Trent's 2014 Grow Log - COLD COLD COLD

TrentL · Apr 15, 2014

Well, if you ever come to the USA and visit the midwest, swing by. I'll introduce you to the United States "armed security" concept.

I am an NRA certified rifle, pistol, and shotgun firearms instructor, NRA certified range safety officer, and Illinois State Police approved concealed carry instructor!

I'm also the secretary of the local gun club, and an official in NRA approved High Power, Long range prone, and NRA Smallbore rifle tournaments...

SQUIRREL!

I'm also licensed by the BATF as a Federal Firearms Licensee for Collector of Curio and Relics of War.

Police response time is 20+ minutes where we live so we "take care of our own."

My garden is well protected.

millworkman · Apr 15, 2014

TrentL · Apr 15, 2014

millworkman said:

Sorry for getting off topic. Will try to stick to peppers.

And...

AAAACK these damn things are back again. Found an aphid on one of my reapers.

I don't have *many* ladybugs left alive, either. I hope I don't need to order more before hardening off.

(aphid is on one of the smaller true leaves)

And I've reached that point I've been dreading, where watering becomes a real PITA, but enjoy, because the plants grow SOOO fast during this stage. Canopy is starting to form.

The overwinters I chopped down are recovering as expected:

Jeff H · Apr 15, 2014

No such thing as being off topic in your own Glog Trent. There is more than a few gun discussions on these threads ,(and I'm usually a part of them).

I shot Highpower last year with a very nice WOA upper that I just had the luck to order a month before Sandyhook so it didn't take forever to get. I'll do a little of it this year too, but I'm pretty busy so I doubt I will get out that much this year.

C&R - nice. I have a few rifles, but never bothered with the effort to get a license since AIM is 45 minutes away.

cypresshill1973 · Apr 15, 2014

I'm also fond of guns, I have a few pistols, a shotgun and rifle, but could never compete with their category. I'm just a rookie at his side...

Beautiful weapons!!!!!!!!!!!

Sniper would have to be here!! How much ammunition had in 50 bedroom??

Actually where we are not passing any of that, but for preventive safety is mounted safety. But what happens in big cities and often commented that we have to work in dangerous places.

TrentL · Apr 15, 2014

Jeff H said:
No such thing as being off topic in your own Glog Trent. There is more than a few gun discussions on these threads ,(and I'm usually a part of them).

I shot Highpower last year with a very nice WOA upper that I just had the luck to order a month before Sandyhook so it didn't take forever to get. I'll do a little of it this year too, but I'm pretty busy so I doubt I will get out that much this year.

C&R - nice. I have a few rifles, but never bothered with the effort to get a license since AIM is 45 minutes away.

OK Well if that's the case...

My PKM above is a semi-auto, but ... here's me shooting an ACTUAL full auto Russian PKM.

And an M249 SAW...

And AK-47... sigh. I loves me some machineguns.

There's more shooting vids that I've posted, not enough room to show all the machine gun videos here.

(Wish I was hammering away on one right now, I just spent an hour picking APHIDS off my damn plants. I sooooooo hate aphids.)

EDIT: I live 30 mins from White Oak's shop in Carlock, they give me swag to give away in the highpower shoots. Great group of people.

Jeff H · Apr 15, 2014

Nice.

I already reload to keep ammo costs down. If I had one of those I would go broke. :dance:

TrentL · Apr 16, 2014

Jeff H said:
Nice.

I already reload to keep ammo costs down. If I had one of those I would go broke.

Yeah, I also reload ammo; only way to really afford recreational or competitive shooting nowadays. In the long range f-class stuff, you can't really begin to be competitive without handloading ammo.

Back to peppers ... I tried an experiment last night and I'm sort of afraid of how it's going to turn out.

I had two "heavy pots" which have clearly been overwatered, with my overwinters showing signs of imminent death. I sent my oldest boy out to buy "all of the hydrogen peroxide at the dollar store" last night, and he came back with 8 quarts of 3%.

I flushed the worst of them out with 4 quarts, another out with 2 quarts, and threw one quart down on a third plant.

The stagnant water the solution flushed out in to the drip pan was nasty smelling.

I'm not sure if it's the "end" or a "fresh start" to these three overwinters... but they were surely going to die if something wasn't done. Transplanting them to fresh soil hasn't worked in the past.

So, waiting ... impatiently.

The aphids are back en masse... must have killed a hundred last night with my thumb & finger.

Hoping some baby ladybugs hatch soon.... I've seen a few cocoons... those things are voracious eaters of the little buggers.
Last night; before adding a gallon of 3% hydrogen peroxide to flush stagnant water...

This morning; some signs of rejuvination - two leaves actually started filling out again...

The plant is a LONG way from being healthy yet, but seeing a sign of recovery after only 12 hours gives me a glimmer of hope, at least.

