Again the answer is “no”. Worms hate the light, and are happiest in the moist dark of your grow beds. The only time you will see your worms in your grow bed is when you pull out a plant. They will be happily intertwined in the roots taking care of sloughed off dead root material.
No. Worms regulate their population to match the conditions within their environment. As soon as those conditions no longer support additional aquaponics worms, they slow down or stop reproducing altogether. Some estimate that worms will triple their population within a year.
Does that mean there’s a worm graveyard growing beneath the surface of your media? No. […]
We have all seen worms crawling out onto the sidewalk after a soaking rain, seemly gasping for air. That they choose exposure to the sun and hungry birds to the water logged soil seems to tell us that worms don’t like soaking wet environments. And what is an aquaponics grow bed if not a soaking […]
You actually only need to worry about pollination if you are either growing plants for their fruits and vegetables, or your are saving the seeds from your plants. If you are doing either of these, then you will need to understand which pollination […]
That depends on the type of plant you are growing, but in general you can plant about twice as densely in aquaponics as you can in a traditional soil-based garden. This is because your aquaponics plants are getting exactly what they need at the root zone (nutrients, water, oxygen) so the plant doesn’t need to […]
Yes, in fact, we recommend that you do in order for your aquaponic plants to become established so that they are ready to take up nitrates when bacteria cycling is complete and you have added fish to your system. We also highly recommend adding Maxicrop (or in Australia, this product is called Seasol) to […]
We do not recommend this method. In general, any small seeds that you would sow directly into your media-based aquaponics system run the risk of being carried away by the flow of your water through the pipes. We have found that larger seeds that you would directly sow in soil (for example, beans, peas, cucumbers) […]
Absolutely! If you’re transplanting from soil, be sure to wash off as much of the dirt as possible and inspect your plants closely for insects before adding a store-bought plant to your system.
If you’re adding a soil-filled potted plant to a media bed, be sure […]
We like to say “anything that grows up grows well in aquaponics”, although that does have a few caveats. Acidic pH loving plants like blueberries won’t grow well in an aquaponic system because the fish could not tolerate the level of acidity that those plants require. Also, deep-rooted crops such as corn or wheat likely […]
We recommend adding plants as soon as you have started the aquaponic cycling process. Getting your plants in early gives them time to put down new roots and establish themselves before the fish are introduced and nitrates need to be absorbed. We highly recommend adding MaxiCrop soluble seaweed powder to your […]