2019 Hay Bale Pepper Patch

I've been a member for a while but never posted a grow log. My usual garden is too boring for that. I use 20-30 pots and overwinter my mama plants in a hillbilly winter shelter. Our ground here isn't good for in soil gardening and I've not been enthused enough to undertake the work and expense to build raised beds.
 
Now I have my peppers working the way I want and have the need for a much larger grow to supply a project. The main peppers I'll grow will be reaper, douglah and fatalii. For a couple of years I'll do hay bale gardens and heap tons of organic trash into the area. I have monumental amounts of pine straw, oak leaves and bonfire ash every year to dump in the walkways. I think this will do a world of good to make this new garden area mo'betta for eventual in ground growing.
 
I closed off a 38x38 patch in the NE field that gets full sun. This is the area I chose. The big painted guy is my fertilizer supplier.
 
The little painted guy is my running buddy and load inspector.
 
 

 

[DWB]

Pretty sure DWB would kick my ass in a growdown! Because 1: He had to put a huge amount of labor into that grow area and 2: I have no urge to labor that hard to grow stuff. My Old Man Card allows me to coast along a bit these days. Let it be known that I have great respect for DWBs ability to grow huge heavily laden plants.

 
Absolute mutual respect Skull. No doubt I would get my ass kicked because I'm only growing the easy peppers.
 
Please know my Old Man Card indicates I'm on the wrong side of full retirement age. I don't know what I was thinking
 

 

[DWB]

 
Actually around here that's average size, and we see larger ones. I'm thinking that snake had enough to not come back again. Three dogs on it..LOL
No training, the Blue Lacy dogs just seem to know not to get too close. I'm thankful for that. My biggest fear is one gets hit.
 
I can't find a pic of the broadfork, I'll have to take another. I'm way jelly of that everyday shower. You said you only watered them 3 times...I could only wish!
 

 
10-20 years ago I caught numerous 6+ foot easterns. Right now I can't even remember the last time I saw one roadkilled. Used to be you'd see a few on any trip to town.
 
I was confused about your fork. The closest thing I have is an 8x12 four tine digging fork with a D-handle. It works fairly well.
 
The Blue Lacy pups look a lot like the Blue Weimaraner we lost in 2010. Greydog. Still miss him terribly.
 
Almost 2" of rain so far today. I'm glad I didn't put any time and effort into an irrigation system for the garden this year. I haven't watered those melted bale rows since May.
 

 

[Devv]

 
10-20 years ago I caught numerous 6+ foot easterns. Right now I can't even remember the last time I saw one roadkilled. Used to be you'd see a few on any trip to town.
 
I was confused about your fork. The closest thing I have is an 8x12 four tine digging fork with a D-handle. It works fairly well.
 
The Blue Lacy pups look a lot like the Blue Weimaraner we lost in 2010. Greydog. Still miss him terribly.
 
Almost 2" of rain so far today. I'm glad I didn't put any time and effort into an irrigation system for the garden this year. I haven't watered those melted bale rows since May.
 

 

Here's a few pics of the fork I made:
 

 

 
I made it from some scraps and bought 2 wheelbarrow handles. Works like a champ!

 

[DWB]

 
Here's a few pics of the fork I made:
 

 

 
I made it from some scraps and bought 2 wheelbarrow handles. Works like a champ!

 
That is very cool. It's 1" box and 2" box? How did you make the tines? If I had a cutting torch I'd consider making one. The metal fab guy I know in P'cola would cut the box metal to length for me but the tines look like a bear to fab up.
 
Forking my garden would be relatively simple, even with my little fork. I tested and it's an easy deal to push it in a foot and do a flip. This would probably be a lot easier than getting my neighbor to revive his big rototiller. I do need to stir it up somehow if for no other reason than to get a good mix for soil analysis. After that I'll just top dress it with the shreds and poo about a foot deep and let her rot.
 

 

[DWB]

 All the walkway clearing I did previously has filled back in plus growth at the nodes behind the cuts has made an even more impenetrable wall to the inside of the plants. Up top it's worse too since I don't have skyhooks. All the growth going over 9' tall is falling over to the sides without any support above the 6' level. It's a mess.
 
The jungle growth shots are so depressing so I'll post something different this week.
 
This is my TS Cardi mother plant. A 2015  model. She's in a 16 gallon fabric pot this year and the tippytop is at about 7' with no pruning or pinching this year. Compared to the jungle, she's just a sweet and sane looking plant. Nice and see-through. I'm afraid she's getting some age on her. The pods seem to be getting a little smaller every year and  haven't quite gotten 2 pounds from her so far this year. But she's still happy. The delicious peppers go to the freezer and will be put into a big pot of my favorite carrot based sauce. I'm freezing most of my red jalapeños for that project too.
 

