Learn about Aquaponics 🐟 🍓🍅 with my "Backyard Aquaponics for Beginners" Guide for only US$19.95. You can see the guide in action on my website, ► www.bitsouttheback.com/aquaponics-guide Or, buy directly here, ► robbobaquaponics.retrieve.com/g/XL0J6T2P#/content/90525 Don't forget to click the subscribe button if you enjoyed the video, bit.ly/Subscribe2Rob & share the clip around if you think it may help others too.👍 Cheers all & have a top one. 🐟 🌱🍅 Rob
I grow borage and lime balm as a double trap crop: aphids prefer them because they're way juicier than other plants for them, and ants herd them to those plants, both of which you can pluck stems and leaves off that are noticeably infested and grow back.
Hi All. I accidentally deleted a comment about fungus gnats, very sorry to the person that posted it.🙏 We haven't had issues with them here so it's not something I'm experienced with. Sorry again for deleting your comment.
Hey Misilla. I'm the same. I don't get to watch much UA-cam anymore so haven't kept up with many of my old gardening mates. Hope your book is going well for you.
@@RobsAquaponics I know right? Busy lives! I do miss our old garden friends from back in the day…I think most of us started here ten years ago or so. Thank you friend. Take care and stay safe.
The ever faithful CHOOK! Believe it or not my Pekins, Brahma and Cochin (& their cross bred young) can hone in on even the tiniest of grub/caterpillar if I just hold them up to the plants....Of course if there aren't any juicy pests in sight to nab they grab a bit of green but they're pretty bloody efficient!!
I have seen folks that will run chooks in their aquaponics beds. They also used "blue metal" rock as media which helped as they didn't scratch it around too much.
I did years ago Lee but only as a one off. Apparently it works well with the cabbage variety, not sure about others though. Cheers Lee & have a top weekend.
I haven't had a problem with them sorry. Liquid traps, like the beer traps for slugs in the video, are said to work. I've seen folks suggest that linseed oil works well as an attractant. Others have recommended a bit of soy sauce mixed with olive oil. Creating places for them to hide during the day, like small sections of timber or cardboard, make a great place to collect them from manually as well. Hope that helps some gemous.
It can effect natural occurring native critters in waterways so that's why I would say it's prohibited near them. 👍 The fish would eat the bugs & eggs if they we given them I think.
Dr. Bronners peppermint soap, hot pepper powder, water and coconut oil is the best method I have found. I wonder if the hot pepper is safe for aquaponics.
It is OK to use. I've had caterpillars eat through ghost chillies/peppers here so I know chilli based sprays don't work on them. Did have some luck with it on small grasshoppers though.
I haven't with this system but did have a battery powered one over the last one for a week or so a few years back. Not sure how well it worked as there was never any evidence in the morning. Have seen others that swear by them though.
Ohhh I was wondering why there are so many of those reddish wasps flying around, they're everywhere, hopefully keeping those army caterpillars under control as well!
for grasshoppers, you might try dusting your plants with plain flour. apparently, it gums up the grasshoppers' jaw pieces rendering them unable to chew any further
Ive got a rather large pest.. in my aquaponics i planted catnip!! Result.. neighbours cats come for their "fix" mainly at night. My bug pest control method is to leave the door to the greenhouse open, we have a large South African Ibis called a Hadeda who has relised that it can feast on slugs and caterpillars in there
Here in Denver Colorado, our biggest fruit-loving pests tend to be squirrels... maybe we should plant catnip to lure in some feline biological control?
Nice one 👍 I know a bloke that uses rock media & lets his chooks 🐔 on the beds to knock off caterpillars. Can't let them onto the beds with the greens in them though. 😅
Absolutely loving your channel, Rob! I'm totally jazzed to start building my system for my family. On the subject of pests, I've seen videos of people populating their grow troughs with mosquito fish or guppies to control mosquito larvae. Would it disrupt the balance of the system to have fish living mid-filtration?
They don't really cause a big issue. I have seen them breed out of control in deep water culture beds so hat's one thing you'll need to keep an eye on.
We mainly get the black on the alliums here & greens on the brassicas Shane. I see them on the citrus from time to time but never in amounts that would warrant an intervention as the ladybugs normally knock them off.
A beneficial insect for controlling mealy bug appropriately called the “Mealy bug destroyer” Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, a species of Ladybird. Just watch you don’t squish them by mistake as they look very similar to mealybugs. Unfortunately I have done that in the past not knowing what they were.
