Imagine growing vegetables in your pond. You never have to water them or fertilize them. Since ponds stay cooler than soil, cool-growing crops like lettuce can be grown over a longer period of time. Ponds are a natural source of nutrients, especially if they contain fish, and these nutrients help vegetables grow aquaponically. Not only do you produce food, but the growing vegetables also help keep algae levels low.
Vegetables can be grown right in the pond or in an associated bog garden without any extra equipment, or you can get more serious about this and pump water to an external hydroponic growing area.
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Nutrients in the Pond
Nutrients naturally accumulate in the pond since fish waste, insects, and dead plant material will all decompose and produce the nutrients plants need to grow. A common problem in a pond is that there are too many nutrients, which results in algae growth.
In a normal pond, equipment such as pumps and filters is used to reduce the nutrients and control algae growth. In a natural pond, plants are used to keep nutrient levels low and, in turn, control algae levels. The logic here is simple: algae require higher nutrient levels than most other plants. If the pond plants keep the levels low, algae will not grow.
Another way to keep nutrient levels low is to grow vegetables right in the pond water. They not only control algae, but you also get to eat them.
Hydroponics vs Ponds
Hydroponics is being used more frequently to grow our vegetables, including lettuce and tomatoes. In such a system, the roots of the plants are suspended in water that contains fertilizer. The rest of the plant grows normally in the air.
How does a pond compare? Provided that there is some way to suspend the plant over the pond water, it is virtually the same as a hydroponic system with one important difference. You don’t need to fertilize the pond since fish, insects, bacteria, and decaying plant material do this for you.
Commercial hydroponic systems are relatively complex, with pumps moving water past plant roots and equipment testing oxygen and nutrient levels in an effort to maximize productivity. You don’t need all of this for a pond. A simple raft that holds plants in place is all that is required.
Historical Pond Use
You might think that this is a new idea, but societies have been doing this for a very long time. The Aztecs created large floating islands that grew trees as well as chili peppers, squash, corn, tomatoes, and beans. Many societies still use local waterways to provide the nutrients needed to grow plants.
The idea of using natural water systems for growing vegetables is not new, but doing it in backyard ponds is not common.
Vegetable Growing Raft
I will look at a variety of options for using your pond to grow vegetables, but the easiest is a simple raft system. Take a piece of Styrofoam, drill some holes, insert the plants, and let it float in your pond.
It is best to use a solid form of Styrofoam instead of the cheap stuff that easily breaks into little balls. The lids from containers used to ship fresh fish to stores and restaurants work very well, and you can easily get them for free by asking wherever they sell fresh fish. You can also buy larger sheets in building supply stores.
The problem with flat pieces of Styrofoam is that there is no air space between the Styrofoam and the water. Plants grow better if some of the roots are exposed to air, so it is a good idea to have a small air gap between the foam and the water. You can glue on a small strip of foam around the edge of the raft or use twist ties to hold it in place. You can also use the insulation foam covers sold for copper piping. Any such material that floats will rise above the platform so that it is not touching the water.
There are several ways to hold the plants in place. You can use the insulation for copper piping and cut it into 1-2 inch lengths. This foam already has a slit along one side, making it easy to insert the plant. The plant with the foam collar can then be inserted into the hole in the Styrofoam. As the plant grows and needs more space, it will push against the foam, compressing it.
Using a Bog Garden
Bog gardens are frequently added to a pond as a way of cleaning the pond and keeping nutrients low. The picture, taken from Building Natural Ponds, shows how the bog garden connects to the pond. Water is pumped from the pond to the bog garden through a layer of sand where plants remove nutrients. The water then flows back into the pond.
Normally, you grow ornamental plants in the bog garden, but there is no reason why you can’t replace them with vegetables. This works just as well as the floating raft described above.
External Growing Area
The two methods described above are fairly simple to implement, but you might not like the idea of seeing your vegetables in your pond. You might also want a larger growing area to increase the number of vegetables you can grow. The solution is to have the growing area outside of the pond.
There are many options for this solution, but in general, you add a pump that will move the pond water to an external tank(s). The water flows through the tank, eventually returning to the pond. The tanks, which are usually square, hold sheets of Styrofoam with plants inserted. This tank system is very similar to some hydroponic systems, except that the nutrients used come from the pond.
This system is able to grow many more plants than using the pond alone, so it needs more nutrients. A great solution to this problem is to increase the number of fish in the pond. In a normal pond, this can be a big problem because the fish produce too many nutrients, resulting in algae problems. But in a system with lots of growing vegetables, the pond can support a much higher fish load.
The moving water and the large surface area of the external tanks also provide a great way to oxygenate the water, which is also needed for the higher fish load.
A larger pond can support game fish, so the whole system provides both meat and vegetables.
Marijuana and Tilapia
Canada is going to legalize marijuana in 2018, which has spawned several commercial grow-ops. One of the most interesting is just outside of my hometown.
Green Relief Inc. is growing medical marijuana indoors, under lights. The plants are sitting in rafts floating over large tanks containing water that is pumped from large blue fish tanks containing tilapia. The fish poop in the water produces lots of fertilizer, which the plants then use to grow. Pumps circulate the water, keeping both fish and plant roots well oxygenated. They harvest both the pot and the fish.
This is not exactly an example of growing vegetables in ponds, but the science behind it is the same, and Green Relief has even grown flowers and vegetables in the same system. One thing that is interesting in this case is that people did not think you could grow marijuana aquaponically on a commercial scale, but it works. Green Relief is not providing a lot of details on their system, but it looks as if the plants are in pots that sit mostly above the floating rafts. This may be necessary to provide the roots with enough air.
Since each Canadian will be allowed to grow 4 plants for their use, you might soon start seeing a lot of backyard ponds growing marijuana.
Fish and Roots Don’t Mix
One potential problem with floating plants on your pond is that fish, especially koi, like to nibble on plant roots. If you have fish in your pond, you might need to put some kind of mesh protection under your raft to keep the fish from eating your lettuce roots.
An alternative is to put each plant into a large mesh pot that contains some supporting material, like expanded clay pellets, to hold the roots.
More Articles About Ponds
Winterizing Ponds and Water Features
Beneficial Pond Bacteria—A Waste of Money
Selecting the Right Pond Liner
Building Natural Ponds
If you are interested in natural ponds, why not join our special Facebook group, Building Natural Ponds? Please join the group at https://www./groups/1760349757565562/
References:
- Image of floating farms; Meindert van D
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Image Marijuana production using tilapia with permission of Green Relief Inc
- Image of flowers and vegetables growing aquaponically with permission of Green Relief Inc