June 2010 Backyard Aquaponics Newsletter

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Backyard FarmingEdition Two, is nowout and can be

downloaded fromeither backyard-farming.com.au orbackyardaquapon-ics.com.au.

Fun facts and use-ful articles are whatthis edition is allabout! I bet youdidn't know that thepercentage of pro-tein wasted byfeeding grain tolivestock is 90%!

And that if all thegrain and soy-beans, that are fedto livestock in theUS, were used tofeed humans; wecould feed a whop-ping 1,300,000,000people for an entireyear!

However, there is

nothing more fillingthan a big slab ofbeef on the plate.Better still, smokedmeat. Theres anentire new dimen-sion to meats whenthey are smokedas Nigel from theBackyard Farmingforum explains, in his mouthwatering article on homesmoking.

Theres only one thing betterthan the smell of homesmoked bacon, and thatsthe smell of freshly baked

zine, why not sit back andenjoy a calming cup ofchamomile tea.

Doug explains how you cangrow your own chamomile inyour backyard, plus whythey are great plants for anygarden.

banana muffins! Joel Mal-colm shares his knowledgeand experience on one ofhis favourite fruits, the ba-nana. He talks about why

and how to grow them inyour backyard.

And after reading the maga-

Backyard Farming MagazineBackyard Farming Magazine

Whats happening in theWhats happening in theWhats happening in theworld of Aquaponics.world of Aquaponics.world of Aquaponics.

BACKYARD AQUAPONICSVolume 1 Issue 7

June 2010

Backyard FarmingMagazine

1

White CabbageButterfly

2

Fish Tales 4

Size does Matter 4-5

BYAP Magazine 6

Amana Living Retire-ment Village

3

Milnes Advice on Aq-uaponics

3

Home Grown Aquapon-ics

3

Inside this issue:

This edition is packed

full of information,

that will excite and

motivate the backyard

enthusiast.


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When the hot weatheraproaches so do thehordes of white cabbage

butterfly, that decimatecabbage crops every year!

Luckily Faye Arcaro is hereto provide a few tips onhow to protect your cropsfrom total devastation. Be-low is a sample of Fayesarticle on this notoriouspest.

The complete article can befound in the eighth edition

of the Backyard Aquapon-ics Magazine.

One is often encouragedto believe that a garden fullof healthy insect life is agood omen. Bees and but-terflies pollinate plants andflowers, making them im-portant for a gardens sur-vival. It is often easy to befilled with pride upon thesight of fluttering butterfliesand buzzing worker bees;

signs of a thriving garden, abustling eco-system full oflife.

However, there is always adownside to every up. Andfor any aspiring vegetablegrower, there are few crea-tures more annoying thanthe cabbage white butterfly.Sure, it may be a wondrous

event to behold ahorde of flapping whitemajesties drifting

around your garden,but two weeks later theugly truth will be re-vealed. The eggshatch and suddenlywhat was once alovely spectacle is nowturning into a chaoticsituation as crops areslowly eradicated.

Deceptively alluring,the species scientifi-cally named Pieris

rapae, has been thebane of many vegeta-ble farmers globally.Originally populatingEurope, North Africa andAsia, it was accidentallyintroduced to North Amer-ica, Australia and New Zea-land, where the speciesproceeded to spread rapidlycausing extensive damageto crops.

Know Your Enemy

Attacking cruciferous cropssuch as cabbages, Swedes,turnips and other brassicas,the cabbage white butterflyis an insect to be wary of.The adult butterfly, however,is not directly the problem,but rather the larvae. Withpowerful mandibles for cut-ting through leaves, thiscaterpillar can be devastat-

ing to crops.

The white cabbage butterflyis often the first butterfly toappear at the beginning ofsummer. Often affection-ately called the summersnowflake, the adults canbe identified by their whitewings with one or two darkspots. The adults mate andthe female lays her eggs onthe inside of the crucifers orthe undersides of theleaves. The eggs are laidsingly, and are the shape ofa bullet, of less than 1mmin length, with a distinctiveyellow colour, making themdifficult to spot.

The eggs then hatch intogreen larvae anywherefrom five to fourteen daysafter they were laid. These

little monsters are the vege-table gardeners biggestproblem. They devour theleaves, leaving gapingholes and more often thannot they dig deeper to theheart of the plant, leaving arotting shell of a vegetablein its place. When they bur-row through the leaves theyleave a green or browndeposit behind them.

You can find out how to

control the caterpillar onyour crops in the BackyardAquaponics Magazine Edi-tion eight.

White Cabbage ButterflyWhite Cabbage Butterfly

If you find dead, parasite-

infested caterpillars dont

throw them away!

Page 2

Parasitic wasps emerging from cocoon

Adult White Cabbage Butterfly


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Amana Living Retirement VillageAmana Living Retirement Village

Residents were very

keen to get involved with

feeding the trout and had

plenty of questions.

it's good to see the residentstaking an active part in pro-ceedings, out in the fresh

air, recounts the carer.

Amana Living RetirementVillage, in Lesmurdie haverecently celebrated the

official opening of theiraquaponics system.

The residents celebratedwith a light afternoon tea.,coupled with an extensivetour of the aquaponics sys-tem.

A carer at the hostel con-cluded Our residents werevery keen to get involvedwith feeding the trout andhad plenty of questions,

such as the types of fishwe could grow and whatveggies,

The residents have shownan immense interest inaquaponics. Its also greatfor their health as it gets

them outdoors and commu-nicating with each other, ina friendly environment.