For slugs and snails attacking strawberries, I now have the pots on a table so it’s elevated off the ground and self watering pots that have a ring of water around the pot. Only issues I get now is when I forget to top them up and it goes dry, if some do get in they’re normally easy to spot. Also bird netting to stop the birds
I stopped a while back when I caught a gecko in one but these fruit flies are worth the risk. Just need to be smarter about how I set them up. Happy growing.
It might not be legal in Australia, but here in the states you can order these parasitic wasps that infect aphids instead of caterpillars. They are very small but very effective and they reproduce like crazy. For each aphid they kill, their population grows until the aphids are all gone.
We get them occurring naturally here which is a bonus Zakary. Haven't seen them for sale though but they possibly would be. Sorry I missed this post mate.
I have something that keeps eating my field mustard from some green manure mix I think it’s aphids, but they can often fly and actually eat holes in the leaves And the ladybugs stay away from them
That sounds more like a caterpillar or larger bug Thomas. Most aphids are only sap suckers so suck the life from the plants rather than cause holes. Hope you can work out what the pest is mate.
In a small hobby system using dwc for herbs and lettuce, basically any problem plants would get pulled up and dunked in the fish tank and stirred for a few seconds. Anything on there would typically drop off and the fish would get it. Just put the plant back. Seemed to work, though i did not have many pest issues
I have seen some folks use a mix of borax & sugar. They take the borax back to the nest with the sugar & which does them in fairly quickly from what I've been told. I haven't used it myself though.
I class them as a soft shell insect so treat them like aphids. I don't think I've seen any here in the aquaponics but had them years ago on some tomatoes in the wicking beds. Blasted them with the hose from memory & that appeared to do the trick.
I cought fairy wrens with the yellow tape, beware. I was able to save them. I get small lacewings come in to feast on aphids too. They just come and breed up end up with dozens of them, not much bigger then the aphids.
Hot pepper and garlic spray. Cut 10 hot peppers with 2 garlic cloves, bring 1 liter of water to a boil and add that in. Always spray on one plant and see the effect. I normally dilute the solution and can get double ammoun of spray from that
I have tried chilli sprays in the past & it works on some pests including possums. I've had caterpillars smash through a bush of ghost chillies years ago so I know they're not effective on all.
🤔 Sort Of. Am spending a lot of time simplifying what I do online so I can spend more time on the aquaponics & garden here. Has been very wet here so that's helped keep me focused on the online clean up as well. Hope all's well with you Jennifer.
This has been on my mind for about 4 days. What about having a patch outside the system that's somewhat sacrificial to breed aphids and have a constant food supply for your beneficials to have a constant food sauce
That can work very well I've found. Every year I let a few broccoli plants go to flower & become infested with aphids. It only takes a few weeks before the plants are also covered with ladybug & their larvae. The numbers build up & before to long I find them cursing over pants all through the yard.
Can't be used on food crops legally in Australia as we are a weak & feeble population according to the authorities. 😉 + no one has paid the powers to be to allow it. 😅 I did mention it in the video & have used it on my ornamental veggies in the past. Worked OK for some things but not so much for caterpillars. Cheers Steve.
We use decollate snail to control snailes and slugs in our in ground garden. Once you have a enough of then, they become self sustaining. When they run out of snails and slugs they turn the dead leaves in your garden into compost.
Nice one mate. They're not here in Australia which might be a good thing knowing our track recorded with introducing predator species for use in farming. 😉
Thanks FW. 👍 I know I could be doing a better job & will be trying to build more Exclusion options into the next system build. Cheers & have a top one.
@@RobsAquaponics Also, with regards to the yellow sticky traps you have for the fruit flies, have you considered apple cider traps? My local extension office recommended them for monitoring for the spotted wing drosophila invasive in my area and they're pretty easy to make.
@@familywilliams4058 I tried the apple cider & vinegar ones a while back & they don't work on the Queensland Fruit Flies. Did attract other pest species though.
@@RobsAquaponics I guess that's a good argument for knowing your pests. It did seem like those Queensland flies stung the fruit pretty early, which could explain why they weren't attracted to the vinegar, as the majority of flies that are attracted by it seem to seek out fully ripe or overripe fruit after the skin and flesh have softened a bit. (That's actually one of the problems we have with the spotted wing, they've got serrated ovipositors and so they sting the fruit sooner than our native flies)
I let the compost worms in the beds look after the roots & other organic matter that accumulates. They won't remove all but they help to keep some of the nutrients in the "loop"
Learn about Aquaponics 🐟 🍓🍅 with my "Backyard Aquaponics for Beginners" Guide for only US$19.95.
