• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

JJJ 2013 Glog- C'est fini. -awmost.

So,I may as well grow them, eh?

I started back gardening last year, but I left it to my co-gardener mostly to come up with pepper plants. We had some Bells, and Cayenne, a Carrot pepper, a black Jap, Hungarian sweet, maybe a Bullnose, Then I bought a 4 pack each of Anaheims and Jimmy Nardellos. I set out a little Shoshito start in July and it had a lot of fruit considering. Nothing here to write home about. The Jimmy's did ok. 2 of the Anaheims weren't true (and a cow at half of one of them), one did ok. The last one I planted in a new asparagus bed and the first week some sucky bug drilled it right in forehead and wilted the top. I started to pull it out, but thought, "no harm to leave it to see what would happen". I pinched the wilt off. That pepper forked an by frost it had held its own with the asparagus which hit about 6 foot. I pulled the whole plant day before frost, and it had about 50 nice peppers on it. I blistered and smoked them all.
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But this year I'm gonna be pepper pro-active. Thanks to Durham Bull, I have a treasure house of Capscium genes -Bhuts, Scorpions, and the likes -none of which I'd ever heard of a year ago. The generosity of this community seems to only be matched by it passion for peppers. I dig it. Plus I was in at another site with an online seed blind swap and ended up with some mildly hot goodies.

Well I've never grown a pepper from seed. Never. So yet another new door. Bought a heat mat, I've got onions about to come off it now. After Spicy Chicken's glog, I liked his grow station and thought I'd buy some shelves and put overhead fluorescent on them. I had a domestic conversation about where to put the shelves and lost amicably. So I guess I'll have to finally clean out my toolshed after only 4 years to make room.

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It has a skylight about, 30" x 96", but no heat, no electricity. But I think I can get by with an extension cord, and will have to pick up a little propane heater to knock the chill off. Peppers aren't safe outside here until mid-May.

Yesterday, I got my shelves assembled with one light installed - a 4x4' T8 fixture w/ 6500ks.

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Plan is to wire them on to a gang of light switches, maybe a timer, cover it with Reflectrix movable curtains, some small fans.

I'd appreciate any advice, especially since I'm in the early build phase.

I'm shooting for about 100-150 plants if there's room -some to wind up in rows, some in beds, some into containers, some to share

A friend is sending me some more seeds today I believe, so I'll be closer to a final grow list when I see what that brings.

Thanks for reading and for any words of wisdom you can share.
 
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Simply terrific. Those leeks look like they are gonna melt in your mouth. Beautiful soil beautiful pepper plants. Well done.
 
JJJessee said:
Now we're in pepper season proper now. We can pretty much count on 90 days of mostly 80°+ temps with a few 70s but we're getting more and more 90°+ over the past few years. …
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That’s awesome news Carl and I like the ring sound of it “we’re in pepper season” \o/ Well now that you’re in your season, out of curiosity how many hours per day will the babies be sunning?
 
JJJessee said:
… The yellowish plants are starting to suck a very nice green from the ground … Especially the new growth, but even the old leaves are starting to look good …
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As far as I can see from the pics they do look like they’re loving it and lusher looking for sure! BTW it could also be said you did a great job hardening them off. Every ting looks great and awesome leeks harvest, foodie, foodie, foodie … where dem pics mon? hehehe

Hope you have an awesome weekend brethren ^_^
 
Thanks, guys and gals.
 
Well, if you insist, RMan :D

 
Grilled some flounder and had some leftover quinoa on tap. Oh and on real tap, The real star of the evening was the cider from some of the few apples that survived around here last year.
The leeks were fine -almost too sweet. I should have braised them in something more astringent. I used the cider which was on the dry side but side they needed something. That said, they were still delicious.
 
Here is the super hot bed today.

 
They are taking hold better than most things I've set this year. 
 
The ground is pretty warm now, a good rain would actually help. We're still getting a little wind -don't work so well on young plants in 85° sun with a little natural aridity due to elevation 1700' +/- 
I worked on cobbling together a temporary irrigation system and I may have to use tap water if it doesn't rain by Monday. Also gotta a find a line filter.
 
