Sawyer 2019

Deano5x · Apr 12, 2019

Be sending pay pal soon !

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Devv · Apr 12, 2019

Looking good John!

When is dirt day?

Sawyer · Apr 12, 2019

Deano5x said:
Be sending pay pal soon !

Cool!

Devv said:
Looking good John!

When is dirt day?

Thanks, Scott. Average last frost date is either the 16th or the 21st (depending on where I look), and I'd rather have nightly lows at least up in the mid 40s.

So for actual in-ground dirt day, maybe not until the first of May.

I already have one potted OW back outside, a 3yo tepin. It got down in the mid 30s here this morning and up to the low 60s by late afternoon. The tepin doesn't seem to have taken much notice; it's getting greener every day.

I have maybe a half dozen or so more OWs ready to go out as soon as this nightly cold snap passes. And a lot of my new grow this year will be in containers (as long as the supply of mix holds out.)

I planted two more flats today, mostly, but not entirely, annuums. A bunch of my own Sulu Adana, Tekne Dolmasi from TrentL, and Palmyra and Bull's Heart from PL. I'll update the rest tomorrow.

Wiriwiri · Apr 12, 2019

Lots of lovely healthy looking young ones ...they're getting bigger by the hour.

Sawyer · Apr 13, 2019

wiriwiri said:
Lots of lovely healthy looking young ones ...they're getting bigger by the hour.

Thanks, Sandy. I think you're right, and that's about how frequently I look at them some days.

Here's what I planted yesterday (811, if I added right), in no particular order:

Seed aquired from others:
Poblano - 25
Habanada - 25
Sugar Rush Peach - 25
Purple Bhut Jolokia - 8
White Habanero - 19
Madame Jeannette - 26
Tekne Dolmasi - 25
Aleppo - 25
Santa Fe Grande - 60
Hot Tomatoes - 28
Bull's Heart - 40
Palmyra - 30
Sweet Charleston - 25

All of these next ones are my own seed saved from last year's grow:
Trainer Habanero - 75
Yellow Jalapeño - 75
Sulu Adana - 75
Bahamian Goat - 75
Yellow 7 Pod - 75
Papa Dreadie - 75

Deano5x · Apr 13, 2019

Dang I’m gunna have to get some of them yellow japs now !

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Sawyer · Apr 13, 2019

Deano5x said:
Dang Im gunna have to get some of them yellow japs now !

Well, that's what I've been calling them; I just looked up what I planted last year and I think these are actually Jaloro. If that makes a difference. They won't be ready until May.

PaulG · Apr 14, 2019

"The fourth pot of treated seeds suffered a subsequent mass die-off. This is the pot were a swatted fly fell stunned before germination began. I took a chop stick and pushed the fly into the dirt. Guess I was thinking it might provide free fertilizer. Guess not. Live and learn."

After thinking about that for a while, I realized that
it was probably mold from the decomposing fly that
spread to your seeds that didn't germinate. Makes
sense, I guess, they probably have all kinds of gross
stuff on them.

Sawyer said:
Had to go count 'em anew. Sixty-seven. The right-most pot has 25/25 growing. Out of those 67 exactly one has a white stem; all the rest are purple.

That is really good germination rate, John.
Much better than mine. I think my F7 seeds
got too warm while drying.

Sawyer · Apr 14, 2019

PaulG said:
After thinking about that for a while, I realized that
it was probably mold from the decomposing fly that
spread to your seeds that didn't germinate. Makes
sense, I guess, they probably have all kinds of gross
stuff on them.

Except they did germinate; they were up and going great for a few days, then all but a few keeled over and died over just a day or two. But I suspect you're right about the mold. Composted fly, good; rotting fly, bad.

Edit: The problem has been entirely restricted to that one 3.5" square pot, so I'm confident it's not some more serious pathogen.

PaulG said:
That is really good germination rate, John.
Much better than mine. I think my F7 seeds
got too warm while drying.

I was impressed with the rate, too, especially since I wasn't sure I'd left them on the plant long enough.

Sawyer · Apr 14, 2019

Just noticed the first hook in the pot of tepin seeds, planted 4/5. :woohoo:

   This could get exciting over the next several days.

The tomatoes I planted in the 0% pepper pots a few days ago have popped up. I now have oodles of Beefsteak, Mountain Gold, Pink Brandywine, and Fat Cherry.

Some of you may recall I've had black vultures nesting in one of my out buildings for the last few years. I felt honored the first year or two, when I thought their population was threatened. If it ever was it has rebounded in spades.

