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]

That's a nice array of plants, DW!

 

[TrentL]

 
I did get my 20,000 foot roll of twine a while back but haven't bound up my rows yet. I'm trying to rehab my way out of a double tap of elbow tendonitis. Never had anything like this before and it ain't fun. Maybe next week I'l start with unitizing the rows.
 
 

 
Setup looks great so far! 
 
I developed elbow tendonitis in my right elbow during last year's growing season and it's been 7 months and only marginal improvement so far. Painful as hell. I can't take enough downtime to let it heal. 

 

[rickvm]

DWB, I thought I was the only one using those nursery bags!! I love em. Couldn’t stand watering double cups one at a time. With these you just pour in a gallon of water or nutrients and done!! Awesome

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[DWB]

 
Setup looks great so far! 
 
I developed elbow tendonitis in my right elbow during last year's growing season and it's been 7 months and only marginal improvement so far. Painful as hell. I can't take enough downtime to let it heal. 

 
Sorry to hear about the elbow. I did my left one mid-Oct and the right one caught up 10 days later. It's 90% fixed now but was a bitch for a while I couldn't lay either hand on a jar of mayonnaise, close my fingers and pick it up by the lid. Rather than go to the ortho and spend all the deductible I got away without spending all year, I visualized what the physical therapist would do to me like she did in 2015 when she was torturing my crushed left hand. I started stretching the  bejeezus out of it all the time and squeezing all the adhesions out of it. I worked on them like this all through December and  it's getting back to where I can get some good work done again.

 

[DWB]

DWB, I thought I was the only one using those nursery bags!! I love em. Couldn’t stand watering double cups one at a time. With these you just pour in a gallon of water or nutrients and done!! Awesome

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Do you have a grow log? We need to compare some notes. I want to give a steady bottom feeding with a weak nutrient solution but I'm afraid it all may turn green and foul. How's all that working  out for you?

 

[DWB]

That's a nice array of plants, DW!

 
I have 27 more to bag up and 18 of those pulled sprouts growing roots in the test tubes. After that, I'm mostly done with peppers. I started germinating tomato seeds yesterday. Amish Paste, Independence Day, A Grappoli D'Inverno and Juliet Hybrid
 

 

[rickvm]

I don’t have a grow log but wanted to start one. Here’s an updated pic I just took. Nursery bags are the only thing I’ll use to grow seedlings now. I water and it all gets soaked up. Sometimes water will sit but it’s usually gone in the morning. No fouling or algae. I’ll wait about 2-3 days in between watering when the soil looks dry or seedlings start to wilt but I don’t like seeing them wilt. On nutrients, I’ve always used full strength but use water in between feedings. The second pic is of a sepia x neyde cross abd is now starting to set pods.

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[PtMD989]

Can you reuse the grow bags? If so what’s the SOP?


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[DWB]

Can you reuse the grow bags? If so what’s the SOP?


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Yes, they're reusable but I wouldn't bother with it unless I didn't intend to transplant my plant. For me, not worth the risk to the plant after growing it in the bag for many weeks. For the few pennies of cost for a bag, it's easier for me to slash it a few times  and plant the whole thing.
 

 

[DWB]

I don’t have a grow log but wanted to start one. Here’s an updated pic I just took. Nursery bags are the only thing I’ll use to grow seedlings now. I water and it all gets soaked up. Sometimes water will sit but it’s usually gone in the morning. No fouling or algae. I’ll wait about 2-3 days in between watering when the soil looks dry or seedlings start to wilt but I don’t like seeing them wilt. On nutrients, I’ve always used full strength but use water in between feedings. The second pic is of a sepia x neyde cross abd is now starting to set pods.

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Your plants look great. How many times do you water in between feedings? What kind of nutrients are you using?
 

 

 

[rickvm]

Can you reuse the grow bags? If so what’s the SOP?


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ptmd , I don’t reuse the bags. It says in their description that they’re biodegradable but they didn’t by the the end of the season. On most, I cut open the bags, removed and planted in ground like normal.


