Hybrid Mode 01 2015
- Thread starter Hybrid Mode 01
- Start date
Yes, DYI "Do yourself It" Trend setting here. 
You mentioned going more organic with each year. What non-organic practices are you still finding helpful?
Watching with interest, best of luck with your season.
Watching with interest, best of luck with your season.
Robisburning said:
Other than using salt fertilizers on my lawn and the occasional application of insecticides on my seedlings and OWs during winter aphid outbreaks, I'm having a hard time thinking of anything I do that isn't organic. This season, I finally took the plunge and stopped using liquid Miracle-Groan on my seedlings. I think that was the last nail in the coffin full of inorganic practices. (Hence all the hoopla and own-horn-tootin' about that living soil I concocted to start seeds in.)
So, I guess the only non-organic practices I still employ are when I'm at the end of my rope, losing an indoor battle with aphids. After I plant out, I just provide habitat for beneficial insects and Ma Nature takes care of the rest!
Thanks for the wish of good luck! I guarantee this season will be a fun one to watch.
ikeepfish said:
Thanks! This is the first time I ever incubated soil. I always just figured microbes would start to grow in the pots after I planted. But it does make sense to try to convert nutrients (which may wash out of soil upon watering) into microbial cells which will tend to adhere to soil particles. Besides, growing soil gives me a chance to play in the dirt in the dead of winter so I'm not as anxious to start seeds too early! Definitely keep us posted in your glog (I know you will) on any experimenting you do with soil.
No hooks yet. I'm checking my flats about every three minutes, though. (That helps, right?)
Wohoo! I got some hooks! I'm still getting used to using a heating mat, so I've had some issues with under watering. I think this may be the reason it's taking so long for seeds to germ this season. Now that I'm keeping a better eye on it, seeds are starting to pop. I just hope I didn't lose any. We shall see...
The first seeds to hook were my CAP215s. The two seedlings that emerged were helmet heads, though, so I buried them and didn't take any pics. Next up was Cumari Pollux.
Next was a Fatalii x Red Savina cross I got from impending_bending.
Here is a Chocolate hab that just popped up yesterday. (Close but no cigar, Ryme!
)
Here's a Cheiro Roxa that's juuuuuuust about to show some cotyledons.
And I saved the weirdest one for last. I don't know what's going on here. This is a CGN21500 that appears to not have any cotyledons. The pic isn't all that good (par for the course, for me
), but it looks like its apical meristem is intact, it's just growing really slowly. This happened to a fatalii I grew last year. It just puttered along until it was outgrown by another seedling in the same pot and I culled it. Hopefully another one of the three seeds I planted sprouts.
That's all the green I got right now. Thanks for stopping by. I'll update more once things start to get interesting!
The first seeds to hook were my CAP215s. The two seedlings that emerged were helmet heads, though, so I buried them and didn't take any pics. Next up was Cumari Pollux.
Next was a Fatalii x Red Savina cross I got from impending_bending.
Here is a Chocolate hab that just popped up yesterday. (Close but no cigar, Ryme!
)
Here's a Cheiro Roxa that's juuuuuuust about to show some cotyledons.
And I saved the weirdest one for last. I don't know what's going on here. This is a CGN21500 that appears to not have any cotyledons. The pic isn't all that good (par for the course, for me
), but it looks like its apical meristem is intact, it's just growing really slowly. This happened to a fatalii I grew last year. It just puttered along until it was outgrown by another seedling in the same pot and I culled it. Hopefully another one of the three seeds I planted sprouts.
That's all the green I got right now. Thanks for stopping by. I'll update more once things start to get interesting!
You're up and rolling! 
Is that medium in the cups from the stuff you made? Looking good brother! This year I converted over to heating mats big time. Keeping em running 24/7 under my seedlings and are just diggin it. Getting explosive growth. Cheers Pal!
Is that medium in the cups from the stuff you made? Looking good brother! This year I converted over to heating mats big time. Keeping em running 24/7 under my seedlings and are just diggin it. Getting explosive growth. Cheers Pal!organic pepper said:You're up and rolling!
