Shane's 2016 sort-of small grow log...

Welcome home! Might be a small grow but those are some really nice varieties. Here's to an awesome upcoming season.

Extremely small? Come on, this is either small or medium.

They look nice. Thank you for the pictures!

Really nice grow !   &   Glad to meet you .     

Damn I wish I had plants thathad pods still on them.


VERY NICE

That orange Thai looks awesome! Good luck this year and welcome home

Good luck this year. That is a nice and different list.

Welcome home and thanks for your service.

Nice Shane! Looking forward to your grow this year.

Welcome home and i hope you have a great season

Great looking plants their!

we have liftoff!!!

 
...and this years first to pop is...

An MOA Scotch Bonnet!!! 9 days is perdy damn good for a chinense!
 
Spent the day working this year's grow plot...

This spot has been my mulch area for the last 3 years. Added some blood meal and will amend with some composted manure and peat moss over the next few weeks...
 

Worked it about a foot into the topsoil raking out most of the material that hasn't broken down yet...
 
Everything is bigger in Texas...

Except the grubworms...they're bigger here in CA...
 

and there are PLENTY of them!!!
 

Here's the grub-n-ator...a foot long San Diego Alligator lizard. Beats running to Petco for crickets!!!
 
All for now...more will be popping soon!

Ya. Got them grubs as well. Glad to see things are popping for you.. do you still have your eZ setup grow room... where you use the reflective insulation? ?

I think peppers can grow year around in your climate.

Scorched said:

Welcome home! Might be a small grow but those are some really nice varieties. Here's to an awesome upcoming season.

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Thanks! Really is good to be home...they are some interesting ones for sure. Can't wait to see how they turn out!
 
 

irn8cctC2uZ said:

Extremely small? Come on, this is either small or medium.

They look nice. Thank you for the pictures!

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Thank you! Small in comparison to some of my other years...things can get a little out of control when you don't set your limits and stick to them!
 
 

moruga welder said:

Really nice grow !   &   Glad to meet you .     

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Thanks MW...good to meet you too!
 
 

Rymerpt said:

Damn I wish I had plants thathad pods still on them.


VERY NICE

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Yeah...some luck involved there. Wilds are very resilient, but the battery on my watering timer ran out only a week after I returned! My wife has enough to worry about when I am gone...so my pepper plants get no love from her. I have a pretty good setup for an "absentee" grow. I have spent most of the past 6 years in this house either gone...or only home on weekends. Will be great to have a season where I am almost always here! 
 

cubbieblue82 said:

That orange Thai looks awesome! Good luck this year and welcome home

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Thanks Cubbie! I think I am going to harvest what is left on there and go ahead and pull that one...She is barely alive, although I know she would come back, I have other plans for that little bed. Great to be back!
 
 

tctenten said:

Good luck this year. That is a nice and different list.

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Thanks 10-10! Welcome to my little piece of the site
 
 

neoguy said:

Welcome home and thanks for your service.

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Thanks neo! Serving is an honor and a pleasure!
 
 

Chewi said:

Nice Shane! Looking forward to your grow this year.

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Thanks Rob! I am too! So nice to have a yard/garden to tend to!
 
 

mpicante said:

Welcome home and i hope you have a great season

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I sure hope I do too MP! Best of luck to you as well!
 
 

dragonsfire said:

Great looking plants their!

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Thanks my friend! 
 
Think that's all they'll let me quote/answer??? Anyway...I will continue the cordials in future posts. As for the grow. I am getting some great germ times!!! 4 more popped this morning on day 11! Very nice for chinenses! No soak...straight into jiffy pellets. I will outline my setup for you all...
 
In the past I have had many setups from a small tray on my desk at work to a full on 6' x 8' grow room running hundreds of CFL's and T5's. Each year I have to adapt to what I have going on and the (planned) size of my grow. This year...although I will be home for most of the season, I got back a little late and I have many other things to worry about so I am only planning on keeping 20ish plants. During my deployment, our landlord informed us that he will be selling this house...but he gave us the first option to buy at a really good deal, so we have our finances in place and are ready to pull the trigger...unfortunately along with that our landlord started to dig out and compile all the stuff that he has remaining here (which is substantial) so my grow room in the garage had to be dismantled (for now) it was really nice...two shelving units with 3 shelves each. Each shelf could hold 6 propagation trays...thermostats...timers...ahh...those were the days.
 
