tubing into two sections of about 4-inch every single. The plastic which is placed around the top side of the slabs. Fix tubing of two inches and insert into the holes that are drilled to the left and middle on the slabs. Now repair one particular T fitting on every single section. And connect tubing that travels among them. Now connect the 8-inch tubing for the middle T-fitting and connect the finish towards the final slab. Connect the remaining T-fitting for the left and run it towards the lower finish of the slab. Set your 18-gallon tote underneath the slabs and cut the plastic at the bottom of each slab. The excess nutrient solution is drained in for the tote by the slabs. Now connect the water pump into the tote with connected -inch tubing. Now your vertical hydroponics technique is ready to use and you may commence gardening by adding seedling inside the plugs which can be further placed within the rockwool. Cut a 3-inch slice over the plastic slab to supply some space for the plug. Ad nutrient remedy into the tote, and start your water pump. You can hang your HPS unit by hanging it on the 3-inch eye hook. The unit ought to be placed as such that the bulb is parallel with all the vertical slabs and four feet distance away. With the assist of a chain youll be able to position the cooling unit in suitable angle to ensure that the light covers all of the slabs without having significantly waste.

A lot more on &

Greenhouse Roof Failure!

A little mishap happened with our last snow storm. The north facing roof buckled on the greenhouse from the snow. From the photo, you can see that the 4 “rafter” pieces have all bent in. The rigid foam insulation that I had installed on the inside has also pushed in.

Luckily, when I assembled the greenhouse, I had added some extra bracing inside. This prevented it from totally caving in so it’s not a total loss. The plants and fish are still alive! This spring, I should be able to dismantle this section and bend the pieces back into shape….and add some additional braces inside.

Here’s a link to my blog that displays the original bracing I installed a few years ago. Link to Blog

Spring can’t come fast enough!

Geo thermal Cooling

Its been extremely hot outside this week, and were suffering a significant drought in much of the country. The chart above shows the levels of streams compared to their historical levels for this time of month. Though some regions are getting a lot of rain (the deep blue dots), much of the center of the country is experiencing drought conditions reminiscent of those over sixty years ago. The Dustbowl, as the period from 1934-1936 became known, was a drought characterized by Roland Dewing as the "most extreme natural event in 350 years."

Back to the heat, I got thinking about the Underground Heating Exchange Systems (UHES) the Chinese developed a while ago. The idea to pump air underground was first patented in the United States in the wake of the oil crisis in the 1970s. But the Chinese picked up on this technology and highlighted it as part of an integrated agricultural approach to feeding the Cold North East.

When I saw the Chinese paper (republished on the UN FOA website), I thought it was amusing that theyd used clay pipes for their experiment. After all, folks in the US typically use plastic drainage tubing for this sort of heat exchange system.

Then I got thinking last night - a problem with the plastic is getting it to simultaneously drain the water that condenses and keep out roots and pests. Clay pipe didnt sound bad, after all. Then the light bulb went off.

What if I used cinder blocks underground for the heat exchange "tubing?" At $1.65 per linear foot, it is more expensive than the HDPE drainage pipe. But I wouldnt have to worry about water draining through the blocks (it would) and I wouldnt be worried about the "tube" getting crushed.

That took me on another little adventure of the mind, as I tried to figure out how deep to run the "pipes" underground. The Chinese used half a meter, but what if one went deeper?

The ground temperature at 30 feet below the surface is constant - which is why caves are cooler than outside in the summer and warmer than outside in the winter. How far below the surface do I need to go to get to that constant heat, I wondered?

Then I found out something really fun at the Build it Solar website. It turns out the temperature profile of the ground lags the air temperature profile. Air temperatures peak in July (in my area), but the soil temperature peaks in August.

Then comes the cool part. That peak heat migrates slowly down towards the earths heat skin, so that the date of peak heat level at deep depths lags the temperature of the surface soil by weeks and months.

