Make Your Own Aquaponics System

Is the Garden Of Eden waiting for the ingenuity of man?

You may wonder what kind of question is that?

With the ingenuity and inventive genius of man, it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to foresee the day that the whole world will blossom at the hands of man and his care and husbandry of his home and garden farming.

The technology exists today and along with the design of the aquaponic system of raising fish and plants in one enclosed unit, but where the plants are separated from the fish. Only the water is in a closed loop and circulated from the fish tank to the plant tables and back again to the fish tank. The fantastic facts about this aquaponic system is that the garden production is 10 times higher than the regular farming and gardening practices. In addition to that the food produced by the aquaponic system is organic. Commercial fertilizers are not needed. Insect and pests are controlled because it is an enclosed system and not subject to them. If you used solar power to operate your circulation system, along with gravity, your cost of energy would be minimal. Another gigantic plus is that the aquaponic system uses 70 percent less water, because the water is circulated and used over and over. Water is added only because of evaporation and loss from removal of plants and fish. The water remains clean and is aerated and remains good for using.

Since I live in Florida I do have a concern about the water roaches that thrive in abundance here. With my current way of living here I have them under control. I use boric acid when I clean. I put it in the mop water and it works quite well. Then when I wash woodwork and walls inside the house I also use boric acid in the wash water. You must not use it in your plant water because it would kill the plants. I don’t know about the fish. I have used boric acid in my carport for about 4 years and I have 2 cats that live out there. They are not bothered by roaches, ticks, or mites. I do treat their ears about once a year just to prevent ear mites from ever bothering them. I use yellow dock to clean their ears. You can buy yellow dock from a health food store. I take one ounce of warm distilled water and mix one capsule of Yellow Dock and take a cotton swab and dip it into the solution and saturate their ears with it. The cats don’t like it, but you must get that down into their inner ear to get at the ear mites. It only takes one treatment. My cats are not bothered with ear mites, fleas or ticks. See my article on Roach Poison that is pet and people friendly at this link.

Returning back to the aquaponic system it would seem to me that it could be extended into other areas of agriculture and I’m sure the inventive genius of man, that will occur. I will try to search out all the free educational material that I can and relate it her in my blogs. As I come across excellent articles I will post them here.

With the development of aquaponic systems, education would have to accompany the building of private units to prevent pollution. There is a great need for much more scientific experimenting in order to develop this infant industry to a world wide application. By having central aquaponic operations, this would eliminate transportation of produce to market. The market would have their own centres for the people to come and buy and trade. It’s the people that will support the central markets, bringing their excess produce and trading for produce they want or need. I see it as becoming part of the culture. Actually that culture has not died out, it still exists, but mans government and taxation system has really put a lid on the free marketing enterprise. Here in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda, Florida, 25 years ago they had thriving farm market centres. They used to call them flea markets. The central city business men put them out of business by inflicting taxes on the people that were just trying to get by. The merchants couldn’t stand the heat in the kitchen and hated the operations of the free markets. With everyone having an aquaponic system, farm markets could once again begin to thrive. In addition, all the fresh food would be organic, if raised by using aquaponics. That’s a huge plus for aquaponics.

You talk about a Paradise and Garden Of Eden. If done right it will be a beautiful creation to behold. The nice thing about it is that you can take a modular approach in building your own aquaponics system. The market has available what look like chest units where the fish tank is the lower portion with the grow beds on top of the fish tanks. Two plant grow beds on the top with a separation to have access to the water and fish below. I’m just not sure of that type of design. Having the plants that near the water source would invite the water roaches.

This is going to be an industry worth watching and maybe getting involved for your self, for your good health, happiness, and prosperity.

To see a diagram of an aquaponics system in West Plains, Mo. Go to this link.


If you would like a detailed article of what you will need if you decide to build a small aquaponics system just for testing and using for yourself, go to the following link and read the article by Rebecca Nelson on How To Build a Mini-Aquaponic System. This article is very thorough in furnishing the cost, list of items and material and tools needed. Depending on your choice of items it will cost you from $23. to $126. Keep in mind that this is an actual aquaponics system that can be used for demostration and experimenting. What you will learn from doing this will be very valuable to you. Make your mistakes on a small scale so that it doesn’t cost you a lot of money.

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Mysteries Of Vitamin C and Organic Gardening

When following all the rules of organic gardening, you still won’t get your plants to produce enough Vitamin C for your daily consumption. Read on and learn about the Mysteries of Vitamin C.

Have you ever heard of Linus Pauling? Well you should know about him and his scientific studies about Vitamin C. He was a Nobel Prize winner for his scientific work and studies.

Did you know that your body does not produce any Vitamin C. I think it’s quite strange when a grown goat produces about 13,000 mg of its own Vitamin C on a daily basis. You might think, well what is so strange about that? When you stop to think about it the RDA recommended dosage for humans is far lower, much much lower than that. It’s amazing that we as a people aren’t much sicker than what we are. I wonder if goats milk has anything to do with being so healthy for people and the fact that goats produce their own Vitamin C?

I would like you to go and read a speech given by Dr. Pauling in 1993. http://sites.google.com/site/yourfreerecipepages/Home/linus-pauling-and-vitamin-c
It’s a very short one page article but you will find it well worth your while to read what Dr. Pauling had to say about Vitamin C.

