Any growers in KS?

[WichitaChief]

Hey Kansas growers!! Is it just me or does this beautiful weather make you feel like it will be a gamble when to start/set out our plants this year? Yesterday it was 76 (or so) here in Wichita!! Whaaaaat? I plan on sticking to my normal schedule and weather be dammed. Today I will be putting my super hot seeds in soil after an overnight soak yesterday. Once again I over did it. I have 7 varieties going in:

1. Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
2. Peach Bhut Jolokia
3.  7 Pot Primo Yellow
4. Caramel Moruga
5. Carolina Reaper
6. Chocolate Moruga Scorpion
7. Don's Surprise

 
I love using the peach varieties, fresh and dried and they produce well for me. The caramel tasted good last year (and I had seeds leftover). I like adding in a yellow variety and decided to try the primo even though the red primos have not done much for me ever. I like a brown or chocolate dried to add to chili and salsa and to add in to bbq rubs and bbq sauce we make. Not for the faint of heart eaters. Reapers are market driven for selling. They have name recognition and that's usually what people who call ask for. I'll put a plant or two in just for friends who ask for a pod or so. Don's surprise? Well those are seeds from the bottom of the dehydrator. I don't know if the dehydrating process hurts them by drying them too much (I use low heat setting so heat shouldn't have been excessive). Will there be some weird King Arthur crossed with reaper or caramel crossed with a shishito mix? Who knows. I just thought planting a dozen would be fun and I'll see if any my regulars what to buy any to join the experiment.  I'll still wait another 3 weeks to start my sweet peppers and salad tomatoes
 

 

[Spicymon]

... I love using the peach varieties, fresh and dried and they produce well for me. 
 
 
...Will there be some weird King Arthur crossed with reaper or caramel crossed with a shishito mix? Who knows.

 
The second generation of your peach bhut broke through the soil overnight last night, excited to have it in the main bed this year!
 
Wouldn't that be something... pepper roulette as found in the shishitos but on a SuperHot heat level... oh boy  
 
My 2016 year begins...
 

 

[WichitaChief]

 
My 2016 year begins...

I can't wait! I should be seeing those in a week or so. What are you growing?

 

[Spicymon]

I can't wait! I should be seeing those in a week or so. What are you growing?

I have toned down the heat a bit and also the quantity of starters this year...

MOA Red and Yellow Scotch Bonnets, Mystery Scotch Bonnet from Wmike, SBJ7, Red Fatalii, Peach Bhut Jolokia, Cayenne (going to try some fermentation this year), and Shishito...

Every single seed I am using this year has the possibility of having been crossed the previous year due to the grow proximity of my beds and others beds that I obtained the seeds from, should be an interesting year!

 

[GhostPepperz]

Hey Kansas growers!! Is it just me or does this beautiful weather make you feel like it will be a gamble when to start/set out our plants this year? Yesterday it was 76 (or so) here in Wichita!! Whaaaaat? I plan on sticking to my normal schedule and weather be dammed. Today I will be putting my super hot seeds in soil after an overnight soak yesterday. Once again I over did it. I have 7 varieties going in:

1. Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
2. Peach Bhut Jolokia
3.  7 Pot Primo Yellow
4. Caramel Moruga
5. Carolina Reaper
6. Chocolate Moruga Scorpion
7. Don's Surprise

 
I love using the peach varieties, fresh and dried and they produce well for me. The caramel tasted good last year (and I had seeds leftover). I like adding in a yellow variety and decided to try the primo even though the red primos have not done much for me ever. I like a brown or chocolate dried to add to chili and salsa and to add in to bbq rubs and bbq sauce we make. Not for the faint of heart eaters. Reapers are market driven for selling. They have name recognition and that's usually what people who call ask for. I'll put a plant or two in just for friends who ask for a pod or so. Don's surprise? Well those are seeds from the bottom of the dehydrator. I don't know if the dehydrating process hurts them by drying them too much (I use low heat setting so heat shouldn't have been excessive). Will there be some weird King Arthur crossed with reaper or caramel crossed with a shishito mix? Who knows. I just thought planting a dozen would be fun and I'll see if any my regulars what to buy any to join the experiment.  I'll still wait another 3 weeks to start my sweet peppers and salad tomatoes
 

 
 
Love your enthusiasm, I am up in KC and those couple days we had in the 70s you are talking about got me going nuts. I started some seeds over a week ago, and had good luck with them sprouting very quickly (wasnt expecting it so soon).  While they were germinating I have been reading up on here about grow lights and set ups to get them ready before they are transplanted outside (which I should have done months ago). I still dont have a light yet for my containers with the plants. I have been putting them outside during the day as an only option. Wont be able to do that this week.
 
