2018 - The Farm

Well, I've been gone a few years from the board, and away from growing peppers, but looks like life is pushing me back that way again. 
 
I recently (last month) closed on a 25 acre farm in Central Illinois with some primo soil, and I'm going to give a commercial grow a test run. 
 

 

 
From up on the roof, when I was doing some roof repairs on the outbuildings. Not much as far as the eye can see, but cornfields...
 

 
 
Has a 4 stall garage and a horse stable on the property
 

 

 

 
Probably do my grow room upstairs here after I insulate it
 

 
Built some doors for the horse barn and patched the roof last month
 

 

 
 
Anyway just dropped a cold grand on seeds from pepperlover and buckeye, going to hit a greenhouse supplier up for other materials next week.
 
Have plans to build a 30x72' greenhouse in the spring, and a ~1200 sq foot dedicated grow room. Too late really to help with this year's grow, but next year it'll save me a lot of hassle on hardening off. 
 
The greenhouse, I am going to do a piped infloor heat slab, with a horizontal loop geothermal system (I own a mini excavator) that is solar powered. So heating should be nice, uniform, not create heat / cold bubbles, and not dry out plants like forced air would. I build circuit boards in my day job, so I will also build a microcontroller to handle the automated watering system with soil moisture monitors and actuated plumbing valves on the water supply.
 
Also plan on building a "deep winter" greenhouse for year round production. Got blueprints I made from a couple of years back, those are walled on three sides with heavy duty insulation, with the glass wall side angled to face winter solstice, so you can grow in the deep freeze months of the north. In the summer, those get hot enough to use as a natural dehydrator, replace the tables with racks for bulk drying.
 
Only doing a half acre or so of peppers to start with this year, the balance will be put in corn. I can't manage more than that with the labor I have available. (When you start talking thousands of plants, simple tasks like up-potting grow in to hundreds or thousands of man hours...)
 
Going to hire some local kids to help, school has a good ag co-op program for high schoolers, they can get school credit working on local farms. Since the plant out and harvest doesn't conflict too badly with corn, shouldn't have a problem finding labor around here.
 
Anyway, that's the plans.
 
We'll see how it goes.. er.. grows.
 

 

[TrentL]

It's the ammonia! Ammonia is a decently strong base.


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Not just the ammonia though. One of the mixes that pegged the pH meter didn't smell of ammonia at all. 
 
I think 1 cup of bone meal per cubic foot was .. like a whole lot too damn much. I topped the meter going instantly to 8.4 without any delay whatsoever; so the pH was probably 9+. 
 
The mix with 1/2 the amount tested lower, but was still an 8.2, after 4 days. I also used half the blood meal, and no kelp. Kelp is what was causing mixes to go hot and breaking down to ammonia. That hasn't happened on mixes without kelp. Kelp must break down FAST with bacteria added. Lots of heat, and lots of ammonia when it's done. 
 
I have a new mix done without any bone meal or kelp. I have liquid bone meal which already has phosphoric acid pre-mixed in the jug, to neutralize pH, that I'll use if / when the plants show phosphorous issues. Also have organic liquid cal mag that can be used if they show any deficiencies there later.
 
New mix is simpler;
 
5:2:1 coir / perlite / worm castings
1/2 cup blood meal per 1 cubic foot for nitrogen slow release
1/2 cup azomite per 1 cubic foot for trace nutrients
 
Potted up 12 each of big sun habanero, 7-pot primo, and yellow fatalli to the new mix, along with the remainder of the ace55 and cherry tomato seedlings (about 40).
 
Worst case is I will have to do some liquid ferts, but that is on the menu anyway at some point.
 

 

[fcaruana]

 
Not just the ammonia though. One of the mixes that pegged the pH meter didn't smell of ammonia at all. 
 
I think 1 cup of bone meal per cubic foot was .. like a whole lot too damn much.

Haha yeah, could be, I don't know much about bonemeal!

Did you try in any of your mixes a coir + perlite + guano/manure combination?

Also I've been thinking.. you should get some compost going for next season - speak to some people in town and see if they can drop off some compost at your place. Make a nice big pile (or five) that you can turn every few weeks. Then next year you can do a new soil mix with coir, compost, perlite, and guano. The compost would be diluted and the mix probably wouldn't heat up on you.


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[TrentL]

Yeah no compost for this year for sure. It's pretty frozen outside still.
 
The coir / perlite mix control I did, didn't show any root damage, but had obvious nutrient deficiencies.  Roots were super healthy in it.
 
3 days after I potted it up in a mix with bone meal, it did what all the other stuff did with the bone meal; it started dying.
 
I thought it was something else entirely, until I tested pH on everything today and found out they were off the damn chart.
 
