Sunday, February 16, 2014

Construction of 8 Watt Earthan Beds


This video shows the construction of my Earthan Beds using an extremely quiet 8 Watt General Hydroponic Air Pump, and four individual air lift pumps.  Watering from below the dirt provides the perfect moisture with very little evaporation, and makes gardening easy.  The beds will remain moist for a long time even if you are away and the sump tank runs out of water.

The economy and dependability of the air lift pumps combined with recirculating water are so appropriate during this era of water, mineral, and energy shortages.

Earthan Beds provide the advantages of bioponics or aquaponics with real dirt where the soil web is allowed to flourish. 

Nutrients can be supplied by eco-friendly methods such as urine or weed teas.  5% of the natural gas we suck from the earth goes into making fertilizers.  Phosphorous is becoming harder to come by and some estimate our reserves will be exhausted within 50 years.  Urine contains amply amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and many other trace minerals.  Less than a century ago none of the nitrogen was supplied by petroleum. Instead microbes made nitrogen available to our plants. The aerated water circulating through rocks you see in these beds provide the perfect environment for nitrification.

Return to natural resources.  Grow your soil and your plants will take care of themselves,

3 comments:

  1. You never give an overview of what we're seeing and what's happening. You go through the individual parts but don't say what the whole thing does. Maybe tell us the purpose of this whole thing and where the water goes from/to. And where do the plants go? Do they grow in the rocks? I watched the whole thing and it seems to me that unless your an engineer or are able to crawl inside your head there's now knowing what this is supposed to do or how. Just food for thought. I don't think a layman will understand what this does or why. I certainly don't. But I appreciate your intention none the less!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Jacob. I have made other videos with detailed descriptions of Earthan Beds, air lift pumps, and Bioponics. It would have been a bit redundant and quite a long video to add much more. Please take a look at my Earthan Beds Playlist for more information.
      http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVPmWRXPcivGk6hnV4du8yB6zkYbALx89

      Delete
    2. Jacob this video shows some of my finished Earthan Beds.
      http://youtu.be/rk5fyLGifwg

      Delete