Learn More About Aquaponics and Your Portable Farm
A single module of a Portable Farms® Aquaponics System
A typical-sized Grow Table in a Portable Farms Aquaponics System is 5ft x 40ft or 6ft x 32ft (1.4m x 1.6m), which provides 200 sq. ft (42m²) per Grow Table. A 200 sq. ft (42m²) Grow Table feeds eight people all the table vegetables they need to remain healthy forever. You can also build smaller Grow Tables.
Depending on how motivated and skilled you are, you can build a Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems module in a few days, and after your installation is complete, you will be ready to harvest food in 40 days or less. After installation, your daily maintenance for your new farm is about 10 minutes per day to feed your fish, plant seedlings, and harvest your vegetables. And, the more Grow Tables you install, your time will increase only a few minutes per day, per module.
- To create a balanced diet, purchase other sources of carbohydrate such as potatoes, rice, corn or wheat, and some additional protein source of meat, chicken, eggs, protein-rich vegetables, and more portions of tilapia or other fish are still necessary.
- Aquaponics is known for growing healthy greens however, we have found new and creative ways to grow ‘blooming plants’ in Portable Farms such as tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, cucumbers and even eggplant. These plants normally prefer a loose sandy soil high in nutrients. However, we have never had success growing any variety of squash.
- Growing any type of melon in Portable Farms is not suggested (we have tried many times) because the vines and melons take up the entire Grow Table and do not leave room for any other vegetables. You might try using stable trellises with netting to support the melons and keep the leaves away from the gravel.
- Our systems do not grow all vegetables that typically grow in soil. For example, aquaponics does not grow ‘root vegetables’ in the gravel used as the growing medium in Grow Tables. Examples of root vegetables are potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, celery, etc. These root vegetables cannot move the gravel to thrive and mature.
- We do not recommend growing perennials that remain in the Grow Tables year-round. For example, we do not recommend growing berries since the root system of the plants grows large after a year and creates a large root ball that begins to decay and mysteriously attracts insects (primarily ants and white flies) and blocks water flow in the table.
- Tomatoes and cucumbers require about 100 days in the Grow Tables. If you have a small Grow Table, we suggest you grow a wide variety of lettuces, basil, kale, Swiss Chard, bok choy, green beans, spinach, mustard greens (we call mustard greens Wasabi lettuce – it is hot and spicy).
- We also recommend growing Asian greens in aquaponics. Asian seeds are available from Johnny’s Select or Burpee Seeds. They grow quickly and are delicious and healthy and easily prepared by stir-frying, steaming, frying or added to soups.
Tilapia is the chosen fish for use in aquaponics in the Northern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere uses Jade Perch and Silver Perch. Some in the Southern Hemisphere use Barramundi for aqupaonics, but it’s not recommended if you’re a beginner.
- Plant your seeds within two weeks of the time you expect to complete your installation of your Portable Farms®. In most cases, building and installing your new farm will only take a few days of dedicated effort, so PLANT YOUR SEEDS as soon as you set the dates for constructing your farm. Only you can determine your skill level or your installer’s skill level. Still, for MOST people with the proper tools and building experience (i.e., capable of building a cabinet), it may only take a few days to build and install their Portable Farms® Aquaponics System. If you paint the wood for your farm, add a day or two to this equation. Please ask your installer to read Sections A-L of this course so they can build your farm correctly.
- It is also essential to find a source for tilapia (fish) NOW and preorder them for a date when you believe you will have your installation complete to install your fish—more on fish and fish breeders.
It is our pleasure to bring to you the information you want for creating high-output on-site food production facility using PFAS LLC’s state-of-the-art aquaponics design for you and your family.
Our online aquaponics course offers the assembly and operating instructions for building your own Portable Farms® Aquaponics Systems installation up to the size for feeding up to eight people in one module.