Another "heavy pot" - this plant got one quart last night:

And a cayenne, no signs of improving, it got 2 quarts.

Those three "heavy pots" were my problem children and voted "most likely to die before plant out" by me. I've lost 5 this winter to stagnation and root decay from overwatering.. trying not to lose any more!

Penny · Apr 16, 2014

Great updates Trent. :dance:

...and no such thing as off topic when its in your own glog

. Never ever held a gun in my hand, but WOW those are something!! :shocked:

I just saw the pictures of Marley.....what a gorgeous dog, one of my favorites. :party:

Jeff H · Apr 16, 2014

Yeah, I understand the overwintering issues with too much water. To date, I've only killed a giant jalapeno this year and last year I lost a paper lantern. Hard to stop the root rot once it has started. Hope the H2O2 experiment works out for you.

HillBilly Jeff · Apr 16, 2014

I hope it all works out for you. I really try to be stingy on the water on them. Let them show signs of stress before giving them more.

This close to plant out, it would be such a shame to lose them now.

Good luck.

TrentL · Apr 16, 2014

Thanks everyone. Yeah I'm hoping I can salvage them.

The first one I *knew* died of overwatering was a Carolina Reaper. Drain holes got plugged, didn't notice it. It was on the top shelf and the pot was above eye level so I didn't notice that it was filling up....

Second one surprised me, was a Black Jalapeno. It was healthy, then BOOM dead. Took 2 days and it was a goner. I figured I had some sort of infection or something, went to move the pot out, and it was SUPER heavy.

Which shocked me because I always stick my finger in to the soil to feel if they need watering.

After that I started "weighing" pots (lifting them to feel if they were unusually heavy before watering), and I limited watering to "when they wilt" - hard on plants, but surely easier than dying!

These three that are suffering now were heavy from that moment (2 months ago) and haven't been watered since. Same thing on each; drain holes were plugged and water just accumulated. Top went dry, bottom was sludge.

I'm going to switch pot types this year and drill extra drain holes in the ones I have.

TrentL · Apr 16, 2014

Going to be a "jungle" again this year... at least we don't have rattlesnakes to worry about.

The painful part is selecting what to plant. With what I have growing in 3" cups right now, I'm going to have 178 peppers left over.

32 potted, 86 in the ground.... 178 sad peppers left over to die or (if I get my nursery paperwork and inspection done) to sell.

Devv · Apr 16, 2014

TrentL said:
Well, if you ever come to the USA and visit the midwest, swing by. I'll introduce you to the United States "armed security" concept.

I am an NRA certified rifle, pistol, and shotgun firearms instructor, NRA certified range safety officer, and Illinois State Police approved concealed carry instructor!

I'm also the secretary of the local gun club, and an official in NRA approved High Power, Long range prone, and NRA Smallbore rifle tournaments...

SQUIRREL!

I'm also licensed by the BATF as a Federal Firearms Licensee for Collector of Curio and Relics of War.

Police response time is 20+ minutes where we live so we "take care of our own."

My garden is well protected.

Hey Trent,

Playing catch up here..

Not very many of us get to be prosperous right off the bat, I did my part working long hours and not getting to spend the family time. But look where you're at now

Now I have to congratulate you and your NRA standing, I must admit the picks with you in the suit and that weapon have that Pulp Fiction thing going on...and that's supposed to be a compliment. I'm an avid reloader, shooter and hunter. It's fun! AND we're in the same boat out here in the sticks. And wow! love those vids! I want one!

Those plants you over watered, did you put them in new soil? Hope they do OK.

Garden plan looks nice, no Rattlers is good!

Jeff H · Apr 16, 2014

TrentL said:
Going to be a "jungle" again this year... at least we don't have rattlesnakes to worry about.

The painful part is selecting what to plant. With what I have growing in 3" cups right now, I'm going to have 178 peppers left over.

32 potted, 86 in the ground.... 178 sad peppers left over to die or (if I get my nursery paperwork and inspection done) to sell.

2' spacing for the peppers?

IMHO, annuums need much less space than the superhots, depending what you are growing, you could cram more in there. .

Love the marigold border. I'll be doing the same around everything but the peppers. Deer haven't bothered my peppers, although, as soon as I say that, they will next year. :rolleyes:

TrentL · Apr 16, 2014

Devv said:
Hey Trent,

Playing catch up here..

Not very many of us get to be prosperous right off the bat, I did my part working long hours and not getting to spend the family time. But look where you're at now

Now I have to congratulate you and your NRA standing, I must admit the picks with you in the suit and that weapon have that Pulp Fiction thing going on...and that's supposed to be a compliment. I'm an avid reloader, shooter and hunter. It's fun! AND we're in the same boat out here in the sticks. And wow! love those vids! I want one!