So not only will deep Underground Heat Exchange Systems access a larger thermal mass, the ground around that thermal mass will actually be heating up when the rest of the world is cooling down.

Im not sure how practical it is for a home owner to dig down 6 feet or more, but this kind of effort would be within the reach of a minor business. I would love to experiment with this next summer, if I can find a lot where I could dig deep...

14 Moving the System in a Minivan

System packed into a Minivan
The system you’ve been reading about will be auctioned off at the September 2011 Aquaponics Association Conference this weekend on Saturday, the evening of 17 September.

My problem? How to get this sucker from Northern Virginia to Orlando, Florida.

Someone else’s problem? How to get this sucker for Orlando, Florida, to their place.

I figured the bidding pool would shrink significantly if the system was too big to fit in a standard vehicle. So here we go, packing the bits up and loading them into the back of my minivan. I left both seats in the van, since there’s no guarantee someone wanting to take this home will have thought to remove seats from their van.

It can work. You can take the 365 Aquaponics System with you – an investment you wouldn’t have to leave behind if life turned upside down. You’d have to leave the most the water behind, as well as the fish. You might even want to gift all but one grow bed worth of media to a friend. But at the end of the day, you could pick up and take it with you.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Orlando, at the Aquaponics Conference. But the anticipation can’t be better than the friendships and memories I’ll have to look back on when it’s all done.

Heres some more pictures:

The interior of my minivan with some of the long bits inside

Packing the growbeds inside

Side view through the sliding door

Revision to the Rocket Mass Heater

I made a design revision to the rocket mass heater. It makes a huge difference with being able to remove the ash out of the burn tunnel.

Cloning Tomatoes

Just a quick video on how I clone my tomato plants. Only one plant was grown from seed in the greenhouse and everything else has been cloned.

Building the Aquaponic Geodesic Dome Greenhouse in TWO Minutes!

This is a time-lapse video of the complete construction project for the geodesic dome. There are 1555 images taken over the last 1.5 years. What you cant see is all the work thats done preparing the pieces in the shop or any of the construction work done inside. Overall, Im overjoyed on how well everything came out!

The IBC of Aquaponics

Backyard Aquaponics has released an awesome manual on aquaponics, featuring 43 (yes, forty-three) systems made with Intermediate Bulk Containers or IBCs, appropriately called The IBC of Aquaponics. Even though I dont have an IBC system, I think IBCs are great. In fact, Ill be helping teach an aquaponics workshop in May where well be creating about a dozen IBC systems.

Why the IBC of Aquaponics is Cool - A list.

The manual is free. Thats always cool in my book.
The introduction and appendix contain great (and pretty) information about aquaponics - all that stuff experienced aquapons have forgotten they ever had to learn.
There are great pictures and write-ups on all the systems.
Many of the articles about systems include hyperlinks to youtube videos, sketch-up models, and forum discussions about the systems.

Check out this cool chart, showing the relationship between nutrient availability and system pH. Ive seen charts like this before and simplified the message in my own mind to "6.5 is good." But this version of the chart is absolutely lovely.

This level of professionalism and beauty continues through the rest of the document. If creating an aquaponics system out of an IBC tote appeals to you, you can browse several dozen different configurations, and even create a 3-D version of how your system could look (Google Sketch-up required).

If you live in the DC area and would like to participate in the May IBC workshop, drop me a line. Totes will be provided as part of the workshop!

How it all started in Australia

Im writing about Australian Fish, and wanted to hark back to the 2006 segment on Gardening Australia that kick-started aquaponics in Australia. It was a five minute tour of Joel Malcolms backyard paradise, lush plants powered by silver perch and yabbies, all free of chemicals and enjoyed to the sound of constantly flowing water, yet far more water-efficient than any other form of gardening.

I searched my blogs high and low and couldnt find this video. Crazy! So here it is. If youve seen it, you know how delightful and relaxing Joels 2006 garden paradise appeared to a parched nation worried about chemical additives.

Enjoy!

