"Old thread but great information and perfect timing for me. My squash has been suffering from a powdery mildew after moving them to a treed location that shades them in the afternoon. Will try the proposed solutions above and cross…"
A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners
-
Michelle Silva
- Female
- Sarasota, FL
- United States
- Blog Posts (6)
- Discussions (188)
- Events
- Groups (19)
- Photos (12)
- Photo Albums (2)
- Videos
Michelle Silva's Groups
Michelle Silva's Discussions
interesting observation re:air blower
Started this discussion. Last reply by David Hart Jun 28, 2011. 11 Replies 0 Likes
I finally bought an air blower (WW-39 from AES) ..those who know me here, know how much I resisted this..I had good growth rates in the winter with just splashing, but with the high temps and much…Continue
freshwater shrimp to clean detritus
Started this discussion. Last reply by Ellen Roelofs Jul 7, 2011. 23 Replies 0 Likes
Gina (Green Acres Organics) and I were talking this morning and she mentioned Friendly Aquaponics using Gammarus as a great addition to raft tanks.. I was just researching suppliers and found out our…Continue
solar pool heaters
Started Feb 6, 2011 0 Replies 0 Likes
Anyone have experience with these?The discussion was closed for further posting, but I just noticed a thread where someone posted about the idea of using the panel to run water through the panel at…Continue
Vermiponics anyone?
Started this discussion. Last reply by B. Pearcy Feb 13, 2011. 32 Replies 0 Likes
Does anyone have any experience or info on having a worm only operation? I'm entertaining the idea of keeping my fish density very low, but having a lot more worms in the flood and drain that we are…Continue
Michelle Silva's Page
Latest Activity
TCLynx replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Rafts for DWC"Cosmo gave me one of the old liners, I don't remember who he called to get it. It leaked though so I don't really recommend them."
Dan Ponton replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Rafts for DWC"Just read this post and am wondering how the sealed PVC worked out? I am going to try that also but don't know if 1/2 or 3/4 would be the correct size.
Where do you get old billboard material?
"
Bevan Suits replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Vinyl Billboard/Banners as liners"That's right. In the meantime, everyone will start discoveriing urban aquaculture and start using vinyl because it's a good use for a good material, these questions will remain. So, for the sake of certainty, EPDM is a pretty…"
TCLynx replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Vinyl Billboard/Banners as liners"The issues are two fold here as well. First is running the experiments to see what might be leaching. Just setting up the methodology for the experiment would be pretty extensive since you would have to decide on what type of water is…"
Bevan Suits replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Vinyl Billboard/Banners as liners"It's going to take some serious research to really get the facts nailed down about billboard vinyl. There are so many products and manufacturers, I think they're always modifying the recipe, so used vinyl is going to be like a year old…"
TCLynx replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Vinyl Billboard/Banners as liners"Unfortunately the solid evidence is sketchy seeing as the regulations here in the US still say that many of those chemicals used to make things like acrylic dishes and soft flexible plastics are still "allowed" for food safe products in…"
Vlad Jovanovic replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Vinyl Billboard/Banners as liners"Wait, someone correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that the regular 'ol rigid non-flexible PVC that we all use in our piping is stable and non-leeching? I thought that the only concerns surrounding PVC leeching toxins were when…"
Kelly Mer replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Vinyl Billboard/Banners as liners"I am finding this discussion interesting, How many of us us only food grade plumbing materials? Most I have seen have been constructed from PVC pipe, PVC rain gutters and PVC pipe for NFT systems. Perhaps there is more to consider…"
Bevan Suits replied to Michelle Silva's discussion Vinyl Billboard/Banners as liners"To those who are still researching billboard vinyl: Glad to see that someone is doing it, I have been using them for a while, yet always suspicious of potential leaching. It is hard to get solid info from manufacturers because there are so many…"
Michelle Silva joined SW's group
Tilapia Breeding
A place to exchange information on breeding tilapia. How to set up tilapia breeding colonies. How to sex fish for breeding colonies. What foods are best for breeding pairs and fingerlings.
Michelle Silva replied to Sylvia Bernstein's discussion Aquaponics Association Charter"I came on here to read the charter..stayed up until 1:45am reading all the posts (had to start from the very beginning!)...too tired to read the charter now, lol, but I do appreciate those of you that did read and post concerns..some really good…"
Profile Information
- How did you find us?
- google search
- If you found us through a search engine, what search words were you using?
- Are you an aquaponic gardener already?
- no
- If so, what type of system? (pick all that apply)
- flood and drain media, raft, vertical
- How old is your system?
- Less than 6 months, 6 mos - 1 yr
- What type of fish do you grow with? (select all that apply)
- Goldfish, Tilapia
- How big is your fish tank?
- approx 4500 total volume
- Please tell us something else about yourself.
- I organize a weekly organic produce buying club and would like to grow some more food to supply it.