Well, with a pH *way* over 8.4 ... plants are gonna keel the hell over.
 
It also explains why this started on the original mix not too long after I added the mycorrhizae. I ruled them out in the starter trays, but in the potting soil the myco started breaking down the bone meal (rotten fish smell, on the fish bone meal) and the pH skyrocketed.
 
8.4+ is hostile to just about every plant form on planet earth.. and after reading in to bone meal more, it seems that "use with caution" is the rule of thumb because once you've added it, you can't get rid of it, and it can rapidly swing pH towards alkaline - much faster than lime.
 
Now all of the organic recipes I've been pulling from have been sphagnum peat moss / coco coir but... there's a huge difference here.
 
Sphagnum peat moss usually needs some lime to make it not so acidic. Coir doesn't need that. It's got a good stable pH. It *also* does not buffer pH nearly as good as peat moss. It can swing much faster than peat moss.
 
So you add in something that rapidly swings pH, like bone meal, and ... well, the pH rapidly shfits.
 
I watered the plants which had that old mix with a pH of (off the lower end of the test strips) below 6.0 tonight, just to balance them back out, or at least, make the pots somewhat less toxic. Will be interesting to see if the leaves start to green back up tomorrow. If they do, that confirms pH was the killer constraint. When mixing that water up, I pretty much just dumped vinegar in the bucket until I figured "yeah, that's about right." Wasn't very scientific, but hell, with pots hitting 8.4+ pH those plants are dead anyway. All I'm doing is throwing them a highly acidic temporary lifeline, to try to get roots healthy before I re-pot them in something less toxic.
 
I've got to find my digital pH meter and get some more accurate readings, too. I ran myself clean out of test strips today.
 
I never had to worry about pH in potting soil before, but then again, I wasn't building it from scratch either.. I was just pouring it out of a bag I bought at the store and adding water once in a while when they wilted.
 
Learning curves on making your own soil are harsh. 
 
I was thinking "meh, worst that can happen is my plants aren't happy and I have to add some liquid nutrients to bring them around."
 
Wiping out hundreds at a time, that wasn't on the menu. 
 
 

 

[TrentL]

The liquid bone meal is my safeguard. That mix above should be pretty damn safe - but will likely need ph neutral liquid bone meal at some point.
 

 

[TrentL]

Gotta start thinking about how to air out the grow room downstairs, now. As the temps warmed up this week my min/max thermometer showed a high of 99F in the grow room.
 
Also wondering at the farm, where there's going to be 3x the lights on, how I'll keep it cool. I think I'll have to cut vents in the floor and put in fans that cycle on when it gets too warm upstairs, to blow the air down in to the lower area. That'll cause the thermostats to tell the heaters to stay off. With as well as that building is insulated now, I bet I can keep it up to temp just with lighting, and not even run the big LP heaters.
 

 

[TrentL]

No pics today, I'm under the weather and watering them was more than I could deal with. Dunno what the kids brought home from school this time.. but started puking last night.
 
No days off though. Plants still need waterin'.
 
I will say, the hydro pots are doing exactly as expected. The pots that had too much bone meal are starting to keel over. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say all of them would be showing 8.5+ now.
 
The 80-ish I potted up yesterday in to Mix M (eventually I'm gonna run out of letters) seem to be doing well, for now. But then again, it was always 4-5 days in that I started seeing danger signs on the plants. (Which, in hindsight, is about as long as it probably took for pH to creep up to a dangerous level.)
 
Oh well, live and learn. At SOME point I'll stop killing these damn things.
 

 

[TrentL]

Re-planted two trays of Bhut Jolokia Brown today. Trays 46 and 47. Trying to gather some energy to go put down more trays, but whatever this bug I caught is kicking my ass. 
 
I never really thought about that at the start of this project. "Sick Days" didn't factor in... don't have any backup. 
 
Ok enough whining. Going to go do some more re-plants. March 5 is pretty late to start Chinense, but not all THAT late. I had a hell of a crop the year I seeded in Feb 22, and I'm only 11 days past that. Besides, going to take a lot of time to get stuff in the ground, so these can just go in.. last, or whatever.
 

 

[Edmick]

Re-planted two trays of Bhut Jolokia Brown today. Trays 46 and 47. Trying to gather some energy to go put down more trays, but whatever this bug I caught is kicking my ass. 
 
I never really thought about that at the start of this project. "Sick Days" didn't factor in... don't have any backup. 
 
Ok enough whining. Going to go do some more re-plants. March 5 is pretty late to start Chinense, but not all THAT late. I had a hell of a crop the year I seeded in Feb 22, and I'm only 11 days past that. Besides, going to take a lot of time to get stuff in the ground, so these can just go in.. last, or whatever.
 

