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.
 
 

 

[PaulG]

+1 Andy! 
 
Kudos to DW for an industrial strength grow  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[DWB]

You could mulch at least 1 plant with all those seeds! Plants and pods look great, I can barely keep up with picking and processing my little patch, I couldn't imagine trying to keep up with your jungle

 

One thing makes it a little easier. Weeds don't grow on the jungle floor.

 

[Mr.joe]

I read thru the first couple pages of this glog again. It's interesting to see some of the comments now that we know the result.
I also didn't realize just how much organic matter went into that garden bed.

 

[DWB]

I read thru the first couple pages of this glog again. It's interesting to see some of the comments now that we know the result.
I also didn't realize just how much organic matter went into that garden bed.

 
Now that I can see the result of piling tons of organic material directly on top of my centipede sod to begin this thing, I think it best to simply layer on another foot or so of organic material on top of what's there now. No tilling and no more hay bales. I'll start laying that down when the plants are frost-killed. Me and my Kubota will start harvesting and shredding oak leaves this week. This will go on for several months.
 
The hay bales from last year are completely melted in. Gone.
 

 

[DWB]

Here's what happened with my most recent picking. Showing the harvest again here to make it easier to follow. I have no idea what the total gross weight was or how much went to cull.
 

 
After three post-picking inspections for cull material, here's what was left after cleaning and sterilizing.
 

 
Here's the trash after final inspection, slicing and de-stemming for dehydration. Additionally, I captured 25 grams of seeds. The result was 7713 grams (17 pounds) into the dehydrator and an additional 9.3 pounds went back into the freezigerator for the next cycle. Picking again tomorrow.
 

 

[Mr.joe]

Just amazing production. I think the newer organic matter will dissolve even faster since the process is in full swing. Not that you need more...

 

[ThomasDeco]

Too bad you can't ship those stems internationally. Would make a great pre-bonchi sale  .
 
So no more hay bales, but I assume you'll deff add loose hay? Or only the hay/manure combo?

 

[DWB]

Too bad you can't ship those stems internationally. Would make a great pre-bonchi sale  .
 
So no more hay bales, but I assume you'll deff add loose hay? Or only the hay/manure combo?

 
Back in the 70's, a friend called the stems "pepper stamps". He had the bright idea the world would be a better place if he could save them up and trade them in for new peppers
There will be some hay but not much. I'll spread what's left of the ten newer bales I used for controls. Those convinced me I don't care for planting in bales unless they're fully composted.
 
Otherwise, I'll cover the entire garden area deep in layers of oak leaves and horse manure.
 

I use all of my home grown loose "hay" to make large compost piles like what you can see if you click the link below. I have two more piles that are already fully composted. I'll use this material to build my new rows before planting in spring.
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/69987-2019-hay-bale-pepper-patch/page-36#entry1653821

 

[PaulG]

You are on a roll, DW! 
 
I imagine the prep for next season won't be quite as
much as this year, since the bed is already well prepared.
A few seasons of this, and you will have a first-class grow
space. You'll have to beef up your support structures next
year!

 

[Devv]

Killer year DW!
 
Have you ever had the soil tested? I'd be interested in the results, as something is on the money!
 
I've doing the same thing regarding getting ready for next season. I've ground up close to 10 yards of wood chips and they're composting along with the leaves. I do need some manure though..

 

[PtMD989]

Hey Dub, what is this sterilization process you speak of, eh[emoji848]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DWB]

You'll have to beef up your support structures next
year!

 
Not sure how to do that but whatever I do will be a vast improvement over this year. I was behind the 8-ball all summer. I know hindsight is 20-20 but even with that benefit, I can't imagine what I could have done to control this thing short of surrounding each row with something like a 12' cattle chute.
 
 

Killer year DW!
 
Have you ever had the soil tested? I'd be interested in the results, as something is on the money!
 
I've doing the same thing regarding getting ready for next season. I've ground up close to 10 yards of wood chips and they're composting along with the leaves. I do need some manure though..

 
Soil tests have never said too much except the land can always use some NPK and some lime to grow the best pasture. I can't imagine any soil test explaining what happened with this jungle. I do plan to see what my friend at Auburn has to say about it. I texted her the other day but her phone couldn't take my MMS. She'll shit right down her leg when she sees what these plants did. Last time she saw it the plants were still more than a foot below the shade cloth
 
I've never looked around for a load of manure but I just checked craigslist. Looks like you can haul off all you want to load by hand for free or buy 50 gallon tractor scoops for $20 each.
 