You can see the guide in action on my website,
► www.bitsouttheback.com/aquaponics-guide
Or, buy directly here,
► robbobaquaponics.retrieve.com/g/XL0J6T2P#/content/90525
Don't forget to click the subscribe button if you enjoyed the video,
bit.ly/Subscribe2Rob
& share the clip around if you think it may help others too.👍
Cheers all & have a top one. 🐟 🌱🍅
Rob
I grow borage and lime balm as a double trap crop: aphids prefer them because they're way juicier than other plants for them, and ants herd them to those plants, both of which you can pluck stems and leaves off that are noticeably infested and grow back.
Hi All. I accidentally deleted a comment about fungus gnats, very sorry to the person that posted it.🙏
We haven't had issues with them here so it's not something I'm experienced with.
Sorry again for deleting your comment.
Good to see Rob! I need to catch up on your videos! Take care! Misilla
Hey Misilla. I'm the same. I don't get to watch much UA-cam anymore so haven't kept up with many of my old gardening mates.
Hope your book is going well for you.
@@RobsAquaponics I know right? Busy lives! I do miss our old garden friends from back in the day…I think most of us started here ten years ago or so. Thank you friend. Take care and stay safe.
I would like to set up aquaponics with pots and put some Archer Fish in there so they could swim around the pots shoot the bugs off. LOL.
That would be great to see if you ever build one Marcus. 👍
Indian super sir haydrbad place
The ever faithful CHOOK! Believe it or not my Pekins, Brahma and Cochin (& their cross bred young) can hone in on even the tiniest of grub/caterpillar if I just hold them up to the plants....Of course if there aren't any juicy pests in sight to nab they grab a bit of green but they're pretty bloody efficient!!
I have seen folks that will run chooks in their aquaponics beds. They also used "blue metal" rock as media which helped as they didn't scratch it around too much.
Have you ever tried that old cocky's method of squishing the caterpillars and spraying over the plants?
I did years ago Lee but only as a one off.
Apparently it works well with the cabbage variety, not sure about others though.
Cheers Lee & have a top weekend.
Hey Rob, have you got any tips for ear wigs? They've taken up residence in all of my lettuce heads...
I haven't had a problem with them sorry. Liquid traps, like the beer traps for slugs in the video, are said to work. I've seen folks suggest that linseed oil works well as an attractant. Others have recommended a bit of soy sauce mixed with olive oil.
Creating places for them to hide during the day, like small sections of timber or cardboard, make a great place to collect them from manually as well.
Hope that helps some gemous.
2 questions: will the fish eat any of those pest eggs? On the BT container it prohibits use near waterways...safe for contained waterways?
It can effect natural occurring native critters in waterways so that's why I would say it's prohibited near them. 👍
The fish would eat the bugs & eggs if they we given them I think.
Dr. Bronners peppermint soap, hot pepper powder, water and coconut oil is the best method I have found. I wonder if the hot pepper is safe for aquaponics.
It is OK to use. I've had caterpillars eat through ghost chillies/peppers here so I know chilli based sprays don't work on them. Did have some luck with it on small grasshoppers though.
For grasshoppers, I've used Nolo bait. It's a spore that only infects grasshoppers and crickets. Works very well, safe to use. Can be hard to find.
Not something I've seen here but have opened a search to have a closer look tomorrow.
Thanks.
Rob have you ever put a light over your fish tank at night so the fish could eat some of those bugs?
I haven't with this system but did have a battery powered one over the last one for a week or so a few years back. Not sure how well it worked as there was never any evidence in the morning. Have seen others that swear by them though.
Going to try the flood bed method today,. On my beds for slugs and snails
Hope it worked well for you Fred. 👍👍
Ohhh I was wondering why there are so many of those reddish wasps flying around, they're everywhere, hopefully keeping those army caterpillars under control as well!
for grasshoppers, you might try dusting your plants with plain flour. apparently, it gums up the grasshoppers' jaw pieces rendering them unable to chew any further
Great advice 👍
Thanks Gerowyn😁👍
Ive got a rather large pest.. in my aquaponics i planted catnip!! Result.. neighbours cats come for their "fix" mainly at night. My bug pest control method is to leave the door to the greenhouse open, we have a large South African Ibis called a Hadeda who has relised that it can feast on slugs and caterpillars in there
Here in Denver Colorado, our biggest fruit-loving pests tend to be squirrels... maybe we should plant catnip to lure in some feline biological control?
