Shortcakes 2019 Self Watering

They look good so far. Nothing wrong with a few beers.

Hey, welcome to THP!

Your starts are really coming along,
Shortcake! They look nice and healthy.

Good luck going forward...

Thanks gentleman!
 
Here's some more progress pics. I'm not much of a fan of the integrated image uploader, it's compressing and making the photos grainy. They do look better on my phone, maybe it's my screen......I don't know, you guys have compression/grainy photo problems?
 
I don't have many pics of the self watering container build, I forgot .
 
It's a basic wicking setup, just a bit more beefy, with a 45 gal container. I cut the lid to shape, cut holes the size of the mixing cups and zip tied them into place. Holes were melted through the mixing cups and through the cut to size lid with a soldering iron.
 
The photo doesn't show the holes in the blue lid, but I made a ton of them. I then placed this assembly into the container and zip tied the lid to the sides.
 

 
I originally intended to put one plant per container to see how big of a bush I could actually get. I just wasn't able to say no to all the cool varieties I had started and ended up putting 3 plants per.
 
Ignore the weed block plastic, that was removed. Rainwater is freely able to pass and drain out the fill line hole.
 
4/29/2019


 
 
After these photos I had to go down south for work for a month, babes are on their own.
 
Luckily a buddy came and took a few pics.
 
5/19/2019

 
These two guys aren't looking so great. New growth is looking fairly healthy though, so lets let em ride son!


 
Came back home and saw some pretty happy plants. Stretching their legs and getting comfy.
 
5/26/2019

 
I built a little box out of bamboo and used zip ties for lashing. Can you tell I like zip ties?
 
6/1/2019

 
6/8/2019

 
I'm going to feed these two a fairly light mix of the Masterblend trio about once a week by pouring direct into the reservoir. we'll see if there's much of a difference. Not super scientific as it's different varieties, but maybe we'll see something. First feeding was the 8th.
 
6/11/2019

 
Those slackers are really starting to bounce back.
 
6/16/2019



 
Some deep color on this black pearl I didn't have the heart to cull.

 
 
That's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you on the next one.
 

Plants look great, I love the self watering containers, I've tossed the idea of building one around in my head for a while now. I love the dark foliage on the pearl I wanna grow something that color next year.

Yeah they seem to be working pretty well. You should go for it.

It's really neat to see purple leaves on a pepper plant. It doesn't seem to be a true Black Pearl as the peppers look more like tiny purple jalapenos than upright purple balls.

Hope that's not a hint for the other variaties.

Nice lookin setup SC. Self-waterers look great and that custom engineered bamboo support system looks pretty cool. Hope its sturdy because your plants look like they're gonna EXPLODE! Well done!

Great progress, SC. Plants look really good.

Thanks DownRiver. Hoping they are too, cause it looks like you might be right!
 
Thanks Paul, this has been a lot of fun.
                                                                                                                                                                                  
 
So it's been a week, lets check in.
 
I'm going to try something new with the images. I haven't been happy with the integrated image hosting quality, so it's experiment time.
 
This is with the sites upload tool....
 
6/23/2019

 
This is the same image scaled to 20% and hosted on imgur.
 
6/23/2019

 
Looking better
 
Unless the image causes problems with site navigation and user experience, I'll continue using the imgur method.
 
6/23/2019

 
This might be the longest flower stem I've ever seen on a pepper plant. Sugar Rush Peach........hopefully.
 
6/23/2019

 
 

 
 
 
So it's been awhile, I've been lazy...
 
The masterblend containers really seem to be taking off and the other two have slowed, may be deficient. The experiment goes on!
 
Will probs get to a full update in a couple weeks.
 

Very healthy, nice bits of color peeking through!

Where did the bamboo go, lol. Plants are looking awesome SC!

Masterblend never ceases to amaze! Look at those bush monsters! I gotz pepper envy here!