I hope you enjoyed that article and learned the importance of Vitamin C in your life. Now I would like you to go and read some more about Vitamin C produced by TriVita. http://www.trivita.com/US-EN/shop/productdetail.aspx?pid=178&ss2=hc&ss3=36&tref=13108620

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Aquaponics Without Chickens

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From what I can determine, for health sake, some people combine raising chickens with their aquaponics. This is not a good practice because of the very undesirable pathogens found in chicken and other animal manure. I personally will not use it. Again I urge you to study the following information found at http://www.rainbowfish.se/mailgroup/f80.htm . Sure this has been a practice in the Far East for thousands of years, but look at the history of disease and pandemics that have originated from that part of the world. The buck will stop at home. With proper practices in aquaponics culture it will remain ever important not to use animal waste in any form for raising flies or direct feeding your fish from such manure products. This will keep coming up from time to time because old practices and habits die a hard slow death. However it is extremely important to the quality of food to determine that you will be organic in your personal development of your system.

When building your aquaponics system keep in mind that you will eventually want to become certified organic, and I’m sure that improper use of animal waste will not be tolerated. As far as raising chickens that is fine, just don’t try to loop it into your aquaponics system. This is an area that will require scientific study and analysis of proper procedures in order to ever combine it into your aquaponics systems. In the years to come science may find a way to do this successfully, without the undesirable pathogens.

There is an aquaponics farm system that has been developed in West Plains, Missouri, and they have a copy of a good overview of their aquaponics system and you might go their web-page and take a look and evaluate it for your own purpose. They have been in business since the early 1990’s. With 15+ years of successful practice of producing top grade organic tilapia and organic fresh fruit and vegetables; you will want to emulate their success. You will read that their system is a simple, reliable, low-cost growing system used to produce a supply of safe, superior quality foods. They integrate hydroponics and aquaculture in a closed system to produce premium tilapia and fresh herbs and vegetables. Although creative, this method of food production is no mere novelty. It is a low-cost, no nonsense system. It is beautiful in its simplicity. You can see a plan of it on their site at http://www.jaggartech.com/snsaqua/page2.htm . Go over this short article and diagram very carefully because it is loaded with a ton of good information. You will need to know all of it. Don’t just read it, study it.

Good luck with your aquaponics system and remember good luck happens with hard work and perseverance. These principles are laws of success.

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Aquaponics For Plants, Fish, Flies, Worms, Frogs, & Chickens

Will it be worth it to raise flies for the larva for food for your fish and chickens? If you live alone, it may not be worth the time and results. However for a family the answer may be possibly. It is a bio loop that can connect from your regular farming to aquaponics; and tie together very nicely. If you have a source for plant refuse and garbage, you are all set. At this time I would avoid animal garbage due to disease and other undesirable creatures. If you do use animal refuse it is not advisable to use in your aquaponics operation. Probably would be ok if used on shrubs and flowers. For a stern rebuke and excellent comment on using animal refuse refer to the following link.
http://www.rainbowfish.se/mailgroup/f80.htm

If you are serious about aquaponics you need to get curious about a biopod and how it works. What you should use and how to use it to produce live feed for your fish. It is very practical and very beneficial in order to remain organic in your operation of your aquaponic garden or just a regular garden. For a complete run down go to http://www.thebiopod.com/pages/resources.html You can study what you need to know about raising fly larva. You need to accommodate both. The fly you need for the eggs and the eggs produce the larva that you are wanting to raise for the protein and fat animal food value. Chickens, fish, and frogs go bonkers over these larva.

To learn which kind of fly is the best to be raising go to The BSF Blog. http://blacksoldierfly.blogspot.com/ This blog will identify the proper fly that would be most beneficial for you to have for raising animal feed. The grubs are 42 percent protien and 35 percent fat.

The biopod is a completely enclosed system and is no problem in harvesting. The set up will automatically produce harvested larva constantly once you get it going. All you will have to do is clean it periodically and feed your animals on a daily basis of you protein and fat production. Actually if you are handy, you could build your own biopod with automatic harvesting because of the movement from feeding after it has matured, the larva leave the food source and search for a place to wait for turning into a fly. Just build a ramp and at the end of it they can fall into a container.

Want to see some fun. Drop some larva on the ground for your chickens or a handful into your tank of tilapias or goldfish. That food will disappear in a few seconds. Did you know that a healthy hen (chicken) will live up to 18 years and produce eggs during that time. So plan on keeping your hens around and these larva will help to keep them healthy and producing eggs. The chicken manure is fantastic for your garden. Just don’t use too much.

I hope you will be interested in some of the following links. They will help to teach you what you need to know if you are serious about aquaponics, organic gardening, frog raising, or even other aquatic animals. http://youtube.com/user/larvalover

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RYykLqKy5c Toads eating larva and flys.


Black Soldier Fly Emerging From It's Pupa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNMtezlpDN8&feature=related

For a detailed commercial type study of raising The Black Soldier Fly.
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/smithfield_projects/phase2report05/cd,web%20files/A2.pdf

If you are at all interested, you can actually purchase a garbage disposal that is designed to automatically harvest the BSF larva. (BSF stands for Black Soldier Fly) It’s a little pricy but then I believe it could be worth its weight in gold. The price of the unit is $167. http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/ Going from garbage to chicken and fish feed is something. It is designed to be self harvesting. Diptera: Stratiomyidae is the botanical name for the Black Soldier Fly.

