A question that I am often asked is “Other than the lettuces and leafy greens, what else can you grow in Aquaponics?” That is then followed by, “Is it profitable?”
During the last two years or so, I have found that you can grow almost any vegetable and plants that you choose to in Aquaponics. You may need to adapt the grow beds and practice hybrid aquaponics as I do to increase your range of products. I have successfully grown broccoli, carrots, eggplants, daikon and radishes, fennel, fruit trees, kohlrabi, herbs, okra, onions, pumpkins, marrows, gourds, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers – hot & sweet just to name some. I have also seen others grow corn and some even sweet potatoes via wicking beds. One really needs to expand their horizon and realize that there are really very few items that will not grow well in Aquaponics systems. Yes there are a few items that are just not cost effective at present such as grains and rice. There is research being done on these products and I am sure that very soon these too will become economic to grow via Aquaponics means.
Today I am going to write about one of my favorite items that we grow at Sahib Aquaponics, part of the hot pepper family – Cayenne Peppers. In future posts I will write about other items that we successfully grow in our hybrid aquaponics systems and provide some information as to the benefits of consuming such and recipes of how we cook with them.
As to whether it is “profitable” from a health point of you, this is going to be your decision. Let me help you a little. I am sure that you are aware of the toxic effects of eating food that has been grown by using harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Growing Chili peppers in Aquaponics, whether Cayenne or one of the other 400 varieties, eliminates the harmful pesticides or chemical fertilizers so prevents this source of toxins to your body. There is considerable research available to you as to the health benefits of eating chili peppers. Cayenne peppers are being used to cleanse and detoxify the digestion system, stimulate blood circulation as well as reduce & naturalize acidity in the body. They are considered to be anti-inflammatory and have “been used for a variety of diseases and ailments including heartburn, delirium, tremors, gout, paralysis, fever, dyspepsia, flatulence, sore throat, atonic dyspepsia, hemorrhoids, menorrhagia in women, nausea, tonsillitis, scarlet fever and diphtheria.” Dr. Edward Group -17 Health Benefits of Cayenne Pepper. They also have excellent nutritional value. “Red chilies contain high amounts of vitamin C and carotene (provitamin A). Yellow and especially green chilies (which are essentially unripe fruit) contain a considerably lower amount of both substances. In addition, peppers are a good source of most B vitamins, and vitamin B6 in particular. They are very high in potassium, magnesium, and iron. Their high vitamin C content can also substantially increase the uptake of non-heme iron from other ingredients in a meal, such as beans and grains.” Now you can see why chili peppers are considered as being an essential item in good health, part of the “Spice of Life” club.
I like the taste of Cayenne peppers so have a preference to using them often. We eat them fresh in salads or add them to my food (green or red), as well as dry them for use later, either as whole or powdered. Indian food just would not taste as good without adding chili peppers (mirch). My daughter has even named her food blog “Love Laugh Mirch”. Now I realize that eating chili’s can be difficult for many who have never had any hot spice added to their food. All I can suggest is, try to add a little hot sauce or fresh chili pepper (remove the seeds at first), to your food. You will soon really start to enjoy the sensation and crave for more. Pretty soon, you too will be advocating their use and growing as many of them as possible. Welcome on board
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I was surprised to discover that chili peppers did not originate in India as Black Pepper (also known as “Black Gold”), but in the Americas. Christopher Columbus is credited as being one of the first Europeans to encounter them and called them “peppers” as they tasted spicy and hot, unlike any other food. He thought that he had reached India by sailing west in order to prove that earth was round. How the Chili Peppers travelled to India is still being debated, whether by Portuguese traders, Muslim merchants or Chinese silk merchants. Once they arrived in India, they were welcomed and became part of everyday food and being used in Ayurveda medicines.
In future “What shall we grow today?” article’s I will write about some of the vegetables mentioned above as well some other less known such as Bitter Melon (Kerela), Fenugreek (Methi) and Moringa (Drumsticks). Please let me know if there are any vegetables you would like to grow in Aquaponics and know more about them. You can contact me at sahib@sahibaquaponics.com.
Sahib introduces an AquaVermiponics system in order to have a quality supply of ‘casting tea”, also known as “compost tea” always available for foliar spray for his Aquaponically grown plants and produce. So what is Aquavermiponics?
Aquavermiponics is the combination of Aquaculture, Hydroponics and Vermicomposting. How Vermicomposting is added to Aquaponics can vary to some extent as to the need for the particular application. Why add Vermicomposting to the better than organic method of growing food using Aquaponics? To answer this one has to know a little about both Aquaponics as well as Vermicomposting. In Aquaponics, there can be no harmful pesticides or chemical fertilizers added to the system. Even products that are approved for use in organic gardening can result in disastrous consequences if added to an Aquaponics system. Take Neem Oil as an example.
