It is never a boring day in the greenhouse. Working in the greenhouse can be fun at times, but it requires a lot of maintenance to keep it running.
A Battle with the Fish
One of my daily jobs is to feed the Tilapia fish. The bigger tanks need one cup of food. You have to be quick though if you don’t want to get a morning shower.
All the fish race up to the surface and water is splashed everywhere. You lift up the net and just dump all the food into the tank in one go. Then quickly step back to avoid the water. Make sure to always wear your worst when feeding the fish.
We also have to feed the baby Tilapia fish with just a pinch of fish food. If you hover your hand over the tank, the fish will instinctively swim to the surface to get the food.
Same goes for the bigger fish. The drawback of feeding the bigger fish is that sometimes the fish food spills outside the tank.
You would have to pick the food off the ground. We always make sure to keep the greenhouse floors clean.
Killing the Pests
A Green Aphid
Pests are the enemies of the greenhouse. They can do a lot of damage to plants by leaving holes. My job is to remove them, so the plants are in perfect condition for harvest day.
These pests come in the form of aphids. Small sap-sucking bugs that are hidden under a leaf. You’re lucky if there is only 1 or 3 of them on a leaf. The worst case scenario is that there is an infestation on the plant and it must be immediately removed.
Bok Choy that are grown in the NFT’s is more susceptible to an aphid infestation. There has been ongoing research on figuring out what is the best environment to grow Bok Choy.
If there are a few aphids, you can kill them by squeezing them with your fingers. Gloves are provided if you do not want to use your bare hands.
Aphids are not the only pests who wreak havoc on the innocent plants. Caterpillars and slugs like to snack on the leaves.
In order to control the level of pests, we spray the plants with a natural substance to kill the pests without damaging the plants. Another method is to introduce beneficial insects into the greenhouse to kill the pests for us like wasps and spiders.
Scrubbing, Scrubbing, and More Scrubbing
My least favorite thing to do in the greenhouse is scrubbing the equipment clean. The equipment gets dirty from the water and plant residue. We have to take a sponge and scrub the residue off.
The float beds and media beds get the most care due to having so much plant growth. The NFT’s are sometimes taken apart to be washed inside and outside. Clothes that you don’t normally wear are ideal for this job.
Fish tanks need a good scrub down as well. There is a magnet scrubber attached to the window to scrub the green algae off.
The rims of the fish tank are also scrubbed down. You stand on a stool, lift the net up, and scrub the rim.
Sometimes you have to scrub a little deeper into the water to get the residue off. Not too deep though or your hand might become fish food. It’s better to clean the rims when the fish are already fed.
A Wrap-Up
The day is not over yet. Make sure to pick up after yourself. For water spills, we use a vacuum to suck up all the water.
Sometimes leaves fall to the ground after pest control, so we take a broom to brush them off. We check the aisles of the float beds, media beds, and NFT’s for any leaves or stones that fell out.
The fish get fed again and we record that in the fish log. We have to take record of everything we do in the greenhouse, like harvesting or transplanting.
There is also an indoor Aquaponics system in the school that gets the same treatment as the greenhouse but on a low scale.
Working in a greenhouse can be rewarding, but it takes a lot of work to keep it running in perfect condition. We only need the best for our community.
Getting to Know Aquaponics 