I hope things are rolling… I keep having visions of newly emerged radicles being desiccated and killed under the soil before the seeds had a chance to hook. Seeds are popping slowly, but the amount of time this is taking is making me think I may have to replant some varieties.
Yup, same soil. I just added a few more things to stretch it out and loosen it up a bit. So far, the sprouts I'm seeing look pretty happy. So far so good.
Do you have your heat mat on a thermostat? I have mine set to 83F and I'm surprised how seldom it has to fire up to maintain that temp.
I don't have them on a thermostat. Didn't have the extra cash for that at the time when I bought them. But, I had to shut off all heating to the room because of them.Hybrid Mode 01 said:
Hope you don't mind the pic on your glog.
These are at 35 days from hooking.
I read somewhere that nurseries run heating cables just for starts without using extra heating..Something about just keeping the soil at a certin temp and plants will survive ambient temps so long as soil temps are stable in the zone that they need. I'm looking at investigating that further next season but have to get a base on same plant stock verses soil temp with and w/o heating mats along with soil medium mixes.
Wow. It's been a while. It took me a while to find my glog on the fifth or sixth page back. But I finally have some stuff worth taking pictures of, so here goes...
A few months back I read in a post by CAPCOM that he had some authentic Mexican landrace serrano seeds. I f**king love serranos and asked if he could spare a couple. Being awesome and generous and eager to spread the love (typical THPer…) he offered to not only send me some of those, but also some authentic Mexican jalapeño seeds as well as seeds for three other unknown annuums, all from Mexico. I already had plans to increase the proportion of annuums I grow this season, so getting all of them in the dirt was a no-brainer.
I've been having some difficulties with germ rates this year, so I was pretty anxious to see hooks in my annuum pots that I planted about two weeks ago. Most of all though, I was really hoping I'd get a representative of each of the varieties CAPCOM sent. He was only able to spare a couple of each, so if these didn't pop, I knew that would be it for them this season. This brings us to yesterday...
This pic right here sums up what late February gardening is all about to me. Bright, lime-green cotyledons seeing their first glimpse of sunlight through nice, dark living soil in a sunny south-facing windowsill. I can't tell you all how happy I am to see these guys! This first one is one of the mystery seeds I got from CAPCOM.
Next up is one of the jalapeños I got from CAPCOM. One seedling and two hooks.
I was lucky enough to have enough seed to be able to plant two pots of those jalapeños. Here's the other. One cotyledon is a little damaged, but it doesn't seem to be slowing it down at all.
I still haven't figured out what's been keeping the seeds I planted in early January from germinating. I haven't seen a chinense or pubescens hook in weeks, but I think I ought to have enough to keep me happy. Here's a sampling of what I was able to grow.
BOC
Bradley's Bahamian Goat
Douglah
fatalii x Red Savina (impending_bending)
I also started forcing a few bulbs to make things look a little more Spring-y. Here's an amaryllis that I overwintered.
And here's one of three Easter lilies I started. I've never grown one before, so I'm not sure how long it'll be until I see a bloom. The meristem is starting to look like it might have a bud inside it, though.
That's about all I got for now. So far the only three annuums to pop are those shown above. (
THANK YOU, CAPCOM!!! ) Stay tuned, though. Hopefully I'll have a bunch more pics of annuum hooks in the coming days!
As always, thanks for stopping by el jardin del dasho dos! (or whoever…)
A few months back I read in a post by CAPCOM that he had some authentic Mexican landrace serrano seeds. I f**king love serranos and asked if he could spare a couple. Being awesome and generous and eager to spread the love (typical THPer…) he offered to not only send me some of those, but also some authentic Mexican jalapeño seeds as well as seeds for three other unknown annuums, all from Mexico. I already had plans to increase the proportion of annuums I grow this season, so getting all of them in the dirt was a no-brainer.
I've been having some difficulties with germ rates this year, so I was pretty anxious to see hooks in my annuum pots that I planted about two weeks ago. Most of all though, I was really hoping I'd get a representative of each of the varieties CAPCOM sent. He was only able to spare a couple of each, so if these didn't pop, I knew that would be it for them this season. This brings us to yesterday...