 

Hey Dub, what is this sterilization process you speak of, eh[emoji848]

 

 
My favorite is Keystone Antimicrobial Fruit & Vegetable Treatment by Ecolab. I lower a basket of pods into a 12 qt pot and let soak for a few. I rinse but rinsing is not required with this product or the other one I sometimes use.

 

[DWB]

Here's the trash after final inspection, slicing and de-stemming for dehydration. Additionally, I captured 25 grams of seeds. The result was 7713 grams (17 pounds) into the dehydrator and an additional 9.3 pounds went back into the freezigerator for the next cycle. Picking again tomorrow.
 
 

 
Here's more of the math if anyone is interested. The 7713 grams made a kilo of pods dried to below 4% or a 12.97% yield. I captured 33 grams of dehydrated seeds.

 

[DWB]

Life in general and two days of rain goofed up my planned picking earlier this week. So here's another picking very similar to last Thursday. Only thing is, I skipped one entire interior row this time. Both faces. And did a halfast job in other areas. I filled my buckets and left a metric shit ton of pods still hanging
 
The good news is I have emptied the freezigerator and all dehydrator trays will be available again tomorrow night. Just in time to fill them up again.
 
More good news is with the cool and cloudy weather and two more days of rain beginning tomorrow, the pods are not rotting on the vine as quickly as usual. Gives me extra time to deal with it.
 
The bad news is if I really do get motor-vated enough to go picking again this weekend, the take will fill the freezigerator to capacity.
 
Hey CaneDog, all symptoms indicate I'm beginning to bend to the will of the patch   

 

[skullbiker]

You are allowed to bend, you are not allowed to break!

 

[CaneDog]

You are allowed to bend, you are not allowed to break!

 
Exactly! - you beat me to it, SB.
 
Anybody's gonna bend a little under the weight of a metric shit-ton of pods.

 

[BDASPNY]

I think you've got it covered! you're in the home stretch now!

 

[DWB]

While I've been comfortable with the nesco machines, I watch them pretty carefully since I run the bejeezus outta them. It's hard to trust machines that can burn things down so they always have a remote sensing thermometer probe going downhole so I can monitor.
 
Friday morning when I checked on things, my comfort level went to zero. The one running 10 trays was reading 210°. From the usual temp setting of 160° F, I turned the heat down to 95 and observed. The temp started dropping and eventually settled out at 150 but it took a while. I left it go like that to see what I could learn. 150 was the new bottom.
 
I decided I better call nesco in the afternoon to get things underway before the weekend. The very nice rep gave me some options. #1 Cut the cord off, send them a picture and they would send me a replacement motor. #2 Run a heat test and send pictures for evaluation and we'd talk about it. I opted for #2. When I removed my pods, I found enlightening and frightening things. The damn thing melted trays and ruined my screens.
 
I ran the heat test long enough to show the unit exceeds 200°when set at 160 by the thermostat and sent in a photo essay Friday night. I attach a few pictures here for your enjoyment.
 
I turned it back on yesterday and left it run on a 95° temp setting. The bottom of 150 didn't hold. It went up to 171°. One dead nesco.
 
Nesco does have good customer service and they do stand behind their products. They'll have all the replacements on the way to me today but I've lost that warm, fuzzy feeling for their machines.
 
So all is good except for the delays which I can ill-afford just now but such is life.
 
I am, however,  totally pissed that 380 grams of dried reaper and douglah pods are going to the compost rather than to the grinder. I don't think blasting the pods with those melting plastic fumes can be a very healthy thing but I imagine the BSF larvae will happily chow them down.
 

 

 

 

 

[solid7]

Otherwise, I'll cover the entire garden area deep in layers of oak leaves and horse manure.

 
The only thing that I hate about horse manure, is that it's weedy AF.  I love oak leaves, and any kind of rotted wood that I can get hands on.
 
The hay would still be great for you as a top dress.  Especially if you use the manure.  It will keep weeds down, and break down so nicely over the season.

 

[Mr.joe]

Well, as bad as it is it could have been much worse. Since the damn thing didn't actually start on fire that's a plus. You lost a bunch of pods and your time invested in getting them prepped for the machine. The good news is that NESCO is covering the machine.