They have sprouted quickly, but the two leaves on them are not as green as they should be. We have some cold weather coming, but not like we normally see. Trees and plants/bulbs have been sprouting up the past few days. We had above average rainfall last fall and in December so the trees and plants are well watered for spring.  
 
My main focus this year is 7 pot, Bhut Jolokia, and some hot thai.  Thai peppers because I want to get a wok and get good with stir fry cooking.  I also planted some jigsaw peppers among others. I still have more seeds to plant, but will wait till April 15th or so because they are going straight into the ground. 

 

[GhostPepperz]

Wait...I just re-read your post Wichita and you are putting seeds in soil NOW? 

 

[robbyjoe01]

All my babies will b inside with me till March 25-27. Flowers sowed on the 15 - 17. Herbs during both those times.

 

[Spicymon]

 
While they were germinating I have been reading up on here about grow lights and set ups to get them ready before they are transplanted outside (which I should have done months ago). I still dont have a light yet for my containers with the plants. I have been putting them outside during the day as an only option. Wont be able to do that this week.

 
Get yourself a 4 ft. T8 shop light from home depot or a similar retailer, use a daytime bulb such as the Philips Daytime Deluxe.  A 2 bulb fixture with bulbs should not run you more than $30-$35 bucks or $65-$75 for a 4 bulb fixture including bulbs.  Keep the light several inches above the tops of your plants, adjusting according to what your observing on the leaves. Your peppers will thank you immensely.  You will be hard pressed to get those SuperHots in good shape by plant out relying on just window light unless we have a hell of a warm/sunny spring! Anything is possible in KS however...   
 
 

Wait...I just re-read your post Wichita and you are putting seeds in soil NOW? 

 
Not to speak for him but I know he does starter trays so I think he meant "in soil" as in the soil in the starter trays.
 
 

All my babies will b inside with me till March 25-27. Flowers sowed on the 15 - 17. Herbs during both those times.

 
Mine didn't get outside to start hardening off till late April last year, definitely hoping for a steadier April-May this season. Plants took a few bad shocks to start the season last year and after babying those things for months it was hard to watch at times     
 
 
Good luck on start-up and spouting everyone! 

 

[robbyjoe01]

The hardening off process seems to be my most stress. March through April is everything from strong winds to hail storms. I don't coddle seedlings during the germination process (only the strong survive) but around March I'll move heaven and earth lugging plants back and forth, inside outside. If it's 50 and sunny my babbie are gonna be outside even if it's only an hour or so. This year I got better than 80 percent germinated and was able to close the germination tank down today. All my sowing now will be direct seeding outside. Moving the last peppers out I manage to mix my white bubblegum peppers with pink habaneros and aji dulce margariteno(sweet peppers) lol. So far my favorite (if you can call a seedling a favorite) is my pimenta de neyde pepper. It's got a purple stem. Hope it will be another bird pepper that I like.

I too hope everyone is having a great startup. Looks like a long growing season again

 

[WichitaChief]

Yes soil in starter trays. They should pop any day now. I have warmer mats under them to keep their temp up till they come up as they are in my garage which is kept at around 55 deg. I like the 6 tube T8's from HD. They were $89 but you need to add a cord and plug. They put out the light. T8 bulbs I buy are much cheaper than T5's without giving up too much lumens. I have 0 luck doing the outside/inside routine with young plants. Once out. They stay out. Unless a frost pops. Otherwise I'm now breeding aphids. Not the best process I know but that's my luck. I noticed my over wintered shishito (thx Spicy!) has some green growth coming out! Woot woot! So out of 7 overwintered plants 4 months later I have 3 emerging. My other 4 better do something soon! Geez! Why bother.

 

[Spicymon]

... I manage to mix my white bubblegum peppers with pink habaneros...

 
You gotta take a picture of those bad boys when they drop! 
 

Otherwise I'm now breeding aphids...  ... I noticed my over wintered shishito (thx Spicy!) has some green growth coming out! Woot woot!

 
It was gnats for me last year, first time in a long time that I had a problem but that shitty plant out month had me scrambling inside and out. With the excessive rain that was falling the soil would get wet during the day then I would have to bring them inside at night.  Wonderful breeding conditions...    At one point I think I was catching 100 gnats a day on sticky strips above my plants while attempting remedies.  
 
I hope your over-wintered shishito turns into a giant this year, will be excited to hear how it progresses! Every single seed I sowed from your Peach Bhut (or Peach Butt as my wife likes to call it) sprouted, actually going to have to thin them out! Excited to grow that one for the first time.
 