So for now...

I have a small germ station set up on a TV tray   The towel to to aid in efficiency/effectiveness of my heater...
 

Underneath...I labeled each row of jiffy pellets for type...
 

Here is my thrermostat...pay no attention to the temps labeled...it is running nowhere near that hot. Always double check your temps...I use a digital meat thermometer. The actual temp at this setting is around 79 degrees, which is where I like it. The usual temp folks put their germ trays at is 82ish...I have better luck a little lower. They may take a little longer to pop...but I feel like I get better germ rates.
 

My grow station...using Ma-Nature instead of lights this year (so far) this window is south facing and gets full or filtered sun all day. I use the little fan to help strengthen the seedlings and build strong stems for our So-Cal Santa Anna winds...
 

Here are the 5 front-runners!!! The bamboo skewers are a cat deterrent...our cat is an A-hole...yup the A is capitalized on purpose! I also use a little superhot powder and some animal repellent just in case.
 

The first MOA to pop is looking nice! One advantage if I can make this grow setup work for me is no hardening will be needed 
 
Garden preps continue outside as well...

Found this little Western Fence Lizard hiding in my compost pile...was still cool out so he wasn't able to hustle away.
 

Common name is Blue Belly...for some odd reason???
 

Wish all the critters were as awesome as this little guy...
 

Unfortunately...we're having a banner year for grubs! I will be adding some milky spore to my beds this year...we shall see if that makes a difference.
 
That is all for now...thank you all again for stopping by!!!
Shane

Shane few years ago I had those issues. Used DE to no avail. Ended up with spectrazide good luck! !

KiNGDeNNiZ said:

Ya. Got them grubs as well. Glad to see things are popping for you.. do you still have your eZ setup grow room... where you use the reflective insulation? ?

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KiNGDeNNiZ said:

Shane few years ago I had those issues. Used DE to no avail. Ended up with spectrazide good luck! !

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Kind in da Houze!!! Whatup Denniz? Yeah...I have always had them, but they seem to be worse this year. It may just be the new grow area??? I will keep raking them out for now, I don't want to put anything down that may kill the friendlies...as far as the growroom, I answered that above...but some changes are coming! I pulled the trigger on some new grow gear so stay tuned! This old redneck is about to go hi-tech!
 
 

SavinaRed said:

I think peppers can grow year around in your climate.

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SR...some years they can for sure. We have had other years that temps have dropped into the high teens which kills even the ones up next to the house without some effort to keep them alive. The wild (some of them at least) peppers are very resistant to cold and diseases that destroy many other plants. Pequins in particular seem to thrive here. Don't know why there are no real indigenous peppers in SoCal??? They came all the way west  from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona but didn't make it over here where the weather is just about perfect???  
 
Ok...that's it for now. Not much to report. A few more have hooked and more yard/garden prep/maintenance is done. I hope some of the Aji Crystel's(seen it spelled with an "al" as well???) pop soon for my growdown competition. The last time I grew a Baccatum for the contest I won with a plant that I think was around 11' 6"??? I will have to go back and review. 
 
Hope your grows are going well! Stay tuned and I will post some pics of my old grow room/light (cfl) setup along side my new ???   and ???   setup once parts start to arrive!  
 
Shane

Ok...so I already dug up some old grow room photos...



this is the lighting for the top shelf...one 4' power strip with socket converters-socket spitters and two 100w equivalent 5000k/6500k in each outlet along with two shop lights on the outside edges pointed inward as reflectors and constant light. The two shop lights stayed on 24/7 while the CFL's ran 12 hours... 
 

Top shelf one it felt like walking into the sun...
 

I added some magnetic strips to some excess sheathing to contain more of the light on each shelf...
 

 

 
Well that trip down memory lane has me missing my damn grow room!!! The next chapter may be just as good!

Hey, my friend, good to see you home again, and gettin' your grow on!
 
I'm sure your grow will not disappoint , Shane.
Although I am really jealous of your outdoor plants
making it through the winter in the shape they did.
That's nothing but awesome - fresh pods in February  
 
Good luck this season...

Hey Shane!
 
I'm still alive and kicking butt in Tejas
 
Good to see you're having a grow this year, me I'm taking a season off, still working on catching up with the things that need to be done around here. Gonna have a garden and all, but the wife has me tied up on "honey do's", and I owe them to her.
 
Good luck this season!