Nice one 👍 I know a bloke that uses rock media & lets his chooks 🐔 on the beds to knock off caterpillars. Can't let them onto the beds with the greens in them though. 😅
Absolutely loving your channel, Rob! I'm totally jazzed to start building my system for my family. On the subject of pests, I've seen videos of people populating their grow troughs with mosquito fish or guppies to control mosquito larvae. Would it disrupt the balance of the system to have fish living mid-filtration?
They don't really cause a big issue. I have seen them breed out of control in deep water culture beds so hat's one thing you'll need to keep an eye on.
Aphids come in many colours : green, black, orange-red, and yellow, cabbage - blue-green leaf colour, are the colours i have seen.
We mainly get the black on the alliums here & greens on the brassicas Shane. I see them on the citrus from time to time but never in amounts that would warrant an intervention as the ladybugs normally knock them off.
A beneficial insect for controlling mealy bug appropriately called the “Mealy bug destroyer” Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, a species of Ladybird.
Just watch you don’t squish them by mistake as they look very similar to mealybugs. Unfortunately I have done that in the past not knowing what they were.
I have seen them here in the past Craig. They also hit scale on citrus trees as well I've read.
Excellent
Thanks AA.
😁👍
G'day Rob great video mate
Cheers ML. 😁👍
For slugs and snails attacking strawberries, I now have the pots on a table so it’s elevated off the ground and self watering pots that have a ring of water around the pot. Only issues I get now is when I forget to top them up and it goes dry, if some do get in they’re normally easy to spot. Also bird netting to stop the birds
Nice one Len. I'm starting to see slugs in our beds so will have to buy some beer soon to make up more traps.
Happy growing. 😁🌱🌱
Thanks Rob!
Cheers mate.
Is neem oil effective against catterpillars??
I haven't had much luck with it on them in the past here Atul. May work on some species more than others though.
Thanks for the video! Any thoughts on pest control on a large commercial greenhouse scale?
I have seen a lot of folks start with exclusion methods (double doors & feet baths) & add in predators like ladybugs, lacewings & predator mites ZSN.
Kkkkkk, eu também jogo as lagartas para os meus peixes...
Eles nunca duram muito em nosso aquário Ramone.🐟🐟
🍻
They never last long in our fish tank Ramone.
Great garden pest control video, Rob.
Thanks Mary. 😁
Hope all's well with you folks down there.
Great info ty so much for the hard work!
My pleasure!
I use sticky pads, cheap n effective.
I stopped a while back when I caught a gecko in one but these fruit flies are worth the risk. Just need to be smarter about how I set them up.
Happy growing.
It might not be legal in Australia, but here in the states you can order these parasitic wasps that infect aphids instead of caterpillars. They are very small but very effective and they reproduce like crazy. For each aphid they kill, their population grows until the aphids are all gone.
We get them occurring naturally here which is a bonus Zakary. Haven't seen them for sale though but they possibly would be.
Sorry I missed this post mate.
I have something that keeps eating my field mustard from some green manure mix
I think it’s aphids, but they can often fly and actually eat holes in the leaves
And the ladybugs stay away from them
That sounds more like a caterpillar or larger bug Thomas. Most aphids are only sap suckers so suck the life from the plants rather than cause holes.
Hope you can work out what the pest is mate.
Thank you Rob for another informative session. Hope and the family are doing great and getting enough rest?
No rest really. Helping out family & trying to get some online things sorted to simplify my life. 😉
Thanks for asking ADC. 😁👍
i like to spray Neem seed oil to chase away garden pests ( aphids mainly ). BUT I don't think its good near fish.
In a small hobby system using dwc for herbs and lettuce, basically any problem plants would get pulled up and dunked in the fish tank and stirred for a few seconds. Anything on there would typically drop off and the fish would get it. Just put the plant back. Seemed to work, though i did not have many pest issues
Any tips on controlling ants if the flooding of the bed does not combat them?
I have seen some folks use a mix of borax & sugar. They take the borax back to the nest with the sugar & which does them in fairly quickly from what I've been told. I haven't used it myself though.
Great info, as usual.
Glad you enjoyed it Mr S.
At least the slugs will sober up by the time they get to their car 😏
🤣🤣
Great stuff.. thank you..
No problem mate.👍
Cheers David.
About white fly?
I class them as a soft shell insect so treat them like aphids. I don't think I've seen any here in the aquaponics but had them years ago on some tomatoes in the wicking beds. Blasted them with the hose from memory & that appeared to do the trick.
i also occasionally flood the bed for slugs, snails and ants.
