Crops

Here are some things we've tried. Some have been successful, some not. If you've had success with something I've been having trouble with, I'd love to hear from you.

To help with planning, I've included the yields I've been getting from each crop as well as the planting density.

Many of the plants that have had problems seem to stem from the root problems we are having which are discussed in the September 9 blog

 

Basil

Basil is doing very well. I think it took about 1.5 months from when we put the seedlings in the raft until they started producing this amount. We had to start removing old plants after about 3 months of production. So, I'm learning to re-plant about 1/4 of my crop every month.

We have regular, thai, and purple basil.

32 plants per 2x4' raft

1/2-1 pound a week per 2x4' raft

 

Beans - Pole,String

These tasted delicious but just didn't produce enough for our kitchen's demand. For a single meal, our kitchen would need 10-20 pounds of string beans. Our plants were being attacked by leaf miners and weren't producing the best, but in any case, it was apparent we would need to plant many rows to have enough to be used for a meal.

 

Bok Choi

Bok Choi did only OK. Many flowered too early and many were attacked by aphids. When we get our root issues figured out, I'll try them again.

 

Cabbage

When they weren't being attacked by aphids, the cabbage produced some beautiful greens. They never formed heads though. Lately, the aphids have been just too bad for us to grow these for the greens.

 

Chard

Chard was doing really well for a while. Now, pests have been attacking my old plants and the new ones have been getting a little fried by the sun and pest attacked as well.

32 plants per 2x4 raft

3-5 pounds every 2 weeks per 2'x4' raft for giant Chard, about half that for Rhubarb Chard

 

Lettuce

Lettuce is a bit of a mystery to us. It's supposed to do well in the aquaponic system as evidenced by Friendly Aquaponics large lettuce contract with Cost co. Ours however is often bitter. I've tried many varieties most with the same result. I've heard that slow growing lettuce tends to be bitter and any number of factors can slow down its growth. We started by getting more fish to have more nutrients to help its growth. Right now, I think that whatever is messing with the roots of our plants is causing the lettuce to grow slowly.

 

Mint

Mint is growing like a weed. It is working well planted at the ends of the troughs so it can overflow the sides. We're growing both spearmint and peppermint.

32 plants per 2x4 raft, could be less

1lb a week per 2x4 raft

Eggplant

Roots were attacked once they were in the troughs which made them grow extremely slowly and not do well.

 

Mustard Greens

Were decimated by the aphids.

 

Okra

Roots were attacked once they were in the troughs which made them grow extremely slowly and not do well.

 

Onions - Green

Green Onions are doing great. I think they spend about 45 days on the sprouting table, then another 45 days in the raft. They start looking bad after 2 months or so in the rafts, so I'm starting to plant more often so I can harvest at the optimum age. I plant 2-3 onions per basket

48 plants in a2x4' raft. I want to try to grow these more densely.

It's about 10-15 baskets to make a pound of onions.Whch comes out to 2.5 pounds a month per raft.

 

Oregano

Oregano grew extremely slowly and tended to rot. I think this plant just can't handle the water plain and simple.

 

Parsley - Chinese (Cilantro)

Not doing very well. Roots seem damaged and it always goes to seed too early. I want to try growing under heavy shade cloth.

 

Parsley - Curled and Italian

These looked great when we first started although they were a little slow growing. Now they get fried by the sun and the roots are almost bare. My boss Barcus suggested painting the rafts a darker color so heat is not reflected back up at the plants. Seems a little counter intuitive to me but I'm going to give it a try. First however, the root issue needs to be solved.

Peppers

Roots were attacked once they were in the troughs which made them grow extremely slowly and not do well.

 

Strawberries

So far our strawberries haven't been doing very well. Their roots are almost non existent and I think they're suffering from whatever is messing with the roots of our plants.

 

Tomatoes - Cherry

We can only grow cherry tomatoes in hawaii without a screen house. They have been doing well, although they are getting a little scorched right now in the summer heat. I'm thinking about putting some 30% shade cloth overhead.

Our first batch of tomatoes was 10' long on a 6' high trellis in a 2' wide trough. We had one plant every foot in a 3" basket.

Tomatoes supposedly don't like their "feet wet" so after the roots were established, I lifted each 3" netpot and inch or two out of the water.

I also learned to trim off all side shoots until the tomato was 2/3 the way up the trellis to prevent it from getting too bushy too soon.

We got about 65 pounds of tomatoes over these plants 5 month life span. It really peaked in the last month with over 10 pounds a week. I'm not sure how typical any of these figures are.

I built an additional 30' of trellis and plan to re-plant about 1/4 of my tomatoes every 6 weeks or so to try to keep production steady.

 

Watercress

Our head Chef Chris Angel asked us to try growing watercress and it's doing great.

It does have quite a few aphids but the kitchen hasn't complained and it doesn't seem to be slowing down the growth.

Right now I have it planted 32 plants per 4x8' raft but I think I want to experiment planting it in gutters so the plants will hang over the sides and be easier to harvest.

 

Wheatgrass

The sprouting tables were the perfect place to grow wheatgrass. I demonstrated the ease of growning and the demand at our gift shop. However, a professional juicer is expensive and the staff at the office doesn't currently have time to operate a juicer/espresso machine, etc. So, this is on hold.