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Pulpiteer 2017 Grow Log

It's kind of hard to believe, but I'm starting my 6th year of glogging on this site.  It's been a great place, even thought I've not had the time for it the last couple of years.  So, I thought I'd leave a link here to my past glogs, mostly for my own use if I want to reference back to them, they'll be in this one place.  Here they are:  2012201320142015, 2016.
 
 
I've gotten off to a late start this year, but things are rolling a bit now.  
 
Here's the grow list as of now:
 
Pepper-List-2017-page-1.jpg


Pepper-List-2017-page-2.jpg


A couple of things right off the bat:

I've once again had trouble with germination this year. I know I have a few really old seeds, but I also have new seeds from good vendors or great folks on this site, and the problems are not in just one area, so I am at fault. I think I was cooking them. The temp in my grow area was mid 90's for awhile, but I've got it down to mid 80's now and germination rates are better.  However, that put me a bit behind.  
 
Also, I used some of those peat pellets and those germinated fine with the right temps, but I found out that if two plants grow in one peat pellet, they are really tough to separate into two pots if I don't want to cull one.  I also went with straight Happy Frog soil to start the seeds in, but I think that was a bit heavy.  So, I think I'll have to just use my normal soil mix exclusively next year.  My soil recipe, by the way, is basically:
5 parts spaghnum peat
3 parts compost (Dairy Doo)
1 part perlite
1 part vermiculite
 
And then I add in a mix of various suppliments by the table spoon.
 
Also - I want to make sure to say thanks to Trident Chili - we once again swapped seeds and he is more than generous.  I took a picture when the card came in, but I can't find it.  I will say this - he has been extremely generous and great to share with.
 
Ok, a couple of pictures:
 
Here's looking into my downstairs growroom.  I'm really happy with how this area has developed over the past few years:

20170313_163755-1024x576.jpg


You'll probably notice that one area had to be transformed into a brooder. I'm finding that chickens are a ton of fun, and they have been great for the kids, so we have 7 new chicks growing that will hopefully be laying hens.

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The plants are coming along.

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Here is one of the Big Black Mamas:

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I've got more that are just starting to poke through:

20170313_163934-1024x576.jpg


20170313_163834-1024x576.jpg


I think I'll have to address one of my spots - I've got some LED bulbs going. One is a 24 watt grow light, but it seems to be burning everything directly underneath it. I had to remove a row.

20170313_163948-1024x576.jpg


And here are my over-winters:

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I broke one of my own rules about these. I brought a couple plants down without doing the full treatment for aphids and guess what? I had an aphid battle in the beginning of December. So, I took all of them into the garage, stripped them, cleaned their pots with bleach, dunked them in soap, a bleach mix, and rinsed, clean dirt, soaked with water and then sprayed with organic spray. I lost two through that process, but I could have aphids in my grow room. I also thoroughly cleaned my grow area with a bleach mix to get everything out. What a pain!
 
Well, that's my 10 picture limit.  I'll try to keep things updated on here.  
 
I hope everyone's season is off to a good start!
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
 
moruga welder said:
Great grow !   best of luck on your grow ,    :party:
 
 
peppamang said:
Awesome! I'm jealous of your chicks. 
 
Thanks guys!
 
We already have a flock of 6 hens and  a rooster outside, so we're going to have a few chickens.  These chicks are 6 different breeds, and I'm excited to see how they all turn out.  
 
 
So I posted a video on youtube that I made several weeks back as a tour of the grow room.  I'm going to try to post it here:
 
https://youtu.be/hO0TA0wY7AU
 
Hey, Andy, welcome to the 2017 grow season!
Glad to see you back in the growlog business!  
Your grow area has really shaped up - looks like
you have it just about where you want it!  
 
Nice list of peppers - great variety and range of heat.
I always like seeing what you do with them!  
 
karoo said:
Great grow and setup .
I always have to ask, what is your endgame , sauces , personal use , commercial?
 
I did some sauces last year, and plan to do a few more with the ones I have frozen.
 
I sell pepper infused jam at the farmer's market in town, so I use some for that, as well as pepper infused Maple Syrup, but the syrup is running slow this year - it's been a weird winter.  
 
