Georgi Pepelyankov

Thank you for the detailed response, John!

Have you considered using composting toilets instead of a septic? Urine can still go through the Sun Still filtration before being introduced to the greenhouse (or external gardening) but the fecal waste related effort could be minimized with a composting toilet system in place of the septic hole, which in best case scenario, still requires maintenance.

I'm no expert in constructions so I won't comment anything about the roofs, slopes, crickets, etc.. I am more focused, however, into the greenhouse optimization of space and methods of growing. I guess by "techniques to grow extremely close" you mean certain hydroponic systems? If so, have you considered aquaponics and aeroponics (high-pressure hydroponics)? I have been working on the designs of the growing beds, the positioning, and spacing in the greenhouse, optimal watering system, and environment according to the different plants, then grouping them to optimize space, etc. I am both trying to create a full-cycle ecosystem that can be as self-sustainable as possible as well as trying to minimize the need of using any chemicals (either for pest control or diseases). Thus, one of my main priorities is finding a way to grow soil-less. Also, if I truly want to achieve some "balanced" ecosystem, I would need to find a way to separate the different parts so I can find a way to control pests.

If you are planning on growing produce for a family of 4, that would probably require quite a lot of different plants and as a result, a lot of space. Have you thought about the plants' irrigation system? At one time I was even thinking of designing a whole internal stream and watermill system for the growing bed watering, which in turn will rotate the growing beds, allowing maximum sunlight intake. That would require a lot of supporting electrical support, however, and soon after I shot it down in my scrapbook of ideas.

Do you mind sharing more of your farming plans? What techniques do you plan on using? Also, how would you control temperature, humidity and CO2 levels in the greenhouse for year-round produce?

Hi John, I really like your ideas and changes to the Earthship designs. I have been looking at them (Earthships) for quite a while as part of my overall planning to build an off-grid home for my family. I do, however, have some other ideas I am thinking of implementing in my future home, mainly related to the greenhouse and growing most, if not all of my family's food needs. How do you plan to utilize the greenhouse in your designs?

Also, can you share a bit more about the Rammed Earth Wall forms and the method you use to pressurize them?

Do you plan to treat somehow the human waste compost before introducing it in the greenhouse?

Thanks Amit Enventres, I will do a small test at home soon. I plan to buy a plastic container and some tubing and give it a short with a simple low pressure aeroponics system. Whether I will add fish to the mix immediately or try hyroponically at first, haven't decided yet.

Amit Enventres wrote:Hi, I'm not an expert, but from what I've seen and done, people usually have different pots for different plants. Usually simply because of root differences. Tomatoes in buckets, lettuce in pvc, cuttings in pebbles. As for pH, most things grow around the same pH minus a few odd ones like beets and blueberries.  As for nutrients, plants sometimes take in what they need, but some will be more veggitative if they have access to excess nitrogen. To solve this, maybe you could put these plants at the receiving end of pond water that was first files by nitrogen living plants, like greens. I wouldn't worry about the system being perfect since plants needs change with lighting, size, etc. So it will never be perfect.

Hi, if I want to have a system with decorative fish (I don't want to kill fish) and a variety of plants (potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, greens, lettuce, peas, and I somehow manage to get EC about 1.8 and ph of about 6.5-7, would you think it would be a balanced system?

I realize I need to take a very well-paced approach on this, starting off in smaller portions, gradually filling up the tank and the growbeds but in theoretically I could get to such a stage. If I then put a filter system either in the beginning of irrigation or in the end, to monitor and control EC, ph, flow, etc., do you think that could work?

Of course, I would need to have a very well calculated fish tank, growbed infrastructure (containers, root area, irrigation tubes, sprinklers, mist makers, etc..) and a very well timed water pump.

I'm planning to build a family year-round plant-based diet greenhouse, powered by solar panels, rainwater harvested water, and aquaponics system. Each plant will be grown in a specific container to best utilize its specific growth characteristics. That would involve using different watering methods but I plan to mostly use aeroponics (both high and low pressure systems, depending on the desired root growth) in vertical growbed "towers". I would also have to think about aeration of the water somehow as well as adding CO2 in the most eco-friendly way (so far I've found various types of fermentation to be the safest bet but I'm still unsure about those)

A side question on the fish tank: any idea how to deal with fish waste and dead fish? I've read somewhere that the bacteria on the bottom of the fish tank take care of it (I guess that bacteria needs to be purposely placed on the bottom of the fish tank) but still have more questions than answers

Hello everyone, I don't know if this is the right place to post this, I'm hoping some of you would have experience with aquaponic systems and would be able to help me understand the following:

I want to make an aquaponic growing system at home to grow various kinds of vegetables and am wondering the following:

Since different plants have different ph and nutrient needs, how would they grow with one source (the pond would have some mid-point ph level around 6 and nutrient for the plants)?