In climate controlled conditions 20 percent of food waste can be bio converted into larva. So a hundred pounds of food waste will convert to 20 pounds of larva; of which are 42 percent protein and 35 percent fat. An excellent ration for chicken feed and fish food. Even frogs, if you were inclined to include frogs in you aquabionic operation. I’m sure there is a high demand for a high quality frog legs. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m sure that this could be developed into an aquabionic frog farm. Frogs love live fly larva. They need to be moving for the frog to see them. You could design your own harvesting of the larva to feed right into your fish aquarium or your frog aquarium or even your chicken yard.

During the process of decomposition of 100 pounds of food scraps by the fly larva you will get roughly 5 pounds of a black rich residue. This is a mixture of undigested food remains as well as the casting and shed chitin exoskeletons from the fly larva. You can use this residue directly in your regular garden. Or if you are into red worm culture, it would be and excellent source of food for your red worms. There is another spin off. Are you into worms.

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/smithfield_projects/phase2report05/cd,web%20files/A2.pdf This link will take you to a study of the Black Soldier Fly and Larva and you could possibly learn how to raise the pupa in a commercial operation and be a very profitable source for animal feed. This would be good in counties centres where waste is gathered and used and recycled. Turning garbage into animal feed by the use of larva would be excellent because the by product would be a high grade compost excellent for use in gardens.

I hope all of this hasn’t overloaded you, but it is a result of my study of the Black Soldier Fly and Larva. I never realized before this study how useful a fly could be. There is a place for it, under control. You should be able to make your gardening efforts burst with energy and beauty and health; and lastly help to solve the worlds food shortage.

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Planning My New Aquaponics Garden

I’m beginning to mentally draw up my plans for my first aquaponic garden. To start with, it’s going to be a hobby, not a business and hopefully will supplement my grocery bill . Because of circumstances and where I live I will be quite limited with space. I am trying to determine exactly where on the premises that I will place it. I have a screened in carport that could be adapted to it and could easily be extended outside without too much of a problem Since my hobby plant nursery takes up a lot of space outside I am quite limited. Of course it will depend on exactly what I grow in the aquaponic garden as to what I will stop growing outside. This necessitates a complete reorganization of my carport which will become my aquaponic garden. I use part of my carport for work space associated with my regular gardening. That will definitely have to be reorganized and possibly moved.

If I go with the carport idea, I will have to install grow lights. That’s ok because with plants growing under grow lights I will be able to extend and speed up their production season. It will also protect my aquaponic garden from the elements. I certainly don’t want rain water entering directly into my aquaponic garden. It will also give a degree of protection during some of the cold nights that we have during the winter here in Port Charlotte, Florida.

Since I need a permit for the tilapia fish, I think I will start out with goldfish and switch to talapia at a later time because the talapia would require that I have more tanks. Another thing, goldfish are a much more hardy fish than tilapia. I want to start with 2 tanks, one being a water holding tank to condition the water before I add it to the aqua bionic garden; because my water source is city water and deadly for fish. I think I’ll start by setting up one tank as the holding tank to make sure that I will be able to use that as my water source. I don’t think that will present a problem.

I read somewhere that in a holding tank that it is recommended to put seaweed into it. That should help to balance it out make the water suitable for use in the aquaponics system. It will be interesting experimenting with it.

This is going to be a project like most of my projects, a work in progress. I have to take it one step at a time. I’m an old man and I’m kind of slow at implementing things. It will be just little by little. I just hope I can get some plants going before winter sets in. I’ll have to give it a kick to get it on the move.

Thanks for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Tilapia And Aquaponics

Tilapia fish are a group of cichlids which are endemic to Africa. This means they are all over Africa and somewhat out of control. They are very good parents and watching over their fingerlings until a certain time then they cannibalize them. So if you are thinking about raising them in a back yard aquaponic system, you will need to check and see if you need a permit. Many states you do not need a permit, but here in Florida you do. I can see and understand why? Look at the thousands of pythons that are taking over the everglades here in Florida. It’s really frightening. The balance of wild life is really in grave danger in the everglades. If they start getting into the canals, I’m out of here, and hopefully not by a python. If the cost of the permit will help to eliminate problems like the python, then I’m all for it. Florida has allowed permits to rais tilapia fish hydroponics operations, so I don’t see a problem.

Don’t let that deter you from aquaponics because it is a closed system and the fish are kept enclosed and there is no real danger of getting into the wild if proper care is taken or you deliberately toss them into a canal. You might have more problems with some of the plants that you might raise. Although considering, I don’t see why that would become a problem because they are also contained and closely controlled. After all, it’s going to be your automatic grocery renewal in your back yard. There are alternatives, however the tilapia is a favourite because of their good quality food and rapid growth and ease of breeding and raising them. You might consider raising local type of fish. I don’t know right now what that might be, but other fish will do well and work well for you but may not be as productive. It depends if you want to sell fresh fish in the market.