Being from Indian Ancestry, naturally I am familiar with the many beneficial qualities that Neem Oil offers such as being a natural insect repellent and a safe pesticide that is organically approved. It has been found to be effective in controlling such pests as white flies, aphids, scales, mealy bugs, spider mites, locusts, thrips, and Japanese beetles. Neem Oil is also biodegradable, breaking down quickly and it is also considered to be non-toxic to mammals, birds, bees or earthworms. Neem Oil is certainly a wonderful product in organic gardening if used correctly.
Severe caution: Do Not Use Neem Oil in Aquaponics! Foliar spraying Neem Oil, while helping you control the pests mentioned above could result in the death of all your fish. Why risk such?
So I was looking for an alternative foliar spray product that would not only help in controlling the pest issues but also help in providing additional nutrients and trace elements to the plants growing in our Aquaponics systems. We have been spraying Maxicorp with iron on occasions as well as Vermicompost tea with excellent results. We do not always add the worm castings directly to our media beds (we may if they are wicking beds), but prefer to use foliar spray. Why? We had read and do believe that plants absorb the beneficial aspects far quicker as a result of foliar spraying. As every sustainable urban farmer knows, Vermicompost is a wonder product in the world of agriculture. It use is increasing rapidly as the numerous benefits are being shared with each other. Here is some information as well as the source:
Castings contain: 5 times the available nitrogen, 7 times the available potash and 1 1/2 times more calcium than that found in 15 cm of good top soil. Therefore, castings are supplied with available nutrients. The nutrients are also water soluble and immediately available to plant life. You will find that most potting soils have nutrient life of 2-5 days, where worm castings will last up to 6 times as long as other types of potting soils. You will need 5 times as much potting soil to do the same job as the worm castings. So, in the long run, worm castings are much cheaper and do a much better job. Also, castings hold 2-3 times their weight in water. That means you water less and the pot will stay damper for a longer period. Worm castings will not burn your plants; unlike using any fresh raw manures (cow, horse, etc.) which can burn root systems if it is not applied properly. The advantage of using castings is the manure passes through the worms' digestive system producing rich organic plant food and a slow releasing fertilizer that allows for better growth. Kids for Landcare: Wormwatch, Education Department of South Australia, 1992, p. 35.
A worm casting (also known as worm cast or vermicast) is a biologically active mound containing thousands of bacteria, enzymes, and remnants of plant materials and animal manures that were not digested by the earthworm. The composting process continues after a worm casting has been deposited. In fact, the bacterial population of a cast is much greater than the bacterial population of either ingested soil, or the earthworm's gut. An important component of this dark mass if humus. Humus is a complicated material formed during the breakdown of organic matter. One of its components, humic acid, provides many binding sites for plant nutrients, such as calcium, iron, potassium, sulfur and phosphorus. These nutrients are stored in the humic acid molecule in a form readily available to plants, and are released when the plants require them. Mary Appelhof, Worms Eat My Garbage, 1982, p.68.
Worm Castings also contain trace minerals, such as small amounts of Phosphorus and Potassium, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfur, Boron, Copper, Zinc and Manganese. There are two ways to obtain the solution, what we call “compost tea”, for the foliar spray. One is to brew the compost tea by merely soaking a bag of worm castings in water for some time and using this spray solution, a weak “compost tea” – the extracted method. The other, and one that I prefer, is known as the “aerobically” method.
In the brewing method, compost/castings are placed into a container of circulated and aerated water (via an air bubbler or similar system) typically with other nutrients. The circulated water extracts the microbiology and the microbes are in an abundance of both oxygen and nutrient to feed upon. In this method, colonies of microbes are brewed in exponential numbers, a colony of bacteria for instance can double in population every 20 minutes. Aerobic brewing takes longer than basic extraction with common brewing times of 12 to 24 hours. Brewing time is very dependent on water temperature with warmer water creating faster brews. Aerobically brewed teas have much higher microbe population densities than extracted teas and for this reason are the tea of choice. The sign of a good aerobically brewed tea is a good head of foam and scum on top signifying healthy microbe action! https://www.yelmworms.com/compost-tea/page3.htm
As we have increased the growing area in our Aquaponics research farm, we require an increased quantity of the aerobically brewed compost tea. This compost tea takes at least a couple of days to make and only has a limited shelf life (try use within 12 hours if possible). We have designed an Aquavermicponics system that will ensure that we will have the aerobically brewed compost tea available on hand at all times. In our system, we can also experiment by adding such wonderful natural products as Molasses, thus adding additional nutrients for excellent and robust natural plant growth. Prior to using such this incredible powerful and magical “Sahib Compost Tea”, one could add just a few drops of “hot sauce” and/or cinnamon juice extract so as to increase the potency of the solution. Do remember that you should only spray when temperatures allow and when not harmful to beneficial insects such as honey bees and lady bugs. Here are a few pictures of our Sahib’s Aquavermiponics system. We have added a media bed with a modified Affnan bell siphon so as to increase aeration.
