Aquaponics - Dangling tomato

Originally I put a cutting from last years tomato into the fishtank in the hope that it would take root, and become my new tomato plant for this year, but for some reason it didn't and decided it would rather die.

Normally that doesn't happen.

I bought a punnet of cherry tomatoes and washed all the dirt from the roots.

Then I found this food container, and drilled it full of holes.

I teased the tomato roots through some of the holes, until it looked a bit like this.

An easy way to get the roots through is to run water through it. The water collects the roots on the way through.

Then I sat the new pot plant over the large screw top lid hole in the centre of the IBC.

The roots just touch the water, and the others should find their own way in the near future.

If it works, the root mass will be able to take up as much of the fish tank as it wants. I suspect the fish will enjoy it, and it might offer any young ones I add a bit of cover.

It looks like this with the camera nearly under water, looking under the plastic at the roots.

That's the reflection of the underside of the hole in the IBC with the pot plant and roots, not some crazy vortex.

That string you can see coming down from top of frame, is just a piece of string.

I guess this is an example of deep water culture.





120 Things in 20 years is probably going to have an aquaponics dangling tomato free year.