In third world countries the breeding of tilapia is carried on from ponds and they suffer from stunted growth. Probably due to food shortages. They gather the fingerlings from the ponds and put them into their stock tanks for raising. This is not a good way. Since this is going to be a family type enterprise of the future, it would be best to bring along and develop as the backyard breeding of tilapia. This can easily be accomplished by putting one male with about 5 females and let them breed. This is a special process, but not difficult. When the fingerlings arrive and the mothers are still carrying them in their mouths they need to be separated from the other fish and put alone with her fingerlings in a separate tank. There is a method for accomplishing this. Then shortly after that you have to separate the mother from her fingerlings because they will cannibalize them. So be watchful or your fingerlings will disappear.

For more in depth study of raising tilapia go to the following web-site. You will have answered questions that you haven’t thought to ask. The articles are very good, well documented and thorough.

http://tilapiafarmingathome.com/default.aspx

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

A Call To All Patriots

The world today on one hand is in a lot of trouble due to food shortages. The sad part of this message is that the technology exists to bring the world out of food shortage. A lesson in nature teaches that to give to nature causes nature to yield. Think about that for a minute, if that is so, why then are not our farming practices yielding the desired results. The answer is so simple that a child can understand it. You must give to nature if your want nature to yield. There is a system being developed today that is amazing the agricultural business people around the world. It is also standing the fish farming on its ear. This technology is called aquaponics. It’s an amazing win win situation with nature yielding 10 fold. That is a staggering statement but it is being proven scientifically in our universities that the aquaponics system of raising vegetables produces 10 times the amount of vegetables that the normal methods of agriculture produces.

As a result of combining raising fish and plants in a symbiotic relationship produces these fantastic results. On top of that the successful aquabionic operations are being certified as organic. That statement alone is staggering the people that are working with it. If Obama wants to produce a successful Health program, he needs to examine what is happening in this field. Kids being raised from the products produced right in their back yard would grow up to be healthy without even trying. I can visualize that this will put a lot of our doctors out of business. That’s what they want, isn’t it? If we got well, we wouldn’t need them or the national health care package.

If aquabionics produces certified organic products, that means that every family in the world could become self sufficient in their own food production. This system is in its infancy and beginning to branch out and spill over into the conventional agriculture. All of a sudden the water shortage would disappear. You can raise 10 times more vegetable on 70 percent less water. The water is being circulated in an enclosed system and used many times over. Of course there is a loss due to evaporation but converting to this system would reduce your water bill. Now you figure.

I urge all of you Patriots around the world to get interested in this program. If you have to build a make shift aquabionics system; then do it. You will need to learn about testing the water on a daily basis to prevent the loss of plants and fish from over toxicity or lack of oxygen. You just need to spend 10 to 15 minutes daily to insure that your system is functioning properly and make adjustments accordingly.

YouTube has some wonderful teaching clips on building from the very simple to the more complex. Just do a search for “aquaponics clips on youtube”. You will find lots of information out there. To start with it would be best to use what you might have on hand to get started. Then as you get a working system go for it and make improvements as you can afford them. Think of this as a fire alarm and the world is on fire and we have to put it out. It can be done. Think of it as designing your future pot farm. Aquabionics produces top grade pot. When it becomes legal we can start making rope again from our own hemp.

There are lots of things that I wonder about. For instance, how could you tie raising goats into this? Could you extend your system to accommodate the feeding of goats? For that matter, what about chickens and other animals? Is there a symbiotic loop there that we haven’t developed as of yet?

I feel like we as a nation (the United States) felt at the beginning of the Second World War. I was 10 years old when that war started and I remember how the country went to work and built a war machine that was second to none. We are at that point with aquaponics. We’re just getting started, hang on for the next 3 or 4 years. The war is world wide hunger due primarily to plunder, however now there is a way out. You can become part of the solution.

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Aquaponics - Some things you need to know

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The following article by Abhishek Agarwal, Aquarium Care should be studied carefully then you will know how to use your water source for your personal aquaponics system. This is extremely important to know. You don’t want to kill your fish with fresh city water. Several years ago my grandson, then a teenager came home with a nice new healthy goldfish. When he got home with it, the first thing he did was fill his new fish bowl with city tap water. Within 5 minutes the poor fish was dead. Now you don’t want that to happen to you. Ever since becoming interested in aquaponics as a hobby for myself, the water source is my main concern. Once that is solved the rest should be duck soup.

Enjoy the article:

Aquarium Care - 3 Great Ways To Condition Water In Your Fish Tank

Author: Abhishek Agarwal

Creating a condition that is safe for the survival of fish in the aquarium is very essential factor. A careful study has to be made of the water condition and the water should be modified with buffers to make it safe for the fish to live in. The fish live in alkaline conditions which prevent a drop in the balance and regulate the balance of pH in the water. Tap water is used most of the time for fish tanks and requires treatment which has to be purchased regularly.

1. Various kinds of Water treatments

For those who are new to the hobby of keeping fish it is essential to get to know how to test the water and to find out what is lacking in it or what is in excess. There are kits which provide you with the results of ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and chlorine in the water in the tank. The waste produced by the fish creates ammonia which turns into nitrates, so you should conduct the tests regularly at a certain time on the water. Unlike humans fish cannot tolerate chlorine in the water which is used to make water potable for human consumption.

Before you get yourself water treatment solutions it is best to have the tap water tested so that you know what sort of water you have and what the solution for it should be. You could call the local department for testing water and also inform them that you have an aquarium and would like to know the water analysis for this reason. Tap water usually contains Trichloroethylene or TCE, phosphates, metal, chlorine, copper and chloramines.

