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Monthly Archives: April 2012

Guest Post

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Would you like to write posts as a guest for Hydroponics Curacao?

Hydroponics Curacao currently accepts guest posting for our blog.

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The post has to be:

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New plants

Posted on by Posted in Plants/Garden 2 Comments

I’ve decided to take out the old pepper plants out of my new raft aquaponics system.

I did this because the pepper plants were severely attacked by insects. And nothing I did, couldn’t get rid of those insects. They keep coming back. So I decided to take them out.

I’ve left the celery plant in there. And in the other spots, I planted Basil. I took a few pieces of the big Basil plants. They will have to start rooting in the system. I didn’t want to spend more time to let them root in water first. So I planted them directly, without roots, in the cups.

Today I will add 2 more cups with Basil planted in them.
And will also be adding the worm tea I made to the system. To give the plants extra nutrients to the water.

What’s new in your garden? Comment below and let me know.

Brandon Koots
Hydroponics Curacao

For questions or help, feel free to contact us via our email: support@hydroponics-curacao.com

Basil plants

Posted on by Posted in Plants/Garden 2 Comments

This article will be a short one. I just wanted to tell you about my new Basil plants.

A few weeks ago I started a few Basil plants in a container. To be exactly, I’ve started three Basil plants.

The plants have grown very fast and great. From those plants I’ve cut 7 cuttings. Two of them have already started rooting. And now I have to wait for the others to root.

I barely water my Basil plants. And they are standing in the sun all day. The plants don’t look like they need to be watered. That’s why I don’t water them. I water them about 1 time a week. Or sometimes after two weeks. But the plants are still wonderful!

Worm tea

Posted on by Posted in Aquaponics, Compost, Help, Hydroponics, Nutrients 1 Comment

This week I’ve made my own worm tea.
Worm tea is actually tea from the finished worm compost. My worm compost isn’t finished yet. But the first half of the worm bin was done. So I added more bedding to the bin.

I’ve watered my worm bin so I can harvest castings using water. And the liquid that I’ve captured below from the drainage holes, I’ve mixed with water in a bin.

After that I’ve grabbed a little bit of the finished compost in the bottom and put it in a sock. And with that, I made the worm tea. Using water and water mixed with worm castings. I’ve let it stay in the water for about 2 days.

Today I’ve taken the sock with finished compost out of the water. Now I’m testing it to see how the plants will grow when I use it on them. I compare the results with plants treated with just water.
I hope that this worm tea can give the plants extra nutrients.

Castings contains a lot of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. So that means that this tea may contain the nutrients too.
You can find more information on worm tea in this article

Brandon Koots
Hydroponics Curacao

For questions or help, feel free to contact us via our email: support@hydroponics-curacao.com

Planting peanuts

Posted on by Posted in Help, Seeds Leave a comment

It is very easy to plant peanut plants.
All they need is enough space, water and sunlight. The peanuts grow below the soil. They grow from the plant’s twigs if you cover them with soil. That’s why they need space.

You start by planting the peanuts where you want them to be.
Give them water and wait till they start growing.

You don’t have to do anything else than giving them water and nutrients till they start having flowers.
When the first flowers start to open, you cover the twigs with soil. But let the top stick out.

While the twigs are growing, you keep covering them with soil and letting the top stick out. When you do this, you will harvest a lot more peanuts than when you don’t do this.
Remember to give them enough water. And nutrients every once a while.

After about 90 days, you can start harvesting peanuts.

Brandon Koots
Hydroponics Curacao

For questions or help, feel free to contact us via our email: support@hydroponics-curacao.com

Adding more bedding to the worm bin

Posted on by Posted in Compost, Help Leave a comment

I have my worms in a half drum. I’ve started by filling half the drum with bedding. The bedding was newspapers and on top, I’ve put dry leaves.

After about 2 months, the newspapers in the bin have now disappeared.
So now they need more bedding to live in. What I did was I’ve hand shredded more newspapers. Now the bin is almost full. And on top of that I’ve put more dry leaves. The dry leaves help to keep the newspapers below wet.

Then I’ve put food for them in the new bedding on top so they will move to the new bedding. I hope that they can get enough air in the old bedding below.

I sometimes pour water over the worm bin to harvest some of the castings. And I capture the water from the drainage holes in a bin. That liquid is filled with a lot of nutrients! I use it for my plants in my aquaponics system. That helps to make the plants stronger.

In june or july I will harvest this worm bin to start again. But I’ve planned to start a new and larger worm bin next month.

Brandon Koots
Hydroponics Curacao

For questions or help, feel free to contact us via our email: support@hydroponics-curacao.com

Update on my garden #5

Posted on by Posted in Aquaponics, Compost, Help, Hydroponics, Nutrients, Pests, Plants/Garden, Seeds 2 Comments

I haven’t updated on my garden for about 2 months.

Well, since then, the plants in the hanging planter have grown very fast. And I’ve harvested a tomato from one of the tomato plants.
The spinach plant is also growing very fast.
My pepper plant in the hanging planter also started to have peppers. And they are growing pretty fast.

From my new raft aquaponics system, I’ve harvested a few celery leaves.
The pepper plant in there got only 1 flower. And it seems like it is going to have fruit too.
I’ve put worm juice in the water and now you can see that they are growing very fast in the system.

My worms are also doing wonderful in my compost bin. After about 1 month with the worms in their new bedding, I can see that the newspapers in the bottom are disappearing.
The worms eat a lot and very fast. I don’t know if they have become more or what. But when they finish eating at one spot, I can see some worm cocoons there. So I do think that they are becoming more in the bin.

In the old aquaponics system, I’ve planted a tomato plant. It is growing very fast. But there are no flowers yet.

There is also an unknown plant that has been growing in my garden. It was dying. So I decided to put it in the aquaponics system. Anyone has an idea of what plant this is?

My celery plants are also doing great. They haven’t grown a lot though.

Lastly, there were a lot of baby fish born in the new raft system. Last month, I found new baby fish about every week in that system. Now I think I have more than 50 guppies.

*I’ve attached pictures of everything I talked about in this posts.

Brandon Koots
Hydroponics Curacao

For questions or help, feel free to contact us via our email: support@hydroponics-curacao.com

Answers March

Posted on by Posted in Aquaponics, Compost, Help, Hydroponics, Nutrients, Pests, Plants/Garden, Seeds Leave a comment

There has been a lot of searches on the site this month. But most of them, can be found on the website already. But these cannot be found:

Can I grow carrots in hydroton
Yes. It is possible to grow carrots in hydroton. This won’t disturb them from growing.

Adjusting pH levels with limes in hydroponics
To adjust the pH level in a hydroponics system, you can split a lemon in half a put one half in the water. This will regulate the pH if it’s too high.
Or you can buy special pH adjusters online or at gardening stores.

Brandon Koots
Hydroponics Curacao

For questions or help, feel free to contact us via our email: support@hydroponics-curacao.com

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