I also sell dry spice mixes and use them myself, so I dehydrate a ton of them:
 
20161205_151349-1024x576.jpg


20161205_151357-1024x576.jpg


20161205_181627-1024x576.jpg

 
Grinding them up tore me up this year.  I did it in the garage and almost threw up several times from the coughing fits, but it's great stuff to use.
 
 
stickman said:
Hi Andy! Looks like you're off to a great start. Good luck this year! Will you still be using the tractor tire raised beds?
 
Absolutely.  They worked out well last year.  Of course last year was a good warm year and they did well anyway, but the raised beds helped with weeds and soil quality, so I'm sticking with those.  I'm going to put a brief video below of the end of the season last year.  
 
Nice to hear from you Rick!
 
PaulG said:
Hey, Andy, welcome to the 2017 grow season!
Glad to see you back in the growlog business!  
Your grow area has really shaped up - looks like
you have it just about where you want it!  
 
Nice list of peppers - great variety and range of heat.
I always like seeing what you do with them!
 
Hey Paul!  I'm glad to be back at it.  I tried to include a few more annuums this year, and I tried to cut back, but you know how that goes...
 
Devv said:
Good to see you back Andy.
 
Wishing you success this season!
Scott! Good to hear from you! Thanks and best of luck to you as well!


Here's a quick video of the garden towards the end of last growing season to let you see how the plants turned out. I got some great harvests, so I feel like I'm finally on top of this plot of land.
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
 
OCD Chilehead said:
Hello Andy!

Glad to see your up and running. By the way, thanks for all the links to previous grows. I need to do that myself.

Garden looked amazing last year. Whatever your doing is working.

Thanks for the tour.

Good luck!
 
Thanks - it's happened with a lot of help from some good folks here.  The raised beds made a huge difference, as did the hot weather.
 
karoo said:
Thanx for your response , I love the dried powder myself.
It can be used for salts , spices , rubs and even used to spice up a sauce that need a little extra.
 
You're right - I really enjoy making different seasoning mixes with them because you can get some really good flavors and spice mixes that really go on almost anything.
 
MikeUSMC said:
Very nice grow list, Andy. Your plants look great so far, and I'm looking forward to following your progress this year. Best of luck!
 
Thank you very much and best of luck to you as well!
 
Trident chilli said:
Andy great to see your glog .... scanned your list and immediately found a golden nugget in the Montego Bay Bonnet this variety I will be following closely. Schnieder Farm was a wonderful bonnet in heat and taste looking forward this season to your Black River. All the best to you and your family
 
 
I'll work hard to get a good isolated seed from this one - remind me at the end of the year and I'll send some over again.  I just put some more of your seeds into soil - Saraga Scotch Bonnet?  What is that one?  Where did you get it?  I'm excited to see how it turns out.
I'm excited to see how the Black river grows out as well.  I need to get some isolated seed from it as well, so if you're don't work out I can send you some good seed at the end of the year, I hope.
 
Superhot Sim said:
Great grow list and plants look awesome Andy.
Love the video and seeing loads of pods still on the plants. Good luck for the season.

Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk
 
Thanks - it was a great season last year!
 
stickman said:
Wow! Your garden did really well last year Andy! Nice to see you have it dialed in. Keep up the good work!
 
Thanks Rick - that hot weather helped as much as anything.  
 
 
Alright, here are some updated numbers of what plants I'm growing and how many I have.  We'll have another Pepper Draft this year - and if you haven't followed along with the glog in years past, what that means is I'll have a day of fun and hot food with some friends and give away over 100 extra plants.  It's a good time and a fun way to spread the love of growing hot peppers!
 
Just yesterday I put two more varieties of seed in the soil - from WhiteHotPeppers - Bhut Jolokia x Brain Strain Yellow and from Trident Chili a Saraga Scotch Bonnet.
 
ListVersion2.jpg


ListVersion2part2.jpg


Here's the grow shelf, fired up and rolling...

20170317_201910-1024x576.jpg


And I installed a new grow light in place of the LED's that were burning my plants. It's just a T8 florescent grow light, $70 on ebay.