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[rickvm]

 
Your plants look great. How many times do you water in between feedings? What kind of nutrients are you using?
 
 

DWB, thanks on the plants. I use Masterblend and I’ll water about 2-3 times in between nutrients when seedlings are young. As they get to the size of about 6 inches tall, ill alternate 1 to 1, then go full when taller.


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[DWB]

DWB, thanks on the plants. I use Masterblend and I’ll water about 2-3 times in between nutrients when seedlings are young. As they get to the size of about 6 inches tall, ill alternate 1 to 1, then go full when taller.


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Although I have a fairly wide variety of soluble and liquid fertilizers on hand, I decided to get me some of the Masterblend for my seedlings. It seems more appropriate for what I want to accomplish. It is held in high regard by many forum experts here. Thanks for the info Rick. I ordered in a 2½ pound kit. Like I do with all my plant feeding and watering, I'll be mixing it with our non-neutralized 6.0 pH water.

 

[DWB]

Two of my three nursery areas are in an insulated but unheated outdoor area and I'm still practicing and learning. Years ago I learned overwinter pepper plants become very unhappy below 40° F but seemed to do ok at 50°.
 
When I had the two tubs of plants in the smaller nursery area, they stayed above 50 quite easily but we've only had brief dips below freezing so far this year. Just running the 1000W LED from 4 PM to 8 AM took care of that.
 
After moving everything to the larger nursery area it's stayed above 50 without any supplemental heat. I run the 1200W LED on the same schedule. Then, last week we had some very warm days and I noticed a nice growth spurt while the low temp in the area never went below 60°. I suppose that means I should keep the area above 60° for happier plants.
 
It started getting beastly cold Saturday night so Sunday morning I began bringing up the temp up from a low of 49° by adding a 250W red IR heat lamp on a timer schedule of 1 hour on/one hour off. This brought the temperature up nicely and it was above 60 through this morning even though the outside temp last night was below freezing for at least 8 hours.
 
The cost of this isn't too painful. It costs me about 35¢ a day to run the LED and light mover 16 hours and will cost about the same to run one IR heat lamp and a fan for the same amount of hours when necessary. And I still have more heat conservation schemes I can implement.
 
So, my question is, what do you shed/garage/basement/greenhouse growers find to be the minimum "happy" temperature for growing out seedlings during winter?
 

 

[CDNmatt]

Think I have the same little fan you do...well 3 of them..I got them off of Ebay  for a few $s each type thing.

 

[DWB]

Think I have the same little fan you do...well 3 of them..I got them off of Ebay  for a few $s each type thing.

 

That's a PMX I got from wallyworld about 10 years ago to cool an early generation satellite modem that was like a little toaster oven.

 

[Sinn]

Those bags look interesting how much dirt do they hold? Can you link plz [emoji51]


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[DWB]

Those bags look interesting how much dirt do they hold? Can you link plz [emoji51]


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Not sure how much they hold. Look here for a more illustrative type of picture and some comparative measurements.
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/69987-2019-hay-bale-pepper-patch/page-4#entry1605217
 
This is where I buy them, 14 x 16 size. I see the price has gone up quite a bit since I bought them.
 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/100pc-Plant-Grow-Bags-Pot-Vegetable-Fabric-Pouch-Garden-Nursery-Seed-Raising-Bag/201967469236?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

[Sinn]

Excellent thank you!


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[CDNmatt]

 
Not sure how much they hold. Look here for a more illustrative type of picture and some comparative measurements.
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/69987-2019-hay-bale-pepper-patch/page-4#entry1605217
 
This is where I buy them, 14 x 16 size. I see the price has gone up quite a bit since I bought them.
 
https://www.ebay.com/itm/100pc-Plant-Grow-Bags-Pot-Vegetable-Fabric-Pouch-Garden-Nursery-Seed-Raising-Bag/201967469236?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

Yeah that is abit more then I paid for my 20x22's just a few weeks ago.
 
Sinn if you look around via different sellers on Ebay you should be able to find them cheaper..just might take some time to go through all the clutter and look through each listing..so I guess some people consider time money as well ...spose that would depend on the person.