My early years I was all about letting them get the living crap kicked out of them in order to 'ready them' but about 4 seasons ago I loss damn near every plant when a May night forecast of a 43 degree low with a 5 mph wind turned into a sub freezing frost and a 30mph north wind overnight.   2/3rds of the gallon pots I had just blew over and rolled back forth chewing up the leaves and spilling the soil out exposing the roots to the frost.  That is when this guy got 'soft' for his plants.    I was absolutely gutted, people on this board probably know the feeling. It is a sight I never wanted to wake up to again, that is why my plants are never outside during hardening off without being in their buckets (containers) now.  
 
 

 

[robbyjoe01]

Tom I feel for you on the overwintered plants. Been a couple of seasons since I wanted to do that(more pain for what it's worth). And Don I don't take pic's hardly ever much less seedlings. Plant porn just never caught on with me. Now a pic of my red Greek poppies or my Easter Lillie's that's another story. Maybe this week I'll snap some shots(not much to look at yet). I do have my one potted tulip just breaking the soil surface.

 

[robbyjoe01]

Took pics. Got'em on photo bucket. Now playing hell get'em further. I hate technology.

 

[WichitaChief]

Damn. It's not spring yet but I'm already tired. In the last couple of weeks the unseasonably warm weather has given us the opportunity to do some work out in the garden. A week ago we hauled a small trailer load of aged cow manure and tilled it into our front bed we've been trying to bring along. I used to have a privacy hedge there but it got old and huge and thin and branchy. We pulled it out a few years back and have worked with it but the neighbors trees always shaded it and the soil needed to have organic material worked into it. We left it be for a few years. Our neighbors moved and the new owners cut all of the trees down for some reason. So now the front bed has an abundance of sun. We snoozed on hauling manure last fall so we thought we'd get some worked in while it was nice. Last weekend we hauled another load and carted it out back to our main bed. We need a lot more for it but our old bodies say ENOUGH! I'm figuring 120 days from any kind of harvest so the manure added in should be ok by then. Strangely cows like to lick my truck. No no salt on it.
I managed to get some blood meal worked in to my garlic rows and the mulch evened out on it. I ran the irrigation on it as the stalks are a 2-4" tall.
My superhots are finally starting to poke their heads up. There were approx 3 dozen up when I watered them earlier this evening. I better get my sweets ordered ASAP!
And we sent off a soil sample. We've never had it checked. It always grows good but what the hey. We'll probably learn something.

 

[Spicymon]

Plant porn just never caught on with me.

 
Hello everyone. My name is Tom, and I am here because I am a plant porn addict. 
 
 

I managed to get some blood meal worked in to my garlic rows and the mulch evened out on it. I ran the irrigation on it as the stalks are a 2-4" tall.
My superhots are finally starting to poke their heads up. There were approx 3 dozen up when I watered them earlier this evening. I better get my sweets ordered ASAP!
And we sent off a soil sample. We've never had it checked. It always grows good but what the hey. We'll probably learn something.

 
Good to hear an update from ya! Not sure how it affected your view but glad to hear you'll have even more sun to your bed now sans the trees. 
My garlic has gone bunkers too with the weather, my scapes are anywhere from 4"-8" tall already... makes me nervous but damn if it doesn't look like warm temperatures and some moisture through the extended forecast.  Have not added anything to to the garlic bed in 2 years as last time I added some compost and manure I think I got the soil a little 'hot' so I left it alone last year.  Blood meal is a recommended thing for garlic beds? Might have to put some down either this year or next.  What varieties of garlic are you doing? I ended up going with all hardnecks this year, I have German White, Tuscan, and Belarus.
 
Was the soil sample taken directly from your pre-existing pepper bed soil or from un-turned up soil in your yard?
 
I actually had such good germination and strong sprouts this year that I thinned them down to single sprouts per tray cup last night.  I also sowed the Shishito seeds this past weekend (they are hanging out under that awesome toothpick and plastic wrap tent in the background) Cannot wait to have those back as a side dish to our summer meals...
 

 

[WichitaChief]

 
Good to hear an update from ya! Not sure how it affected your view but glad to hear you'll have even more sun to your bed now sans the trees. 

 
Not much change in view. They have some redbuds which don't block much sun but provide some privacy.
 

 
 Blood meal is a recommended thing for garlic beds?

 
Use it in spring before the stalks get over 12" or so. So get it on now. Bloodmeal is 16-0-0 or so which is what the garlic wants now. Grow big stalks and get big bulbs. I was pissed with the small bulbs last year from whatever I planted. Music, German red or Metechi. This year I bought approx 60 bulbs of Leningrad. Big hot bulbs. 

 
Was the soil sample taken directly from your pre-existing pepper bed soil or from un-turned up soil in your yard?