 

 

 

[Devv]

 
That is very cool. It's 1" box and 2" box? How did you make the tines? If I had a cutting torch I'd consider making one. The metal fab guy I know in P'cola would cut the box metal to length for me but the tines look like a bear to fab up.
 
Forking my garden would be relatively simple, even with my little fork. I tested and it's an easy deal to push it in a foot and do a flip. This would probably be a lot easier than getting my neighbor to revive his big rototiller. I do need to stir it up somehow if for no other reason than to get a good mix for soil analysis. After that I'll just top dress it with the shreds and poo about a foot deep and let her rot.
 

 
I cut the tines from 1/4" plate with a torch and ground them some to shape them. The stock I used for the handle inserts was flat stock that I cut and then bent using the torch to heat. I was going to have the high school kids cut the tines with their plasma cutter, but I wanted to get it done. About 8 years ago the wife asked for an electric gate opener for the driveway gate. I priced getting it done, they wanted $2,500 for the entrance, yet more for a gate, and an opener. I bought the torch, welder, and materials, save the opener for $2,700. And I got to keep the tools I used 4.5" pipe for the posts and 2 7/8" for the horizontals. I quickly learned that stuff is heavy!
 
Edit: I believe the material I used for the horizontal piece the tines are welded to is 1 3/4 square stock, 11 gauge if I remember correctly.

 

[CaneDog]

TS Cardi is looking solid with a nice trunk on her!  Sounds like a good batch of sauce down the road with 2 lbs of the scorps already with more and the jalapeños to come.  Sounds damn tasty too mixing those with ripe red jalaps and carrots.

 

[DWB]

TS Cardi is looking solid with a nice trunk on her!  Sounds like a good batch of sauce down the road with 2 lbs of the scorps already with more and the jalapeños to come.  Sounds damn tasty too mixing those with ripe red jalaps and carrots.

 
It's good stuff. Looks like this.
 

 

[CaneDog]

 
It's good stuff. Looks like this.

 
Damn, that's straight up mean posting that pic. 
 
Looks awesome. The color is intense and it seems to have good body to it.  I'm looking forward to make sauce with some ripe Zapotecs this season.

 

[Mr.joe]

Now you know what to do next year:
build a rolling stair case

Build 20' tall supports for each plant

Use 25' spacing between plants

Fertilize more often to encourage growth... easy right?

 

[DWB]

Now you know what to do next year:
build a rolling stair case

Build 20' tall supports for each plant

Use 25' spacing between plants

Fertilize more often to encourage growth... easy right?

 
What I need to do is get my father-in-law to store one of his bucket trucks down here in Alabammy
 
The plants are putting on a nice crop now. It's drying out around here. Going for two weeks without rain so I'm getting ahead of the bugs. It should be a good harvest throughout the fall.
 
This is a fatalii.
 

 
This is a far-off-pheno reaper I've been goofing with for a few years.
 

 
I doubled the length and added another layer to the new compost pile with last week grass clippings and manure. I have two more layers of grass ready to add but my fertilizer guy needs to poop some more.
Not sure what all the "second life" sprawl tomatoes are gonna do. They're all rooted in and growing like crazy. The old parts are still making maters but they aren't very tasty. I hope the fresh new growth makes me a good crop of fall tomatoes.
 

 

[DWB]

I've been really complacent about picking peppers this week. Temps in the mid to high 90's every day and the jungle to wet with dew and condensation to crawl into in the mornings. It was fairly dry this morning so we went in and found us a few. Also had to put a couple of quarts of squishy over-ripe and bug-killed pods into the tea bucket.
 
Silly Cody dropped his ball and stuck his nose in the basket. Got himself a snoot full of good hot pepper smell.
 

 

[Mr.joe]

Nice harvest lots of colors and heat. You even grew a pair of scissors.

 

[CaneDog]

Nice baskets!  Seems like Cody is getting some aversion training.
 
Guess you've earned a break and can afford a little complacency after all the work and harvests to date.  Man, that must be another level of muggy down in that wet jungle when the temps are soaring.

 

[BDASPNY]

your plants are on a whole other level than anything ive ever seen.  great looking pods!
 
 
i see cody is ready to play and forget about all this work. lol

 

[DWB]

Nice harvest lots of colors and heat. You even grew a pair of scissors.

 
And the scissors grew a finger blade. Nice thing to have when cutting off pods you can hardly see and barely reach.
 

