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maxcaps 2014 grow: avoiding the freeze!

Hello All,
 
New here, but feeling right at home. I figured I'd go ahead and get my glog started, though I may wait a few weeks yet before starting anything.
 
I'm pretty new, not totally new. I had a small grow last year, mostly in containers, bringing up plants that I hoped would make cool overwinter bonsai's (bonchi's). I ordered a handful of different varieties from http://fataliiseeds.net, all  95% of which sprouted nicely, though something must have gone wrong because many never grew true leaves. I think my house was too cold... I've moved now and now have an excellent heating system. I also kept the seeds by a window that I think got too drafty. 
 
I did have a handful of chinenses survive, including a wonderful Red Habanero from fataliiseeds, and some chiero roxa plants that produced a handful of tasty purple pods. I purchased some local Scotch Bonnett starts from a small scale nursery, and grew jalapeños and serrano starts from a local nursery. It's safe to say I am now addicted, as all these fire worked its way into my family's weekly diet. I have a 12'X8' plot begging for plants, and I may do some extra in containers...
 
Enough background. Here's the plan. As jalapeños (salsa, roasted, and canned) are not a staple, I want to grow a handful of varieties. The chinenses have amazing flavors, so I'm going to branch out with two or three new varieties (though sadly I did not save any scotch bonnet seeds from the last season... what is wrong with me?). Last year I tried some super hot varieties... none lived. I am going to try again! I actually ordered most of these seeds before stumbling upon this wonderful community. In any event, here is the lineup:
 
Chinenses:
 
Red Habanero (seeds kept and OW bonchi (thanks fatalii)
Chiero Roxa (seeds kept, may use OW bonchi, haven't decided)
Scotch Bonnett (forgot to keep seeds, but I can replant OW bonchi)
White Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should arrive soon...)
Chocolate Habanero (seeds from Pepper Joe, should also arrive soon)
Fatali (from pepperlover.com)
Big Sun Habernero (from pepperlover)
 
Superhot Chinenses:
 
Carolina Reaper (seeds from PuckerButt)
Naga Morich (seeds from PuckerButt)
Bhut Jolokia (seeds from PuckerButt)
Dorset Naga (seeds from PuckerButt)
7 pod (from pepperlover.com)
 
Other Superhot:
 
Tiepin (seeds from PuckerButt)
 
Annuums:
 
Poblanos (from Pepper Joe... growing to Acho's to use as powder base)
Giant Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Early Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Black Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Purple Jalapeño (from Pepper Joe)
Fresno Pepper (from Pepper Joe)
 
Wish I had found you guys sooner, I'd have added some douglah's to the list. I am also on the fence about adding a couple more chinense varieties. 
 
Also growing some companions. Planning on putting in a couple tomato plants, garlic, cilantro, and carrots (had a lot of luck with tasty fat purple carrots... atomic purple I think they were called)
 
Will post some picks of my OW bonchi's tomorrow, and start going into techniques. On the fence about coffee-filter germination versus sowing in a tray.
 
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Okey. Adam!  Now your ready to roll!  Good luck germinating
those babies.  Your set-up should be right on!
 
Devv said:
Can't wait to see the babies showing off their stuff!
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Neither can I! The wait is the hard part. I keep wanting to peak in but I only check once per day. Probably another day or two before I see anything.
 
PaulG said:
Okey. Adam!  Now your ready to roll!  Good luck germinating
those babies.  Your set-up should be right on!
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Thanks Paul! Hope so! It's a bit on the warm side I think but better to be too warm than too cold... don't think I'm gonna cook 'em.
 
HillBilly Jeff said:
I like your organization too.  Seems almost like work though... be careful with that lol
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Haha, just like to have all the data laid out. Work habit I think, luckily work is what I love, so everything is how it should be.
 
Thanks for stopping by! 
 
Hooks aren't up yet. That's okay, it's only been 4 days. High temp was just over 100 I think, low temp is 85°. I think the grow box stays around 95°. Very damp, haven't added any water or seen any mold.
Since we're in the LONG WAIT, I figured I'd upload some photos of the garden plots. Here is the view from the garden:
 

 
Hotlanta!
 
Here are some shots of my current plot at its height during the fall season. These were taken just after I took out the Chiero Roxas... the Red Hab is still in place. We had just moved into our apartment and I actually transplanted the pepper plants from my old house, hence the strange smattering of plants. I let them grow in the garden plot and got maybe half a pound of peppers. When it started getting cold I bonsai'd four of 'em. The red hab waited another couple weeks (had some ripening pods on it).
 
Also shown are kale, carrots, garlic, broccoli, and spinach. Was very unimpressed with the spinach overall... was very small in the pics.
 
Note I did not fertilize the plot during the fall season. Will be using compost and tomato tone before planting this spring.
 

 
The last, proud hab:
 

 
Mmm, veggies...
 