Michelle Silva's Photos
Michelle Silva's Blog
Vermiponics anyone?
Posted on February 4, 2011 at 4:26pm 2 Comments 0 Likes
Does anyone have any experience or info on having a worm only operation? Since this is an aquaponic forum, wasn't sure if this was ok to blog here. I'm entertaining the idea of keeping my fish density very low, but having a lot more worms in the flood and drain that we are incorporating. Another place I could add the worms are in the large bottom pots of the vertical towers. I've noticed the strawberries and some other plants on the bottom didn't produce as well.
Gravel washing
Posted on September 23, 2010 at 11:33am 8 Comments 0 Likes
Well, after I filled the second half of pots with the expanded shale and coco ocir (the other half is with chunky perlite and coco coir) I just read a post that reminded me that I didn't wash any of it!! How important is this??
DWC net pots
Posted on August 30, 2010 at 11:42am 2 Comments 0 Likes
I need advise ASAP with net pots.
I have 2,000 2"poppleman and made sure to tell the supplier I wanted the one with the lip so it doesn't fall thru. It took a while to receive them and yesterday when we started drilling holes, found that they slipped thru when using the 2" holesaw. The supplier sent me a photo of the only other one poppleman sells, but it's called a slit pot. The openings are larger. It's hard to tell but that looks like it could possibly have a larger "lip" to prevent it… Continue
I have 2,000 2"poppleman and made sure to tell the supplier I wanted the one with the lip so it doesn't fall thru. It took a while to receive them and yesterday when we started drilling holes, found that they slipped thru when using the 2" holesaw. The supplier sent me a photo of the only other one poppleman sells, but it's called a slit pot. The openings are larger. It's hard to tell but that looks like it could possibly have a larger "lip" to prevent it… Continue
rafts for DWC
Posted on August 7, 2010 at 8:00pm 5 Comments 0 Likes
Can anyone advise what the difference is between using Dow blue boards and the white 2" styrofoam at Home Depot. Do the dow blue boards need to be painted? I don't know if I would ever try to be "Certified Organic" but I would want to do what is safest.. Does it make a difference? Thanks.
Comment Wall (8 comments)
- At 6:59pm on March 17, 2011,
Paul Ellinghuysen said… - Michelle,sorry this came so late.I forget sometimes to come to my own page.Im going to take some pics this weekend. One trough is going strong with new growth and another will be filled with new plants this weekend. I dont have the verticals recirculateing back. The water comes from the water garden,to grow troughs,to 55 gal barrel where a injecter pumps it to the stackers than by gravity feed it flows back to the water garden completing the loop.Thers also a 250 gal solid settling tank that as a turn off valve that I bleed off to feed other plants.I m doing coco fiber for the seedlings.So far looking good.
- At 8:18pm on February 20, 2011,
Joseph Orlando said… - Great to have you as a friend. Does this work both ways or should I figure out how to invite you to be my friend too?
- At 2:15pm on February 14, 2011,
Jesse Charles Thomas said… - Thanks for being a friend! My brother lived in Sarasota seems like 15+ years ago. How's you set up operating? -Jesse
- At 8:37pm on January 19, 2011,
Green Acre Organics said… - Hey Michelle! Did you ever get a chance to read thelast marathon message I sent? I went on forever. Lol. Still would like to see your place and would love it if you can make it up to ours sometime. Hope to get together soon.
- At 8:35am on January 19, 2011, Paul Ellinghuysen said…
Michelle, I live up here in Hudson Fl. I grow with the hydro staker units and also im nearing completion of may trough/raft system.Question, what grow medium did you use for your net pots. I need to start ASAP.Thanks Paul
- At 12:47pm on January 6, 2011,
Molly Stanek said… - Thank you for joining the Sweet Water group. It looks like you have quite the backyard - your setup looks amazing so far!
- At 9:50pm on August 27, 2010,
FriendlyAquaponics said… - Thank you! I had no idea this group existed! YAYAYAY!
- At 5:44am on May 11, 2010,
Sylvia Bernstein said… - Hi Michelle,
Thanks for joining the Aquaponic Gardening community! I hope you find it a fun place to explore aquaponics. There is a real blend of experienced and new aquapons in this community, so please don’t hesitate to get in there and start asking questions. Everyone is quite happy to help out new members – no question is too basic.
A great place to start is by checking out the forums, blogs and groups - I see you have already found the vertical growers. If you are interested in a forum or blog topic, but don’t want to join in right away, just check the “follow” box to be notified whenever there is activity on that subject.
We have just one rule: keep it cordial (no flaming!).
Thanks again for joining us, and I look forward to getting to know you. Also, you might want to look up Nate Storey who got his masters in vertical growing and has a cool product he is about to start selling for vertical gardening.
Sylvia
© 2012 Created by Sylvia Bernstein.