2. How to make tap water fit for use for your fish tank

When you use tap water for the fish tank it is better to allow the water to run for a while before filling the fish tank, or even let it stand overnight so that it gets purified or additional chemicals are removed.

In case there are only chlorinates in the tap water then you could use treatment such as thiosulphate dechlorinators which are sodium based. In case there are other chemicals in the water then it would be better to consult your pet shop about the sort of treatment you should use for the water.

3. Cleaning equipment for the tank

You would need things like nets, buckets, a hose etc. for cleaning your fish tank. These things are not very expensive and you could even search on the internet where you can get this stuff in your locality or to a place closest to your location. You could also do some research on the internet and find out more about water cleaning methods for use in the fish tanks.

Another wrong notion which is a myth is that salt should be added to the water to maintain fish, however some fish from tropical waters find salt de-stressing in the water.

About the Author:

Abhishek is an avid Fish Lover and he has got some great Aquarium Care Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 105 Pages Ebook, "Aquarium Care Made Easy!" from his website http://www.Wonder-Homes.com/636/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Aquarium Care - 3 Great Ways To Condition Water In Your Fish Tank

Purchasing Your Own Aquaponics System

Thank you for reading my blog: Brad Vigansky

Growing Plumeria Frangipani

Plumeria trees are tropical and must have conditions as near to tropical in order to flourish. Plumeria do best in full sun with at least a half day's sun exposure to bloom properly. They do well when potted in an appropriate size pot to the size of the tree in well drained soil. I am lucky and have one planted near my house for added protection from the weather. I will cover and wrap it during frosty or near freezing weather.

Give your plumeria as much sun as possible. Here in Port Charlotte Florida, the people have experienced severe loss of the plumeria trees because of severe frost in the area. If they are a well established plant they will return to growing from the roots. I have noticed a lot of the neighbours have cut their plumeria to the ground but they are putting up new growth and most are doing quite well.

The pllumeria like a fertilizer that is high in phosphorus. Middle number, if you can get it. A water soluble fertilizer should have a phosphorus content of 50 or higher. Granular fertilizer needs to have a content of phosphorus 20 or higher. I wonder how the water from the fish tanks from an aquaponics system would do for fertilizing.

Place your plumeria in well drained soil. Be sure the drain holes remain open if you are potting. Plumeria will do quite well inside with grow lights or in screened pool cages if the pool cage is in the full sun.

When rooting plumeria, place only 3 inches of the stalk into the soil for a 12 inch to 16 inch cuttings. I find that cuttings about 12 inches long do the best.

I root my cuttings in the shade and water them like a regular plant with roots. I do not overwater. They will drop their leaves when you are starting from cuttings. Some advise not to water while the plant is rooting, but in this area it would be like rooting in dry sand. They wont grow. I have put cuttings in the ground here in South West Florida during the winter and they do very well. In this area it doesn’t seem to matter when you start to develop the plant from a cutting. During the winter it will just stay dormant. Then in late February it will start to grow. If you have a nice neighbor that has a Plumeria tree, maybe you would be able to get a cutting from them. Or watch the weather, maybe the wind might break a branch and you would be able to get some cuttings. The cheapest cuttings that I could buy on the internet are $10 plus shipping. I have seen them as high as $200.

You will know when they are rooting when they start to grow. I do not root them in pots, I just root them under a table in my garden.

Your watering schedule will depend on your location and your time of year. They just don’t like over watering.

Learn as much as you can about the plumeria. You will get a good range of opinion but remember, some of those opinions are based on weather condition in various geographical locations. Just remember that plumeria is a sub tropical plant and they don’t like cold weather. Here in South West Florida they drop their leave in the fall when the weather gets chilly. (Now that’s a relative term.)

As for me the plumeria is one of my favorite garden plants. It is a tropical tree. Once you get yours to bloom you will be forever attached to it. They are well worth the extra attention that it takes to raise them.

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Water Shortage and Gardening

Get used to seeing fish in your garden. Aquaponics has arrived and fish are here to stay. Here in South West Florida, Port Charlotte, we are experiencing a severe water shortage and it’s beginning to affect my attempts at gardening with the requirement of water conservation. There is a solution now available, but at a personal cost. The solution is to convert my gardening efforts to “Aquabionics”. That is a relatively new word because my spell checker doesn’t like it yet. The overall solution would require a large fish tank, sufficient enough to furnish the water to a water-table that will contain my plants. Then I will need to furnish the plumbing to circulate the water from the fish-tank or tanks to the water-tables. Then I have to have return plumbing carrying the water from the water-tables back to the fish tank(s). This of course would require a sump pump for circulating the water in the up direction. Of course gravity will furnish the energy to circulate the water in the down direction. With about 15 minutes of daily maintenance per day, an aquaponic system can provide fresh fish and vegetables year-round. Wouldn’t that be nice to have one in every home. If Obama needs a banner to move forward it will be “Aquabionics”.

The above system of course would require constant daily management. Time wise it would be much easier and require much less time than the old convention of gardening. That’s really great and the other benefits are even greater. This will furnish my family with certified fresh organic fruits and vegetables. When you think about it the statistics are staggering to the point of being unbelievable; and best of all there would be no weeding requirements. When it rains here in Florida the weeds become difficult if not impossible to manage. The trade off in work would be tremendous and very much more rewarding.