You're a farmer! Grab your boot straps and get to work! lol i'm kidding. I'm a total bitch when i'm sick. My wife works for the government so i'll just make her take a sick day when i'm sick so she can tend to the plants. lol

 

[TrentL]

You're a farmer! Grab your boot straps and get to work! lol i'm kidding. I'm a total bitch when i'm sick. My wife works for the government so i'll just make her take a sick day when i'm sick so she can tend to the plants. lol

 
My wife is pretty good about taking care of me when I'm sick. She throws an empty coffee can in the room for me to puke in, and says "don't be a wuss, and don't make a mess."
 
Whatever this was worked me over pretty damn quick. I was REAL tired last night, went to bed early. Woke up drenched in sweat, run to the bathroom, and my insides just emptied themselves out.. get done one way and then here it comes the other way.. jeezus. I thought I was going to pass out. 
 
There's been a couple bugs going around, lately, one of the guys at the office had the same thing last week. Probably a norovirus or something. It doesn't seem to last long, I'm already starting to feel quite a bit better. At least got some coffee in me again, finally. And about two gallons of fluids with electrolytes. 
 
But yeah, the plants took a back seat this morning for a few hours. I knew that at least 4 trays urgently needed water; was not feeling up to it last night, going to do it first thing today.. but ugh. 
 
They were *feather* light when I got down there mid afternoon, finally. Seedlings were all still standing and looking good, though, so no damage done!

 

[TrentL]

A replant of MOA scotch bonnets started sprouting a couple of days ago. It's now at the 10 day mark and has sprouted 47%. My previous best rate on it was 56%. The only difference here is early on I didn't realize I had a high pH on my tap water. This tray has been watered with 6.5 pH from day 1. So it'll be interesting to see if it has any noticeable effect on sprouting.
 
Even if it doesn't do any better, I still need the extra seedlings after the first three trays averaged upper 30 percentile. I'm also losing a LOT of those to seed head deaths. This new tray that's sprouting was *tamped* down, lightly. This is proving to eliminate seed heads almost entirely.  47% of the tray has sprouted and I only have *1* lone seed head!
 
All new trays get tamped down lightly from now on. Not allowing the soil to remain "loose" over the seeds!!!! That was the source of my "helmet head woes". The new modus operandi is to plant the seed 1/2" deep and tamp down 1/8" deep, resulting in a compressed "top" layer with the seed itself remaining at the optimal 3/8" depth. Of course, the starter soil has to be a particular consistency for this; when it's "right", you can feel it get "tight" and know when to stop tamping.
 
Considering I've lost as much as 9% to helmet head deaths, that's a pretty important little discovery on seeding technique for me to remember next year. 
 
 

 

[TrentL]

The lights I ordered from GrowAce are STILL not here. I wired them money last month, shipped 2/3 of the order on the 23rd - they said there was a screwup and they didn't have 30 available, only 20, so they shipped those via Frontline.. Shipping company shows they arrived in Chicago on 2/27. No answers from e-mail or further updates from shipping company in a WEEK now. 
 

 
I'm starting (well, I'm *already*) a little pissed off. I'm starting to get *really* pissed off though. If I don't have lights soon at the farm I'm screwed. 
 
It's getting crowded in here. With the farm still having no lights, I can't MOVE anything there, which means now I'm using the floor to sprout stuff. Heating mats are helping; just had the first hook on a tray of Reapers pop after 10 days under the tables on the concrete floor.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[Walchit]

 

[TrentL]

Well, the newest mix is doing pretty good so far, everything healthy so far. 
 
I need to re-pot the 30 I did a few days ago. Doing low pH water is not helping them. It did temporarily but the pH is already back up to toxic levels. That damn fish bone meal.. good grief. That stuff is far more potent than I expected. Of course I was using 1/2 pound per cubic foot ... that'd be enough to do 10 square feet of garden at the 5 lb / 100 sq foot ratio application that's recommended....
 
The batches of soil that cooked off had 1 cup of kelp meal per 1 cu ft, in most mixes, which normal applications are 1 pound / 100 square feet. So ... like probably way the hell too much of that too. 
 
I'm trying to figure out if I can even salvage all of the mix I saved. The pH on it is ridiculously high, and as the organics keep breaking down it keeps going through ammonium phases. Add some myco solution, for a few days it settles down (the smell), then BANG.. ammonia back with a vengeance.
 
Meh. 
 
Moving forward it looks like a touch of blood meal, and a whole lotta worm turds... not taking any chances, gotta get these babies potted up.
 
Of course, if I had some FRIGGING LIGHTS this would be a lot better. RIght now I have a farm fully prepped.... with no f'n lights!
 