I cought fairy wrens with the yellow tape, beware. I was able to save them. I get small lacewings come in to feast on aphids too. They just come and breed up end up with dozens of them, not much bigger then the aphids.
Luckily we didn't get any birds but it did trap 2 mantis.
@@RobsAquaponics apparently you can get a stand that has a mesh on it so the wrens can’t get stuck on it now.
thanks Rob
No problem. 😁👍
Great video, very informative, thanks Rob. I can just picture the drunk slugs staggering home! 😁
🤣 I wonder if they get hangovers too Morne?🤔
Cheers mate 🍻
Thanks for the video, super helpful and informative!!!
Glad it was helpful MGC. 👍
This video is very informative Rob the visual presentation of this content is very good! Great job mate!
Cheers Alex.
Hot pepper and garlic spray. Cut 10 hot peppers with 2 garlic cloves, bring 1 liter of water to a boil and add that in.
Always spray on one plant and see the effect. I normally dilute the solution and can get double ammoun of spray from that
I have tried chilli sprays in the past & it works on some pests including possums. I've had caterpillars smash through a bush of ghost chillies years ago so I know they're not effective on all.
Are you getting that break? Thanks for another great video! Have a wonderful day!
🤔 Sort Of. Am spending a lot of time simplifying what I do online so I can spend more time on the aquaponics & garden here. Has been very wet here so that's helped keep me focused on the online clean up as well.
Hope all's well with you Jennifer.
With the Black Aphids I had good success using just compost tea. just spray or pour it on and it seems to knock them over. Might be worth a try
Cheers David.
This has been on my mind for about 4 days. What about having a patch outside the system that's somewhat sacrificial to breed aphids and have a constant food supply for your beneficials to have a constant food sauce
That can work very well I've found. Every year I let a few broccoli plants go to flower & become infested with aphids. It only takes a few weeks before the plants are also covered with ladybug & their larvae. The numbers build up & before to long I find them cursing over pants all through the yard.
I love watching your videos Rob, their like an online class.
Thanks Suzanne. 😁
Rob, have you used Neem oil with a small dab of dishwashing liquid and water in a sprayer?
Can't be used on food crops legally in Australia as we are a weak & feeble population according to the authorities. 😉
+ no one has paid the powers to be to allow it. 😅
I did mention it in the video & have used it on my ornamental veggies in the past. Worked OK for some things but not so much for caterpillars.
Cheers Steve.
We use decollate snail to control snailes and slugs in our in ground garden. Once you have a enough of then, they become self sustaining. When they run out of snails and slugs they turn the dead leaves in your garden into compost.
Nice one mate. They're not here in Australia which might be a good thing knowing our track recorded with introducing predator species for use in farming. 😉
Thank you Rob, great video and informative as always.
Cheers VG.👍 🍻
Just starting my foray into gardening, your videos are a wealth of information. Appreciate the time you take to explain everything so thoroughly.
Glad to be able to help 👍
Integrated Pest Management for the win! You sir, are an excellent example of a well managed system. My IPM instructor would be impressed.
Thanks FW. 👍 I know I could be doing a better job & will be trying to build more Exclusion options into the next system build.
Cheers & have a top one.
@@RobsAquaponics Also, with regards to the yellow sticky traps you have for the fruit flies, have you considered apple cider traps? My local extension office recommended them for monitoring for the spotted wing drosophila invasive in my area and they're pretty easy to make.
@@familywilliams4058 I tried the apple cider & vinegar ones a while back & they don't work on the Queensland Fruit Flies. Did attract other pest species though.
@@RobsAquaponics I guess that's a good argument for knowing your pests. It did seem like those Queensland flies stung the fruit pretty early, which could explain why they weren't attracted to the vinegar, as the majority of flies that are attracted by it seem to seek out fully ripe or overripe fruit after the skin and flesh have softened a bit. (That's actually one of the problems we have with the spotted wing, they've got serrated ovipositors and so they sting the fruit sooner than our native flies)
💚❤💚
😁😁🙏🌺
👌👌👌❤❤❤
😁👍👍
Do you have some special technique to remove roots from the clay media when the plant is harvested?
I let the compost worms in the beds look after the roots & other organic matter that accumulates. They won't remove all but they help to keep some of the nutrients in the "loop"
@@RobsAquaponics Shucks, that doesn't help me in Hydroponics. Looks like I'll just have to switch to Aquaponics.