Aquaponics - Cucumber sprouts

Every single one of the capsicum sprouts got munched by slugs.

Now I have cucumber sprouts that have worked realy well in the bean sprout sprouter.

These seem to have done particularly well in the sprouter, but that could just be because they are a large seed, and make a large sprout.








I'm calling using a bean sprout sprouter to raise seedlings for aquaponics, a total success.

This cucumber sprout is around 240mm in total length from tip of root to leaves.

That's a big sprout.

All grown from seed in the bean sprout sprouter, and all strong, healthy, and best of all totally organic.

Actually the real "best of all", is that it doesnt contain any dirt that needs washing off before planting in the system.

Also, it's length means the roots should reach nearly to the bottom of my grow beds.

Much more than they need to find all the water and nutrient they could desire.



And all that means they should have no problems growing.





120 Things in 20 years - struggling without a spell checker to post anything at all, but still managing to put some semi-science out there in the form of my Aquaponics cucumber sprouts.

Aquaponics - Alf alfa sprout transplant test

I thought I'd test an alf alfa sprout transplant to see if there were going to be any issues.

The result was both a success and a fail.

I started with some normal alf alfa sprouts pulled from my sprouter device.

I figured half a dozen would be a good number to test.

I thought perhaps the shock of going from my perfect humidity, no wind, no real temperature swings, sprouting device might make them all kick the bucket when dropped suddenly into my aquaponics system.

The first one I planted was rested into a shallow hole made in the scoria. I figured I'd have to be pretty gentle with them because the scoria is a little rough.

I ate the rest, so I'm not sure this really qualifies as good science.

But after covering it up it looked like this.

I'm not sure if this pic is right after he transplant or the next day, but either way it looked like this the next day.

It was planted in the hottest part of a reasonably hot day, so I think it can be claimed as successful.

But the day after, it looked like this.

I had to dig around a bit to find it because whatever had eaten it, had eaten it down to beneath ground level.

I hate slugs.









120 Things in 20 years - And that folks, is why we should not eat the science, when testing sprout transplants in aquaponics.

Aquaponics - Capsicum sprout success (I think)

I'm still a little hesetant to sugest the capsicum sprouter tests have been a success becuase one of them is turning a little brown on the root tip.

But that might just be because I'm a little rough sometimes and put my camera on them when trying to take side on, macro shots, in a dish.

It might also that be it simply doesnt work.

But I think what I see here is a shoot that might just be long enough to plant in my system.

I'd guess it's around 40mm long, and I think I'd prefer to transplant it at more like twice that, but I also think I could get away with it now.








In fact I might even just be able to transplant them as soon as the seed is proven viable. ie when they are at the stage of the first sign of sprouting. I'd need to be gentle, but it might be doable. Especially in the clay ball media rather than the rougher scoria.

Either way, it looks like tis turning into a useful method of propergating seed for aquaponics, allowing for additional control over where plants grow and when, without having to add dirt to a system, or buy seedlings.

Just as an aside, when you transplant seedlings bought from a store, wash them realy well, because there's a fair chance they have been sprayed with...

well...

everything.



120 Things in 20 years - Moving gradually closer to some kind of success with some stuff to do with raising capsicum seeds in a bean sprout sprouter.

Aquaponics - Sprouter capsicum falling over

The now 6 days old (from the time of first sprouting) capsicum sprouts in the sprouter are trying to reach up and put out some leaves, but they keep falling over.

This might not be a big deal, as it might just coil around a bit until it creates a stand for itself, and then goes about it's growy business.

The danger will be that by the time it creates a stand for itself, it will be out of energy.

As I understand it, the sprout grows only from the energy stored in the seed, and water from the environment. Some seeds need to get through quite a bit of dirt, so I'm hoping nature has left a little in reserve.


I guess they will still grow even if I transplant them as a coil, but I was hoping for a nice straight tap root to make sure it reaches the water in the aquaponics system.

It's normal in an aquaponics system to have a maximum water level set in the grow bed so that it's around 25mm down from the top of the media. This helps prevent evaporation, and also some diseases and fungal attacks associated with the stems of various plants being too wet.

So the jury is still out (for capsicum) as far as using a sprouter for seed raising in aquaponics.


120 Things in 20 years

120 Things in 20 years - Aquaponics - Capsicum sprout

The capsicum sprouting is going fine. I think they were originally planted on the 8th of October, and  showed first signs of a shoot on the 17th. It's now the 22nd, and the one I've been taking photos of is now starting to concentrate on going up a bit.

It looks like this.

The root is a little longer, but more importantly, it all sits in the wet now. The seed is doing it's best to stand upright, and there is some kind of demarcation between underground stuff, and above ground stuff.







The surface area the roots have is amazing.  The photo doesn't really show just how fine the finest roots really are, so you'll just have to trust me.

Amazingly fine.

Big surface area.

The last 20 times or so that I have typed "capsicum", I've typed "cupsicup" instead, and my camera...

Sounds like it's in pain when I turn it on and the lens grinds to a halt.

Then for some reason sounds an alarm at half the volume of the grinding noise,  to tell me about all the grinding that's going on.

Then grinds a bit more as it tries an automatic emergency shut-down.

And the takes photo's with nice dark corners.

But it also takes pictures like the capsicum sprout above which I think is pretty good for a low end digital camera, that has taken just short of 5500 pictures, so I guess it's just getting sleepy. Perhaps that's why it does the creepy crocodile eye thing.



120 Things in 20 years wants a new SLR camera, so I can take better photos of my capsicum sprouts for my aquaponics system.

Aquaponics - Capsicum sprout fuzz

I think it's day three now since I saw the first signs of life in my capsicum seeds I'm attempting to raise in my bean sprout sprouter.

Nature is doing this at the moment.

I think the fuzz is just a root system developing, but it could also just be mould.

My science fu is weak at the moment.

It would be easy enough to research it, but I like a surprise.

I think I'll just keep watching.





120 Things in 20 years - my aquaponics capsicum sprout fuzz comment fu also lacks dynamism today.

Aquaponics - Sprouts

I found a device for making sprouts. Spouts for food. Bean sprouts etc. And I discovered I had to buy it.

It was $20 and consists of 5 layers of dish, each around two inches high, and they are stackable. The bottom container has no siphon, and is there just to catch water.

You sprinkle grain around in one of the trays and then pour water into the top.

The water flows through each chamber in turn, and they all get a rinse and a watering.

The water collects in the bottom and is emptied.

Pictured here is some lentils and beans that I found in the cupboard.

The water flows through a tiny bell siphon.

The siphon looks like this with the bell off.

So you put some seeds in, and a few days later, you get a nich little field of spouts. In this case alf alfa.











But I thought it might make a good way to raise seeds for aquaponics, so that they had a root long enough to get down to the water before being added to the system.

Planting seeds directly is a bit hit and miss in aquaponics. When ever I've done it, the results are a little patchy, I think because some seeds don't fall into the media enough, some too much, and some just right.

So I put some of my favourite variety of capsicum into the tray to see what would happen.

The variety is "Sweet Romano Pepper" and it's the only one worth growing in my opinion.

They are a zillion times sweeter than the more square variety that is the only one that seems to be available here.

I like this product so much I''d sell it to you if I could.

All that's left now is to wait for a bit and see if this seed raising method will work.



That 120 Things in 20 years - Aquaponics - Sprouts post took a while to get to the point.