Wwoofing at Viridis Aquaponic Growers

Two weeks ago I begun to volunteer as a WWOOFER(Willing Worker on Organic Farms) at  Viridis Aquaponic Growers  In Watsonville. Viridis offered a volunteer labor program with an aquaponics class and Q & A session at the end of the work day, awesome!, the best place to learn is working hands on at real commercial aquaponics facility.

Viridis Aquaponic Growers began operating in Watsonville Ca, in August of 2013 and at 8 acres is now the largest commercial aquaponics farm in the world.

The first day was real learning experience as I was put right to work destroying lettuce that acquired a mildew due to over heating in the greenhouse over the previous weekend. This of course made me extra conscious of temperature and humidity in our greenhouse.

Cart full of unusable lettuce.

Empty raft units after mildewed lettuce was pulled.

Replanting: This process is very quick, inserting seedling
plugs into the rafts then setting them afloat in the raft tank.

Catching loose fish in the raft tank.

Aside from removing and destroying lettuce all day it was great to be able to see how how a commercial aquaponics greenhouse works and what systems they use.

Aquaponics fish tank and filter system

100ft long aquaponic raft system.

Yup , pretty amazing. 

Grow Bed Zones

Well we're two months into our aquaponics experiement. We've learned a number of things though trail and error, I am sure there is still a great deal to learn. One of the most important things we've learned is aboue grow bed zones, also keeping the water level at least 2inched below the surface of the grow bed to prevent algae growth on the surface of the grow beds.

Zone one

Also called the dry zone. Is the about 2 inches in depth, this area should be keep dry, your  bell siphon should begin siphon at least 1-2inches from the surface. Doing this will prevent algae from occurring on the surfuce, protects against collar rot, along with mildew.

Zone Two

This zone is between 6 and 8 inches. This area allows for the delievery of oxygen during the drain part of the flood and drain cycle. This is where nitrification occurs creating and releasing the nutrients and minerals into the system.

Zone Three

This is the remaining space below zone two about 2inches where solids, such as, fish waste and worm castings.

We learned these lessons a bit late as we have some algae growing in sump tank and small areas of our grow beds, at this time is seems to be under control. We were going to use humic acid to darken the water but at this point simply just covering the sump tank preventing sun light from hitting is working just fine.