Update of the vertical teaponic system and the compost tea experiment.

The parsley and the small collard greens

  Things seem to be going well in the vertical farm, expept the parlsey, I made the mistake of plugging the extra light for the all day on friday, and when i came back in the evening, a couple of the leaves looked dried up ... Also, It overall seem to not be as green anymore- I though maybe not enough light- but it could be also anot enough nitrate. But today there is a new leaf growing on it, so it probably will be good. 

Building an aquaponic/vermiponic system for a middle school in the Bronx

Demonstrating CPR at the Bronx Writing Accademy for students
A preview of  the engagement of the students next semester

This is exiting !  Citizen Schools, a non profit dedicated to extend learning hours in low income schools,  will allow me to create a 11 week apprenticeship centred on hydro-ponics! Even better, we were able to get a 500$ grant from Green Thumb for the apprenticeship!

I am looking for a couple of volunteers to help out. If anyone is interested in volunteering, please contact me though my google+ account or through the comment section.

Update on the vertical garden and compost tea experiment

It now has been almost 2 months that I built the vertical farm ! and things are going along pretty well ! I have some parsley growing, a few green onions, 2 collard green plants and swiss chard. The parsley that got burned by the light bulb that was too close almost made it, but I pulled it out to make space for the seedlings to come. A few weeks back I've planted the core of 2 collard greens and one of a swiss chard, just to see, and last weekend when doing a bit of cleaning I pulled a bit on one of the collard greens and was happy to see a few tiny roots that where growing out of it ! The collards, swiss chard and onions are all "salvage" from the kitchen scraps.

Why I won't get fish for now, and compost tea experiment.

The farm from above

Its been over a month and half now that I have set up the tower farm. In the process of cycling, I have discovered that eggshell can release ammonia (I should have guessed right ?), that pH drops quickly once the beneficial bacteria are established, and that the pH climbs back up in absence of new ammonia. I have also lost my green onion and basil.

The farm from bellow

pH has decreased then increased since no new ammonia was added

Since the system has "cycled", I have hesitated in what fish to get. I will not get fish for now. Why that ? After all the point aquaponics it to get fish to right ?
The reason is that I decided to have an apprenticeship about aquaponics with  Citizen Schools and while discussing with the Citizen Schools people, the fish seemed to be a down side for my plan, so I ruthlessly removed the fish from the picture.

Even if you don't "believe in Climate Change" I think we should wisely think about Keystone pipeline and fossil fuel consuption.

The Keystone pipeline is a pipeline projected to be built to transport petroleum from regions of Canada that are rich in sand oil {1}. This project was proposed by TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, L.P and has been the object of numerous congress bills {see info at congress.org}. Sand oil is sand that deposited millions of years ago, and that contains a form of petroleum (oil). I think keystone pipeline is bad, because it may increase the rate of exploitation of oil sands {2}, and that will be harmful in many ways.

Why extracting Sand oil is bad ? Here are some of teh reasons. If you are "not believing" in "global warming", or you think it is a good thing, read what is between *---* as these pints will affect you anyway.
-*First the vegetation and top soil is removed, as well as surface waters. Besides the obvious obliteration of ecosystems. Not only it won't look pretty, but the flow of water will be affected, and possibly increase risks of floods for example, and reduce agricultural productivity *. This will have other consequences: since the vegetation will be gone for the time of exploitation, CO2  (carbon dioxide) fixation  will occur there, also the topsoil and vegetation may be burned, or left to decay releasing CO2, CH4 (methane), nitrous oxide (by order of greenhouse effect potency) {3}.

Cycling is definitly over, No Ammonia, no nitrites And "Compost Tea"

Cycling is definitely over ammonia and nitrites are undetectable.  Nitrates have been decreasing progressively. Nitrites peaked and totally disappeared very quickly. Also, the intresting thinkg is how the pH decreased until the nitrite peak was over, and then started to increase again. I think it is because there are pieces of eggshells trapped in polyester is the tower.

Last weekend, I did the first of the monthly maintenance check up. I took the system apart to rinse the pump, I removed the profiler that was in it, there was a worm cocoon and a fat worm in it, they both were returned to the tower. The water has an interesting reddish tint, but didn't have any distinctive smell to it. Not sure where that color is from, but  could be natural coloration occurring because of the vermiwash and compost tea. It also could be that the wood I leaching out something. When I built the tower, I remember that the wood was giving away some lightly coloured water. maybe the plastic wrap I have put on the walls has gaps and some of what is in the wood is leaching out. I may need to rethink the cover of the wood, maybe using a double layer of plastic wrap would be better. 