I mentioned in Carson's glog how I hated to cut up a perfectly good poly-barrel to make 25gal containers of it. But I did. It's way cheaper if you don't need curb appeal. 
I cut 4 barrels in half, loaded them on the truck -2 of them half full of compost, and stopped by the nursery for 6 bags of mini-nugget soil conditioner.
Last month I up-potted a few peppers to give me some breathing room so I could try some container growing if I got 'round to it. 
In a wheelbarrow, a big wheelbarrow, I mixed a 2 cuft bag of the nuggets, about 3 gal of compost, 2 gal of perilite, 1 gal of vermiculite, 4 handfuls of McReady Organic Fert. 5-3-4 , 2 handfuls of dolomite,  and 2 big pinches of azomite. This would just about fill a barrel half, so I mixed a few gallons of compost/mulch from the garden in the bottom layer to help top them off.  I planted a Fatalli, 7p Jonah, BJ Indian Carbon, Caribbean Red Hab, Black Naga, Aji Dulce, and a in the 7th barrel a pair of waimanalo long eggplants. I watered them with some G.O.  Black Diamond for humates.
 

 
I put a  net over them before I left. A certain animal -we'll call it Jane Doe has a tendency to graze especially on the weekends.
 
Non-pepper bonus:

 
My first year Black Raspberries may have a few quarts to pick this year if I can reason with the birds. The berries have already put up some head high canes for next year's crop.
I've trellised and pruned them so the patch is quite manageable.
I love Black Raspberry ice cream 2:1 over it's nearest competitor.
Also plan on making a run of mead with them.
 
Thanks for reading; have a good weekend.
JJJ
 
The plants are looking good, and every time I come in here I get jealous of the amount of space you have. You are going to have an awesome harvest this year!

I like the barrels as planters, nothing beats them for the price. Those plants are going to have a ton of room to grow in there! Do you use any for rain catchment? Once I get a house I'll be doing that for sure, but I doubt you have as much of a water shortage as we do.
 
Carl I like your poly-barrel to nursery pot conversion idea and they don’t look bad IMHO. I’m curious, how much do they cost? I’m asking because the lowest price I’ve found those barrels here is around $25.00, been pricing them because I’d love to have one to make larger seaweed tea batches. At that price it would be more expensive for me to use as pots because I only paid $3.00 per 15gal. nursery pot. They’re made well but would not last as long as your poly-barrel pots.
 
Thanks, guys.
Ramon,  a fifteen gal for $3 I'd been tempted not to cut my rainbarrel. I got those for 10 bucks each, but that deal can't be found here everyday. If you look around you might beat 25 -check with food processors
Carson, I am catching rainwater though today I ran out and had to use city water. I've got two barrels functioning as a cistern  catching off 7500 sf of roof with a well pump in it. My temp reservoir I partially got set up yesterday .It is   3 barrels and  only has about 10' more or less of head above my garden. Don't know how much drip tape -if any- that will push. My permanent tank is 2500 gal on top of the hill with almost 90' of head. That should push some drip tape -if I can every get time(money) to plumb it.
 
Things are looking good there, JJJ!  Nice score on those barrels too.
 
Our irrigation comes from a local reservoir, but is stored in these huge tanks they buried in the hill behind our subdivision.  Not sure how much higher than our property they are, but if just using gravity, it's enough to push the misting type sprinkler heads, but there isn't enough pressure to turn the sprinklers with the rotating heads.  An irrigation pump is pretty much a necessity here.  Our system can actually be run off city water, which the city frowns upon, but since we live up on a mesa, even the town doesn't have enough pressure to push those rotating sprinkler heads efficiently.  On the plus side, our subdivision has water rights, so the irrigation water is FREE!
 
There are water storage tanks built on just about every decent hill around here (not counting the actual mountains).
 
I like the barrels they should really grow some monsters! The 18 gallon round totes I use were on sale for $3 and are doing well too. I think regular price is $5 which is still pretty good if you're looking for a few more containers! Beds are all looking awesome too! That soil you made almost sounds good enough to eat!
 
Bonnie, I could get into some free Irri-Water. Setting up to catch a substantial amount of water can be (is getting ) costly.
 