Well, work adds stress.. gardening and shooting are my vents. Sometimes they're even an emergency relief valve.

I hit my stress limit in my day job by 3 PM today, went down and messed with my plants for awhile, then taught a concealed carry class tonight for 4 hours.

I *love* training people on firearms - it's one of those unexpected mid-life "revelations". I just wish I was doing it full time instead of what I normally do (computer stuff...)

Funny you brought that up (pulp fiction) because that was exactly the image I wanted to bring forth. I was wearing the suit for a funeral of a close friend that day, and I wanted to "get rid of the bad-ju-ju." When I got home I grabbed a rifle, phone, and my oldest boy and said "photo op time kid".

Devv said:
Those plants you over watered, did you put them in new soil? Hope they do OK.

Garden plan looks nice, no Rattlers is good!

I tried that on one, it didn't help whatsoever. It wasn't quite dead but on the way, still had some leaves that were shriveling. Never recovered. I have to assume that whatever funk was destroying the roots transplanted right along with it. And I *did* wash the roots thoroughly in cold water before completing the repotting.

I'm *hoping* that the H2O2 I flushed them with will A) Kill the "funk", B) displace and get rid of the old water, C) aerate the soil and D) as it breaks down release extra Oxygen molecules to spur on rapid plant growth.

Jeff H said:
2' spacing for the peppers?

IMHO, annuums need much less space than the superhots, depending what you are growing, you could cram more in there. .

Love the marigold border. I'll be doing the same around everything but the peppers. Deer haven't bothered my peppers, although, as soon as I say that, they will next year.

Yeah I was shooting for 2' spacing between peppers and 3' spacing between rows. I'll still be "wading" (or crawling under) the superhots. I might pack the Jalapenos, Cayenne, etc a lot closer together and pick up a few extra chinese... will have to see how it goes. The black jalapenos I grew last year stayed relatively compact. The Jalapeno-M I grew a few years ago grew to be 6 foot tall. I'm not growing those M's again this year, doing Early Jalapeno and Giant Jalapeno. I have *no* idea how big they'll get.

Problem is, I am growing so many *new* cultivars this year, and I have absolutely no idea how big about 80% of my current grow WILL get! Might need to write Judy and see if she has any insight to share. I'd like to get the shorter ones on the south side, at least, and the taller ones on the north side.

Here's where my inventory is right now and (first rough draft) of what I'll plant out.

Still got about a month before I go to dirt, so lots of time to think it through.

I could get more "new" (to me) varieties potted up if I already didn't have close to 30 overwinters ready to go outdoors in various 15-20" pots... There's only so much space I can stick pots, and (frankly) they're kind of a bitch to maintain. Picky about heat, picky about nutes, constantly need watered, or (when it storms) get flooded with too MUCH water.. etc. Potted plants are good, because I can bring them indoors easily without a shovel

but otherwise just kind of suck all around.

TrentL · Apr 17, 2014

GRRRRRR. I *hate* aphids. They just keep coming back... I've put 4500 ladybugs in that grow room this winter. And I *still* can't eradicate the damn things.

This Roma has grown 1 foot in the last week. It was transplanted to the BOTTOM of a #3 pot and only had the top showing afterwards. The entire old stem is now root and it's grown very tall since.

No change on the H2O2 project; the worst candidate which was flushed with a full gallon of hydrogen peroxide 3%, is still in the exact same state as it was this morning. (So are the other two which got a half gallon and a single quart)

About time to repot the tomatos to #2 or #3 pots, and the annums to #1's or #2's.

Compared to a week ago... that's some explosive levels of growth.

Maybe I shouldn't have cranked the lights up to 16/8 and left them at 12/12....

millworkman · Apr 17, 2014

Great stuff Trent!! Why wrap the lights, moisture?

cypresshill1973 · Apr 17, 2014

Very good list!

Why wrap a mesh the lamps?

TrentL · Apr 17, 2014

millworkman said:
Great stuff Trent!! Why wrap the lights, moisture?

Because I'm using ladybugs to control aphids.

If I don't wrap the lights, they crawl up in to them after they shut off and when the lights kick back on, they get COOKED.

It killed off the first two batches of 1500 ladybugs I'd released, before I finally figured out what the problem was. (Massive collection of dead ladybugs under the lights....)

Since I've wrapped them, SOME have found a way in to the lights through the mesh, but for the most part, it keeps them out and alive.

In a couple places the mesh touches the lights on top, and I've cooked a few dozen there, but it's been over a month since the last release and I still have quite a few alive, crawling around, eating aphids all day.

Well, when they aren't doing this....

They're horny little buggers... spend all their time eating, sleeping, and humping.
I also had to seal the longer flourescent lights in the ceiling; they'd get up above the ballasts at night then cook the next morning when the lights kicked on.