Category: Aquaponics

Rachel had a great idea! We used some of our shade cloth to cover the building. Heat exhaustion is no fun. I did that before when I was invincible young man just out of college. When I get back in the field to add the parallel support lines and deep water culture troughs I can use it there as well!

Have some leveling adjustments to make and then I start on the walls.

The “seedling” building is underway.  8-ft x 20-ft. This building will be used to germinate seedlings for greenhouse #1. Later, another building will be built out next to the greenhouses. For now, this one will be close at hand and used for refining the process. Last weekend we measured out the space and determined the exact building location and placement. This weekend we went into town, picked up lumber and supplies and built the floor framework. We are painting as we go! A small elevation will allow water to run down the hill underneath the building and keep it dry!

In this building,  we will germinate the seeds of different kinds of leafy greens. Once germinated, seedling trays (2-ft by 4-ft) will be transferred to greenhouse #1 to grow for 6 weeks. Each tray, beginning at the front of the greenhouse will move down a trough of water each week. By the end of six weeks, each tray will reach the back of the greenhouse. Leafy greens will be harvested and go to market.

This is Ding Dong, foothills for the Texas Hill Country. That means ‘rock’ and a lot of it. Normally, you would be able to sink the support posts using an 8 pound sledge, but not here. To the rescue, on Bosch hammer drill with a 33″ 1 1/8 drill bit supplemented by a 15″ 1 1/2 drill bit.

Using the hammer drill, we were able to drill thru much of the limestone or at least shatter it enough to get the pipes in the ground. When it got really rough we would put the 1 1/2″ bit on to increase the diameter of the hole. We put water down the holes to help make the caliche  gummy while be hammered in the poles.

 

You can see the limestone coming from the  hole.

We would fill the hole with water, ream out the excess mixture, add more water, then set the pipe.

There are advantages and disadvantages to height!

 

The greenhouse is designed to be 100 ft long. Requiring supports every 3 feet. Using 1 3/4 galvanized fence posts cut in half I prepped 34 pipes. Because of the wind, we decided to use long support posts. Once the posts are cut, one end is predrilled with a 1/4 hole 12″ from the top to anchor the hoop. 

Don’t forget to remove the burrs from the metal. If it doesn’t cut you it definitely will puncture the greenhouse covering.

 

After the ‘gale’ winds on the plateau, we found it was necessary to pin the ground cover down every 18 inches.