Home Fish Farming Tank Complete aquaponic systems equipment growing supplies information and training in aquaponics See Our Products

Complete Step-By-Step Instruction On How To Build A Fully Functional Aquaponics System Using Simple Components! Learn more..

Aquaponic Gardeing - The Advantages

Aquaponic gardens can provide you with a lot of fresh vegetables and tasty fish, theyre fantastic for any sort of property as well as for any age and occupation you might have. Nonetheless, they are going to not take care of themselves! Its correct that they require extremely small care, however it is essential that you give them those couple of minutes per day each and every day in order to receive really excellent benefits and keep the farm producing for a extended period of time.

The key procedure in aquaponics is aeration. When the water is properly aerated, then your fish will probably be content and your plants will develop generally. On the other hand, in the event the water isnt effectively oxygenized, then you will find quite couple of chances that your farm will survive for greater than a couple of days.

The factors why aeration is so crucial are quite easy and simple to recognize for everyone. To begin with, the dissolved oxygen is needed for the fish to breathe. Although the fish live below water they still must breathe and just like in case of other animals, they need oxygen to survive. After they lack oxygen they die, therefore the balance from your aquaponic method is lost and in a matter of days your plants will commence to acquire yellowish and at some point die out.

As this was not adequate, the fish excrements are decomposed and transformed from toxic ammonia into helpful nitrates in the presence of oxygen. Therefore, in the event the water is just not correctly aerated the fish poop wont be transformed, the plants may have absolutely nothing to consume, although the fish will die intoxicated with ammonia. This isnt an incredibly pleasant perspective, is not it? That is why you may must monitor the good quality of ones water every single and each day and have a back-up plan in case the energy gets off and also the air pumps will no longer be able to function. This can be the only way through which you can save your aquaponic program and make it perform to get a lengthy time period. Your plants and your fish will thank you for that!

The Reality About Mushroom Develop Box

Have you been searching for an alternative method to develop some meals on the inside for one more gardening season then its normal? Do you live in an area where temperatures drop very low regular? Trying to find an alternative strategy to enhance the equivalent level of meals you have in a mushroom grow box? If this is a difficulty for you personally then possibly this short article will be of some benefit to you.

As with any variety of plant you have to realize that the intensity on the light of the growing region is actually a function on the inverse square law. What this implies is half the distance light the plant will offer 4 times the energy of light is reaching the ground. In this regard, you need to often seek out plants that may successfully location closer towards the lights you installed. Examples could be the cabbages. The buds are effortless to grow and take up very small space. Usually do quite well with an indoor atmosphere, and give a welcome addition for your existing diet.

The only thing you should consider will be the amount of income spent on electrical energy to power the lights in your development. Even in places where they usually can grow vegetables inside the open never hurts to begin their plants indoors during the spring months.

A fantastic answer is usually to improve some fungi. Mushroom grow box cultivation might be accomplished in any climate at any time of year. They also supply an excellent addition to their usual diet.

The mushrooms are excellent to enhance the flavor of your kitchen and you are presented with numerous varieties to choose from. Will not demand a formal garden to develop then and because theyre a fungus that will easily be raised in dark cellars below the house. Fungi are one of the few plants that develop with out the benefit of chlorophyll. This implies that the plant need to get all of the nutrients of the material on which they grow. Among the ideal components for mushroom cultivation is according to a mixture of pulverized corn cobs or straw with supplements of nitrogen and gypsum added. If youd like to become what you yourself so it is possible to simply generate their very own environment by utilizing a bit rice flour and vermiculite. You simply must spread over his vessel containing.

Several retailers are offered on the net that will provide you with mushroom develop box, total with mushroom spores and all necessary supplies that would need to develop within the comfort of the property. When you select the selection to develop can be a collection of the ever popular Portabella, Crimini, Haya, enoki, shiitake, or possibly a large number of other mushrooms. From every single of them may have their very own cultural wants must study meticulously the enclosed guidelines. The development of the fungus is generally quite fast and also you must be capable of harvest your very own inside a matter of only a few weeks at most.