Juvenile vultures are kind of funny to watch and definitely have individual personalities, but holy hell can they be a pain in the ass. They pull on everything, checking to see if it's edible, to see what's underneath, just for the hell of it, or my favorite theory, for the pure joy of screwing with me. Lost tags and dumped pots were the rule last year rather than the exception. Of course, I also suspect raccoons and won't discount the possibility of two-legged mammalian culprits.

Anyway, a threesome returned this year, first hanging out in the trees. I had hoped they were the yearling triplets returned home for lack of a better place to go. I tried to shoo them away whenever I could, tossing sticks and stones (but not to break their bones). They'd fly away, but be back the very next day.

I don't know if incest is a thing in the vulture world, but soon it was just two and they were checking out the old homeplace. (The very same out building I said would be gone by this spring. It isn't.)

I upped my game of harassment, being out and about a bit more with the warmer weather. These birds are supposed to be shy, avoiding human contact at all costs. Not. I swear they laughed at me while circling overhead, barely out of reach of my stone toss. (And, yeah, it's a little unnerving to have buzzards circling low overhead, knowing their full attention is focused on me)

Eventually, I grabbed a long bamboo pole (about two, two and a half times longer than the proverbial ten foot pole), poked it through an open window in the outbuilding, and rattled the end around a while. Apparently no one was home. I left the pole in place and haven't seen the nascent family in a couple of days. Hopefully this is one fewer irritant I'll have to deal with this year.

Devv · Apr 14, 2019

One just has to love God's creatures...or not

Sawyer · Apr 14, 2019

I love the buzzards more than the £©∆∆¥π∆ whitetail deer. At least the buzzards provide a needed service, cleaning up the roadkill mayhem. Deer are worse-than-worthless, giant, ravenous rats that have wiped out several of my commercial crops over the years. Can't even eat the bastards anymore due to chronic wasting disease.

But let me tell you how I really feel...

Wiriwiri · Apr 15, 2019

Sawyer said:
Thanks, Sandy. I think you're right, and that's about how frequently I look at them some days.

Here's what I planted yesterday (811, if I added right), in no particular order:

Seed aquired from others:
Poblano - 25
Habanada - 25
Sugar Rush Peach - 25
Purple Bhut Jolokia - 8
White Habanero - 19
Madame Jeannette - 26
Tekne Dolmasi - 25
Aleppo - 25
Santa Fe Grande - 60
Hot Tomatoes - 28
Bull's Heart - 40
Palmyra - 30
Sweet Charleston - 25

All of these next ones are my own seed saved from last year's grow:
Trainer Habanero - 75
Yellow Jalapeño - 75
Sulu Adana - 75
Bahamian Goat - 75
Yellow 7 Pod - 75
Papa Dreadie - 75

Mama Mia! You have your work cut out for you John..must have a huge chunk of land to plant all those 811& counting.

I hear ya about the bothersome "uninvited" rascals ...we have deer but they stay away from my garden & loiter in the back of our property...but then again my volume is minuscule compared to yours & my grow area is fenced in /or on the patio.I did note some
hoof marks closer to the home during my walk around but in the dead of winter they prowl around looking for any treats.

The greatest treat to my peppers are the Asiatic beetle,they destroy my plants each year without fail..it's terrible,I have to treat
my plants with diatomaceous earth...& while it works ..its does not look good..I go out in the dark with a small dim
flashlight IE low battery juice.as brighter light invites swarms, pull them off of my plants & dunk them in a soapy mix..
You have to love what ya do to con't despite these setback..I never noticed them till I started growing peppers??
Anyway we march forward & deal with these obstacles ..stopping not an option...right?

Sawyer · Apr 16, 2019

wiriwiri said:
Mama Mia! You have your work cut out for you John..must have a huge chunk of land to plant all those 811& counting.
I hear ya about the bothersome "uninvited" rascals ...we have deer but they stay away from my garden & loiter in the back of our property...but then again my volume is minuscule compared to yours & my grow area is fenced in /or on the patio.I did note some
hoof marks closer to the home during my walk around but in the dead of winter they prowl around looking for any treats.

The greatest treat to my peppers are the Asiatic beetle,they destroy my plants each year without fail..it's terrible,I have to treat
my plants with diatomaceous earth...& while it works ..its does not look good..I go out in the dark with a small dim
flashlight IE low battery juice.as brighter light invites swarms, pull them off of my plants & dunk them in a soapy mix..
You have to love what ya do to con't despite these setback..I never noticed them till I started growing peppers??
Anyway we march forward & deal with these obstacles ..stopping not an option...right?

