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Aquaponics on ABC-TV
Australia’s premiere gardening show, ABCTV Gardening Australia will feature Murray Hallam and his Aquaponics garden this Saturday 26th February at 6.30pm. Veteran broadcaster Colin Campbell will interview Murray on the show getting him to explain the intricacies of growing vegetables in media such as hydroton or even 3/4 inch gravel. Something that continually fascinates gardeners used to growing food in soil. Its sure to be a big hit as most Australian Aquaponics enthusiasts will tune in to watch the jovial, fast talking Murray...
read moreGreen Manure at School Gardens
Green manure crops are plants grown specially to be dug back into the soil before they reach maturity. This way they help to contribute to the care and feeding of the garden soil. Its an old technique that’s been forgotten by many farmers and gardeners who are no longer aware of it’s proven benefits. Many legumes can be used as green manure crops, largely as a natural nitrogen source since their roots form an association with soil-borne bacteria that can transform nitrogen from the atmosphere to root nodules that adhere to the...
read moreUrban Permaculture Gets Redesigned
He looks like a rangy cowboy but its not a six gun in his hand that he carries, but a artist’s pad and a felt pen marker. In his mid 50’s and on a hot muggy Monday morning, Geoff Lawton and fifteen Permaculture interns stride into a suburban home located in Lismore, NSW. The owner turns to me and asks “Who are all these people?” I whisper to her while loading the video camera that these people are all Permaculture Interns from around the world. Canada, the United States and Europe. They’ve all descended on her...
read moreIntroducing Fingerlings into Aquaponics
Getting fish for your new aquaponics system is fairly easy to do online in Australia. I’m sure the process is similar in your country too. You need to track down a hatchery in your state or country. Some US states have very strict rules about what sort of fish you can grow at home. Tilapia are the main species grown in the US. Here in Australia Tilapia are outlawed so do read up on your state regulations. We are pretty relaxed here in Queensland Australia about taxing people with fish licensing rules. We got this batch of 50 Jade Perch...
read moreDIY Aquaponics with PDF
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPxL-fLgWkM[/youtube] Just a quick update on whats happening with the upcoming DIY Aquaponics DVD. The DVD is complete and ready to go. We’ve been waiting for Murray Hallam to complete his accompanying pdf file that will be included with the disk and today we got his first draft and boy is it looking good. We were expecting a plan with measurements of the various layouts of the IBC container, but Murray has submitted almost a detailed book, full of photos, graphics and an extensive parts list with...
read moreKeeping Australian Native Stingless Bees
There are reported to be over 1600 varieties of bees in Australia but only 14 species are stingless. Australian stingless bees are a lot smaller and darker looking than your average sized honey bee. There’s one good advantage in being small, and that’s at being able to pollinate tiny delicate hard to reach blossoms. That’s where the Australian Native Bees come into the picture. Permaculture practitioner Anne Wensley has been keeping these bees for over 25 years. Generations of bees have inhabited the same log that sits...
read moreThe Aquaponics Control Box?
Yesterday we had a visit from our good friend Wolfgang Seemann, who happens to also be an electrical engineer and computer systems builder. Wolfgang had seen our Aquaponics system before and had been thinking independently of a way to automate the whole process a lot more efficiently. His idea was to build a prototype smart box for us that could monitor our aquaponics system completely and notify us electronically when something needed attention. Could such a thing be built? Wolfgang wanted to see our system and he asked a lot of questions...
read moreDeep Litter Chicken Coops
Trying to see Anne Wensley’s chicken coop is hard to spot at first. Thats because it doesn’t really look like a traditional chicken coop. Anne has a mass of vines and creepers covering her chicken run in her suburban backyard. A choko vine covered in fruit drips off the sides of the chicken wire mesh that enclose her chicken or chook pen. Nothing is as it seems in her garden. A large metal compost tumbler has found a new life as a makeshift chicken nesting box. Anne has no need for a compost tumbler as...
read moreAffnan’s Excellent Aquaponics Siphon
Since Malaysian Affnan Ramli began tinkering with Aquaponics a few years ago in his small backyard, he has successfully managed to redesign and simplify one of the central pieces of kit used in Aquaponics – The Auto-Siphon. Affnan runs a very successful blog where he constantly shares you-tube clips of his system designs and generously shares his experiences in Aquaponics. We caught up with him recently to to tell us a little more about his innovative siphon. How did you first find about Aquaponics? For a long time I’ve been doing...
read moreDr Wilson Lennard on the Future of Aquaponics
Dr Wilson Lennard is an Australian scientist with a PhD in Applied Biology. He has studied and installed commercial aquaponics systems around the world. In this final part four, he turns his attention to the future of aquaponics and the threats that can set it back many years. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iitanQgsk2I[/youtube] Is Aquaponics the answer to feeding the planet? Has it got any future? A topic close to my heart. I must say, I am well over the whole “aquaponics will feed the world” talk. It won’t! The...
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