Some plants require higher levels of certain nutrients, is it possible to plan how much the plant is going to "eat"? In terms of nutrient and overall water?

I hope my questions are clear enough. Anyways, thank you very much in advance for your help and time!

kevin stewart wrote:I use whatever I get at home depot. Potting soil, garden soil.  Eventually I will aquaponic the whole thing but if I'm not there to stop the pump from sucking up all the water I would feel like a shitheel for killing the fish (before I eat them).

Maybe this year I will try some pots with the local sand.

I think I was getting some nutrients from all the critters that kept drowning in my trays of water. (Very enpleasant to clean up).

I only do it this way because if the solar pump fails I want the plants to live off of the water in the trays for a couple of weeks. I would do things differently if I were there full time.

My aim is to grow plants without soil wherever possible. As potatoes are the mainstay in the family diet, they are my main concern. Also, they are one of the few plants that do not appear to have been successfully grown using either hydroponics, aquaponics or aeroponics. As aeroponics allow for good control over the water, nutrients and allows to save space, it is my main goal. I intend to use aquaponic system as the nutrient water as well.

kevin stewart wrote:I am absent from my place a month (or two ) at a time .
The "hydroponic" set up I have is one gallon pots in trays of moving water, about 200 pots.
Once I settled the critter issue (chicken wire) I succeeded in growing potatoes , carrots and radish .

Nothing to get overly excited about , everything was very small, but "trust me" I get excited. I proved that I can grow food in a very hard environment: north east Arizona.

When it got too wet for them they pushed right out of the soil and kept their roots in the wet. This year I will do it the same way but bigger pots.

Hi Kevin, what growbed media do you grow them in? Soil?

wayne fajkus wrote:I think this is interesting.  If I'm understanding you, the harvestable tubers will not be sitting in water. Suspended and misted?

Yes, exactly, suspended and misted or sprayed.

I've searched the Internet for answers but cannot seem to find anything about maincrop potatoes being grown in soil-less environment. Do any of you have any experience or knowledge on the subject?

My idea is to grow potatoes in 3 stages in aeroponic/aquaponic systems (depending on viability):

Incubator for small plants ready to become cuttings
Suspended aeroponic system for maximum yield of seed potatoes
Suspended aeroponic system for growing the seed potatoes to mature potatoes.
Has anyone tried growing maincrop or mature potatoes in aeroponics system? Or in aquaponic?

I was thinking of a plastic net, much like the ones potatoes are sold in bulk, attached to the tank on several heights where you would place your cuttings, with side holes for the plant stem and leafs to grow upwards.
The plastic net (if correctly chosen) should provide structure without covering the tubers too much, leaving them no air.

Having no other media to take up the space for growth and having top to bottom watering with nutrients might work?

Here are some drawings of the concept:  http://imgur.com/a/QfSzw
As you can see in drawing 1, I'm thinking of securing two levels of plastic net with space in between them a bit more than the diameter of a fully grown potato. Those are inside of a barrel or a tube.

The tube has holes on its south facing side where the potato cuttings would grow out and feed on sunlight as described in drawing 2.

Then in drawings 3, 4 and 5 are three separate methods of watering with nutrients
drawing 3: with a mist making machine
drawing 4: with sprinkler type system
drawing 5: with top shaworing system

As for the plastic net, I am thinking of something like this:  https://sc01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1kKALGVXXXXc4XFXXq6xXFXXXO/221237254/HTB1kKALGVXXXXc4XFXXq6xXFXXXO.jpg
Also, as the plants grow, they could potentially be pulled back inside the barrel (in the plastic net area where the potato growth would happen).
If the leafy part requires some structure to climb on, I can build a wall from another type of plastic net: https://www.sure-green.com//media/product_pages/thumb388.jpg

And end up with a situation like this:  http://imgur.com/a/B8cyl

That should provide them the area to grow and wrap around if my logic is correct.

Please share your thoughts!