Aquaponics has been areal eye opener for us, and

Residents watching and feeding the fish

Milnes Advice about AquaponicsMilnes Advice about Aquaponics

But after 2 years the obses-sion will slowly wear off andthe system will look afteritself [ like it had for the last18 months ]

Then all you have to do isfeed the fish if you think of itand pick the veggies!

Milne

Just a warning!

If thinking aquaponics saygoodbye to all your sparetime for the next 2 years,after you build the first oneyou will be thinking of thesecond and third.

You will dream about aq-uaponics. All your friends,you will bore to death aboutaquaponics.

You will get up at 2am justto see if everything is ok.

The wife will get grumpybecause nothing is doneabout the house.

When you go on holidaysyou will ring the neighboursjust to check that the pumpsare still running.

Home-Grown Aquaponics inNSW, have installed a neatlooking two bed system.

The system was installed ina pre-existing hot house, andFred, has had fantastic suc-cess with his new aquapon-ics system.

This is their first install, andwe congratulate them ontheir continuing success.

Home-Grown Aquaponics


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Chillidudeis a seasonedaquaponics enthusiast,who is passionate about

aquaponics. He has alarge 6000 litre system. Onthe 25th April 2010 heshared with us this capti-vating story.

(Extract from the BYAPforum)

Had a heart stopping mo-ment on Thursday . . .

Looked into the fish tankas I was walking past to

the kitchen, and saw a fishthat didn't fit in with thesilver perch. Looked again,and it was a bloody red fin- with a silver perch finger-ling in his mouth

Now, it's not an immacu-late conception, as I haveeight red fin in one of thesumps under my grow-

Fish TalesFish Tales

If youve got an

interesting or funny

story, send us an

email.

enquires@backyardaq

uaponics.com

Page 4

depth more than one quar-ter full. And he is at least50mm high himself !

I have put him back in thesump and put a piece ofonion bag over the end ofthe pipe to prevent anotherfreak occurrence.

beds, but to get to the fishtank he had to swim up asubmerged, vertical piece

of 50mm pipe, negotiate avertically oriented 90 el-bow that is only 50% belowthe waterline, wiggle hisway along 7 miters of hori-zontal 50mm pipe, includ-ing another two 90 el-bows, that never has a

Time for a bit of fun. We all

know that aquaponics is

very productive, it's time to

see just how productive

peoples systems are. We

are offering a $250 BYAP

Shop voucher for the BIG-

GEST fruit and/or vegeta-

ble harvest. There will also

be a $50 spot prize for the

best effort or most unusual

vegetable. Think you cangrow a big carrot? Have

you grown a huge tomato?

Are your spring onions

looking more like Leeks?

You will need to provide

photographic evidence so

that everyone knows that

it's been grown in an aq-

uaponics system, and so

we all know what it weighs,

or it's length etc. Also it

would be good if the pho-tos are a reasonable size

as ultimately we will publi-

cize the winner in

the magazine. The

biggest and best

entrants picked by

the moderators and

administrators will

then be put up for a

public vote by

members.

Entries can be in

the form of a singlevegetable or fruit,

or a combined

weight or size of a

whole crop.

Already members

have been sharing

their super-sized

harvests, with fel-

low forum mem-

bers.

Here are just a fewof the entries so

far. . . .

Size does Matter Competition!Size does Matter Competition!

Man-size leeks! A fantastic harvest by

hydrophilia, from California, USA


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Size does Matter!Size does Matter!

If you would like to

enter, visit us at

www.backyardaquapo

nics.com/forum

Above Left: Gigantic Bok

Choy, weighing 5.25kg.

The plant was growing so

well that it had ten mini

Bok Choy plants growing

from its stem. Well done

gemmell, from Canberra.

Above Right: A massive

beetroot, grown at the

BYAP shop, weighing an

impressive 1kg!

Above: Massive Zuc-

chini, grown in a

BYAP Courtyard Sys-

tem, by Monya, in the

Adelaide Hills.

Left: Quite a big water-

melon, grown by Out-

backOzzie, in Kalgoor-

lie, WA.


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The corner of JandakotRoad and BerriganDrive, Jandakot,Western Australia

BACKYARDAQUAPONICS

BYAP Magazine NewsBYAP Magazine News

(08) 9414 9334

[email protected]

PO Box 3350, Success, W.A. 6964

Bringing FoodProduction Home

Come down and see us at the Backyard Aquaponics Shop. You

can see aquaponic systems of all shapes and sizes producing

beautiful fish and vegetables. Come and speak with the experts

about how aquaponics can best suit your lifestyle.

The shop is easy to find, about 12 km south of the CBD, just off

the freeway on the corner of Berrigan Drive and Jandakot Road.

We hope to see you soon.

The eighth edition of the BackyardAquaponics magazine, is packedwith useful information. Edition

eight features the unique role aq-uaponics plays within the familyunit. Sylvia Bernstein has beenprivileged to an exclusive interviewwith Dr. James Rakocy - one ofthe worlds leading specialists onaquaponics.

Continuing on from our Commer-cial Aquaponics series, this editionincludes an article on a commer-cial NFT system, based in NewZealand.

Faye Arcaro also continues shar-ing her passion for insects in hercaptivating tale of the white cab-bage butterfly.

The edition can be purchased viathe backyardaquaponics.com web-page or in-store.

Documents

June 2010 Backyard Aquaponics Newsletter