Nice baskets!  Seems like Cody is getting some aversion training.
 
Guess you've earned a break and can afford a little complacency after all the work and harvests to date.  Man, that must be another level of muggy down in that wet jungle when the temps are soaring.

 
Cody doesn't like peppers at all. I don't know what he was thinking.
 
Yeah, I guess sometimes it's good to be complacent for a while. I would have gotten more pods by doing my usual every other day picking routine but I just said screw it and did other things. Still go through three shirts a day but that's part of the price of living in paradise
 
These baskets trimmed out to 3½ kilos ready for the dehydrator and freezer. I still have the red jalapeños for my carrot sauce I'm gonna de-seed before they go in the freezer.
 
 

your plants are on a whole other level than anything ive ever seen.  great looking pods!
 
 
i see cody is ready to play and forget about all this work. lol

 
Cody has three modes. Working dog, playing dog and service dog. He's happy as can be in any of them.
 
I think I'm gonna start taking clones off the best of the jungle monsters. May do that instead of goof with seed babies this winter. Some of the plants have some exceptional properties. May as well take advantage and put 6 month old plants in the ground next spring. There's one fatalii that makes huge pods that are sooo good. This little gang of pods weighs a fuzz over 100 grams.
 

 

[BDASPNY]

 
And the scissors grew a finger blade. Nice thing to have when cutting off pods you can hardly see and barely reach.
 
 
Cody doesn't like peppers at all. I don't know what he was thinking.
 
Yeah, I guess sometimes it's good to be complacent for a while. I would have gotten more pods by doing my usual every other day picking routine but I just said screw it and did other things. Still go through three shirts a day but that's part of the price of living in paradise
 
These baskets trimmed out to 3½ kilos ready for the dehydrator and freezer. I still have the red jalapeños for my carrot sauce I'm gonna de-seed before they go in the freezer.
 
 
 
Cody has three modes. Working dog, playing dog and service dog. He's happy as can be in any of them.
 
I think I'm gonna start taking clones off the best of the jungle monsters. May do that instead of goof with seed babies this winter. Some of the plants have some exceptional properties. May as well take advantage and put 6 month old plants in the ground next spring. There's one fatalii that makes huge pods that are sooo good. This little gang of pods weighs a fuzz over 100 grams.
 
 

 
sounds like a great plan to try and clone them. they're real monster plants! would love to see what they'll do.

 

 

[Devv]

I've said it before, well done sir!
 
I have a few questions. One is what are your temps? How much rain do you get per week? And the garden is in full sun?
 
I have my few plants under 30% sunshade, and the temps have been 98-102° since July, and no rain since the end of June. Today was cooler, 97°..LOL. I have them watered in the morning via a timer and have to hit them every other day just so they don't look like they've been left to starve. It doesn't look like we're going to get that usual Sept. 15th cool down this year...

 

[DWB]

I've said it before, well done sir!
 
I have a few questions. One is what are your temps? How much rain do you get per week? And the garden is in full sun?
 
I have my few plants under 30% sunshade, and the temps have been 98-102° since July, and no rain since the end of June. Today was cooler, 97°..LOL. I have them watered in the morning via a timer and have to hit them every other day just so they don't look like they've been left to starve. It doesn't look like we're going to get that usual Sept. 15th cool down this year...

 
Thanks again Scott.
 
I don't want to sound disingenuous but I don't understand it either.
 
Using Pensacola airport data:
Our monthly average temperatures for June, July and August were 84. 88 for Sept, to date.
Rain
39.62" since Jan 1
34.51 since March 1
May 2.81"
June 7.64"
July 4.46"
August 12.34"
Sept - zippo
 
The entire garden is in absolute full all day sun since I removed the shade cloth on Aug 9 & 10.
 
We haven't gotten any rain since 2" on Aug 26 & 27. The only water the plants have had since then is dew and condensation plus 8 gallons of Spinosad/BT mix I sprayed on Aug 28.
 
It was 97 today. I took a picture for you at 6:30 PM when it was 91 and 60% humidity. Cold compared to this afternoon. The plants don't have "the look" but I do know it well.
 
I checked around with a moisture meter probe a few minutes ago and the top few inches read bone dry in the few places of checked. These plants must have roots halfway to hell.
 
 

 

[Devv]

Well the plants are certainly benefiting from your care and preparation They don't get like that from just sticking them in the dirt...
 
And those cooler temps you have on the average are a bonus. I'm on the East side of what turns into desert like terrain pretty quickly, the humidity is 36% in San Antonio today.
 
Thankfully the heat of the day isn't lasting 9 hours anymore.