Utilizing nature to create a zero impact, zero waste, carbon positive, completely self sustainable eco system,
... producing fresh organic fruits , vegetables, fish, crayfish & energy - In our backyard.

Welcome to our adventure ...

Aquaponics is a natural eco-system, which organically produces vegetables, fish & crayfish. It is the integration of fish cultivation, aquaculture, with hydroponic plant production.

Fish wastes are 'filtered' by natural bacteria producing a rich nutrient source for the plants. The plants utilize these nutrients for growth, thus purifying the water to then be returned to the fish. This continuous cycle is what happens in a nature.

Aquaponics has many advantages including, requiring much less space than traditional farming methods, highly efficient food productive method - potentially higher than hydoponics, with zero environmental impact.

- No chemical fertiliser's, pesticides, insecticides or soil conditioners are used.

- Zero water waste. All water is constantly purified by the plants and recirculated back to the fish.

- 100% of all nutrients are used, creating two crops from one nutrient source - the fish food.

- 100% of wastes generated are utilized on site through filters that feed the plants. Worm composts & Black Soldier Fly's are utilized for all vegetable off cuts and house hold waste's, creating natural healthy fish food source's. Worm & BSF castings being used for enhancing soil condition.

- As a source of protein, fish are the most efficient convertors out of all our farmed animals, achieving feed to flesh conversion efficiency close to 100%.

Aquaponics is a 100% natural eco-system.

PVA has also incorporated a totally off grid solar power installation, supplying power for the system, work shed and computers.

Strawberry Tunnel

The smaller nft system was finished back in January 2012 as a close up of a previous pic shows ...
 Since then, 1 single 'mother' strawberry plant purchased in September, has multiplied through runners and now completely fills this system in June 2012.
As I noticed new flowers on the mother plant I thought it time to prune. So a couple days ago I started removing any dead leaves and removed all the new growth runners. This will leave plenty of space and air flow for the flower stems to develop with much reduced chance of mold & rot. I counted over 200 new plant cuttings...
 Today I started planting them out into 128 cell seedling trays. I filled 1 tray and have almost twice that many again to finish tomorrow. (ill grab pic of finished trays and emerging flower stems tomorrow).
The 'after prune' shot.
Runners all tidied up and planted out, all 270 of them..
 New season flowers starting nicely. They will appreciate the extra space and air flow.



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