2019 - The Farm

Boyan · Mar 16, 2019

TrentL said:
This stuff kind of pisses me off. I mean .. damn near everything from justin germinated great (couple of strike outs, but hell, there were 80+ varieties I got off of him).

Yet here we are again. I wrote Buckeye off last year after so much stuff was 0 germ.

Didn't expect Refining Fire to have so many 0 germ varieties.
And pepperlover.. man. On top of what's shown I have one other tray with absolutely NOTHING sprouted. Zip. Nadda. Zero. 24 different varieties, all seeded 4 per cell, 288 seeds in a tray, with not a single damn pepper popping up

I have long noticed that it is best to start germination by bubbling seeds (hope it's correct in English, i mean air-flowing to the water where seeds is)
It happened more than once when seed packaging, which showed zero seedlings in the soil, showed good results when bubbling. Sometimes the results were overwhelming.
I think that the seeds are often overdried and they simply do not have enough moisture and air in the soil to begin with.
When bubbling, you can calmly wait a week or two. I always do that.

nmlarson · Mar 16, 2019

TrentL said:
There's a surprising lack of any good research out there w/ regards to using coco as a non-sterile grow media. Lots of folks use it for passive hydroponics, either coco a+b or fish hydrolysate/etc, but there's a lot of challenges using it as a long term organic media that has active biological elements breaking down dry fertilizers.

Once I get to a good mix for various types of plants, I'll send samples off to a lab to get the Guaranteed Analysis labeling made. Then off to OMRI, for organic labeling.

Then we'll be ready to sell the stuff.

Lots of experiments left, using mycorrhizae, there will be different results with different "hold times" as the batches will begin breaking down organic nutrients right after they are mixed. I was worried about that until I saw the spectacular results of last year's 100% fatal mixes doing so well this year. Seems the longer you hold it, the better it does.

So I'll be doing some testing to see what sort of lead time is best; it's possible we may end up mixing "next years" soil this fall, or whatever, and allowing it some cook-off time before bagging it.

Annnnnnnnnnnd, I'll be on that customer list! Really, REALLY enjoying riding along with you.

nmlarson · Mar 16, 2019

TrentL said:
Thanks. This year I personally stuffed every one of those plants when potting up.

My wife isn't "feeling it" with the farm this year, after a long couple nights discussion, looks like I'll be solo out there this year. Rather have a happy wife than an unhappy wife, even if it means extra workload.

I'll do the best I can, that's all I can really do.

I predict you'll have her help when you need it, because you've listened to her voice, when she needed that.

nmlarson · Mar 16, 2019

That insect screen was EXPENSIVE. I mean, EX-PEN-SIVE.

[SIZE=12pt]Proteknet "Biothrips" – 10' x 820'
Insect Barrierhttp://enews.johnnyseeds.com/q/EIIV...KPevNPZcOJdHJlbnRAbGliZXJhdGlvbnNvZnQuY29tw4g[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]1[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]$1,234.00[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Size: 1 Unit
ID: 7232.0
In Stock
Shipping surcharge: $34.00[/SIZE]

One 820' roll of Proteknet was $1,234....

I also got a 1,000' roll of Agribon for comparison testing.

But, you have the CADILLAC of insect netting! You'll be happy you got it.

nmlarson · Mar 16, 2019

Trent,

Am really admiring the thought and work you put into your farm. More than once, last season, you were sucker punched and, yet, here you are, back stronger than ever! Love that! Along with your willingness to share with us what you've learned along the way. Pepper people are the best!

TrentL · Mar 17, 2019

nmlarson said:
Trent,

Am really admiring the thought and work you put into your farm. More than once, last season, you were sucker punched and, yet, here you are, back stronger than ever! Love that! Along with your willingness to share with us what you've learned along the way. Pepper people are the best!

Well, I'm either stubborn or stupid... maybe both?

PaulG · Mar 17, 2019

Hey, Trent, stubborn stupidity is what often makes great advances! :lol:

I can only echo what others have said. Your grow is indeed,
an inspiration for anyone who is serious about making a
business out of peppers. You have to spend money to make
money. I hope you and Justin can work something out, and
am looking forward to seeing what you have to offer this Fall.

TrentL · Mar 17, 2019

nmlarson said:
Annnnnnnnnnnd, I'll be on that customer list! Really, REALLY enjoying riding along with you.

I'm going to use the various soil mixes in the isolation grow this summer. I'm still running experiments, so we'll see how it does.

Right now I have a controlled experiment running in the basement for leeks, cabbage, shiso, various types of lettuce, etc, where I start sprouting in trays packed with our soil mix, vs. the way I've been doing it (pure coco + liquid fish emulsion at time of sprouting).

Goal is to eliminate, entirely, any liquid fertilizer for the transplant stages.

PtMD989 · Mar 17, 2019

PaulG said:
Hey, Trent, stubborn stupidity is what often makes great advances!

I can only echo what others have said. Your grow is indeed,
an inspiration for anyone who is serious about making a
business out of peppers. You have to spend money to make
money. I hope you and Justin can work something out, and
am looking forward to seeing what you have to offer this Fall.