20170317_201916-1024x576.jpg


I'm growing yellow Bhuts for the first time

20170317_201927-1024x576.jpg


I don't think I've seen this yet - a Uruguay Seasoning (Pepper Lover) has 4 cotyledons

20170320_224437-1024x576.jpg


Here is my 3rd of 4 children - she was a good helper today as we cleared out some of the raised beds. It felt good to be outside and working again.

20170320_134945-e1490067336847-576x1024.jpg


20170320_134135-e1490067320212-576x1024.jpg


Here is my 4th of 4 with his rooster. We ended up with 2 roosters from our chicks last year. This one was the prettier of the 2 and seemed more laid back. He's been good and hasn't gone after the kids: thus he has not been eaten yet. I live next to the church and my parishioners laugh when they hear him crowing all day.

20170320_124930-e1490067300358-576x1024.jpg


Finally, I found this out front today, on an aronia bush. Does anyone know what it is? I don't think I've seen it before.

20170320_140451-e1490067352170-576x1024.jpg


Alright, I think that's my limit - thanks for stopping by!
 
Pulpiteer said:
 
Thanks - it's happened with a lot of help from some good folks here.  The raised beds made a huge difference, as did the hot weather.
 
 
You're right - I really enjoy making different seasoning mixes with them because you can get some really good flavors and spice mixes that really go on almost anything.
 
 
Thank you very much and best of luck to you as well!
 
 
 
I'll work hard to get a good isolated seed from this one - remind me at the end of the year and I'll send some over again.  I just put some more of your seeds into soil - Saraga Scotch Bonnet?  What is that one?  Where did you get it?  I'm excited to see how it turns out.
I'm excited to see how the Black river grows out as well.  I need to get some isolated seed from it as well, so if you're don't work out I can send you some good seed at the end of the year, I hope.
 
 
Thanks - it was a great season last year!
 
 
Thanks Rick - that hot weather helped as much as anything.  
 
 
Alright, here are some updated numbers of what plants I'm growing and how many I have.  We'll have another Pepper Draft this year - and if you haven't followed along with the glog in years past, what that means is I'll have a day of fun and hot food with some friends and give away over 100 extra plants.  It's a good time and a fun way to spread the love of growing hot peppers!
 
Just yesterday I put two more varieties of seed in the soil - from WhiteHotPeppers - Bhut Jolokia x Brain Strain Yellow and from Trident Chili a Saraga Scotch Bonnet.
 
ListVersion2.jpg


ListVersion2part2.jpg


Here's the grow shelf, fired up and rolling...

20170317_201910-1024x576.jpg


And I installed a new grow light in place of the LED's that were burning my plants. It's just a T8 florescent grow light, $70 on ebay.

20170317_201916-1024x576.jpg


I'm growing yellow Bhuts for the first time

20170317_201927-1024x576.jpg


I don't think I've seen this yet - a Uruguay Seasoning (Pepper Lover) has 4 cotyledons

20170320_224437-1024x576.jpg


Here is my 3rd of 4 children - she was a good helper today as we cleared out some of the raised beds. It felt good to be outside and working again.

20170320_134945-e1490067336847-576x1024.jpg


20170320_134135-e1490067320212-576x1024.jpg


Here is my 4th of 4 with his rooster. We ended up with 2 roosters from our chicks last year. This one was the prettier of the 2 and seemed more laid back. He's been good and hasn't gone after the kids: thus he has not been eaten yet. I live next to the church and my parishioners laugh when they hear him crowing all day.

20170320_124930-e1490067300358-576x1024.jpg


Finally, I found this out front today, on an aronia bush. Does anyone know what it is? I don't think I've seen it before.

20170320_140451-e1490067352170-576x1024.jpg


Alright, I think that's my limit - thanks for stopping by!
Praying Mantis egg sac here's a link
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/beneficial/praying-mantis-egg-sac-info.htm
 
Andy the "Saraga" bonnet came from the Saraga International Grocery Store Indiana Indianapolis.... I believe Justin WHP bought some pods and saved the seeds. I also received seeds from Foggia. The picture he sent showed orange pods however when fully mature they grow red. Thin walled when cut in half they look like dug out canoes a variety that produces lots of pods.....nice heat and flavour

 
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