You are very right, Sandy, stopping is not an option.

I had to look up Asiatic beetles. I'm not sure I ever distinguished them from Japanese beetles, though I've certainly seen both here. I finally got them and June bugs under control here with milky spore, though I think it's about time to reapply it.

Speaking of swarms, when I was a kid my older brother would set up a 55 gallon barrel in our driveway with an incandescent bulb suspended over it. He'd fill the barrel about 1/4 full of water and then pour an inch or two of gasoline on top of the water. In peak season over the course of a night, the barrel would almost fill up with June bugs. It was great fun when he would tip the barrel over in the driveway and light the gasoline on fire.

But back to peppers, I would have a hard time finding enough space for all these peppers here on my own place. I plant extra so even if I get low germination for some varieties, I should still have a few plants. I also plan to sell excess plants. But I really hope to find local farmers interested in growing fairly large numbers of plants on some sort of share-cropping basis.

Sawyer · Apr 17, 2019

The so-called "Trainer Hab" and Jaloro/Yellow Jalapeño seeds planted last Friday have already begun to come up as of yesterday. I think four days must be some kind of germination record for me.

Tepins are up to eight sprouted, and counting.

Sawyer · Apr 17, 2019

Bahamian Goat started popping today, five days after planting. It's still about 200 days to average first frost here, so I think I'm in good shape. And that doesn't account for whatever season extension capacity I get in place between now and then.

BigCedar · Apr 17, 2019

Hey Sawyer! Quite the list and plans you have for this year! :shocked:

The starts all look beautiful! They look cool all grouped together like that, got enough BBMs? :lol:

Something tells me I need to head over to your 2018 glog.... Gonna get on that! Well best of luck to you, looking forward to seeing the full set up!

Sawyer · Apr 18, 2019

BigCedar said:
Hey Sawyer! Quite the list and plans you have for this year! The starts all look beautiful! They look cool all grouped together like that, got enough BBMs? Something tells me I need to head over to your 2018 glog.... Gonna get on that! Well best of luck to you, looking forward to seeing the full set up!

Thanks, BC. I got a late start (again) this year, but things are coming along.

I'm not sure if I have enough BBMs. I have one more flat to plant and I think I'll find room in it for at least a few more of those.

Last year's glog wasn't my best effort. You should take a look at the earlier ones.

I took some pictures this morning that I'll try to get posted soon. In the meantime, here are the latest numbers. Not listing those that haven't started yet.

Tepin - 11/100 (These seem to germinate in fits and starts instead of a steady ramp.)

Trainer Hab - 61/75 (I need to start a thread over in the ID section for this one. I have plant, flower and pod pics in last year's glog. I'm pretty sure it's not a habanero, but it is a fine, sweet pepper.)

Yellow Jalapeño/Jaloro - 73/75
Sulu Adana - 3/75 (Just getting started, as are most of the ones planted last Friday.)
Bahamian Goat - 13/75
Yellow 7 Pod - 6/75
Sugar Rush Peach - 4/25
White Habanero - 12/19
Aleppo - 9/25
Tekne Dolmasi - 4/25

Sawyer · Apr 19, 2019

Some photos taken yesterday, first up is the flat of OS RBJ:

I still think those weeds are a native nightshade, but I'm not certain. I'll begin separating all of these soon and will set some of the unknowns aside.

Plenty (?) of BBM:

Got a few of the same weed here, too. The sparsely populated pot on the middle right contains the leftovers from when I removed the largest ones to send to one of you THPers. Top three pots, left to right, are Primo, BMM, and CR.

This one has PDNxBMJ and PDSB in the bottom two rows.

The rest is older seeds started for someone else and tomatoes started late where peppers failed to grow.

Bottom right pot is 17/17 Chocolate Moruga. Bottom left two pots are original strain Yellow 7 Pod. The two pots right above those are OS Red 7 Pod. Very disappointed in the poor germination for those.

The rest is mixed red and yellow smooth-podded superhots from my own seeds from last year.

A lot of annuums in here. There's a lot more going on here today:

All of these are from my own self-saved seeds from last year:

Everything but the P.Dreadie are kicking. PD should be along shortly.

PaulG · Apr 22, 2019

Forests of seedlings!

Awesome getting this season underway in
a big way, John! The flats look great, dense
with starts and nice and green.