How to Change The Oil in a 2003 2004 2005 2006 Chevy Avalanche or Simila

This is just one of those things that I think more and more people need to get back to doing themselves. I have had bad luck with cheap oil changes and have vowed to never pay someone to change our oil again.

I have learned in the past that it is much more fulfilling, cheaper, and better for your vehicles to change your own oil. The quickie oil change places use horrible oil and I have had some bad experiences with loose drain plugs, leaks, filling the wrong fluids in the engine, and other mishaps at these places. In the long run, I choose to put the saved money into better oil and to ensure that I have done everything correctly. If I screw something up I only have myself to blame. Changing your own oil is just one thing that we should all know how to do and, since it only takes less than an hour, there is no reason to hand your expensive vehicles over to someone else. This is also part of becoming more self-sufficient!

You can use the tool below to find your oil filter, air filter, and even buy oil at the bet prices I have found!

I like to bring the kids along when I can and show them how things work as well, even if they never have to do this on their own, they will understand how it is done and why.

Watch this video for a basic walkthrough of how to change the oil in a 2003-2006 model year Chevy Avalanche. This walkthrough will also be similar for Chevy 1500 trucks, suburban, Cadillac escalade, GMC, Silverado, and other vehicles with the 5.3 liter Vortec engine.

This video goes through the process that I use to get the job done. Many of you may have other suggestions or ways that you do things. Please share your experience! Thanks for stopping by.

Do Chickens Lay Eggs in the Winter

Check out this video to learn more about raising chickens in the winter. Will they lay eggs when it is cold? Do they need a certain amount of light? How warm should it be? How will they get water in the winter? These are many of the questions that I had going into this first winter with the chickens and I couldnt be happier with our coop, watering system, feeder, and heat lamp. The chickens have been providing us with plenty of eggs for a family of five throughout this very very cold winter.

We have six ISA Brown breed chickens and every day we go out to the coop (well maybe not every day) and there are six eggs waiting for us. This year we have had a very cold winter, I mean, really cold! For the last couple of weeks it has not been above 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12c) and the chickens have kept on laying! The only issue we have had is if we dont get the eggs in 24 hours they will freeze in the nesting boxes. This could be solved with some extra pine shavings or paper shredding I just havent gotten around to it yet.

The other issue that I was curious about was lighting. I had installed some solar lights in the coop but since the little solar panels are covered in snow and the batteries dont seem to charge very well in the cold; the light s have not really been working much. The only extra light they get is from the heat lamp when it is on. It is hooked up to a thermostatically controlled outlet that turns it on when it gets to 32 degrees (0c) and then turns off once it warms up to 45 degrees (7c). During the coldest days they pretty much dont come out of the coop except to eat then quickly get back into the warmth. I feel that the addition of the heat lamp in this case is helping them to lay more by creating a nice warm nesting area for them (no science here just opinion).

The only other issue that we have had was with the watering system during the coldest periods. When it was down well below 0 degrees (-17c) with wind chills close to -25 (-31c) the heat tape and insulation could not keep up. The water pipe froze almost solid but not enough to break the pvc at least as far as I can tell so far. The inside part of the pipe also froze and no water was coming out for the chickens at all. I may do some redesigning on this heat system for next year but as long as it is not insanely cold for the rest of the winter it should work ok.

We have been so happy with the decision to get these chickens. They require minimal upkeep and provide us with so much. It is so nice to always know there is a free breakfast, lunch or dinner waiting in the fridge in the form of recycled cartons full of fresh eggs from our girls.

Products mentioned in this video:

Temperature controlled outlet - http://amzn.to/1A9sJRT
Similar heat tape - http://amzn.to/1wRPQzl
Heat Lamp - http://amzn.to/14SnEoH
Heat Bulb - http://amzn.to/1y5HMB4

All of these products and more recommended items from the SSL Family are available at the

Simple Suburban Living General Store

Burning Pellets in a Rocket Mass Heater

After a few prototypes, a few burns, and singeing the hair off of my hands, heres my solution to burning pellets in a rocket mass heater. Burns hot and super clean.