 

[TrentL]

Frontline Freight ... lost my lights shipment.
 
I'm f***ed.
 
That might be an end to this frigging project, I have 1,000 seedlings ready to transplant and another 30 trays that'll be popping over the next 1-5 days.... but no lights for the farm.

 

[tctenten]

That's B.S.

How do you "lose" a shipment that big?

 

[Edmick]

If worse comes to worst Trent, you can switch all your plants to a 12/12 light schedule and split the lighting between them. It will be a pain in the ass alternating the trays in and out but it'll buy you some time til your lights arrive.

 

[TrentL]

That's B.S.

How do you "lose" a shipment that big?

 
 
Beats the shit out of me.
 
I bet some black market weed farmers in Chicago just got a bunch of new lights for "fell off the back of the truck" prices.
 

If worse comes to worst Trent, you can switch all your plants to a 12/12 light schedule and split the lighting between them. It will be a pain in the ass alternating the trays in and out but it'll buy you some time til your lights arrive.

 
That's not a horrible idea. Actually, that's a pretty damn GOOD idea. That would at least let me rotate out the 51 trays I currently have going (soon to be 62) so that I can keep them alive until I get more lights. Doesn't solve the transplant issue; I don't have lights in to pot-up yet. But I could at least hold them in starter trays for a little longer. Would delay the grow a bit if I did that too long, only so far I can go with chemical nutes in little 72 cell starter trays.

 

[TrentL]

Oh man, I think it WAS the bone meal causing me problems all along. 
 
Mix M passed up my controlled hydro grow in 2 days (hydro is on day 5).
 
I re-potted all of mix J and L plants in to Mix M1.
 
Mix M, is simple;
 
5:2:1 coir/perlite/worm castings 
1/2 cup blood meal per 1 cubic foot
1/2 cup azomite per 1 cubic foot
2 oz Great White solution mycorrhizae per 4" pot (solution is 1 teaspoon / 2 gallons)
 
Mix M1 is same, minus azomite. (This is setting up for a different test, what happens without the trace nutrients.)
 
When repotting, my notes;

J1 had severe root deterioration; nearly no root mass was left on either tomatoes or peppers, root mass was < .5" and brown. Smelled strongly of ammonia.
J2 had moderate root deterioation; roots were short, 1-1.5" at max length, light brown in color, and slightly translucent. Smelled of ammonia, though not strongly.
J3 had light root deterioation; roots were short, 1-1.5" at max length, but very light brown to white. Faint whiff of ammonia was detectable.
L had little to no root deterioation, but no new growth - they looked nearly exactly as they did when I took them out of the starter tray. Roots were faintly light brown to white. Length varied, up to 2" was seen on some (similar to when they were transplanted). No smell of ammonia was detectable.
 
It appears as though roots inside the starter cell plug I transplanted were somewhat 'sheltered' from the high pH in the rest of the pot, in both J2 / J3. 
 
I de-potted two plants from Mix M and looked at the root mass today. 
 
OH MAN. WOW.
 
I have tomato roots which have already reached out to all corners of the 4" pots and the root masses were fist sized. It was pretty awesome looking, considering that 2 days ago when I potted them in to Mix M, they were spindly with hardly no roots at all, in the starter trays. (They were still growing 4-5 tomatoes PER CELL in the starter trays, in straight coir, so no nutrients there..)
 
Pepper roots were bright white, fuzzy looking, and incredibly healthy.
 
They have REALLY taken off.
 
The peppers are all looking healthy. Maybe a touch lighter green than I'd like, but I did run them under the lights for 20+ hours yesterday inadvertently. And it was 99F in the grow room, so that probably didn't help things.
 
The soil smells pretty good too, as far as you'd expect for worm turds and blood meal. Smells like a rich loam. Has the sponginess of bread. 
 
The plants are growing fast; tomatoes transplanted two days ago have already doubled in size, and that root mass has to be at LEAST 10x what it was just a few days ago in the starter cells.
 
I think I have a good baseline mix, finally.
 
Once I know it's fully survivable and doing well, I can start tweaking it a little here and there, to see what the effects are.
 

 

[TrentL]

JEEEEZ... it took them TWO FULL DAYS to track down my lights.
 
But I just got this message from a supervisor over at the shipping company
 
[SIZE=11pt]Hi Trenton,[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=11pt]            Our team has finally updated us that this shipment is scheduled to go out for delivery tomorrow 3/7 between 8am-5pm.[/SIZE]
 
 

 

[TrentL]

Now i just hope they arrive... and not in pieces. Always nervous shipping lights. I had several broken bulbs when I ordered the first batch of 8, from different vendors.