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If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.
My adopted babies
- Thread starter crazy8
- Start date
Thank you all. Yeah I sure hope this season ends up being so great that it makes up for my losses last season. A lot of that was on my part though. The plants were way to little and it was still April if I recall. I lost most of them due to my dads watering system which over watered my plants and ended up burying them in mud. What I have now is nice healthy HUGE plants (in comparison to last year) that have been getting sun light instead of fluro light since they were we seedlings. I think from now on since I have a great window to get stuff started in I may not grow anything under lights anymore...lol I think since I have had the plants getting real sunlight for almost their entire lives, has played a huge part in the success so far. Not to mention the use of the fish emulsion and stuff. I cannot wait to get these babies outside and watch them take off. Amazingly I dont have a fan on them and never did, yet their stocks seem to be pretty good. However I may get a small fan on them just to see if I cant strengthen them up a little so they stand a chance once they get outside.
Well I have not done anything as far as a fan goes and over all I think the plants will be fine now that I have looked at the closer. Anyway I have been rotating my plants everyday for the past few days and I am going to continue to do so. Not sure if this will help in any kind of "trunk strengthening" but it will at least keeps the plants from leaning in one direction for to long. I have also noticed the leaves colors are a nice dark green and that the leaves seem to just be getting huge. Im thinking I have some very healthy strong plants this year and cant wait to see what they will yield for me. Im thinking of digging the garden in my yard and filling it with compost either May 7th or 14th. If I had it my way and finances are available Id like to see it happen on the 7th. 
We have decided right now to hold off on building a raised bed right now so I am digging a 12' long X 4' wide X 6" deep bed and once we take out the dirt then replace it with good compost from the county compost yard.
Ill be sure to keep you all posted and I will keep the pictures coming as the progress continues.
We have decided right now to hold off on building a raised bed right now so I am digging a 12' long X 4' wide X 6" deep bed and once we take out the dirt then replace it with good compost from the county compost yard.
Ill be sure to keep you all posted and I will keep the pictures coming as the progress continues.
When you check the stems how do you do it? I usually grab the stem at the middle point and using two fingers and thumb I see how much effort it takes to bend the stem. The ones in the back that the fan wasn't effecting were pretty soft and pliable and I could almost bend them in two. I'm switching them up now so every plants gets time with the fan. Only takes a couple of hours over a couple of days for the fan to work its magic.
Looking forward to watching your progress Crazy and best of luck to you.
Looking forward to watching your progress Crazy and best of luck to you.
Well I don't know if me rotating the plants will make the stems stronger since it requires the plants to bend themselves towards the sun coming through the window or not. Im assuming it would at least a little. Anyway all of my "tests" for strong stems have been purely visual. Right now they look thick (proportional for their size), there are many huge leaves on the plant and the stem is supporting it all without any issues. But yes if you have the plants share some fan time they all should strengthen up nicely. I don't know how you do it but in the past I would have a fan plugged into my timer with my lights and that way it seems even more like a day/night cycle (to me anyway). The fan would come one with the lights and then turn off with the lights. Almost like breezy sunny days and calm nights...lol
Hopefully this helps in some way and answered your question.
Hopefully this helps in some way and answered your question.
Downriver
Extreme Member
Hey Crazy,
I was taught to mix your compost into EXISTING soil. You want to keep your earthworms, beneficial bacteria, etc that's already present in your soil. So, if it was me, I'd break up the bed and leave the dirt in, add the same amount of compost on top then till it in. That will double your depth of soil, with 6 inches of "raised" bed. Beds don't have to have a border around them to make them raised. Just "mound" the soil up.
Plants are lookin good. I see a great season ahead for you!
Yeah after something I did decide that I would just get maybe half the amount of compost or a bit more, to save a little money, and just pile it on top of the soil and mix it in. That would also give me some extra to make some raised rows for some of the vegetables we want to plant also. Im also going to test the Ph just to make sure everything is on par there too. Thanks for the advice and compliment. Im very excited to see what this season brings. Just last night I was showing my wife one of my plants at how big it was and saying "Oh man I cant wait for these to start flowering...lol Shes not nearly as excited as me.
Thanks for the advice and compliment. Im very excited to see what this season brings. Just last night I was showing my wife one of my plants at how big it was and saying "Oh man I cant wait for these to start flowering...lol Shes not nearly as excited as me. 
Well Muskymojo I did look VERY closely at my plants and saw no buds. 
However there might be a little hope. I did notice on one plant that there were VERY VERY tiny....somethings, starting to grow just from where the stem of the leaves connect to the main stem of the plant. Not sure if it is or will be anything but I did find it interesting. Other then that I got nothing so far.
