Welcome to Zapco Aquaculture Oyster Gardening Supplies

To many, home gardening is simply planting a few tomatoes and cucumbers in the backyard. However for those that live around water there can be a  completely different meaning to gardening. In many parts of the US, locals have discovered the satisfaction of setting up oyster gardens to grow their own oysters and help to clean the water.

The oyster has had a rough century. The population of oysters have been decimated by disease, poor water quality and overfishing. Whether you are growing oysters to return to their natural habitat or to enjoy at a family barbecue, you are doing your part to restore the oyster population and filter the water.

Oysters are great natural filters.  In fact, did you know that a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day?

If farmed safely (that is, not from polluted areas), oysters will not only filter out the dead algae that once inhabited the water, they’ll also make the water cleaner for consumption.

Cultured oysters (that is, farmed oysters) are better. The technique alone allows for a more selective crop. Unlike their “bottom-raised” counterparts, the selection process begins in the hatchery and continues throughout the life of the oysters, culminating at harvest.  A cultured oyster grows faster than a bottom-raised oyster because it can take advantage of the greater food and oxygen supply in the upper levels of the water. That extra nutrition allows it to reach maturity before many harmful diseases and organisms can affect or destroy it.