 
Here is the plot now... still making Kale. Broc was okay but a bit disappointing... big investment and small return. Spinach first batch was bitter but now it tastes okay. The plot is producing even after the POLAR VORTEX.
 

 
The whole community garden. The whole garden is on grass or over an abandoned apartment building foundation. I'm taking over a second bed this season:
 

 
On a sadder note, aphids re-appeared on one of the bonchis. I may have over-reacted. I took everything, OW's, Ficus Trees, everything, outside and drenched it in insecticidal soap. I wanted no risk of aphids find their way to the grow chamber beneath the OW shelf. Sadly it may have been too much... the bonchi's are showing a little damage on the leaves... tiny patches of the leaves are dying and there is a little leaf drop. Here are pics:
 

 

 
It's on the roxa's too but to a lesser extent. No more bugs, but it definitely hurt the plant. I may rinse the bonchi's tomorrow to get any soap residue off the leaves, but it definitely stressed the plants. Still, wanted no risk of aphids.
 
Note that the bonchi's only get water every couple of weeks... soil is dry before watering. I don't think I'm having watering issues, though I have wondered if the red hab got a little too much light up top... discoloration is tied to the leaves closest to the bulb.
 
Happy growing!
 
Spicegeist said:
Huh, so the beds are filled, but then just sit on concrete below?
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Indeed, most sit on concrete, some sit on old building foundation. Its cracked, some have some soil beneath them. It varies by bed. One of mine is over concrete for sure. It is adjacent to a larger organic farming operation, they get huge yields out of some of these beds.
 
They did last year. Bells and anaheims mostly. I think I'm the first person brining superhots into the garden.
 
Yeah, if I was building it, I would prefer more soil as well, but this is what's available. Could be why I'm not expecting my plants to get as big as you guys report... the raised beds may stunt them a little. But a couple of the beds produced some very tall, very productive bell's last year. I am hopeful.
 
Wow Adam... it looks like your community garden is only  a couple of blocks from Peach St... Looking at all that concrete and urban landscape you'll get plenty of sun and warmth in that location... good for the peppers and eggplants but if you only have a foot of soil in the raised bed on top of concrete I predict that moisture retention and high soil pH are going to be some of your biggest problems. Chemically speaking, concrete is man-made limestone, and you'll probably want to keep an eye on your soil pH because of its close proximity to your plants roots. There's not that much reserve capacity of tannic and humic acid in the organic portion of that much soil, so be ready to buffer as needed.  The same is true for the soil moisture. A foot of soil can only retain so much water, so you'll have to mulch like crazy to hang onto as much as possible. If you can get pine needle mulch you can kill two birds with one stone. Before you transplant your babies to the raised beds make sure you prep well with a base dressing of compost, green sand and a balanced organic fertilizer like tomato tone. You'll probably need to add more nutes by side-dressing at blossom-set and again when you begin to harvest, but don't add much more Nitrogen or it'll interfere with podding up.
 
Very nice fall planting, especially those peas.
Pretty set-up. The bed with concrete could be used for shallow rooted greens and things, maybe onions, if you can keep it in water. Heap it way up with compost and mulch, or double the height with more lumber if you can.
 
Thanks guys. Rick, I'll follow your advice as best I can. It's about 20" of soil, and it stayed plenty damp last year (actually draining raised beds can be a problem around here), but I was planning a bunch of mulching anyway.
I even have a good pine needle supply.

I was wrong. It's asphalt, not concrete, which shouldn't lead to the same ph problems. I'll do a test before I start the prep either way. Cracked and old, but yeah I think asphalt.

How much tomato tone do you end up using? Something like half a cup per plant, then add more at fruit set an harvest? Do you side dress compost at the same time you add the nutes? What do you think about fish emulsion? Too much nitrogen?

Thanks for all the feedback! Plant out is a long way off but it's good to get a plan together.
 
True... asphalt shouldn't change the pH as much as the concrete, but it's still a petroleum distillate. If it was me, I'd want to be removing it.
 
I don't have a bag of Tomato Tone on hand, but there are good directions printed on the bag for both base dressing and side dressing. You can't add too much compost, so I'd say go ahead and lay it down whenever you want. You can't harm your plants with it and it's excellent food for them.
 
When prepping the site of a raised bed on concrete or asphalt, some people take a rental jackhammer and drill drainage holes down to the soil underneath and lay down landscaping fabric before filling the raised bed with soil so none of the soil goes down the holes. If that wasn't done for your raised beds you can still bore some fairly large holes in the sides of the raised beds and place stones or pottery shards next to them to keep the soil in and let the water out.
 
those are some nice raise beds...and loving the kales.... i love them i specifically bought a blender just to make smoothies out of them...i should grow them also lol...are they good with clay soil since my groun soil is kinda clayish
 
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