What is the difference of the roots of the plants between growing in a pot and growing
in aquaponics?
This is what we're going to see together in this video.
We will also see why most gardeners haven't started aquaponics yet.
So you see when I repot a plant like the one I have behind me, this one, I always put some
scoria on the first centimeters on the bottom of the pot, and there is a very specific reason
for that.
So scoria for the ones who are not used to my videos with aquaponics, this is a volcanic
rock that is very porous so it allows the water inside the pot to drain and to not remain
stagnant on the bottom of the of the pot, and that's something I do for all my indoor
plants.
I really like to do this and I found some really good results because all gardeners
know if you have some indoor plants, you know that the plants they need to drink so you
have to water them.
Generally, we water the indoor plants once a week depending on the species, depending
on the temperature you have inside, depending on a lot of parameters, but what we want is
to basically have the inside of the pot to be moist and we also want to make sure we
offer enough moisture for the plants, but we want also, avoid to have too much stagnant
water inside the pot.
And that's something all gardeners are afraid of because stagnant water is going to basically
increase the anaerobic area in the pot.
So if you have some water that is staying on the bottom of the pot, then you have an
area without oxygen and the roots of the plants are going to rot.
So that's one thing, and that's also the reason why so many gardeners don't understand why
in aquaponics it works, because they think well, my plants indoor, if I put a bit of
water, if I put a bit too much water, and if the water remains inside the pot, the plant
is going to start to rot.
While in aquaponics, they understand that there is very often water you know.
There is incoming water 24/7 in the grow bed so they imagine that the roots of the plants
are always in contact with moisture, and therefore, that the plants are going to be in anaerobic
condition, which means without oxygen.
So the roots are going to rot.
Well, the gardeners need to understand the difference between moist environment and anaerobic.
In aquaponics, as you may know, we have a bell siphon and we allow the level of water
in the grow bed to go up and down several times per hour.
So I'm going to show you what the bell siphon looks like.
You see, that's it.
Here we got a bell siphon.
It's a bell and basically, when the water level reaches a certain point in the grow
bed, it flushes everything at once into the fish tank so we got fish tanks here and when
basically the grow bed reaches a certain level, it flushes everything into the fish tank.
So this is empty of water then which means that all the roots of the plant are able to
breathe.
Several times per hour we have these phenomena and so we don't have an anaerobic environment,
and that's really the anaerobic environment that is bad for the plants, for the roots
of the plants, not the moisture by itself.
Now, that's right that the plants have a zone.
So if you look at the plants, there is a part between the roots that are deep inside the
media and the leaves between the surface here.
This connection we call it the neck.
The neck of the plants must not be in the water.
Some plants really don't like to have the neck in a moist environment.
So it depends on the species.
Some species of plants like aquatic plants obviously, they live completely in the water.
You got some plants that don't really mind to have their neck in a moist environment,
but most of the plants we grow in a garden, they don't really like to keep their neck
in a moist environment.
It's going to be opportunity for disease.
It's going to weaken the plant.
So it's very important when you have an aquaponics system to keep the surface of the media dry.
See the surface is completely dry here.
This media that I have on the surface the scoria here is dry and that's really super
important.
If you have it wet, well, your plants may not grow.
You're going to have plants that are never going to grow in your setup and if you find
that some plants are not able to grow in the aquaponics system that you have, it may be
because of this specific thing, right?
You have the media that is maybe not wet on the surface.
Maybe the surface is dry but just underneath, it's wet and some plants need to have maybe
four centimeters dry so it really depends.
You can make some trials and you can modify the height of basically the bell siphon, you
know, in your grow bed.
You may want the level of water, maximum level of water to be still five centimeters below
the maximum level of your media.
So you leave the top dry and the plants are going to grow better.
So depending on the species of plants you are growing, you may want the water there.
You may want the water there.
Generally, we say 3 to 5 centimeters is good, but some plants, if you want to put cactus,
you will have to go way lower, right?
Obviously, I don't think anyone wants to grow cactus in aquaponics.
Probably not the best idea, but you get the idea.
Some plants that don't like moisture, you have to go a bit deeper.
So if you are a gardener and you haven't started aquaponics, now you can understand why aquaponics
is working even if there is always moisture on the deep part of the grow bed.
It’s because obviously, all the surface is still dry so you got a lot of aeration.
Even the deep roots they have access to oxygen because the water level is going down so that's
why in aquaponics, we can grow some food without problem.
So if you are a gardener, I really recommend you to try aquaponics, try at a small scale
and you will see the results.
You will probably be quite impressed.
If you really want to go ahead with this, we have a free training in the description
of the video, in the “i” like information on the corner of the video somewhere, and
if you go through this link you're going to have access to a training, a free training
to help you to build your own aquaponics system in the best conditions.
I'm going to give you all the limits the critical limits to respect when you build your aquaponics
system and some really good tips to manage your aquaponics system in the best conditions.
So it's a quick training, six steps, very easy to go through.
It's free.
It's in the description so get it now.
So once you get access to the free training, you will arrive to this page, and here you
will have a detail of different steps and each time you get a video or some description
to really allow you to build some strong knowledge and to know and to learn the basics of aquaponics
to avoid any mistakes.
So just enter your email address and you will receive access to this training.
If you enjoyed this video, please give it a like, and don't forget to subscribe to the
channel.
I’ll see you in the next video.
Bye.