Summer's coming to a close here in the southern hemisphere and that makes this the time that all those Summer veggies are ready for the picking!
The bioponics in the backyard (rather, the bioponics IS the backyard!) is singing its praises to the gentler weather and providing a mountain of food for us at Ligaya Garden.
So, here's a quick look at it all...
The constant height beds in the pic above have been modified with a Bell siphon in the second bed in that system. I did this to give more oxygenation to the roots of the plants in it. The other part of that system stays the same but benefits from the increased oxygenation in the sump tank when the Bell siphon dumps and drains the water from its bed. That period when the bed is drained also let's me keep compost worms in that bed to clean up organic debris from dead roots. They add a little fertilizer too as poo.
As you can see from these pics, growing indeterminate Tomatoes and Melons trained up as vines can make a very effective shade layer for softer plants below. It also keeps moulds and mildews at bay because of the better ventilation that the vine leaves receive. The fruit hang as well, keeping some pests off of them.
Growing vines as food producing shade also cools the house reducing cooling bills from fans and airconditioners.As time goes by, we are building a system of Grape vines so that they become a permanent structure that does the same job. It'll help us remove the shadecloth, which is afterall, plastic.
I think I mentioned in another post that I had separated the big system into a large section and a smaller section. The smaller section was proving a bit of a headache. The Bell Siphons weren't working well and not draining the beds fully during that part of the cycle. I had to spend a few days (on and off) tweaking pipe diameters and lengths but then came up with an idea for an adjustable back pressure regulator.
A 90° elbow on the outlet gave me close to what I needed, so I added a short length of pipe to give the water something more to push against. The pipe length was a lucky guess and worked much better on the first try. I just needed to twist the elbow a couple of degrees to let just a little more flow, reducing the back pressure the tiniest amount. It worked, I'm happy and the system dumps just right.
FYI - Bell siphons are an interesting part of any kind of pumped 'ponics system. They allow most of the water to be drained from a bed in one big hit. That oxygenates the roots of the plants in the bed, making them healthier.
