19 Of The Best Plants To Use In Aquaponics

19 Of The Best Plants To Use In Aquaponics. Photo – Wikipedia – lic. under CC 2.0

Aside from fish, the other big part of aquaponics is growing plants. This is where you’ll be able to put your green thumb to use. I’ve stressed it time and time again throughout this book; aquaponics gives you the freshest healthiest organic vegetables you can get. A Canadian researcher by the name of Dr. Nick Savidov proved that aquaponics gives greater production than hydroponics.

The debate between aquaponics and soil based farming has been debated back and forth but many studies have shown that aquaponics is as good if not better than gardening with soil.

As far as picking the type of plants you will be growing, the choices are endless. This is what makes aquaponics stand out so much and why so many people are getting into it. Practically any vegetable that you like can be grown through aquaponics organically. Here are 19 of the best plants to use:

• Beans
• Eggplant
• Beets
• Celery
• Thyme
• Kale
• Basil
• Tomatoes
• Chokos aka. Chayote
• Coriander
• Bok choi
• Parsley
• Cucumbers
• Corn
• Carrots
• Peas
• Cabbage
• Onions
• Potatoes

And this is an extremely short list of what you can grow! If you can grow a plant through hydroponics, chances are you can grow them through aquaponics as well. Some popular choices for people just starting out are leafy vegetables and herbs. They are easy to maintain and grow. They fit perfectly into an aquaponics environment.

This is another one of those areas where I would encourage you to experiment and try some different things out. Don’t feel like you have to be limited to just salad greens or the items in the list above. Try out anything you can think of and see if it works. You can really have some fun with planting your vegetables.

With aquaponics, you’re able to have your plants out in hot water and still get a great supply of water through the cycling process. Unlike soil-based gardening, plants grown with aquaponics don’t have their roots submerged underground where water is soaked up quickly in the heat. You don’t have to worry about providing extra water to your plants because the plants are being watered continuously in your self-sustaining system.

With aquaponics, you have the ability to continuously change and alter your setup on the go. There are several things you can do to help your plants grow better if problems occur. For example, if you notice you’re not producing enough nitrate, you can use some worm tea to help add nutrients. Feel free to make proper adjustments and alter things to get optimal results. Performing diagnostics on your system can be a bit difficult if you’re new to aquaponics or gardening. Luckily this is one of the areas where the strong aquaponics community can be extremely helpful. Explaining your issues on forums will likely get you solutions to your issues.

Now that you have some knowledge about the types of plants suited for aquaponics, try my Backyard Liberty Aquaponics.

By Alec Deacon