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SAHIB AQUAPONICS is a Florida, USA domiciled corporation and is a pioneer in developing and building Aquaponics hybrid urban growing systems for sustainable urban gardening. The company specializes in Aquaponics and in the promotion of sustainable urban gardening and the establishment of such Ecosystems. Their mission is to strive to be at the forefront of sustainable urban gardening by adopting the latest Aquaponics technologies and growing methods to provide both high quality food and fish, competitively priced, grown locally and grown naturally. SAHIB AQUAPONICS is providing training workshops for community members and students around the U.S., interested in learning innovative methods and market-based solutions using urban agriculture and Aquaponics.
You are welcome to share your ideas and designs as to how you would suggest we increase additional growing space and/or make improvements. You can submitt them tosahib@sahibaquaponics.com.
Additional Media Beds at Sahib Aquaponics Research Farm
Adding Additional Media Beds for Increased Growing Space and Extra filtration
Adding additional media beds for increased growing space and extra filtration presented a challenge, especially when you are working with extremely limited space. I noticed that the top of our Koi pond was at present “wasted space”, just waiting to be put to use for growing additional food. I could have just built shallow water culture (SWC), raft beds as our filtration system was already adequate for our needs. However, our Koi are growing rapidly in size and I do not really want to part with them. They feed right out of my hand and provide such stress relief that it is hard to describe. With the temperature’s increasing as we enter the hurricane season, the extra feed that the Koi are enjoying, any extra filtration during these months would be extremely beneficial in keeping our Aquaponics created Ecosystem in balance. Adding media beds should help meet this need.
David Hart, my fellow Aquapon friend and I discussed what would be appropriate to build over the Koi pond that would be both functional as well as cost effective. We decided that we would replicate the Sahib Zero Lot Hybrid Aquaponics System grow beds on both sides of the fish tank. Not only would these provide us with additional growing area and the much sought after filtration, helping us use as much of the valuable fish waste within the system as possible, we would also be able to substantially increase aeration by using the modified Affnan bell siphons. We have built the first section of the media beds and they are operational, functioning just a s planned. Here are a few photos that we are sharing and a brief video of the new media beds now in operation .
Sahib is happy to share with you the endless possibilities of how to grow your own food locally and naturally without the use of harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers by using these Aquaponics hybrid urban growing systems. These Aquaponics hybrid urban growing systems can be scaled to size and can be replicated. They can be modified to be operated off grid as well as expanded as the need arises. Such systems can be used to have fresh food at home, work or anywhere they are set up. They are excellent tools to use as teaching aids so that we can empower the future generation with the knowledge to grow their own food locally by natural means. Sahib’s Aquaponics hybrid urban growing systems can be the basis of feeding the family, the community as well as provide income to the urban farmer. Sahib will also share how such systems can be used in urban retail economy, both by food establishments as well as food/produce retail outlets to enable the consumer to purchase food that has been grown locally and by natural means. Food that is “live” (a new twist on the label “Fresh”), and the type recommended by most medical and health professionals as what we should be eating.
Sahib is using the profits from Aquaponics training workshops by Aquaponics Urban Gurus to fund the development of Aquaponics for the poor hungry world villages. He has set up a separate group for this called “Feed Hunger Now” (see link below). Will you help join Sahib…can we work together in this venture? What ideas do you have to help towards this goal?
You are welcome to share your ideas and designs as to how you would suggest we increase additional growing space and/or make improvements. You can submitt them to sahib@sahibaquaponics.com.
As a a signatory to the Time to Act petition the new website www.globalagriculture.org, launched today by the Foundation on Future Farming and Biovision, might interest you. As you know, the Time To Act petition calls on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) “to use this historical opportunity to take agriculture beyond ‘business as usual’ and agree on actions that actually do eradicate hunger and poverty, and protect the environment.” The www.globalagriculture.orgwebsite promotes and relays exactly this message and we therefore ask that you consider linking to it.
Launched to coincide with the run-up to Rio+20, this easy-to-use site features the findings of the ground-breaking UN/World Bank sponsored International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which calls for a paradigm shift in global agricultural policies. The information is available by topics and offers updated figures, background information, further reading and news. Users can browse and search the 2,000 pages of the original reports focusing on their specific area of interest. Scientific and institutional follow-up reports are presented, including current hot topics such as land-grabbing and food speculation. We are also keen to receive any of your suggestions, links and data that are relevant to this debate.
Why now? The Rio+20 conference provides the opportunity to set in motion a much needed, permanent assessment of agricultural knowledge, science and technology for development. We look forward to working together with you to make this a reality. Please link to www.globalagriculture.org today.
Thank you in advance and please forward this email to anyone you think might be interested.
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