A list of fish that could be raised in your tank would be: I think it’s fantastic that Tilapia is the choice at the top of the list. I have made a herring like pickled fish from fresh Tilapia and it‘s really great. For a free recipe you can go to the following link:
http://sites.google.com/site/yourfreerecipepages/Home/pickled-fresh-fish

• Tilapia.
• Large mouth bass.
• Sunfish.
• Crappie.
• Koi.
• Fancy goldfish.
• Pacu.
• Various ornamental fish such as angelfish, guppies, tetras, swordfish, mollies.

Plants that will do well in any aquaponic system:

• Any leafy lettuce.
• Pak choi.
• Spinach.
• Arugula.
• Basil.
• Mint.
• Watercress.
• Chives.
• Most common house plants.

Plants that have higher nutritional demands and will only do well in a heavily stocked, well established aquaponic system:

• Tomatoes.
• Peppers.
• Cucumbers.
• Beans.
• Peas.
• Squash.

I’m sure as time goes on and more and more people get into this type of gardening that experimenting at the home level and the scientific level will bring about amazing results. Remember this “Aquabionics” is a very new adventure with the people of the world. Even in my old age I am really excited about it. This is what will return good health to people around the world. The water requirement is only about 10percent of the conventional methods of raising plants and fish. The fantastic thing about it is that they system is self cleaning.

There is much more to read about “Aquaponics“: Go to the following link and make your plans:
http://www.aquaponics.com/InfoAquaponicsAll.htm

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

My Nursery Garden In My Back Yard

Desert Roses with seed pods -------- Brad Vigansky July 2009
Pictures by Cody Hunter Roy©

The picture in the upper left is my Desert Rose with about 20 seed pods set on and seem to be doing quite well. It seems that open pollination is working just fine, so far. This is the third year that I have had that plant and moved it into my back yard where it receives full sun. Here in South West Florida in Port Charlotte, the summer sun is hot hot hot; however the Desert Rose is thriving. I was concerned at first and the first two years I protected it from the sun, but after some research I found that they like the full sun. The one thing I have been concerned about is the excess rain that we sometimes get here. However we have been in a drought for the last three or four years, maybe more and it appears that the Desert Rose loves it. I have three varieties setting together for the purpose of cross pollination. I may be in for some pleasant surprises.

It’s not very clear but at the top of the picture in the right corner is a screen covered frame that I have about 90 desert rose babies growing and doing nicely under the screen. By the time I’m 80 years old, if all goes well, I should have some to sell. It looks like I’m going to have plenty of seed. Next year, I may be able to sell some of them.

I was going to try cuttings and grafting but since it seems like I will have seed production, I’m going to stick with raising them from seed. It takes about three years to get a saleable plant.

Right at this time I am having a problem with little yellow aphid like looking little creatures. I am trying to be organic in my approach, so I have to watch very closely and am only dusting where I see the little critters. I think they are the Mexican Milk Weed beetle. They are voracious little varmints and would completely eat all the leaves off of my desert rose plants. I check them every day.

The desert rose is a megapode or big foot and that is part of the charm of this plant. If I grow them from cuttings, the new plants will not develop this megapode. If you copy the picture you could enlarge it and see better how the bigfoot grows. You also could see the seed pods better.

Thank you for reading my blog. Brad Vigansky

Breakthrough in organic gardening secrets: Click Here.

Replace Your Illness With Aquaponics And Obedience To God.

All of this hoop-ala about national health care is a waste of time. The way it is set up, it will not, and I repeat, will not make any of us well. It will only continue to rob us and keep us ill. Look at the past 75 years, I can say that because I’m older than that. We are a sick-sick nation because, “Are you ready for this?” because we as a people refuse to obey the laws of God. Oh dear I said it; and I challenge any of you to prove me wrong and I will challenge you right back to read a portion of an Ancient Hebrew document. I have proven it to myself and don’t care to listen to any of your lame duck arguments telling me that there is no God or that those old laws are done away. You can just take that and shove it where you can’t see it.

If you would just get your nose into it and do some study and research you would find the answers to the full host of the problems of humanity. Don’t even mention that those laws are done away with and of no effect. Those are arguments of dottering old fools that refuse to Honor and Obey God. They are all a bunch of jerks that are misleading mankind and need to have a little correction; and that correction is on its way. If you think what I’m saying isn’t true, look about you and what do you see? A gigantic host of sick people; mentally and physically; and this goes for our present government officials, they all belong in mental institutions.

If you would care to look it up and I hope you do and try to prove me wrong, you can refer to this Ancient Manuscript in a book called Deuteronomy. Actually the whole book is worthwhile making a study to improve your understanding of health laws and learn how to live a healthy happy life. However I would like to be a little more specific.

Deuteronomy 30 (King James Version)

Deuteronomy 30 v 1-20

1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,

2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

3 That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.

4 If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:

5 And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.

6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

7 And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.

8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

9 And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:

10 If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off.

12 It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?

14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Thank you for reading this far: Brad Vigansky

Learn more about Aquaponics: It is a revolution well on its way.
Click The Link Below.
http://www.aquaponics.com/InfoAquaponicsAll.htm

The Future Of Aqua-Ponics

When things go terribly wrong, we need to get back to the basics. Strange as it seems, the basics is food; how we grow it, handle it, and prepare it to eat. I’m glad to say that there is a revolution happening in the food industry and you can become part of the correction, or you can remain part of the problem. Why do I say this? The answer is simple, our basic food supply is denuded of the nutrients that we really need to keep well, and we are a sick world. The nutrients and vitamins are raped from the products and sold separately for more money on their bottom line. The food industry needs desperately to be returned to the family and the family needs to be educated how to enjoy doing this.

It is vital that every family organization in a unified way study and learn how to grow their own super food stuff. I am talking about “Aqua-Ponics”. This is a very new revolutionary method of raising your own super foods in a very economical manner and with ease, once you have installed the equipment to do it. The payoff will be in good health for your entire family, and who knows, maybe a new family industry for you; and it won’t be done by hard labor.

“Aqua-Ponics” is a symbiotic system of raising fish in a separate tank and using the water to pass through the root system of your plants, and vise versa. The plant filtered water then passing back to the fish tank. It’s really simple in design and concept which needs very little monitoring. However it does need daily checking to be sure the chemical levels are optimized. It takes very little adjusting. After you learn what to look for, it becomes a daily breeze to run your system. If you are running a commercial system, then it takes a little closer watching because it would just be larger.

I can foresee when all the county seats and large cities will have a farmers market with all Aqua-Ponic food products simply because of their far greater superiority over all other food products. Individual families will feed their produce into the local farmers markets. That will produce a way of life far superior to what we have now. Taking your produce to market and also do your family and personally required grocery marketing. You would have the very best of the very best to select from. The stuff thrown away will be better than the best of today’s food industries.

Families will find themselves with the time to invest in ventures to exploit their individual talents. Which of course will be very diverse. It will be a system that will excel in everything they put their mind and hands to developing. Art works of all forms, services, studies and etc. This type of society will be able to excel in producing masters of all that they do.

This type of living will change our landscapes into a paradise of beauty to eventually spread and be seen around the world. It will far surpass the blight that our modern industry has fostered on to us. It will require that each family take into their own hands the responsibility of contributing to the community and in return receive life abundantly. The interesting thing about this way of life, is that it will be a life of family giving, instead of the industrial taking. It will truly become a life of abundance. You can become a part of it.

To investigate more about the “Aqua-Ponics” way of family life:
Click on the following link:

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Aqua-Ponics

Aqua-ponics: There is a revolution in garden farming and fish farming. It is really a win-win situation.

What is the definition of aqua-ponics? Aqua-ponics is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a re-circulating environment. The definition of symbiotic being: entities living in a close relationship for the mutual benefit but not always. Sometimes it turns out to be destructive for one or the other. With the relationship of plants and fish it is found that it is very beneficial for both the plants and the fish to thrive seperately in the same circulating water.

Water from the fish tanks contains nutrients given off by the fish and the plants thrive on them when the nutrient filled water is filtered by the plants then circulated back to the fish. Water from the plant containers then get circulated back to the fish which has been oxygenated by the plants. All that is required is then to feed the fish. Viola! A double barreled shotgun. It’s a win-win situation. On a family or commercial basis it is truly a blessing.

Number one: Your food will be organic. The nutrition of the food will be greatly increased over conventional methods.

Number two: Your water bill for the same amount of gardening will be greatly reduced by as much as 70% or more.

Number three: Your tank cleaning problems for raising fish will be over. The way fish farming is today, waste from the fish is a tremendous problem.

At what ever level, it is now more important than ever to zero in on the developments of this enterprise and take The Old Yankee Ingenuity and charge with it. The food production of vegetables alone is 10 times greater than the conventional methods. I can envision the fulfillment of the Ancient Hebrew Prophecy in Psalms:

Psalm 1 (King James Version) Psalm 1 v 1-6:

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

It appears to me that we are seeing a glimpse into our very near future. It seems very workable and what we need to be about is getting ready for it by learning all we can about it and preparing our own part in it.

YouTube has some marvelous videos on it and there are a few very educational short presentations showing how this type of system could be set up on a family level as well as a commercial level.

I for one am all for it and I vividly see our future in it and hope you all go for it. Learn and do what you can to return this nation and world back on the road to freedom from starvation. This is our God given purpose.

Thank you: Brad Vigansky

Listen to these messages on YouTube, they are free, and who knows, they just may lead our way to freedom.

http://www.youtube.com/user/backyardaquaponics .

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Raising Chickens and Many Other Things

When I was growing up on a farm in South West Michigan I ventured into many of the following aspects of small farming. It’s really too bad that this isn’t in existence today on a much larger scale. Actually a small 10 acre farm can be very profitable. Hard work but profitable. You can develop many streams of income that feed into each other. For example, chickens supply a very high quality of valuable manure that is very usable in your gardening ventures. In turn your garden can supply an overabundance of food for your chickens. Chickens love many fresh fruits and vegetables and in turn help to keep your feed bill down.

You can become self sufficient Keeping And Raising Chickens And Poultry. Build A Chicken Coop. Growing Your Own Fruit And Vegetables. Beekeeping (Honey Bees). Herbal Remedies, Herbs, Hydroponic Gardening Garden. Building Your Own Greenhouse and etc.

We even had honeybees and had our own honey. However I developed an allergy to the sting of the honeybee. I became deathly ill at the age of about 5 or 6, then again at about the age of 14. So that is one hobby or project that I keep away from, even though I am very interested in it.

I did get into raising chickens from the egg to the full grown chicken. My incubators were some healthy setting hens. With some good hens, it really isn’t much of a problem going from the egg to the little chick. In pioneer times that’s how it was done. If I were to get back to raising chickens, I would start the same way with about a half dozen setting hens and a rooster. Believe me when the chicks arrive the roosters are as proud and so are the mothers or clucks. A good rooster with his harem will take real good care of their flock. My hens and rooster were very successful at raising flocks of 60 plus chickens.

Is Ten Acres Enough?

Edmund Morris had dreamed for many years of moving to the country, reading all he could about farming and taking a keen interest in anything agricultural. His city life had had its ups and downs and although close to bankruptcy on more than one occasion he had managed to settle his affairs and resolved to quit the city before things got any worse "the whole business horizon seemed full of coming storms, which burst successively with desolating severity". He was under no illusions; farming would be hard work and was unlikely to make him rich, but he believed strongly that it could be made to keep him and his family comfortable and so he embarked on his journey towards self sufficiency...

To read more: Click On This Link:

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Secrets Of The Bonsai Masters

When I was in my early teens over 50 years ago I began to study and work with developing and growing Bonsai Trees. At that time I wasn’t disciplined enough to make it a success. My adult skills just were not developed enough. Needless to say my project was a gigantic flop, due primarily to neglect.

I am now a part time hobby nursery gardener and am specializing in 4 different plants. They are the Desert Rose, Pentas, Plumeria Frangipani, and Croton. It will take a blog or two to write about each one and some more blogs to write about some others that I have in my collection. I have somewhere between 35 or 40 varieties in my nursery. You never stop at just one.

However, this may be just what your are looking fore. Easy to start as a hobby and turn it into a full blown business. If you like gardening, you’ll love this:

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North American Wild Quinine

In the Eastern and Mid West part of North America you can grow own Wild Quinine which is good for a fever. Just make a little tea from the roots. Wild Quinine is a native perennial plant found growing wild in prairies, rock outcrops, waste places and roadsides from Maryland to Minnesota and Georgia and as far west as Wisconsin and Arkansas. Once established along one of your fences it will maintain itself if it is native to your area. It would be well worth your time to encourage it to grow on your farm or lot. A word of caution: This plant may become weedy or invasive in some regions or habitats and may displace desirable vegetation if not properly managed.

Unless you already have Wild Quinine growing in your area and you want to try raising your own Wild Quinine it is suggested that you sow the seed in spring in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, put the seedlings into individual pots and grow them inside the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Plant them out of the way along a fence line but where they will be easily accessible.

Wild Quinine grows to a height of about three feet and has alternate, long rough, hairy, serrated and lancolate, leaves that are often over a foot in length at the base. Leaves grow smaller and more sessile, as they ascend up the rough, round, stem, which branches at the flowers top. The flowers bloom from June to Aug. they are small, white and daisy-like, having 5 tiny white rays or petals and growing in numerous clusters, appearing to be an unorganized umbelli ferae. Wild Quinine has large, swollen, dark brown roots it grows first vertically and then may expand horizontally. Collect flowering tops and roots, dry for later herb use. The plant is not edible.

Wild Quinine is a very valuable medicinal plant. It is used as or is a medicine which possesses the power of arresting morbid periodical menstral movements. Also Which is to say wild quinine promotes menstrual discharge. A poultice made from the fresh leaves can be applied to burns. The root is used in the treatment of inflammation of the urinary passages and kidneys, or amenorrhea the: absence or suppression of normal menstrual flow.

A poultice can be made for stomach aches by steaming a half cup of leaves and applying the leaves to the area when they are as hot as you can tolerate. Capsules are available at health food stores that can be taken daily as an effective way to control allergies.

It has traditionally been used in alternative medicine to treat debility, fatigue, respiratory infection, gastrointestinal infection, and venereal disease. Wild Quinine is currently being used with great success by hundreds of herbalists throughout the United States and Europe for diseases such as lymphatic congestion, colds, ear infections, sore throats, fevers, infections, and Epstein barr virus. The tops of the plant have a medicinal "quinine-like" bitterness and are used to treat intermittent fevers. This earned the plant one of its common names, "wild quinine." Parthenium has been studied in scientific laboratories and clinics across Europe. Findings from these studies indicate that this medicinal herb stimulates the immune system. This herb also contains the four esters which increase the ability of the blood cells to digest foreign particles and aid in the stages of healing wounds in living organisms. It appears to be a liver-stimulating bitter that promotes blood detoxification; thus the common name "snakeroot." Parthenium* has also been shown to both mobilize and activate natural killer cells and other immune cells. Wild Quinine herb has been commonly sold as (or mixed with) Echinacea purpurea for more than 50 years. They are both in the sunflower family and their roots bear an uncanny resemblance to each other. Many people have been using these parthenium* products, however, and receiving benefits.

*Noun1.Parthenium - small genus of North American herbs and shrubs with terminal panicles of small ray flowers

The American Indians used Wild Quinine as a poultice on burns and also used it as a tea for coughs and sore throats

Recipe for Wild Quinine Tea (Medicinal)
Take one teaspoon of dried root and add 8oz of boiling water and steep for 10 minutes. Drink warm at bed time.

Thank you for reading my blog.
Brad Vigansky

Go to my catalog of health items and things.
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