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.
 

 

[Edmick]

They're pretty much begging for nitrogen... Kinda sad really. Lol

 

[Chilidude]

They're pretty much begging for nitrogen... Kinda sad really. Lol

 
Yes, very sad indeed..That is why i woke up around 04.00 this morning just to check how green they are and got so worried that i could not sleep after that. Actually i am their worst enemy right now, as i am trying to water them to death. Right now those 10 litre air-pots stay wet way too long for my liking, but what can you do but patiently wait for them to dry up enough for the next watering session.

 

[TrentL]

Look on the bright side. At least it isn't RAINING in your grow room. 
 
I was walking around checking plants today and felt a drop on my head. 
 
First time I thought it was a fly or something.

Hit again, I'm batting at the air. Like ... wtf? Leave me alone you damn (look up, catch another drop in the eye)
 
WHAT THE ....
 
I have to strip out the fiberglass and re-do it once I move the plants out. Going to mold...
 

 

 
Random water droplets forming everywhere.
 

 
It was 102F in the grow room today. I had to add additional fans and open the doors and windows downstairs. It gets hot enough during the day, and cold enough at night with the lights off, that the humid air condenses...
 
and it rains.
 
 

 

[Chilidude]

Well it is not raining inside my apartment, however we had plenty of rain in the last workplace even if it was indoors.

 

[TrentL]

Lumber for the isolation buildings showed up today. 5 pallets like this. 
 

 
Had a visitor. Baby gabby got to drive the skid loader today out in the horse pasture. I let her take the controls and drive it around. She had her hands on the controls while I moved a pallet of lumber, too, although she wasn't really driving at that point.
 
 

 

 

 

 
Would have got more done today if I hadn't ran in to the mother of all concrete chunks RIGHT in my way.
 

 
It's about 6-7 foot around, maybe 15 feet long, half cylinder, 6-8" thick (thicker at one end), tied together with rebar. I have NO idea what the hell it could have been. Was centered along the south side of the barn footings. Barn footings were pillars of limestone, this thing was bedded in with them.
 

 
I have to bring my excavator out to the farm. I sure as hell won't be able to pick it up, that thing is outside my weight class by a fair margin. But I *can* dig a deeper hole next to it and roll it in.
 
If that don't work, well, there's always explosives.
 

 
Ran out of daylight, didn't get the 1st cold frame site prepped, but made a dent.
 

 
I got the horse stable field surveyed today too. That's going to be a pain in the ass to grade.
 

 
Not a bad day, all things considered.
 

 
Oh, and I'm going to be a grandpa. My oldest daughter declared she's with child.
 

 

 

 

[Edmick]

Congrats!

 

[Sinn]

Congrats Trent!

 

[TrentL]

Some guys have all the luck. Had a main water line coming in to the basement decide to rupture, and flood my gun / guitar room.
 
While cleaning that up over the span of a few hours, I was clearing some loose ammo out of a pocket of a rifle bag that was sopping wet in the corner of the room, and made a new friend.
 

 
She gave me a love nip on the left index knuckle. Symptoms started about 50 mins later, cramps on that arm and shoulder, full body chills, finger on fire, red rash spreading up forearm, mild headache, light chest pain. 
 
Only been bit by a widow once before; last time was much worse, I don't think I got a full dose this time. 
 
Can't sleep now even though I'm exhausted. Worked 10 hours only to get home, have a water line break and flood the basement, then got bit by North America's most venomous spider. 
 
I'm DONE with this day. 
 

 

[Chilidude]

How many little accidents have you had this year alone?

 

[TrentL]

How many little accidents have you had this year alone?

 
Oh my luck is legendary man. Swings from incredibly good to incredibly bad. 
 
Wasn't the spider's fault I went poking around in dark corners of a basement. It was there minding it's own business.
 
Just wish I could get sleep. Cramps and chills are coming in waves, right about the time I think I'm dozing off, another batch hits. Frigging annoying. I'm exhausted!

 

[Chilidude]

Because you work so hard, do you take any suppliments like magnesium to help with the sleeping?

 

[Walchit]

You don't have to go to the doctor when you get bit by one of those fuckers? You doing alright?

And congrats on the grandbaby!

 

[stickman]

Also, by using the horse pasture, I can go for Organic certification whenever I want, for the stuff going in to dirt under the cold frame houses. Hasn't been any chemicals applied to that horse pasture, so it will pass a soil test. The only downside is I'm going in to the dirt blind (didn't do a soil test on it for nutrients), so I'll have to make judgment calls on plant fertilization based on some quick self-run soil tests for macronutrients and then watch the plants for signs of deficiencies.
 
 

At the scale you're growing, can you afford to skip the soil test? You could take a random sampling of the entire field and just get one test done for $30. That would be better than having to guess when you start talking about pounds per acre.

