Stetto-grow 2018: Takin' another run at it.

It's going to be a sweeter, milder year for me this time around. I've got myself Rocoto happy, and thanks to my new friends enablers here at THP I have a plethora (you go El Guapo!!) there will be no shortage. I plan a repeat of some winners from last year, if you recognize your penmanship/packaging style, well, you just pat yourselves on the back.
 
My seed-to-medium day will be on or about this Thursday, March one, 6 weeks early for zone 3 but 3 months later than the Aji Amarillo and a few other choice seeds I planted last year.
 

 
This is the bulk of the peppers, but not likely all. I overwintered a couple of PaulG's Aji Amarillos and a nummy Aji Mango from Geonerd, and they're already living la vita loco in a south facing window. I plan a backup seedling to both of those. 
 
Thanks to the damned Moruga Welder there's a lot of pepper stuffing in my future, and a special thanks to the Greenchilimonster for all these wonderful black seeds! We may have the Darlin' Bride weaned off those nasty bell peppers yet!

 

[stettoman]

Yikes! Already June. I don't have much to report, we had a hot May, in the 90s, but starting to temper a bit. Some real rain would be nice, the back yard is looking like late August...
 
My life and time being not my own, I'm finding few moments for much interwebbing. Daughter graduated last week, party's this weekend, and I'm remodelling 2 & 1/2 bathrooms in a blind panic...
 
But I made time yesterday to get the kids in dirt...My Rocotos and Chinense are all staying in the trailer like I mused a couple months ago, make sure they don't get too much direct sun. The rest, all anuums but for two Bishop Hats and an Aji Arnaucho are in the 8th acre....
 

 
 
Yeah, it's a mess, but it's my mess. I'd like to get on an even keel next season, more time, more focus, less distraction.
 
Speaking of which, I have some caulking to do....

 

[Devv]

Looking good Eric!
 
Glad to see you're still in the mix

 

[stettoman]

Looking good Eric!
 
Glad to see you're still in the mix

Thanks Scott. I saw that your season is about done, I don't even have corn, beans or carrots in yet. But the peppers get special treatment, even in a bad year....

 

[stettoman]

Everybody's so busy! Me so jealous!
 
The trailer got thinned out. I gifted an Aji Limo Rojo to a friend who I got hooked on them last year, good news is I get peppers back from them!  My sister took a large Orange Thai, Urfa Biber and an Aji Oro, all to be container grown. What's left in the trailer are Rocotos, except for a Jalapeno (Tormenta, from Hippy Seed) and that poor little Papa Dreadie SB (center), which seems to be opting out of my grow  ...
 
The squat pots, for reference, are 1 & 1/2 gallon. I know they should be larger, but that I have peppers growing at all is close to a miracle.
 

 
 
On the deck is nothing but my cherry tomatoes and my overwintered Aji Amarillo and Aji Mango. I had pods hanging many weeks ago, but they couldn't sustain in the conditions they were subjected to and went dormant. Well, they're back, with 3 times the flower buds on each.
 

 
 
My 8th acre is an embarrassment. All I have in so far are my two Abe Lincoln tomato plants (had a bumper crop last year on the Amish Paste EVEN WITH THE SEPTORIA), six broccoli starts and 36 anuum pepper plants, including the Big Jim, Antep Aci Dolma, Urfa Biber, Paprika, Large Orange Thai and a few others that I don't remember off the top of my head. One row is made up of starts a market farmer friend brought by, said the seed was smuggled in inside a woman's sock from Mexico. He said they had a name, like "Catalina" or some such, but I'm almost betting they're a jala of one sort or another. I'll try to keep them alive long enough for someone here to ID....
 
Sure looks sparse. Note the 'lectric fence; ain't no Bambi gonna ruin my day....

 
 
So, yeah...I swore I was backing off a bit on the peppers this year...Maybe next year....
 
Still no cookies yet. I'll try harder.
 
 
 

 

[Devv]

Wishing you the best Eric!
 