This pic right here sums up what late February gardening is all about to me. Bright, lime-green cotyledons seeing their first glimpse of sunlight through nice, dark living soil in a sunny south-facing windowsill. I can't tell you all how happy I am to see these guys! This first one is one of the mystery seeds I got from CAPCOM.
Next up is one of the jalapeños I got from CAPCOM. One seedling and two hooks.
I was lucky enough to have enough seed to be able to plant two pots of those jalapeños. Here's the other. One cotyledon is a little damaged, but it doesn't seem to be slowing it down at all.
I still haven't figured out what's been keeping the seeds I planted in early January from germinating. I haven't seen a chinense or pubescens hook in weeks, but I think I ought to have enough to keep me happy. Here's a sampling of what I was able to grow.
BOC
Bradley's Bahamian Goat
Douglah
fatalii x Red Savina (impending_bending)
I also started forcing a few bulbs to make things look a little more Spring-y. Here's an amaryllis that I overwintered.
And here's one of three Easter lilies I started. I've never grown one before, so I'm not sure how long it'll be until I see a bloom. The meristem is starting to look like it might have a bud inside it, though.
That's about all I got for now. So far the only three annuums to pop are those shown above. (
THANK YOU, CAPCOM!!! ) Stay tuned, though. Hopefully I'll have a bunch more pics of annuum hooks in the coming days!As always, thanks for stopping by el jardin del dasho dos! (or whoever…)
juanitos said:
Jamison said:
Thanks, guys. So far I'm pretty happy with that soil I mixed. (As long as it's not what's causing my low germ rates.) Having all the starting nutrients incorporated in the soil sure is a simpler set up than having to worry about when to add fertilizer and how much to apply the first time. They don't look over or under fertilized and all I have to do is add water when they get dry.
hottoddy said:
Thanks. I think that f x RS that I got from impending_bending is the only cross I'm growing, but I definitely want to get my hands on more for next season. Maybe I'll try a few of my own this summer.
tctenten said:
Yup. Those certainly seem to be the most promising of my annuum seeds so far. I wouldn't say they germed fast, but definitely way faster than my other seeds this year
. They're definitely healthy, viable seed.About a half hour after posting my last glog update yesterday I decided to check on my chinenses and pubes. Lo and behold, after weeks of zero action, I found another hook! This time it's a 7 pot Madballz caramel.
Maybe there's hope for more...
Scorched said:
Exploding is a good word for how things are going with my annuums right now. I just found a NuMex 6-4 sprout an hour ago.
I have two growing stations in my house. One is under eight 4' T8s, the other is in front a of a big south-facing window. Both are on heating mats. For whatever reason, I seem to be having better luck with the one by the window. I think I'm going to start experimenting with putting my more stubborn pots there and see if things change. I REALLY hope doing so convinces my giant orange Thais (for the growdown throwdown) to sprout!
Thanks for the kind words!
Nulle said:
I bought the amaryllis as a kit in 2013. After it bloomed last year, I fertilized it and gave it lots of indoor sun and as much water as it wanted until fall. It kept growing new leaves all summer and then started to slow down and senesce. I think it was back around Halloween that I cut all the old leaves off (most were completely abscised at this point) and stopped watering. I put it in the basement in the dark (45-50F) and let it sit for the recommended amount of time before I decided to wake it up. I soaked it with compost tea and put it on a heating mat next to my peppers in a really sunny area.
I wasn't aware that they won't bloom if they leaf out first. I never really paid much attention to how they sprout in years past (my mom always grows them). I can't speak for last year, but I know this time it had several leaves already up before there was any hint of life where that bud came out.
I'm thinking what might have happened is the bulb I had last year threw out a pup and that's the one blooming on the side. Maybe there won't be a flower out of the main meristem.
I'm not sure of the specific name of he lily. I'm pretty sure what we call Easter lilies here are some kind of Asiatic lily. Other than that, I'd be guessing. I have very little experience with bulbs (other than a few tasty alliums
). One thing I have learned, though, is that they REALLY like compost tea. That amaryllis bulb is about to bust out of its pot. The thing feels like a bowling ball in a pop can!edit: I just looked up Easter lilies in one of my gardening books. Lilium longiforum is the scientific name.
edit again: I think narcissus are what we call daffodils.