 
From my pepper bed. The garden my dad started approx 40 years ago. I've amended it with organic matter like grass clippings, shredded newspaper, leaves, and the straw I mulch with. My dad, and now I, grow green cover crops in the fall/winter to till in in the spring. My fireplace ashes go in there along with limbs and brush I burn in the fall. I've added manure in the past but hauling it from out front to out back means that doesn't happen often. LOL. Of course compost and all the coffee grounds I can haul out of Starbucks. My soil still has that clay feel to it but it is tons better than when it was started. Our extension office lets you drop off the sample and $20 and I believe they send it up to K State for analysis. I've spent tons more for tons less possibilities. I can't wait.
 

 
I also sowed the Shishito seeds this past weekend

 
I was instructed that I WOULD BE putting in a full row of Shishito. (15-18 plants). Damn you Spicy. We're hooked on those little salt transference systems! Do they start & germinate slow like superhots or rapid like a jap or bell pepper? I was going to wait a couple of weeks before I start mine.
 
Last count 56 up when watering earlier. Sweets ordered last night. Spicy you guys look good! Up for a swap this year?

 

[Spicymon]

This year I bought approx 60 bulbs of Leningrad. Big hot bulbs...
 
... I was instructed that I WOULD BE putting in a full row of Shishito. (15-18 plants). Damn you Spicy. We're hooked on those little salt transference systems! Do they start & germinate slow like superhots or rapid like a jap or bell pepper? I was going to wait a couple of weeks before I start mine.
 
Last count 56 up when watering earlier. Sweets ordered last night. Spicy you guys look good! Up for a swap this year?

 
I love growing garlic almost as much as I love growing peppers.  Phrases like 'Big hot bulbs...' make me very ready for summer harvest.    Sounds like you're going to have a  load of garlic too! I planted roughly 36 cloves total but have them in one of my nice raised beds this year.  Last year I put half of them in one of my raised beds and took the other half and just stuck them in the ground next to the bed... that turned out to be a great demonstration of what good soil does for you.  It was like comparing a baseball to a golf ball.       
 
This year's Shishito seeds popped after only 6 days and I do not pre-soak.   They will be on the more rapid side like your other annuums.  Last year mine definitely grew straight up before they grew out at all.  They can get top heavy easily especially if the weather favors early flower production.  Mine were setting pods before I was even done hardening them off.  When I met up with you last year they were in that slightly top heavy state but they toughened up quick when hardening off.  With that being said my circulation of air over the plants this year is much better than with last year's setup. I happened to come across a natural grocery store in town that was selling Shishitos and I just couldn't resist. They really just cant hold a candle compared to those grown out back.  Texture wasn't as good, bitter taste... ugh  Think I will pass on those again and wait for my first crop.
 
I transplanted out of the starter trays last night and into drilled 16 oz cups. Did it a little earlier then I was planning too because I was having some trouble with the soaker mats.  I am using a mix of soil this year that more resembles my existing soil in the beds instead of the high end potting mixes I have gotten into in the last year or two.  I think i had gotten my soil so good for the first few months while in containers that when I transplanted them to the beds it caused a much longer adjustment period than my early days of just using super basic soil/sand/peat mixes... might be all in the my head though       
 
Still cannot believe this weather. Go figure!  Start early and the weather sucks, start late and the weather is gorgeous!
 
Always up for a swap or at least a meetup.  My crop is small this year.  The complete gut and rebuild of the kitchen has turned the normally spacious spare bedroom into a construction zone of tools and materials so I was only able to clear enough room to have one light setup going this year. I know...   I actually narrowed it down to only 18 plants total when transplanting last night.  It will be an intimate grow year for sure, maybe I'll name them.    The only ones you may not have growing are MOA Yellow Scotch Bonnet, MOA Red Scotch Bonnet, and Red Fatalii.

 

[GhostPepperz]

Hey guys did you see next weeks forecast? Going to hit sunshine and 80 degrees. Next week I am planting my outside plants. The ones that made it indoor from a few weeks ago will enjoy some excellent sprouting weather finally. Its pretty clear winter is over. We may have some cold snaps, but the pattern the past few weeks and what is coming looks good. Plus we just got rain up here today after being dry for a while. 
 
I am sure Wichita and south of me will all be wearing shorts. This is exciting for us up here this early. South Florida must be a really fun place to grow.

 

[robbyjoe01]

Love this weather. Just got a much needed rain yesterday. Today I'll have the final garden done and ready to go. Been hardening off babies from Jan and Feb. Theyll be put out on the 25th of this month. Got a few March babies that should be ready and hardened off for early April. What a warm winter and early spring( got me moving a month ahead).

 

[WichitaChief]

I'm afraid you are probably right. I'm afraid I'll be terribly late this year as it's shaping up. Go figure. I usually like to watch the soil temp and once it consistently stays 55 deg or better I feel ok setting out. I'm sure this year will be super early.