Time to clean up the flush and drain aquaponic grow bed in Humbleville, USA!  We ended up with a net weight on the basil harvest at slightly over 3 ounces.  Here you also see the beginnings of a side dish with the Swiss Chard.  Saute’d in butter with mushrooms and garlic, this was the perfect topping to a delicious steak!  Although we are not fans of jalapenos, rumor is they are good for the chickens (I might actually de-seed a few of these and fill them with cream cheese and bacon crumbles … maybe).

So it has been 8 days since we opened up the new DWC aquaponic bed for our lettuce plants, and the results already have been simply amazing!  The DWC bed was much easier to install than the Flood & Drain bed, and a lot less expensive as we didn’t need any of the Hydroton expanded clay pellets as a grow medium.  We are simply growing in nutrient rich water!!

What I want to point out here is the tremendous root growth in about one week!  In the picture above you will see the lettuce plant’s roots.  The darker roots you see hanging down in the middle of the root system are the roots that had established up until a week ago.  Those dark roots are still healthy, taking on the color from the soil and such when it was sitting in a tray under the florescent grow lights.  All of the white roots are the NEW root growth!!!  All of those new white roots came into existence in just one week.  I’m really looking forward to this new edition into our healthy eating plan.

Job 14:7-9  “For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And its shoots will not fail. “Though its roots grow old in the ground And its stump dies in the dry soil, At the scent of water it will flourish And put forth sprigs like a plant.

There will still need to be some adjustments, but just yesterday I was able to finish what was required to get the deep water culture (DWC) aquaponic bed expansion operational.  So excited!

The DWC bed is different than the flood and drain bed, and is suitable for lettuces.  The existing bed had a compressed clay pellet grow medium and the water would rise and fall, wetting the roots and providing nutrients but then allowing them to dry out so the roots do not rot.  This new expansion will have water in the bed at all times, with fresh aerated water coming from the fish tank to be used by the lettuce plants floating atop the water, with the overflow going out from the back of the bed and returning into the fish tank below.

I’ve had to, at least temporarily, return to the 1000 watt equivalent LED light to light up both beds, but I already have a lower watt LED panel I can install now at my leisure above the new bed.  For now, the pink room with the reflector hanging behind it as a light shield will add to our outdoor Christmas decorations in the front window.

The lettuce in the picture below were started from seed and have been growing set in trays on my florescent light grown shelf until I got this bed up and running.  I’m looking forward to seeing how these grow and rotating in a couple of head of lettuce every week to keep us in a continual fresh supply.

2 Samuel 22:37

“You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped.

The time has come to double the growing area of my homemade, desktop aquaponic system!  This time the bed will be devoted to lettuce production.  The main reason for this is instead of a flood and drain set up, which is suitable for most vegetables, I do not want the second bed also flooding and draining as my concern is if both beds are full at the same time, the water remaining for Oscar the fish might be insufficient.  Therefore this expansion will be a DWC (Deep Water Culture) grow bed.

What’s the difference?  Well, the flood and drain set up is good for most vegetables because the roots cannot sit in water all of the time or the roots will simply rot out.  This isn’t the case for lettuce.  They are fine growing in constant water.  So the plan is whatever water doesn’t spill into the flood and drain bed already established, will flow into this new DWC bed and then drain out the back side and into the fish tank again.  This flow of water will continue to deliver the fish produced nutrients to the grow bed for absorption by the lettuce and then the cleaned water returns to the fish.

The foam board you see in the picture will float on top of the water in the new grow bed.  Holes will be cut so the lettuce plants can be inserted into the hole designed to hold the net cups I will use.  I believe I have all the parts I will need to press forward with the expansion, so any good thoughts or prayers are appreciated as I take another step forward with our indoor gardening aquaponic project!

1 Corinthians 3:7

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.