Comments for This Sustainable House

Comment on Everything I want to do is Illegal by Shane

Shane — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:40:55 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly. I’m not against health regulations however we need to develop better representational systems Many of these policies and laws are created by career bureaucrats after receiving advice from various lobby groups which are, almost invariably, the larger organizations/bodies. This is just a factor of resources as lobbying effectively is expensive. As a result we tend to get policies which do not adequately address the concerns of real people.

One of the things that I am butting my head against more and more is the ridiculous level of red tape in our society. Individuals need to begin taking a stand to change the status quo, though doing so will undoubtedly be difficult for the pioneers.

Comment on Everything I want to do is Illegal by Leanne

Leanne — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:55:22 +0000

Of course, all this sort of foolishness does is send the sale of true free range eggs “underground”. So you get farms like ours, in New Zealand, selling eggs to friends and workmates, and just “people in the know” – and anyone else who wants healthy, real, organically-produced eggs and foods just can’t find them.

This actually works well for small farmers – it drives the price up, and they don’t pay GST or income tax on eggs (what eggs?), fruit (what fruit?), nuts (what nuts?) or lamb (what lamb?). But it’s not right. Most producers rather do things legally and fairly – it’s just the system makes things impossible to do so. The government shoots itself in the foot with this red tape.

Comment on Deep Water Culture (DWC) by Shane

Shane — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:17:44 +0000

You could but in all likelihood you’d have problems with solids in the water. DWC really needs the water to be pre-filtered so that solids don’t clog up the ‘air pores’ in the roots. Some solids seems to be OK, but if you get too much the growth of the plants definitely slows.

Comment on Deep Water Culture (DWC) by Hamish

Hamish — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:55:06 +0000

Perhaps you could also put fingerlings in the DWC bed?

Comment on Thus begins the aquaponics adventure… by Shane

Shane — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:16:02 +0000

G’day Kevin

The trial worked phenomenally well. The plants and fish both did well and the system is currently producing veg for the kitchen each day.

I have had a few ‘issues’ to sort over the trial period such as losing my fish when I stupidly left the hose in over night, and my lemon tree not looking ‘quite right’. However these appear to be fixed by the addition of a tap timer and some rock dust respectively.

Overall I’d recommend Aquaponics to anyone, especially if you need to garden with limited space.

Comment on Thus begins the aquaponics adventure… by Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:08:25 +0000

Hi Shane,

Any update on how this is working out for you. I would really love to see how you got on

Cheers

Kevin

Comment on Great Towering Strawberries! by Shane

Shane — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 23:07:10 +0000

G’day Maggie

The test system worked really, really well… well until the dirty dam water broke my irrigation system. Then the strawberries dried out very quickly and perished in the summer heat.

However whilst the system was running the strawberries were exceptionally productive with each tower producing about 6-8kg of strawberries.

The things that I would do differently are;

1) Ensure that the plants growing below the towers dont grow so tall as to provide a ‘bridge’ to the towers for snails & slugs.
2) The system is ideally suited to fertigation or running as part of an aquaponics system.
3) Provide clean water so the timers dont fail!

I would highly reccomend this system to anyone. Go for it!!!

Comment on Great Towering Strawberries! by Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:13:51 +0000

I would really really LOVE to know how this experiment went. Did the plants produce well, were the strawberries tasty? What would you do differently, what would you keep the same. Any hints regarding watering set-ups, and soil, and fertilising/feeding the plants?
I have a strawberry patch that is taking up too much valuable space so I’ve scrounged some PVC pipe offcuts and am anxious to set it all up.

Thanks!

Comment on Strawberry Tower Update. by Shane

Shane — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:42:23 +0000

I haven’t grown Chandlers befor, however I do believe that it is a good variety. My favorite variety is Aromas.

Comment on Strawberry Tower Update. by Becca

Becca — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:10:48 +0000

Has anyone ever used Chandler Strawberry plants? You plant them in the fall and they flower and produce fruit in the month of May of the following year.