Installing a Residential Refrigerator in an RV Travel Trailer

Here is the video of the process of installing an off-the-shelf residential refrigerator in an RV. The old refrigerator was leaking ammonia and needed to be taken out right away. Once that was done we decided to replace this fridge with a residential off the shelf model that will only run on 120/110v. The cost savings is significant, however, we will not be able to run it while on the road or if we do not have a plug-in where we are camping. For us that is not a factor as we always stay at state campgrounds and normally do not travel more than a few hours. We can cool it down at home, and unplug it for the trip, and plug it back in when we arrive.

The residential refrigerators actually work better and cool faster than the RV models and, in this case, I only paid less than $250 for the project. If I were to have replaced the cooling unit on the existing fridge it would have been about $600 and for a new fridge it was over $1300.

Installing a tank window

I installed 2 viewing windows in my 1000 gallon stock tank for the aquaponic system.

Building a Geodesic Dome Greenhouse Part 3

Finally got around to doing the third video in my series of building the geodesic dome. This one covers how all the struts are made. Its filmed in HD so you should be able to expand it to full-screen! I hope you enjoy it!

Below is the transcript from the video....

Hello Everyone,
This is the third video in the series about building a geodesic dome greenhouse. This time I will cover how to build the interconnecting struts which are made from red cedar. I choose red cedar because it is rot resistant. You could use treated lumber, which is substantially cheaper, but I was concerned about chemicals leaching into the water for my aquaponic system.

The site I used for the calculations is acidome.ru. The entire site is in Russian, but Google Translate does a fairly good job converting the text. The calculator lets you enter the diameter of the dome, choose the hub type and size, and even the dimensions of the struts. It will then calculate the angles needed at each hub and also calculate all the various sized struts and labels them with the dimensions taking into consideration the size of the hubs.

The best feature is the ability to have the software calculate a flat base, since a 3V 3/8th dome is not flat. One click and the struts are recalculated with the proper lengths!

With a 33 foot diameter 3V dome, each triangle will never be wider than 6 feet. This will allow me to purchase the polycarbonate glazing in 6 by 24 foot sheets, helping to minimize the amount of scrap.

The struts are made from red cedar 2x4’s by 14 feet. This will be enough material to cut 2 struts from each board with some scrap. The end of each board is cut at a 12 degree angle so it will align with the hub. Not every hub connection is exactly 12 degrees, but there is enough flex in the structure for the angles to average out properly.

Once the struts are cut to length, they are run through the table saw to add a slight bevel to them. When the dome is fully assembled, the polycarbonate panels will rest fairly flat along the bevel. This will also insure that the height of each strut is the same since it can vary slightly from the mill.

Next I remove some of the material from the end of each strut using a dado blade mounted in the radial-arm saw. This space will provide an area for the top tab of the hub to rest and provide enough clearance for the polycarbonate panels over the crown of the carriage bolt.

I built a jig to act as a stop and keep each strut aligned properly during drilling. This allows for a consistently placed hole to be drilled near the end of each strut. The placement of this hole is important so it will fit properly into the hub and provided an accurate length for the hub and strut combination.

And now, the perfect excuse to use one of my favorite tools!
The bottom of the head of a carriage bolt has a square neck so it can grab into wood to prevent it from turning. To get it to fit into the metal tab, I would either have to drill the tab’s hole larger, compromising some of its strength, or turn down the neck of the bolt in the metal lathe. I chose to turn each bolt and then will re-galvanize the area with cold-galvanizing paint.

Here is an example of how the final assembly will fit together. The strut is sandwiched between the two hub tabs and then tightened into place using a lock washer and nut.