Why is it, that the older we get, the busier we get?
I thought things would go the other way; but with 6 G-Kids now, we keep having all these "events".
So LB and I have decide to go with the flow and suck it up while we can. G-kids, and the "our" kids are great

 

[stettoman]

Wishing you the best Eric!
 
Why is it, that the older we get, the busier we get?
I thought things would go the other way; but with 6 G-Kids now, we keep having all these "events".
So LB and I have decide to go with the flow and suck it up while we can. G-kids, and the "our" kids are great

 
Thanks again, Scott!
 
I'm desperately trying to find time to read up on glogs and get some of my life back, I'm in the wife's office trying to get her clients all caught up so I can breathe again, but it's nutz!
 
Yeah, grandkids--We got 2, but they have the adrenaline and adventure glands of 6!  At least they know to stay out of my grow!
 
Speaking of which, check this out; I planted a couple cherry tomatoes for my Dad, along with a couple for myself, all the same seed, same dirt, same day....You can see mine in the deck pic above, both of them all of a foot high or so. These are Dad's. The ONLY difference is that both of his are in one 5 gallon container...Oh, and in a red wagon...
 
The two pics are taken only four days apart...
 

 
I got no idea what got into his dirt, but none of my plants are behaving like this...

 

[Trident chilli]

Your dad certainly has "green fingers" unbelievable growth in such a short period... I am sure he will give you a few toms

 

[karoo]

Wow, nice growth, good looking plants.

Sent from my FIG-LX1 using Tapatalk

 

[stettoman]

A-a-a-a-a-a-and, back to peppers...
 
I have the usual progress of growth out in the 8th acre, without the deer activity so far. But there are a couple of standout performers I'd like to shower a little recognition upon:
 
Last year I couldn't get a Jimmy Nardello to come out of the ground. I got one this year, and it wins First Flower honors with a neighboring Aleppo...
 

 
 
...the Aleppo:
 

 
This is encouraging, and actually almost all of my plants, except for Rocotos, are creating flower buds. This time last year I was lamenting the Attack of Bambi and starting from the ground up (literally) with most of my plants. I know that a lot of you Northern Hemisphere guys are hip deep in your grows, if not closing up for the season. Here in zone 3 the party is just beginning.
 
 
As a reward for you fine pepper folk stopping in and suffering my horticultural buffoonery I present 24lb. Frank, one half of the Maine Coon duo Frank & Joe, twins who are absolute opposites. The Darlin' Bride, out of exasperation for Frank's refusal to groom himself, went out and purchased a cheap set of electronical clippers in order to cull the mats out of his coat. Joe has a luxurious smooth, clean coat, and a simple cat brush glides through his fur.
 
The Darlin' Bride didn't have the time (or the spare $60) to get Frank appropriately shaved by a professional, so at least for the time being we won't be entering Frank in any Westminster shows...
 
Laugh at your leisure, we certainly do....
 

 

[nmlarson]

 
 
Sure looks sparse. Note the 'lectric fence; ain't no Bambi gonna ruin my day....

 
 

 
 
Jeeze, Stettoman, I hate to maybe rain on your parade and ask this, but how high is your electric fence?  I've got white tail deer in my yard that can scale an 8 foot fence! Only saying this because I've been where you were....the only thing my deer won't eat are daffodils and peonies.

 

[stettoman]

 
 
Jeeze, Stettoman, I hate to maybe rain on your parade and ask this, but how high is your electric fence?  I've got white tail deer in my yard that can scale an 8 foot fence! Only saying this because I've been where you were....the only thing my deer won't eat are daffodils and peonies.

 
 
NM, what mauled my pepper plants last year were fawns, very early fawns. All the discouragement they need is a quick static zap, and the wire is set so that they put their noses to it before moving in. It works wonders. Lots of tiny tracks come right up to the wire and end right there as well. This is a low voltage discharge dog fence, you or I could grab and hold on to it indefinitely, but to a dumb critter it "shocks" the hell out of them and sends them to the asparagus, which they don't seem to like all that much.
 
