We have never once used clay media or rock wool in our aquaponics system. Ever!
Using a “media bed” with clay, rock wool or pebbles is strictly a trans-gardening and hydroponics industry notion. People, often unknowingly, have created a hybrid or a trans-garden from this exact discussion and labeled it aquaponics.
Media Beds = Unhealthy Fish Practice and Premature Plant Death
Please be aware that we here at Lilypad Farm have THE wholesome approach. By using the other media, one encounters a number of problems. Beyond the fact that it’s not as clean as coir which allows removal of the plant, roots and all. And then there’s transportation. It’s harder to move clay media, such as Hydroton balls, so typically, you have to remove the plant. Alternately, we can easily transport the plants with their roots intact, while still in the cup. Put another way, when we harvest (or transplant them), the plants themselves remain alive and 100% nutrient rich. But when you remove the Plant from the other media, the plant is now dying. It’s no different from traditional terrestrial farming. Oh well, back to the dirt we go!
People ask us, “How do you get the crop to be so uniform?”
Here, at Lilypad Farm, we sell and hand over clean, wholesome, live food allowing you, the customer and gardener, the option to enjoy the connoisseurs’ food we are known for.
The coir itself is carefully hand inspected, 3 gallons at a time in a 15-gallon shallow bucket. Every small objection is removed, and then after a thorough, obsessive hand combing — only then, do we let the farmer/producer install the plant in the system. This will make your outcome OUTSTANDING.
It is partially due to the hand seeding, then the inspection of the coir itself.
We will curate the process and the quality of each and every cup. The coir itself is very ph neutral.
We here at Lilypad Farm put food in the hands of people. The coir is not dirt! It is a place to hold the root ball in place. We ask folks to display the goods in a small stand of water. If you change the water in the stand daily, the plants will remain for a long time – far longer than plants with no roots attached. Plus, are you going to put gravel in the hands of others? Rock wool?
Coir offers the customer several options, but to what end??? You get live plants all the time. Making for superior product over and over again. Please note, it is a real answer to trans-gardening and hybrid production; aquaponics is a balanced system — fish and plants.
Keep up the numbers! Positive is how we live at lily pad farm!
-Adam Harwood