Cycling is almost over !!!!

Left: NO3 1:50 Right NO2 1/10

NO2 1:50 and undiluted

Youhouuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

The cycling is over! Today, when I measured the different forms of nitrogen, I happily saw that the nitrites have dived down to 1ppm or less. That is great news!

Eating locally, Is it accesible only for the rich ?

Source: soscuisine.com

'This post was sparked up by the viewing of the movie "Eating Alabama". The screening was organized by the neighborhood's CSA (community supported Agriculture), and free of charge and was followed by a short discussion between the public, a person from justfood.org and another from the organizing committee.  It got me thinking.

Quick update of the system, and why are the green onion dying ?

This week's update is not as joyfull as the previous ones, the green onions are dying....

Only one is surviving, the other ones are very (very) soft at the base. Yesterday I pulled the dying ones out, and besides the stem being very soft, some had surprisingly long roots. I am not sure what is going on. I am wondering if the now high nitrates could be responsible for it, or the high nitrite ( when diluted 1/100 it gives me a color so where in the 0.25 - 1 ppm range). The pepper seedling look good though and I can see 1 new leave on each plant at this point. Also, there are 3 new seedlings next to the parsley, I guess seeds that did not germinate before, so it seem that the "softening of the stem" is touching only the onions. The basil that died before was transplanted from dirt, and I suspect it didn't make it because I did not clean enought the dirt off the roots (the roots were black and rather hard). 

I keep checking the water every day, and so far, ammonia is at 0, nitrite at least 25ppm, and nitrate at least 100 ppm. More on this next week. Next post will be about a documentary I saw last week end.

Cycling is well on its way !

Amonia (undiluted left)

Nitrite (1/50 center)

Nitrate(1/20 right)

The farm is cycling ! since the 16th nitrites have appeared and since the 22nd, nitrates have made their appearance, and are seriously increasing since yesterday! This means that in less than 2 weeks, beneficial bacteria became able to start the process of nitrification, and the pH is starting to drop, wich is another sign that the nitrification is happening. Ammonia by the way, have disappeared since the 27th ! Today, there is still a great deal of nitrite. which mean that the water would not be safe yet to introduce fish.

Cycling the vertical farm

It has been a week that the "farm" is up and running. The "system" is for now in the phase of "cycling". That's how the pro's call it. It means that when a new aquaponic system is started up, beneficial micro-organisms need to set their homes in the "System". This process occurs naturally as microbes from the air settle in the system and process ammonia produced by the fish and the food leftover. Alternatively, the  system can be seeded by a mixture of nitrifying bacteria. I hope that adding "vermiwash" and a few worm cocoons and babies will accelerate this start-up of the system by bringing the beneficial micro-organisms from day one, and nutrients for the plants in the system. Basically, to cycle one's system, one just needs to wait, and see if ammonia gets converted into nitrate, using a kit of reagents that change color depending on concentration.

2 days later, ph is very low - how do I adjust it ?

Since I have read in many places that for aquaponics, the pH should be somewhere around 6.5 to 7, I decided to mesure the pH of the water in my tower since the beginning. I used little pH strips with 3 colored indicators to determine and I was surprised when I saw a pH of 5 ( or below, since the strips do not go below 5). I was surprise as my vermicompost pH usually is around 7 and 7.5, and that I assumed that my "tea" would be close to that. Also, before starting I downloaded the NYC water quality report, in which they indicate a ph close to neutral ( ie 7ish).

My brand new aquaponics vertical farm

A little less than a year ago, I moved to New York to  join my Kochana who took a new job there earlier that summer. We moved from a college town in central Illinois. That meant that we had to say goodbye to sweet and tasty tomatoes, zucchinis and other garden deliciousness. We now leave as many New Yorkers in an apartment, with no balcony, and no access to a small backyard or a rooftop to start a garden...
After starting earlier this year a vermicompost bin - my partner suggested I do so - I though she may not mid if I would start to grow something with this compost that I can now start to harvest.... Since there is neither a backyard or a rooftop, the idea to renew a past experience (from very very long time ago - high school more precisely) of aquapomics ( actually my high school attempt was hydroponics).
So there is my design : a triangular 3 feet tower with a slit on one side made of a thin plywood recovered from an old cabinet that we trashed a few weeks ago,  a small filing store-box find by the neighboring trash for the tank (made of PE), polyester fluffy filling from an old comforter,  food grade PE tube, a small aquarium pump found in the neighborhood, and because that free pump was not strong enought an actual fishpound pumps, found on Craigslist for 20$.