Fodder grown aquaponically (Where to get cheap trays?)

Since this is a AP process I'll be using to grow the animal feed fodder I thought this would be a good place to post it. I looked for a 'animal feed' or a 'how to grow animal feed' section but didn't find one.

Anyway, is anybody on here growing their animal fodder?
I'm planning on it, but need some good alternative ideas for what to use as trays. I'm not interested in buying a big expensive system from anyone because it's so simple to make myself. I do need some tray ideas.

The best idea I can come up with is some sort of roofing material. Something 4-10' long, 12-20" wide, and 1-4" deep, 2" deep being optimal. I'm thinking about (when I'm ready) scrounging around dumps for used roofing material, although, I wouldn't want to use anything that is coated in anything like tar.

All ideas are welcome. I see growing a lot of it at different stages in it's growth cycle.

Here's a article for anyone who hasn't heard about growing feed fodder. http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/growing-sprouted-fodder/72618

PS. And any roofing material would need to be coated if it's metal to be used in a AP system. Maybe pond liner scraps?.?.

Chris,
Do you have any ideas on how you want to have this set-up?
Are looking to mimic the fodder solutions system? Lights, contained area, racks, etc?

I did a preliminary design for a similar system that would link to AP also so I have some materials resources for you. It's a scalable system that was intended for commercial production. The tray materials are a "new" product, by which I mean a purchased material. It does have a very long life cycle, food grade material so none of the nasty stuff and much more affordable in comparison.

Jacob Freepons wrote:Chris,
Do you have any ideas on how you want to have this set-up?
Are looking to mimic the fodder solutions system? Lights, contained area, racks, etc?

I did a preliminary design for a similar system that would link to AP also so I have some materials resources for you. It's a scalable system that was intended for commercial production. The tray materials are a "new" product, by which I mean a purchased material. It does have a very long life cycle, food grade material so none of the nasty stuff and much more affordable in comparison.

I need to get the land first. I'm planning on using the back of the greenhouse/s to grow fodder. Also I would be growing a good sized bug farm for the poultry and fish in the back of the greenhouses. I want to start with one 40' cargo container and build the greenhouse off of the front of it. Then adding another container behind it, then spanning about a ten foot distance between them down their length. The roof would also be a AP garden, and so far I'm planning on having the FT's under the spanned areas between the containers. I'm not planning on using any additional light for fodder. I'll be making my own system probably suspended from the ceiling. Any resources for trays you have would be great. Food grade would be awesome. It would be nice to also sprout for people consumption. Mung beans, etc. I would also be using them to malt for beer making. I'm planning on 1/3 of my outdoor crops to be for distilling purposes, 1/3 for animal feed, and 1/3 for people consumption. So, a large part of it would be either getting sprouted, fermented, and or malted.

Sprout diversification mixed with sustainable feed for my animals and some good and fun people stuff mixed in.

We are the same boat, although I didn't think about a bug/worm farm...good call! This is going to be an exciting summer

Here is some info....a facebook group called fodder....Facebook-Fodder Pic of system.

Oh and for bins, checkout what they used, looks like a standard bin you can get from any home improvement. They were only a few bucks a piece.

Anyway they made the frame as part of the drainage by ripping a 3 inch pipe to give a level plane and (I think) used the drain plugs also as "hooks" to keep the bins in place.

Chris Duke wrote:

Jacob Freepons wrote:Chris,
Do you have any ideas on how you want to have this set-up?
Are looking to mimic the fodder solutions system? Lights, contained area, racks, etc?

I did a preliminary design for a similar system that would link to AP also so I have some materials resources for you. It's a scalable system that was intended for commercial production. The tray materials are a "new" product, by which I mean a purchased material. It does have a very long life cycle, food grade material so none of the nasty stuff and much more affordable in comparison.

I need to get the land first. I'm planning on using the back of the greenhouse/s to grow fodder. Also I would be growing a good sized bug farm for the poultry and fish in the back of the greenhouses. I want to start with one 40' cargo container and build the greenhouse off of the front of it. Then adding another container behind it, then spanning about a ten foot distance between them down their length. The roof would also be a AP garden, and so far I'm planning on having the FT's under the spanned areas between the containers. I'm not planning on using any additional light for fodder. I'll be making my own system probably suspended from the ceiling. Any resources for trays you have would be great. Food grade would be awesome. It would be nice to also sprout for people consumption. Mung beans, etc. I would also be using them to malt for beer making. I'm planning on 1/3 of my outdoor crops to be for distilling purposes, 1/3 for animal feed, and 1/3 for people consumption. So, a large part of it would be either getting sprouted, fermented, and or malted.

Sprout diversification mixed with sustainable feed for my animals and some good and fun people stuff mixed in.

A couple of ideas:

First, for small grow beds the pizza dough trays work really well, and are cheap.

For larger systems, especially outdoors in a greenhouse, I recommend building a wood frame, installing 2" insulation board inside, on all sides, to make a structurally-sound grow bed. Inside that, you use FDA safe liner (pond liners aren't FDA safe usually) with Uniseals or bulkhead fittings to penetrate the pond liner.

If you're planning to use shallow grow beds (below 12") you will need (or have the ability to use) a lot of them.

Jer...

Old post I had forgotten about. Been a while.

To answer my own question, I just found these, http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/grow-bag-garden-tray/wheatgrass-fodder-trays
At that price, who cares if they are not as long as I wanted them to be. I figure I'll need about 30 of them, or however many it takes to fill the side of a 40' long x 9.5' tall shipping container that will be the back of my greenhouse. I'll have fish ponds in front of the container to get the water from. That way I can save the hassle of changing water all the time, and the circulation would help with the aeration of the fish ponds. I think that for the fodder, I would be skimming the water from the top of the fish tanks. The greenhouse vegetables would be sucking water up from the bottom along with all the fish waste. I don't think the fish waste would be good for a fodder tray setup, but I don't think the probiotoc water would hurt. If anything, it should make for better fodder. For light, I'll cut slits for plexiglass windows in the side of the container where I have the trays set. No need for electric light. The sun is free.

Chris Duke wrote:Old post I had forgotten about. Been a while.

To answer my own question, I just found these, http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/grow-bag-garden-tray/wheatgrass-fodder-trays
At that price, who cares if they are not as long as I wanted them to be. I figure I'll need about 30 of them, or however many it takes to fill the side of a 40' long x 9.5' tall shipping container that will be the back of my greenhouse. I'll have fish ponds in front of the container to get the water from. That way I can save the hassle of changing water all the time, and the circulation would help with the aeration of the fish ponds. I think that for the fodder, I would be skimming the water from the top of the fish tanks. The greenhouse vegetables would be sucking water up from the bottom along with all the fish waste. I don't think the fish waste would be good for a fodder tray setup, but I don't think the probiotoc water would hurt. If anything, it should make for better fodder. For light, I'll cut slits for plexiglass windows in the side of the container where I have the trays set. No need for electric light. The sun is free.

nice find
wish I could find for $8 I need around 200 of them

shame here in Au the same thing here costs $55 why does everything here have to cost 5~10x more
https://aquagardening.com.au/product/garland-trays-grow-bags-pots/