gnoibs

rininger85

BroHay wrote:

***disclaimer***

No animals were otherwise harmed than the varmits who helped themselves to your garden without express written consent of the specific owner of that garden.....by reading this, you hear by release the owner of any claims (present and future) that might be otherwise construed as cruelty to animals for the mice were asked several times to vacate the premises before such action was taken.....and chose not not abide by such a request.....

Now, since I do not have a gator, I'll substitute said equine for my mouse killing Tomcat...... :shifty:

Adam

just don't say that you're going after raccoons that are eating your food without permission or you'll get attacked by a troll.

gnoib

rininger85 wrote:

BroHay wrote:

***disclaimer***

No animals were otherwise harmed than the varmits who helped themselves to your garden without express written consent of the specific owner of that garden.....by reading this, you hear by release the owner of any claims (present and future) that might be otherwise construed as cruelty to animals for the mice were asked several times to vacate the premises before such action was taken.....and chose not not abide by such a request.....

Now, since I do not have a gator, I'll substitute said equine for my mouse killing Tomcat...... :shifty:

Adam

just don't say that you're going after raccoons that are eating your food without permission or you'll get attacked by a troll.

As I always tell my dogs, that is my Sandwich, go make your own.
Yes, I can tell it hurts their feelings, the tail wagging slows down for a second or two.

gnoib

Spring is here.

The Greenhouse is packed with plants in pots and in the dirt. A couple of mice made their way inside and jewed a few potato plants up, they met their demise.
Some of the strawberries made it through the winter some not. I have 6 left and they are already outside.
In the Wintergarden.
The Aquaponics system is doing great. My switch to garden plants, non eatables has worked great. The Wizard Red loves the fish water. I just stuck some branches into the pots and now I have to trim it back every two weeks. None of the usual pest likes this plant. Since the water in the tank is perfect, 7 Tilapia and 6 small Goldies, I think I will stick to it. Don't fix what ain't broke.
On top of it, the Wizard and Geraniums have killed of the Whiteflies and other pest, no food for them.

This years project the rock garden with the hot tub fish tank and a little water world with aquaponics.

boss

WHY DO THEY HAVE TO BE SO CUTE?
Seriously, your greenhouse and Winter garden look fantastic!

gnoib

The rock garden. Well, some of the plants have survived the winter, some not. Some replacement has to be done.
The 2 wicking beds have, filled with manure, produced plenty of washed out urine during the winter to fertilize the wintergarden and the greenhouse.
They are seeded and planted. Salads and spinach in one and 2 different kind of potatoes in the other one.
I cover them up as long as possible to prevent the moisture to evaporate.
I will built one more in the next weeks
As one can see from the hot tub shot, I have a real debris problem, which I have to solve. 2 more problems, shade for the summer and heat for the winter and all of it has to look nice.

boss

I wonder why our spa to pond conversion doesn't get that much debris in it? One thing that is different is ours is up out of the ground by six on the high side of the hill and more on the low side of the ill. That must keep the Tumble weeds out too.Oh and I forgot to mention the pond was covered all Winter with two sliding glass door panels. :whistle:

gnoib

Being in the ground, could be a reason for more debris. It is mostly oak leaves and pine needles. This year with hardly any snow the oak leaves stayed on the brush and the high winds of the last month have blown them off.
I probably have to put some netting over it

boss

Yup, that may be the only way to deal with it. I see over on Koiphen forums some people use nets to keep birds out, but it seems to distract from the look of the feature. I also see some ponds with the netting on the water and that to me looks better. Do you have a bottom drain in there Gnoib?

gnoib

No bottom drain. I had to remove all the drain and outlet stuff, because they were to brittle and leaking.
I plan to use a submersible pump in the bottom and than plumb to the grow beds. With a union, it will allow me to take everything out for cleaning and for repairs.
Netting on the water is a good idea.
But 2 things first, have to get power to the tub and I have to install a overflow. Even with the little snow and rain we had this winter, the tub filled 1/3.
The power line has to be good enough for a 1500 watts stock tank heater, floater with a cage, to prevent complete freezing in the winter. I am not really concerned about the power usage, because my net metering, produces so much excess power, around 3.5 mwh a year and the retail price has hit rock bottom, it is down to 4 cents. It used to be 11 cents

boss

I didn't realize the power company can change the rates in their favor, but it figures

gnoib

The rates are based on the retail price of your area. Our power company buys its power from the huge suppliers and that rate is currently 4 cents. Since they buy my production, they pay retail. It gets every year adjusted.

9% humidity can you believe that, in APRIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

gnoib

Installed the overflow pipe, 1 1/4 inch, should work. I will built a shade over the tub and built the base for it. 4 holes with concrete and than 4x4 cedar posts. Since we have a very good chance for rain on Tuesday, I oiled the posts.
I used cedar, because the treated are always soaking wet and twist and turn in the sun like crazy and the treating is mostly sloppy. Sometimes it is only an inch into the wood.
Now I have to built brackets for the uprights.

Green Time

I have been extremely curious about your solar setup. Can you share more info on it?

Thanks.

rininger85

we're running pretty low humidity right now too gnoibs. We're more like 17% I think but it's low enough that we have burn bans in place. Looks like rain tomorrow and Thursday so that should help, but that means I need to get the lawn mower ready because the yard already looks like it needs mowed so more rain it's going to be a foot tall.

gnoib

Green Time wrote:

I have been extremely curious about your solar setup. Can you share more info on it?

Thanks.

I have a 8 kw system, that is pole mounted, with trackers. The trackers do 220 degree
One pole has 12, the other one 9 panels.
I choose pole mounted, because of the possible snow loads we can have in the winter, up to 10 feet of snow, or 4 to 5 feet ground cover. With panels on the roof that stuff would not slide of.
Trackers add around 15% to the power out-put. They are driven by a 12V motor and a worm drive and are powered by a 12V gel battery. 2 small panels charge the battery.
The trackers are made in Albuquerque NM.
Converter is Solar Edge, has an internet set up and one can check on the solar edge website, how much the system is doing and can trouble shoot etc.

I considered a battery set up, Sonnen or Teslar, as back up and or night powersource. But my time in the US is running out, maybe 3 or 4 more years, till I have to find a new country to live in. The cost for a battery set up is just to high for those few years, around 10,000 USD.
My next and hopefully final country will be Portugal

I will built a new house, which has to be designed for an old fart, barrier free. That design will include a solar system, electric and water and than it would make sense to have a battery system included

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

gnoibs

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Backyard Aquaponics A place to discuss aquaponics

gnoibs

Who is online

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics