http://greatlakesaquaponics.wikispaces.com/Vermiaquaponics
Vermiaquaponics is actually a word my father and I invented. It is in laymans terms the same thing as aquaponics but with a combination of worm breeding. You use the worm castings to make a nutrient tea which is then used to feed the plants through their roots directly and in the form of foliar feeding. Foliar feeding is when you feed a plant through its leaves. You spray the tea onto the leaves directly and the goal is to have the nutrients be absorbed in more than one way. Then the worms themselves are used to feed the fish thus eliminating some of the cost of fish feed, and making these aquaponic systems more self sustainable.
Vermiaquaponics will soon become the future of aquaponics. In a way many people use certain aspects of it by feeding their plants with extra micronutrients and such.(for example chelated iron, manganese, zinc, etc) But what makes this version so unique is that it will help eliminate the cost of fish feed which becomes an enormous expense. In addition you are feeding your fish great protein which should theoretically help them to grow faster and bigger. Although worms do not give fish 100% of their diet, and are nearly 90% composed of water, so supplements will be required. So essentially your getting your fish wish less cost improving your profit.
One concern I have about this new form of growing is when it gets to the commercial scale. Places like the University of the Virgin Islands are harvesting over 5 tons of fish annually and in order for something like this to be beneficial to them you would need a very vast number of worms. Making vermiaquaponics less practical on a commercial scale but definately beneficial on the hobby scale. Something to consider if trying to convert from aquaponics to vermiaquaponics is that you will need the space to grow your worms, and to make sure you will have enough worms to be able to integrate this technology into aquaponics.
The focus on vermiaquaponics is to not incorporate it in systems producing such high quantities of fish. For the Urban Farmer, primary focus should be on plant growth in order to make profit. Using as little fish as possible and supplementing with tea will reduce other costs. The key is to get the right number of fish to plant growth ratio and also adding the vermiaquaponics side of the equation. When all these numbers can be worked out maximum plant growth to cost can be achieved giving you maximum profit.
4 comments:
Viceroy: Blessings.
You are OK with this comment, but you are wrong in many ways:
1. - How to incorporate the worms in the system. In our farm we introduce this system in the beginning of 1980 and we bring it to perfection in 1985, of course the spraying of the tea is OK, but in what you are mistaking is when you say that only the worm's castings are used to make the tea, for a real tea for foliar food you need more than this, you have to provide a bunch of nutrients so you don't have to use any chemicals, for this you must use some special manure, urine, leguminous, water plus castings, after you work this for some time you will mix it with water depending on what plants you using the mix for, as vegetables, herbs, bulbs, fruits, on a ratio from 20/1 to 3/1, water/solution, this took me 17 years of experimenting all together to get a formula 100% perfect, because if you use it in the wrong ratio of % in the mix, you will kill the leaves, or in other kill the roots, but when you do this in the right amount you will get bigger tomatoes, peppers,lettuce, herbs and fruits, the color is brighter, the size is double and the taste is extraordinary.
2. - Now the production of the fish depends if you are doing this at home, or you have a farm and you are marketing everything you produce, fresh Tilapia has a good price on the market and when you know how to make their food don't cost you a penny, because you can produce everything they need, they are omnivorous, so is a big range of products you can feed them if you know what.
3. - On the veggie side you most know that Chives give you 2 times more money a year if you compare with leaf lettuce, 3 times romaine, 15 times cantaloupe , and 50 times what okra give you, and all this is for square meter = 10.7639 square foot.
4. - As you see you are totally wrong when you mention about commercial scale, why? all you need is a pound of worms for a 10'x4'x1' Plant's bed,if you have space, in other way you can make the bed any size you want, just remember this RULE:You need enough fish to support your plants.In general the recommended grow bed to fish tank ratio is approximately 1:1. The fish tank volume should be approximately equal to the volume of the grow bed. This ratio can also be thought of in gallons per cubic foot, striving for 6 gallons (22 liters) of fish tank to every cubic foot of grow bed. To feed the fish all you need is a space 8'x4'x2' farm-bed,[The 8'x4' is if you have space you can make it any size you want but must be at least 2' Deep], and 1' above ground, and 2' in between, so you have 2 farm-beds on a 10'H space, so you have 3' space for the last one, you make a drainage system for them and you will collect 100% pure Worm's Tea, and you will grow 1000s of them, produce enough to feed your fish, and you produce castings you can collect every month and sell it for extra money
5. - Other mistake is when you talk about Urban Farmer, because with a 300 G plastic tote, you can grow 175 Tilapias every 6 months, or if you have a little of space you can have small tanks of 100 G. 20 1/4 x 10 1/2 x 12 9/16" (L x W x H)where you can grow a maximum of 57 Tilapias,and this little tanks you can stock them in a home made shelf real easy,as you see in an area of 2'L x 1.5'H and 2' above floor and 1' in between you can have 3 tanks on a 10'H space, so in an area of 2'x10'x10' (L x W x H), you can have 18 tanks with a total of 1026 Tilapias X $6 Lb.=$6156 the first harvest, Not Bad Ehh!
6.- Plus you can do the same with the growing beds make 2 to 3 beds high, the long depends on the space you have because all you need is 1' deep for the bed, and depends of what you want to grow.
Urban Farming is not hard if you use this Method, I help people star his Urban Farm in New York City, in a roof, in a basement or inside their own apartment, everything depend on what and how much you want to produce, The Limit Is Your Imagination, you can grow on 8" PVC Towers,2 or 3L. Bottles , 5G. buckets Vertical Gardens, for inside the apartment, 10 to 55G. drums, Tires,for Roof or Basement Gardens, as I said The Limit Is Your Imagination!
Well I hope this help someone who is trying to start this WONDERFUL ADVENTURE.
KEEP THE GOOD WORK & GOD BLESS EVERYBODY ABUNDANTLY!
Ray.
TERRANOVA ORGANIC GREEN FARMS
For the better and healthier diet there is Paleo Diet Recipes
and to make your farming better and more cheaperAquaponic is there.
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