Outdoor pod breeding station.

atoll

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Following on from my thread on how to breed pods outdoors during the summer months I thought I would make a pod breeding station.

I bought 2 x 3000 lengths of decking. The 3x2 for the legs I already had.
The clear 35ltr poly boxes with handles and lids I bought from ASDA, your Walmart for £8. UK Z pounds. The Screws I already had.

Simple cross frame construction with 3 of the lower cross pieces supporting the boxes. The lids I can use in winter should I decided as they are also clear.

She who.must be obeyed had been onto me to tidy that area up. Shes pleased now ..... for the time being.

20220610_143605.jpg
 

Eagle_Steve

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I used to do this large scale with tisbe and tiger pods. I used 55 gallon plastic drums and 60% light reduction netting over an old soft carport frame. Worked very well. Stir them every so often, feed phyto I was already making and then sell them to a company that sold pods on a larger scale. Surprisingly, evap and rain mix kept salinity pretty stable. Occasionally I would have to top off the barrels, but not that often.

You setup looks much nicer than mine did with barrels on the ground. Hats off to ya for making it look good.
 
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atoll

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Here you go dear, I’ve made a little Shelfy thing to hide all the gardening stuff. Oh, hang on a minute, would you believe it’s actually exactly the right size for these plastic containers I’ve bought, lol.
Na I was under order and the previous flimsy plastic box was starting to break up after z few years use. The order was tidy it up. There ya goooooo dear.
20220610_143605.jpg
I missed the other link. :(

Could we get a top down?
 

LeftyReefer

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Is there a reason to keep two separate cultures/containers going? or are you just doubling your production by having two containers?
 
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atoll

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Is there a reason to keep two separate cultures/containers going? or are you just doubling your production by having two containers?
The larger single container was quite flexible with a lot of water and after a few years it was becoming brittle. It was breaking up so I bought 2 smaller ones which together hold 1.5 x as much. I will hopefully be able to produce more pods and alternate harvesting. Between them, resting one to recover while harvesting from the other.
 

Biokabe

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Cool idea, question for you:

Your climate over there in the UK is pretty similar to what we have in my little slice of the country. Do you heat this so you can keep it outside during the winter, or do you have to relocate inside when temperatures drop?
 

Wasabiroot

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Despite there being virtually no way for cross contamination to ever happen, I would still be paranoid about having those yard chemicals by my culture.

Super cool station though. There's no substitute for the effects of live phyto
 
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atoll

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Cool idea, question for you:

Your climate over there in the UK is pretty similar to what we have in my little slice of the country. Do you heat this so you can keep it outside during the winter, or do you have to relocate inside when temperatures drop?
Stays out 52 weeks of the year. It might freeze over no.problem. when the warm weather comes the pods burst into life. Eggs stay on the bottom and hatch when it warms up. I guess if you put a heater in you would have pods all year round.
 
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atoll

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Despite there being virtually no way for cross contamination to ever happen, I would still be paranoid about having those yard chemicals by my culture.

Super cool station though. There's no substitute for the effects of live phyto
The chemicals are only there till Monday as a storage box is coming to house them.
 

Ocean Blue

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I came across your genius posts about this earlier in the week and I’m hoping to get it set up and started today. Fingers crossed the weather stays good here in the west mids.
Would you still recommend banana peel to get it started?
I’m still a little unsure on the evaporation part. Do you fill the tub right to the top with saltwater so that when it rains it tops up what’s needed and the rest overflows?
Thank you for sharing and would love any feedback!
 

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I'm curious about the banana peel that you advise to add in. Do you take it out after the water turns green or let it decompose in the bin? Do you think it would work in slightly colder climates? (I'm in eastern Canada, summers can get up to 30 degrees C but not usually more than 25C, and we have a lot of cooler days around 16-20C in the summer)
 

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