Boy, things sure move fast here... keep up the good work Trent! [emoji106]

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[PtMD989]

Congrats on your grandchild![emoji106]My first grandchild was just born on 4/20. [emoji1591]
Would a couple of dehumidifiers work to help control the condensation?
Do you have to put up green board in the farms grow room?


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[DontPanic]

Some home owners down here in the Deep South have a similar problem if they try to insulate the crawl space underneath the house.  In the winter, you can loose a lot of energy when the crawl space gets cold, so they put up a layer of insulation underneath their floor boards.  But in the summer, when they fire up their air conditioners, the humidity in the crawl space condenses underneath the insulation on the floor boards, causing problems.
 
Good luck with that problem.  I'm sure in your neck of the woods, this must be a common problem in barns and utility buildings such as your grow room.

 

[TrentL]

Because you work so hard, do you take any suppliments like magnesium to help with the sleeping?

 
No I usually pass out on heavy labor days right after dinner. On days when I don't do a lot of physical work I have trouble sleeping, brain won't shut off. 
 
I do get short on magnesium often, my eyelid or cheek or eyebrow will start twitching, or I'll get random muscle tremors. When that happens I drink some carnation instant breakfast (has all the vitamins) or hit the gas station for muscle milk (a non dairy protein drink, has magnesium in it too).
 

You don't have to go to the doctor when you get bit by one of those f**kers? You doing alright?

And congrats on the grandbaby!

 
Only if you get tachycardia or trouble with the airway. I got a mild hit, wasn't too bad. Light headache, muscle cramps, full body chills (the hair on that arm wouldn't lay down at ALL last night, this morning it's still "poofy", like a perpetual state of chill).
 
Kept me awake a few hours longer than I wanted, and woke up sore as hell, especially on the left arm, left hand is hard to bend, but being short on sleep and having sore muscles is "just another Saturday" around here. No worse for wear. 
 

At the scale you're growing, can you afford to skip the soil test? You could take a random sampling of the entire field and just get one test done for $30. That would be better than having to guess when you start talking about pounds per acre.

Boy, things sure move fast here... keep up the good work Trent! [emoji106]

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Honestly not all that worried about it - with the horse pasture plants going under cold frame, drip irrigation is being run, and that'll let me give them a dose of whatever very quickly. I'll do basic NPK tests, but don't see a need to pay for a big lab test right off the bat. Probably put out some azomite for trace, it is pretty cheap, although I also have about 50 pounds of kelp meal left I could spread as well. Then spread some seabird guano, blood meal, etc, based on what the NPK shows.  I'll be using fish hydrolysate for liquid fertilizer.
 

Congrats on your grandchild![emoji106]My first grandchild was just born on 4/20. [emoji1591]
Would a couple of dehumidifiers work to help control the condensation?
Do you have to put up green board in the farms grow room?


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Well, we would if we ever get around to putting drywall up. Right now it's just exposed insulation.
 
Next year we're only using that room for a sprouting room, assuming we get a proper greenhouse built this year. So it won't be as big of a deal. Won't be going through 145 gallons of water up there every 4 days.

 

[TrentL]

doubletap 
 

 

[TrentL]

Some home owners down here in the Deep South have a similar problem if they try to insulate the crawl space underneath the house.  In the winter, you can loose a lot of energy when the crawl space gets cold, so they put up a layer of insulation underneath their floor boards.  But in the summer, when they fire up their air conditioners, the humidity in the crawl space condenses underneath the insulation on the floor boards, causing problems.
 
Good luck with that problem.  I'm sure in your neck of the woods, this must be a common problem in barns and utility buildings such as your grow room.

 
Honestly never heard of it raining indoors. The only reason this happened is because 100% humidity at high 90-100 temps upstairs, cooling overnight to ~65 degrees, coupled with 145 gallons of water going in for bottom watering every 4 days. 
 
I don't have any outside ventilation (on purpose; area farmers are still spraying pre-emergent herbicide like crazy), so kind of just an oddball problem.
 
Next year with the greenhouse shouldn't be as big of a deal, although I'm still trying to figure out how I can bring in outside air without also bringing in any herbicide floating on the wind.

 

[karoo]

Why don't you run the lights during the night to keep up the temps and no lights during the day to keep it cool.

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[Devv]

Sorry about the spider bite, so far I haven't gotten hit with one here. I see them often enough. But being around here everything either sticks, scratches, stings, or bites, I'm very careful. Especially after 4 hits by my not friend the scorpion. The first time I called the hospital, being we had just moved here (30 years ago) and didn't know if they were deadly. It was more like a bee sting. Same time the second time. Not times 3 and 4 where it made me a little sick and I swelled up like crazy for days at the bite site.
 
I don't know if I posted it here on in my glog about my grow room wanting to go "petri". That moisture needs a way out. I'm going to put in some sort of vent before I start the next round.
 
Perhaps your issue warrants a consultation with a professional that can provide an outline of the measures you need to take to release the moisture? If it's raining inside, be careful the insulation doesn't fall from the water weight...
 
Isn't fun to discover buried goodies?