Once the plants are better established the deer don't bother it, though the adults will mess with my sweet corn shoots and march through everything now and then.
 
We only get a few deer every year, we're in a shelter belt in the midst of vast black-muck farmland. Some years there are none at all.

 

[nmlarson]

That is great!  What I would give for just a few deer each year.  A couple years back we had to replace a holly tree, spent $600 getting a nice big one put in.  Long story, short, when we got back from our winter vacation, this is what we returned to.
 

 
Munched just as high as they could reach.  Fortunately, we fed it, wrap it in bird netting each winter, and, believe it or not, it is recovering.  
 

 

[stettoman]

My dad has a 15 foot tall arborvitae that suffered the same fate. He wraps it in chicken wire every fall and it too is coming back.
 
Our deer problem didn't really start until our illustrious bean-counter-riddled MN DNR made the decision to introduce wild turkey into the area. They quickly established and now compete with the whitetail for main winter forage: acorns. The deer are losing, and in the process finding new forage, which increases intrusion into human landscaping.

 

[solid7]

The lousy picture is thanks to a Galaxy 6s,

 
Bro... if you can't take a decent picture with a Galaxy S6, you are hopeless.
 
Seriously... maybe turn off HDR for indoor shooting?
 
My S6 takes amazing photos.
 
Oh, and the plants look great.  I wish I had that muck you're planted in.  LOL

 

[stettoman]

 
Bro... if you can't take a decent picture with a Galaxy S6, you are hopeless.
 
Seriously... maybe turn off HDR for indoor shooting?
 
My S6 takes amazing photos.
 
Oh, and the plants look great.  I wish I had that muck you're planted in.  LOL

 
 
Heh heh heh, I am hopeless. I'm surprised it's taken you so long.
 
I don't take time with my "camera", I point & shoot. More Barney Rubble that George Jetson, stone knives and bearskins for me!
 
...and thanks on the plants. I do have some soil samples for you, might even get them in the mail this year!!

 

[Devv]

Hey, tell "Mater Man" I said hi!
 
Deer problems=sausage...did I say that?
 
Keep it green buddy! Good to see the Jimmy Nardello doing well. The wife should latch on to that one....AKA, you'll be growing it until you die...

 

[stettoman]

Hey, tell "Mater Man" I said hi!
 
Deer problems=sausage...did I say that?
 
Keep it green buddy! Good to see the Jimmy Nardello doing well. The wife should latch on to that one....AKA, you'll be growing it until you die...

 
My Dad is addicted to the Maters. He eats them like you or I would eat a bag of popcorn. I've never seen one of his grow like this. It's the size they usually are around mid-July...
 
The deer know I like venison. They can likely smell cousin Bambette on the grill in one form or another at least once a week. No good for my hemochromatosis, but that's what blood donations are for, yes?
 
That Nardello is likely going to be my sole early ripener, though I have Paprika growing again, which did phenomenally last season. I'd like to can a mess of spaghetti sauce this fall...
 
We're having a funky rain cycle this year, coming rare but heavy. I hate using well water, but I compensate with a bit of Alaska Fish Fert, 5-1-1, which will be changed to CNS17 3-1-2 in a few weeks. They seem to respond well, especially the pubes.

 

[solid7]

We're having a funky rain cycle this year, coming rare but heavy. I hate using well water, but I compensate with a bit of Alaska Fish Fert, 5-1-1, which will be changed to CNS17 3-1-2 in a few weeks. They seem to respond well, especially the pubes.

 
That's awesome.  If you're using both, anyway, don't be afraid to just alternate them at every other feeding.  They do play well together.

 

[solid7]

By the way, your dad is a better grower than you are.  Maybe you should get off the forum, and just listen to him.

 

[stettoman]

By the way, your dad is a better grower than you are.  Maybe you should get off the forum, and just listen to him.

 
You're not the first to point this out.
 
...except that he hates peppers. Even bells. Loves the horseradish, but hates the peppers...Go figure....