Jonathan: Hello sustainable growers.
This is Jonathan from Melbourne Aquaponics.
In this video, we're going to see the third part of the interview we had with Mr. Peng,
who has a commercial-size greenhouse in aquaponics, and he’s going to give us a lot of information
about how to manage disease and especially pests in commercial aquaponics.
I hope you're going to enjoy this video, but just before, please subscribe to the channel,
and if you haven't done it yet, download your free gift from the description of the video.
But how you deal with pests like insects?
Mr. Peng: Oh, yes.
Pests are a nuisance.
Right?
The common damage done by insects is aphids.
Jonathan: Yes.
Mr. Peng: And the white tiny moth.
Jonathan: Yes.
Mr. Peng: To completely avoid them may be impossible in my opinion.
Jonathan: Okay.
Mr. Peng: Unless you have a very tightly controlled greenhouse.
Jonathan: Yes.
Mr. Peng: You use can neem oil –
Jonathan: Yep.
Mr. Peng: -- mixed with pure soap, liquid pure soap, and you know, mix it with water
about 1:10, I believe.
Then spread it with a spray gun.
But make it very fine, you know, like a like fog-like that can spread.
Jonathan: Yes.
Mr. Peng: Then you'll control them.
They won't do any damage because the very fine little droplets of a mixture will get
it between their hair.
On the surface of the aphids, they have a very tiny little hair --
Jonathan: Yes.
Mr. Peng: -- to stop the water from getting in.
But the one drop is so tiny it would drop in and then they will damage the membrane
of the insect and they die.
Jonathan: So if you don't have the good spray gun it's not going to work.
Mr. Peng: No, no, no.
You don't you don't use the normal spray gun.
You need a very tiny like a fog –
Jonathan: Yeah, very thin.
Mr. Peng: -- very thin, and then they’ll work.
And for the white moth, they will just dry up.
Jonathan: Die, yeah?
Mr. Peng: Yeah, once they stick on it they gradually just dry up and they drop off.
Jonathan: Okay.
The other effect is also that the soap is going to stick on the leaf.
So then when they want to eat, they’re going to be touched with the soap.
Right?
Mr. Peng: The soap is only a natural lipid so gradually they will be absorbed.
Jonathan: Okay.
Mr. Peng: By the leaf or if you have you know, you can water it down.
You can rinse it.
They’re very easy.
Jonathan: Okay, for you it doesn't damage at all your setup.
It doesn’t – bacteria --
Mr. Peng: No, no, no, no.
Jonathan: And you don't have a foam that is into the water, you know.
Mr. Peng: No.
Jonathan: No?
Mr. Peng: No, you just spray on the leaves.
That would do the job.
And most of the time, we don't eat the leaves.
Those things will grow only cucumbers, that kind of thing, beans, that kind of thing.
So you don’t eat the beans’ leaves.
You don’t eat the cucumbers’ leaves, you know.
Jonathan: Okay, okay.
And have you got a problem with caterpillars?
Mr. Peng: Caterpillars, yes.
The first thing first is not to let it become a butterfly.
Jonathan: Yeah, that’s a good one.
Mr. Peng: But if you have a caterpillar there is a product, a natural product.
So it is at the top of the bacteria.
Jonathan: Oh, yes.
Yes, so it's organic as well.
Mr. Peng: Yeah, yeah.
So you just spread.
Jonathan: Oh, did you use it?
Mr. Peng: Yeah.
It's a very effective.
Jonathan: Okay.
Otherwise, we got ourselves a black hornet.
Mr. Peng: Yeah.
The black hornet.
Jonathan: It spawns inside the caterpillars.
Mr. Peng: Okay.
Yes.
Jonathan: And they are working well but often you got like two weeks between the time you
got the caterpillars and the time they come.
Mr. Peng: There are the two legs.
Jonathan: So you got two weeks where basically they eat all your crop.
Mr. Peng: Right.
Jonathan: Not all your problems are good problems.
Mr. Peng: The revenge of the two legs.
Jonathan: Exactly.
Because especially the caterpillars when they arrive on the tomato you know the tomatoes
grow so fast, but then when the caterpillars arrive, they multiply very quickly, as well.
Right?
It’s like that’s a challenge.
But yeah, I found that the best way was to cover a big biodiversity, yeah?
Mr. Peng: Yes.
Jonathan: In your crop.
Mr. Peng: Actually, the biggest problem is the slug.
Jonathan: The slug?
Yeah, you’ve got problems with that?
Mr. Peng: The use of the greenhouse provides ideal conditions --
Jonathan: Yes, yes.
Mr. Peng: -- for slugs.
So one way of dealing with it is to keep some frogs.
Jonathan: Oh, okay.
Do you?
Mr. Peng: Yep.
I'm going to do it.
Jonathan: You got the big one today?
I’m French, you know.
Mr. Peng: You are so unfortunate.
You know, in this country, the frogs just don't grow big.
Jonathan: Oh, yeah.
They say.
Mr. Peng: Usually, in a dry country they adapt to dry conditions.
They're very small, but still they can eat.
Yeah, frogs like to eat that kind of thing.
Jonathan: And would you eat it the frogs?
No.
Give it to me.
Mr. Peng: My suggestion is that you keep a small basin of water.
Jonathan: Yes.
Mr. Peng: Cover it with duckweed.
Jonathan: Yeah, okay.
Mr. Peng: Yeah, let the frogs to multiply in there.
Jonathan: Ah, excellent.
Mr. Peng: So in Australia, frogs only need water to breathe.
Jonathan: Yes.
Mr. Peng: They don't really need too much water you know.
They don't actually live in the water.
Jonathan: Yes, Okay.
I got you.
Mr. Peng: You know, a tough little bugger.
So as long as you have that kind of moist environment, they will grow.
Jonathan: Oh, excellent.
Excellent.
Okay.
All right.
Thanks.
Those are good tips.
And in terms of water parameters, how do you -- do you check them often?
Mr. Peng: Oh, yeah.
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