Slade122's 2014 Greenhouse GLOG

What are your seedlings growing in? I thought it was pieces of pineapple at first and I was like WHAT?! lol

You have some winners in your grow, Slade!
 
Good luck going forward, and     to glogosphere 2014!

Pepperjack91 said:

What are your seedlings growing in? I thought it was pieces of pineapple at first and I was like WHAT?! lol

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Looks kinda waxy? And are those milk cartons?

What are your seedlings growing in? I thought it was pieces of pineapple at first and I was like WHAT?! lol

The product is called Rockwool and mine are Grodan branded. They are soil-less material with holes pre-cut for starting seeds. Those are 1.5" starter cubes, but I often use macroplugs as well. They are mostly used for hydroponic production.

Great list, I was wondering too what they seedlings were in. Happy growing and gardening in 2014!!

Winter has come, So i would like to share my progress with you guys. 



We (my girlfriend and I) have recently come to own a house, and with it comes the joys of being able to modify your yard as you wish. We recently have purchased a greenhouse to house all of the tropical plants that we have, as well as being able to raise some vegetables. In the short time that I have had the greenhouse, it has worked wonderfully for starting some seeds and keeping my plants happy and safe from the cold weather.



Firstly, we had to prepare the plot. We decided to place our greenhouse directly on dirt, but we had to clear off all of the grass and level the area. We rented a tiller from home depot to help break through the grass roots as well as break up the awful clay soil that we have so much of here in Texas. It took us about an entire day just to prepare a leveled area.







Just when I thought leveling an area was quite a bit of work, the next day the greenhouse was on its way and arrived mid-afternoon. It came pre-assembled on a trailer, and getting it in to the yard was quite a task. We ended up rolling the greenhouse on several metal pipes across the entire yard to get it in to place (egyptian style/end to end). The guy who delivered it said that he was around when they invented the method   







After getting the building in place, the next step was to fill it up. It took me a few hours to move everything in and organize. We are still waiting to get an electrician to run 2 circuits to the greenhouse, one for lighting, and one for heating, pumps, etc. The Greenhouse is an 8'x20'.




 
Unfortunately, in winter the greenhouse is not warm enough to start pepper seeds, even with a heat mat. I start them inside and them move them outside very quickly so that I do not have to go through the hardening off process. I'll include pictures as we go of course.

Wow thats nice. I was going to do the same thing this year but living in a Zone 4 it would not have helped me so I went with HID lights in a heated basement for now.

what a lovely greenhouse...your peppers will love them

Love the entire set up!!!  

Looks like a great set up!

Congrats on the new place!  The greenhouse is
awesome; 8x20, that's serious space!
 
Good luck with your grow!

What an awesome greenhouse! Good luck this year on the grow!

Amazing set up!
 
Good luck
 
Datil

Firstly, Thanks to everyone for your kind words and motivation. Let’s hope this year will be an explosive one!
 
Sprout update. All of the Super Sioux and Yellow Pear tomatoes are up, followed by the 7 Bells that I planted. After the seeds have sprouted, I move them out to the greenhouse to one of my hydroponic systems which I have set up to establish small plants and seedlings. The roots will stretch out and down from the Rockwool cubes into the clay pebbles (hydroton). With rapid-rooting plants such as tomatoes, this should happen pretty quickly. I’m currently feeding them General Hydroponics Rapid Root, and Fox Farm Tiger Bloom @ 300ppm total or about 100ppm of nutrient solution.
 
Growing the plants in the greenhouse after sprouting should make them grow more quickly, and hopefully with a thicker, meatier stem that I would otherwise be unable to achieve. I’m also getting ready to hook up my HPS and MH lights in the greenhouse once the electrician comes out so that I can better control photoperiod, etc.
 

 
I’m including an update on some of my existing peppers as well.
 
Super Thai – Prolific Plant, really makes a lot of moderately hot peppers. One thing that I find interesting about the Super Thai is the length of burn that it provides. The spiciness of the Super Thai seems to linger longer than some of my other peppers, and is a great addition to thai food, or if you want to really spice up a bowl of salsa. Interestingly enough, with the Thai community in my area, you can buy big bags of those dried Super Thai’s for cheap.
 


 
Jalapenos – These plants are about 1 year and 2 months old. Grown hydroponically from the start, through the entire duration of it’s life. These are grown in Rockwool Slabs instead of rockwool cubes. The slabs are meant for long-term crops and are frequently used for the production of greenhouse tomatoes. I’ve recently been experimenting with feeding amounts, and have found that by increasing the strength of the solution from 800-900PPM to 950-1150PPM that I have gotten thicker flesh, more seeds, and a stronger seed core. In addition, I get more jalapenos that “crack” when I feed them more.
 
The plants have recently recovered from a Cottony Cushion Scale attack, hence the yellowing of the lower leaves. The upper leaves have turned nice and dark green since I have warded off the colony of scales. The growth is natural, with little or no pruning as well, just for reference.
 

 
Jalapeno Harvest – Just pulled 44 Jalapenos off the plant, I like a mix of ripe red and green. My Jalapeno Plants normally produce 30-40 Jalapenos Each, ranging from 1-2 inches in length.
 

 
Largest Pod 2” x 1”

 
Intense thick seed core and veins. This has really thickened with the addition of more nutrients.

 
Thanks for your deliciousness, Jalapeno.

What a setup! I especially like your spreadsheet. May emulate it myself this year.

What a setup! I especially like your spreadsheet. May emulate it myself this year.

I can post up a blank template for those who are interested. This is the first year that I am doing a spreadsheet, mostly because I have no other way to set varietal norms, establishing proper flowering times and so on. I think it will really benefit most to compare year to year with the same variety. I'm most interested in comparing the same variety but from different suppliers (seeds of change jalapeno vs botanical interests jalapeno for example). It also provides timing control for fertilizers and so on.

slade122 said:

I can post up a blank template for those who are interested. This is the first year that I am doing a spreadsheet, mostly because I have no other way to set varietal norms, establishing proper flowering times and so on. I think it will really benefit most to compare year to year with the same variety. I'm most interested in comparing the same variety but from different suppliers (seeds of change jalapeno vs botanical interests jalapeno for example). It also provides timing control for fertilizers and so on.

Click to expand...

 
Cool man I'd love a template! I was thinking about ways to organize my grow this year... hadn't planned on really trying to breed anything, but it would be interesting to collect data on yields, flower times, pod times, etc. for the coming grow seasons. Very useful tool.

Everything looks tip-top!  Nice Jalapeño harvest!
 
Good work getting on top of the scale  

Sweet 100 and Yellow Pear clones from the end of the year. These clones are about a month old. The plants cuttings were rooted with a TurboKlone T24, pump 1min on 3 minutes off in regular tap water. These plants are already rooted in pretty strongly, and can't be easily pulled up out of the rocks. I've grown hydroponic tomatoes before, and they have gotten quite large. Both are Indeterminates, which I trim Greenhouse style to a single stem. The one Sweet 100 that I saved is over 10 feet long now, in a 5 gallon pot.