However there might be a little hope. I did notice on one plant that there were VERY VERY tiny....somethings, starting to grow just from where the stem of the leaves connect to the main stem of the plant. Not sure if it is or will be anything but I did find it interesting. Other then that I got nothing so far.A visual check on the stems won't tell you much I'm afraid. When I started growing peppers I didn't use anything to stimulate the plants, just water and nutes. When I went to pot them up the stems looked fine and they were all standing tall. When I went to pot up I learned different. As I picked up a cup and brought it towards me the plant almost bent in half, from just the little air pressure of moving it. When I checked the rest of them I could blow them over with a breath, they were that flimsy. It only takes a second to check and it will save you all kinds of time later by not having to stake every plant.
Not being bossy, just passing on some of my own experience.
Not being bossy, just passing on some of my own experience.
...and their leaves.
The second set of plants on the bottom
...and their leaves.
Man these plants are looking AMAZING. I am very pleased with the results this year and can not wait to get them outside. I thought about digging up the garden this coming weekend on the 7th but I am starting to wonder if I should hold of one more week considering tomorrow we are still going to get frost it looks like and don't want to take any chances of maybe a frost next week with how crazy Minnesota weather has been lately. Anyway I hope you all enjoy the pictures.
The second set of plants on the bottom
...and their leaves.
Man these plants are looking AMAZING. I am very pleased with the results this year and can not wait to get them outside. I thought about digging up the garden this coming weekend on the 7th but I am starting to wonder if I should hold of one more week considering tomorrow we are still going to get frost it looks like and don't want to take any chances of maybe a frost next week with how crazy Minnesota weather has been lately. Anyway I hope you all enjoy the pictures.
Well I was so busy this weekend that I don't have pics for you all today. I alone (wife was working and both kids at their fathers) dug up a 12'x4' vegetable garden and a 12'x6' garden just for the peppers. Then my sister in-law's husband and I went to go get some AWESOME looking compost from the local county pile and hooked up with one cubic yard for $8. The compost is about 80%-85% broken down and BLACK. I did some tests on it and the nitrogen levels are high and about a 7-7.5ph. What I ended up doing was cutting out the size of both gardens and then cutting little strips to be flipped upside down. So I flipped the grass so the dirt was facing up. This way I didn't have to get rid of anything and the grass will decompose back into the soil. Then we got the compost and piled it on top. Now I am waiting for a dry day to plant the vegetable seeds which based on what I got and the directions, can all go out now and then I am going to wait about 2 weeks to put my plants in the ground.
I also had my plants outside enjoying the weather all weekend with me and they look very happy. However this morning it was raining and some of them were bent over (not broken) from being under the eve and the big water drops hitting them. I have brought them indoors now and Im sure they will recover fine. I will be sure to get some pics up tomorrow for you all.
I also had my plants outside enjoying the weather all weekend with me and they look very happy. However this morning it was raining and some of them were bent over (not broken) from being under the eve and the big water drops hitting them. I have brought them indoors now and Im sure they will recover fine. I will be sure to get some pics up tomorrow for you all.
That is some nice compost, but I've always mixed it into existing soil or added something to it. I've never tried growing in straight compost, so I don't know if it's a good or bad thing.
They also sell black dirt at the same place, as well as a mix of compost, black dirt, and sand. I think they call it "garden blend" or something close.
I'm also breaking new ground for a garden this week. My plan is to till the compost into the existing soil and adding aged horse manure to it as well.
Hopefully someone else will chime in with some advice.
They also sell black dirt at the same place, as well as a mix of compost, black dirt, and sand. I think they call it "garden blend" or something close.
I'm also breaking new ground for a garden this week. My plan is to till the compost into the existing soil and adding aged horse manure to it as well.
Hopefully someone else will chime in with some advice.
Well the reason I didn't mix it is because the dirt that was available was flipped up to the top side and all compact into the sod roots and stuff. Yeah Im not sure if its a good idea or bad idea to grow right into the compost or not even though it doesn't seem like it would be to much of an issue. Maybe I should get a 1/2yrd of black dirt or something to mix in it?
WEEK 9
Well here is what the crop looks like. I was also assessing the damage done by the storm and now I am wondering if I had/have something eating my plants that up till now looked amazing. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We do have deer and critters but not sure if that would have cause this kind of damage since they cant put holes in the middle of the leaf. Im thinking some kind of bug.
Here is a nice group shot
A little different view.
Now the damage.
Well here is what the crop looks like. I was also assessing the damage done by the storm and now I am wondering if I had/have something eating my plants that up till now looked amazing. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. We do have deer and critters but not sure if that would have cause this kind of damage since they cant put holes in the middle of the leaf. Im thinking some kind of bug.
Here is a nice group shot
A little different view.
Now the damage.