Shane, I wouldn't mind setting out a few more containers -eggplants, tomatoes, herbs, and well, peppers. I may check Home Depot in the non-gardening department.
I think I have 9 barrels left but I've got a bug to do some aquaponics and may use a few for trials.
 
Today I set out a few more peppers here and there to fill spaces of  victims of the local rodentry.
This Brain Strain suffer some event whilst still in the pot a week or so back  -rain, hail, or a slug stampede, and the leaves looked so bad I striped it down to one .
But it'll bush out I think.
 

 
This is a sweetie -King of the North- a bell style.
I topped these way back in March or April and don't think they were a strong enough entity to bush-up.
They've been in the row garden about 3 weeks and are just beginning to come around. They still have time to make. I hope.
 

 
The ground was dry enough to stir around in it and nip some grasses and ragweed in the bud.
I need to top dress the row garden peppers with some compost and then mulch with straw.
 
 
Here's an Aji Colorado
 

 
And a Padron with a shy pod getting close to frying size.
 
 
 
Thanks for reading
JJJ 
 
Did I read in post #230 that you are harvesting roof rain? A lot of my friends in the Caribbean have been doing so for as far back as I can remember but they have special roof coating and a biological sand filter for potable-water-catchment. You might say that’s not needed for plants and it’s probably not but I’d be careful with dat water if you don’t have a process to keep bacteria out. A few years back I lost my largest and favorite orchid to a black fungus infection from roof rain that I was constantly capturing. From that day forward I stopped and now capture in white food buckets and never had another loss. BTW my roof isn’t that old and its all barrel tiles.
 
JJJessee said:
Good to know, Ramon. I'll keep an eye on how things.responds. I've been using it this spring and haven't seen any problems that seem related to the water. I want to get some goldfish going in a small barrel with that water to act like my coal-mine canary.
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Thats a great idea on the goldfish, hope that works well. I did use m roof water for years without issue and my roof looks clean even today. I chaulk it up to something a bird or animal left behind that tainted the water, by the time I found out it was too late. That said, plants and everything look great mon!
 
Just gorgeous, Carl! Nice video! Blackberry bushes, leeks, cool maters, great looking soil, and of course, peppers and peppers and . . . container peppers! Brilliant idea. I can get 15 gal n-pots for not much but blow-molded will never last as long as yours. And uh, ya like that Dorset Naga much? :) Just glad rain let up here a little bit. Man, we got an inch in an hour last night+ but unless they're all wrong, getting dumped again. Hope ya stay dry ;) 
 
JJJessee said:
Good to know, Ramon. I'll keep an eye on how things.responds. I've been using it this spring and haven't seen any problems that seem related to the water. I want to get some goldfish going in a small barrel with that water to act like my coal-mine canary.
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That's a great idea with the goldfish! Let us know how that works. They'll have the added benefit of adding fertilizer to the water with their waste. Was this your own idea or did you hear of it from somewhere else??
 
I did end up with a lot of Dorset Nagas, 7 I think. I just plant what looked best and these Naga came up with THE worst helmet hair ever. I waited and waited for them to pop, but nada. Did surgery and by then I was potting in MG. And those puppies picked right up. I've never even  tasted a super hot except I recently had some store-bought Fiery Fatalii Sauce which is good I think - a nice and citrus-y flavor from the pepper on a mango base
 
+1 one of the car dealer barrels Devv.
 
I don't remember reading about goldfish as water testers, but surely somebody has done this. Actually, goldfish are pretty tough, maybe White Cloud Mountain minnows would be a better alarm system or Siamese fighters in the  summer time
 
Most of the East Coast rain is missing us, I caught a little rain last night, flipped the pump switch this AM and it kicked the breaker instantly -repeatedly.  :confused:
Gotta get my electrician to look at it.
I was ready for it too. This is my initial manifold configuration on the rain tank.
 

 
While I was on the hill top with the tank, I noticed one of my Goldrush apples actually set a few fruit. 
My trees are too young -just set them last year, but the season was kind to apple blossoms for a change.
 

 
 
I did get 2 drip tapes per bed plugged into a trunk line for most of my beds today. Direct seeded for two tomato plants too.
Highlight of the day was a couple of indigo bunting flitting about checking out the garden. First time I'd seen them there.
 

 
thanks for reading,
 
jjj 
 
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