Video Update - 30th Nov 2010

Brief update of my setup. Apologize for the bad video quality, I need a new camera.

Pickling Chillies

What do you do if you have too many Chillies ? Answer : Pickle them !
I love pickled chillies especially the smaller varieties, great appetizer with hot rice. This is how I pickle mine.
What you need are fresh chillies and vinegar, its best to use natural vinegar either from rice, apple or grape and I use distilled white vinegar.  Wash those chillies and place them in a jar, pour vinegar to full and add small amount of table salt, just a bit half teaspoon or less will do. That's it.
Sometime I don't put salt. .Keep the jar at room temperature, it should be ready in 2 weeks time. 


You notice the chillies I put with stem and I did not remove it. There is a reason for it, well more like Old Wife's Tale actually. If you pickle it without the stem, you are more likely to get stomach upset after consuming it and you fell slight discomfort on the "rear end" after a trip to the loo.


Just remove the stem before consumption, this is also true about fresh chillies of this type, cook it with the stem. Don't ask me why.. it just work. :)

Asparagus Update

Asparagus has germinated, this photo below is after about 5 days
Initial sowing : Here
I can see about 5 seedling and more should be coming.
Above close up of Asparagus seedling. This batch I will dedicate one growbed for them. It will take sometime for these to mature and start producing.


Asparagus is something totally new to me, I don't know what to expect. We'll see what happen, whether its growable in my Aquaponics set.

Time Out - Prawn Farm

Over the weekend went back to home town and I happen to pass by a Tiger Prawn Farm. Its a big setup, I only manage to snap few photos from outside its fence.
This place is located in Pekan, Pahang very near to the Pahang river estuary.
They are using mechanical aeration wheels to ensure those prawn get ample supply of oxygen.
Nothing much just few photos, I didn't get the chance to visit the complex.


Below the landscape view of the ponds.

Its raining cherries

Update of my cherry tomatoes, few pictures I snap this morning and it show all plants are fruiting and I expect they will ripen same time too.
Hundreds of tomatoes for the picking
This lone plant below also fruiting
Close up on one of the bunch.
It will be plenty once all of them ripen, so Tomatoes Cherries with Aquaponics - CHECK
This variety of Tomato plant is ideal for Aquaponics, no sign of white flies or that dreaded "bena putih" infestation, despite the normal Tomatoes in the adjacent growbed was attacked.

Asparagus

Get hold of few Asparagus seeds in October and I am trying out this veg see whether its do able in Aquaponics.
Asparagus update 29th Nov : Here
It the Mary Washington variety, this type recommended and can be grown here in sunny Equatorial region.
I use a smaller grow tray within my black growbed, to ensure those seeds did not get suck down into the deeper part.
I only sow few seeds about 20 and see how it goes, don't know what to expect. It will takes some time for Asparagus to germinate and may takes as long as three years for it to produce.


Due to long period, this plant may not be suitable for Aquaponics.


This is the link for Asparagus planting in Malaysia (its in Malay) by the Perak State Agriculture Department in Manjung.

Single Barrel - Update 14th Nov 2010

Update 29th Jan 2011 : Here
All well with the single barrel kit. I have put timer on the pump circuit to knock it off at night.
Its using a small pump, I have upgrade the siphon using 20mm stand pipe instead of 15 on initial construction and no water diversion from the pump.
Water inlet below, not much but it work. Occasionally it does go lesser than this, that's when I need to clean the pump.

Those dime a dozen fish getting bigger about 7 or 8 of them in the tank below.
These are the guys that give nutrient to the Cherry tomatoes plant .
Tomatoes plant, nothing to shout about. It does show proof that this tiny set can produce something.
Wait for those Cherry tomatoes to fruit, its flowering now.

Time for Chillies

Cleared my black growbed of tomatoes plant and I'm preparing it for chillies. Sown two variety both of which are super hot small chillies.
Mother of all Chillies,, these guys average 1 inch long and packed with a very nasty super hot blow.
Those red ones, squeeze the liquid out and rub it on your joints, it will give a hot sensation for hours and promote blood flow to cure.

Maize Demised

I have no choice but to cut down the maize plant, after waiting for so long it turn out both of them are male. Just my luck !
If one of them is female its then good enough, I then can complete my article on Maize in Aquaponics. Now I have to start new.
I planted maize before (not aquaponics) the male flower will be on top as in this picture above, and the female part will be the baby corn coming out in between the leaves. Normally about 2 or 3 baby corn will grow in a plant and they will be with the hairy tip to catch the male flower dropping down fertilizing the baby corn.
All is not lost, I did document all and its a learning process and next maize will contribute more knowledge in my learning curve.

Update 7th Nov

Cherry Tomatoes are now fruiting, no sign of any bug attacking them yet. Hope what I understand about them being resistance to white bugs is true.


Last week update : Here
 Close up shots of Cherries below.

The ones in my mini kit below also show sign of fruiting, however these tomatoes are stunted due to low nutrient and  being relatively new growbed it did not mature enough.
This mini kit on 24th Oct : Here
 Single Cherry Tomato from the mini kit.

Fern - Survivor

Marilen from Sydney asked. "Did you totally remove your edible fern ?"


I did remove all, but after few weeks roots that left inside the growbed regrow.
They grow big then I save one fern, for future stock
So what you see is what's left. They are easily grown. Picture above was taken 10 minutes ago.

Affnan