Patrick's 2013 Grow Log

armac · Jan 6, 2013

Get those rennies going........

Barley-pop57 · Jan 6, 2013

Patrick,

Nice list of peppers. It'll be hard you--I say this because of your 3 hobbies--peppers, spiders & Harley riding....lol.
Seriously you will be okay, if I could get 5 types of plants to grow (you should know you fixed me up with 3 types) then you ought to be kickin butt this year.

I started my grow but don't have a camera or smart phone YET. Waiting on results before I do any crowing. You may friend, may you have a GREAT season.....your buddy

patrick · Jan 7, 2013

Hey Mike! It is nice to hear from you. I may be stretching myself a little thin this season but if you think about it prime riding time means most of the work on the plants is done. Just got to water and feed em. Going to hook up a pump to a water barrel this year to make the watering chore easier and less time consuming. Tarantulas are easy to care for.

As usual I'll be starting way too many so if you're in need I'll probably have a few to spare and can bring 'em buy and drop 'em off when I come up to deliver some to my oldest son. I'll give you a heads up. Be a couple of months yet.

Looking forward to hearing how your grow goes this year too. You're not a rookie anymore so I'll be expecting some monster plants with oodles, isn't that a great word, of peppers on your plants. Oodles.

You take care Mike.

Island_Dan · Jan 7, 2013

Nice glob so far. I am looking forward to hopefully seeing this mass of plants in person this spring!

patrick · Jan 8, 2013

Island_Dan said:
Nice glob so far. I am looking forward to hopefully seeing this mass of plants in person this spring!

Cool. Tourists! Ha! Looking forward to meeting you Dan.

stickman · Jan 8, 2013

Hi Patrick
Just stopped by to have a look... Glad to see you're up and running. I've been interested in insects for most of my life, and it led to fly fishing when I was in my 40's. I got into it in a backwards fashion though. I tied flies for years before I ever picked up a fly rod... go figure. I spent a month on maneuvers in the Mojave at Ft Erwin, California and got intimately acquainted with the Tarantulas there. They didn't bother me, but I've got some funny stories about some of the other guys in the unit.

Good luck with your grow this year!

patrick · Jan 9, 2013

Howdy stickman. Love to hear some spider stories some time. Believe me I've lived through some good ones.

Thought I would post a pic of what's currently going on.

Not a lot obviously. I've got 60 seeds started in cups most of which you can see. Six are on another table. The heat mat is keeping temps 84-86F and now it's just a matter of waiting. Plan on adding another 40-50 seeds to the bunch in the next couple of days. I uses coco coir but ran out and have had to go with a Jiffy seed growing mix. Don't like it but it's what I had handy at the time. Just wait and see I guess.

Thanks to all for stopping by.

Stefan_W · Jan 9, 2013

I saw the coco coir stuff at the hudroponics store when I was there last weekend, but I opted for a soilless mix instead. Do you notice a huge difference using the cococoir?

millworkman · Jan 9, 2013

Stefan_W said:
I saw the coco coir stuff at the hudroponics store when I was there last weekend, but I opted for a soilless mix instead. Do you notice a huge difference using the cococoir?

I find coco(if you use proper nutrients) increases growth in the early ages quite a lot. The roots can flow through the medium amazingly easy.

Stefan_W · Jan 9, 2013

Thanks Noah, I figured it was something like that. I'll have to try it out next year.

millworkman · Jan 9, 2013

No problem Stefan, and don't worry about paying the high prices at hydro stores, find some coco at the pet store. Its much cheaper.

Sanarda · Jan 9, 2013

I keep seeing the Rennie and I'm not sure what type of pepper it is. Would you enlighten me kind sir??

megamoo · Jan 10, 2013

I use expensive hydro store coco coir for starting seeds, and they grow fast in it. Because I only start in small seed cells it lasts for a very long time.

stc3248 · Jan 10, 2013

Good to see you're off and running Patrick! Loved the spidey pics too. Looking forward to your season brother!

stickman · Jan 10, 2013

Thanks for the tips on coco coir Noah, it's all grist for the mill...

patrick · Jan 10, 2013

Sanarda I don't know much about the Rennie other than it's supposed to be a 7 Pot. I got the seeds from armac so give him a shout, hopefully he'll be able to fill you in.

Stefan I use coco coir for my tarantulas so usually have a bunch of it on hand. You can buy it online or at pet stores in brick form. You add about 3.5 liters of water to a brick an it expands to make about 7 liters of useable coir. Good things and not so good things about it. Good things are it's cheap, usually bug and bacteria free, recyclable, holds moisture well, and like Noah said very little resistance for a baby root to grow through. Couple of not so good things. If it's allowed to dry out it's a pain to rehydrate, water will sit on top for the longest time, it has zero nutrients for new seedlings and it will settle and become very dense. Pack it lightly when you do use it. Enough so it will hold it's shape when it's removed from the cup. I'll start to fertilize when the cotyledons spread out. Usually at about 25% of the recommend rate for seedlings.

One tip when you go to rehydrate the coir bricks is to use the hottest water you can get out of your tap. The expansion of the brick goes much faster than if you use warm/cold water.

You too Shane!

PaulG · Jan 10, 2013

Good tips on the coco, Patrick. I'm toying with switching over
from peat when this bale runs out. Peat works great, but it's
not a sustainable product, and the countries where coco choir
comes from could certainly use the economy!

For starting seeds, I'm using Black Gold Seedling Mix. It's basically
just fine ground peat and small bits of perlite, a bit of dolomite lime
and a wetting agent (yucca extract). I experimented with it late last
season, and had great results. It's very lightweight and fluffy, and
the roots propagate throughout it very nicely so the root ball, while
loose and aerated, hangs together very well when transplanting.

I don't mind if you post more tarantula pics!

patrick · Jan 11, 2013

Paul that Black Gold stuff sounds nice. I'll have to do some cost comparisons. I'm always willing to try new stuff that improves my growing ability. I've always loved peat but when it's bought in bulk like most of us do it just isn't fine enough for seed germination, my opinion. I have ran it through a mesh and only used the fine stuff before but man what a messy hassle. Things I tend to do before I learn better ways.

I'm happy to say I have my first two hooks! Both are the classified JPL#1 seeds. Took them five days to pop the surface. That makes me happy. I will post a pic you "if I don't see it then it didn't happen" cretins. Ha!

PIC 1 · Jan 11, 2013

patrick said:
Paul that Black Gold stuff sounds nice. I'll have to do some cost comparisons. I'm always willing to try new stuff that improves my growing ability. I've always loved peat but when it's bought in bulk like most of us do it just isn't fine enough for seed germination, my opinion. I have ran it through a mesh and only used the fine stuff before but man what a messy hassle. Things I tend to do before I learn better ways.

I'm happy to say I have my first two hooks! Both are the classified JPL#1 seeds. Took them five days to pop the surface. That makes me happy. I will post a pic you "if I don't see it then it didn't happen" cretins. Ha!

Haha........ain't dat da trut. Last night I was pouring out some fine screed vermiculite into a 5 gal bucket. The fan was nowhere near me but more ended up on the floor then in the bucket....ah..CHEW !

meatfreak · Jan 11, 2013

Had bad experiences with growing in only coco coir from last season but maybe that was my own fault. I won't use it anymore in pure form, but mix it up to.