This top view displays how each strut can pivot slightly on each hub. Since the angles of each triangle section aren’t the same from one section to the next, this allowed for me to make the same hub and allow the pivot against the bolt to make minor changes to the angles.

This side profile shows how the dado in the strut allows the polycarbonate glazing to clear the area without hitting the tab or bolt head.

Finally, this profile displays how the glazing will set flat into the beveled area that is cut along the top of each strut.

I assembled the base to verify that the calculations were correct and the pieces fit together. So far, so good!

That’s all for now. The next video I plan on detailing some of the site work. Thanks for watching!

Iron in Aquaponics Nutrient Deficiency Guide and Supplementation

Leaves turning yellow? In any aquaponics or hydroponics system there are bound to be some nutrient deficiencies from time to time. In this video I will be talking about how I have been identifying Iron deficiencies specifically and also how to supplement iron.

Iron can be one of the more difficult nutrients to supplement naturally and also sometimes hard to tell when it is deficient. Last year I did a video on how nutrients are taken up by plants given different pH ranges. You can find that video here - https://youtu.be/9_yT0w3HmAo. Iron is only required nutrient that is really only available to plants at a very low pH. This can effect your growth in different ways whether you are doing hydroponics, aquaponics, or traditional gardening. Unfortunately you cannot just add some rust nails to the system and provide iron for your plants (although that would be nice). Iron comes in many different ionic combinations and it is certain types that are readily available as a nutrient to be taken up by most plants at pH levels above 6.5.

I have been using an iron chelate derived from DTPA which is available to plants at pH levels of almost 8. This can be especially important for newer systems that are running higher pH levels. Using a chelated iron means that the iron power is in a state that will allow the plants direct access to the nutrient without them having to change its state or using any other chemical trickery at the roots to allow the iron to be accepted. The kind of chelated iron I am using can be found below.

Chelated Iron (DTPA) - 1LB - http://amzn.to/1SjqEMA (This is a different brand than I have but the same product

So now that we know what to add to our system how do we know when? Generally iron deficiencies can be identified by yellowing of the leaves. Although there are other deficiencies that also share this symptom iron deficiencies are a yellowing of mainly the leaf and not the veins of the leaf. There are some great deficiency guides out there to help you visually identify which nutrient or nutrients are deficient in your garden or advances growing systems. Here are a few links to some guide others have shared with me -

Nutrient Deficiency guide used in the video - http://ammanutri.com/images/Symptoms%20of%20Micronutrient%20Deficiency%20in%20Plants.jpg

Thanks Grotlek for the nutrient deficiency guide - http://www.atlantishydroponics.com/images/manuals/plantnutrients.pdf

Simple Suburban General Store

Music - "On Brevity" by Josh Woodward. Free download: http://joshwoodward.com/song/OnBrevity

Finally staring the foundation hole for the dome

Its been a long time since weve had a dome update but weve finally started digging for the foundation hole. More info in the near future!

Download Plans Aquaponics

Pages

Get to the point

Aquaponics in the News

Lobster Farming In The Caribbean DIY and Total Method Kits Easy Setup See Now! See Our Products

Greenhouse Roof Failure!

Geo thermal Cooling

14 Moving the System in a Minivan

Revision to the Rocket Mass Heater

Cloning Tomatoes

Building the Aquaponic Geodesic Dome Greenhouse in TWO Minutes!

The IBC of Aquaponics

How it all started in Australia

Home Fish Farming Tank Complete aquaponic systems equipment growing supplies information and training in aquaponics See Our Products

How to Change The Oil in a 2003 2004 2005 2006 Chevy Avalanche or Simila

Do Chickens Lay Eggs in the Winter

Burning Pellets in a Rocket Mass Heater

Installing a Residential Refrigerator in an RV Travel Trailer

Installing a tank window

Building a Geodesic Dome Greenhouse Part 3

Iron in Aquaponics Nutrient Deficiency Guide and Supplementation

Finally staring the foundation hole for the dome

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