X2

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TrentL · Mar 17, 2019

OK continuing my last post, had to deal with some stuff.

For trays 74-100, I tried something different.

I filled the 72 cell trays with Mix I. Compressed them down with another starter cell sheet, 1/4". Seeded in to the depressions, then covered with 100% coco and tamped it in.

So far I'm getting strong sprouts on lettuce, leeks, cabbage, broccoli, etc. The seeds are sowed at the transition between fertilizer rich potting soil w/ myco already added, and sterile perlite. This should help prevent fungus on the critical 1/4" of soil at the stem/root junction and (I hope) prevent early damping off which is a problem with organic rich starting media.

It also gives the roots immediate fertilizer rich media to dip their taproots into.

So far it's causing plants to grow vigorously right from the get-go.

It's also much faster than filling with media, drilling a hole, and dropping seeds in. My wife and I knocked out close to seeding 30 trays in just a couple hours.

I haven't used the technique yet with peppers, but this evening I'm sowing the last of the peppers, so will know soon-ish whether it works well.

I'm also going to do some of the annum peppers in the 36-cell deep inserts that I'm starting tomatoes in, just to see how they do.

I've got 10,800 3" pots in stock now so have plenty for melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, c. annuum, etc.. etc.. Those will also get started the same way as the starter trays. Fill them, pack 'em slightly, seed them, then cover with 100% coir.

TrentL · Mar 17, 2019

^ that, if it works out, will shave many hours off of propagation next year. It takes a lot of time to meter out 1 oz doses of fish emulsion + myco to each of 10,000 starter cells...

If all works well, should shave a huge amount of hours off of the grow in subsequent years, which is important to be able to gain any appreciable scale.

TrentL · Mar 17, 2019

PaulG said:
Hey, Trent, stubborn stupidity is what often makes great advances!

I can only echo what others have said. Your grow is indeed,
an inspiration for anyone who is serious about making a
business out of peppers. You have to spend money to make
money. I hope you and Justin can work something out, and
am looking forward to seeing what you have to offer this Fall.

Thanks man!!!!

I have a little tidbit to report on too.

Found optimum height for T5 high output 8 bulb lights; 18" off of table deck, or 14.5" off of top of pots.

Big sun control plant at home, same ambient temp, lights 14.5" above pot top

It's counterpart at the farm, lights 12" above pot. Same pot-up date

TrentL · Mar 17, 2019

Seems like the target is about 30,000-32,000 lux, higher than that stunts plant growth. (The second pic, lights were pushing 46,000+ lux on it, it was center table)

Anything down to 14,000 lux and plants grow well, though, below that they get lanky.

(Theres a Lux meter app you can get for free on your phone, which works pretty well, if you don't have a real meter)

CDNmatt · Mar 18, 2019

TrentL said:
Seems like the target is about 30,000-32,000 lux, higher than that stunts plant growth. (The second pic, lights were pushing 46,000+ lux on it, it was center table)

Anything down to 14,000 lux and plants grow well, though, below that they get lanky.

(Theres a Lux meter app you can get for free on your phone, which works pretty well, if you don't have a real meter)

Think that I may of had this issue on my top shelf which is much brighter then the ones down below, though it could also be from excess heat or a combo of both. I have a few lux meters on my phone but never bothered to use them after the first shelf got set up, the top was pushing close to 50k, so cranked a few kicker lights off and brought it down to around 30k or so to see if it makes any difference.

There is for sure some stunting on a few plants, but will just have to see if t hey can recover in the 2 months left before plant out.

TrentL · Mar 18, 2019

CDNmatt said:
Think that I may of had this issue on my top shelf which is much brighter then the ones down below, though it could also be from excess heat or a combo of both. I have a few lux meters on my phone but never bothered to use them after the first shelf got set up, the top was pushing close to 50k, so cranked a few kicker lights off and brought it down to around 30k or so to see if it makes any difference.

There is for sure some stunting on a few plants, but will just have to see if t hey can recover in the 2 months left before plant out.

They'll recover after a few days. I had some leaves die back a bit, and the plants are half the size of ones which didn't get as intense of light. But it wasn't a heat / airflow issue in my case, I had fans going - and the ambient temp is same - was just too intense of light.

Last year I was rotating plants constantly trying to keep them growing even, it never occurred to me "just raise the lights a little, ya big dummy"

Anyway just one more of those things to learn, never really have a mastery of any of this stuff, just gotta pay attention and try to figure out what is what.

The weird thing is some of these problems are easier to figure out when you have larger scale, because if there's a problem in one spot but not another, you can start to make comparisons to figure out "what is really going on here."

Meanwhile, other problems at scale just explode in your face.

Ruid · Mar 18, 2019

On a huge scale like this, I understand getting returns... but for the little guys with limited grow space, I wonder whether or not they see a financial return overall.

I buy a lot of SFRBs from you guys, eat what I can fresh and freeze the rest to last me the year. Would I save money trying to grow out my saved seeds? Would I lose a lot of money on trial and error? Even if I do save cash, what about the time invested?

I definitely like being able to play video games with my kids (and wife when she's up for it) or having the family sit down to play a board game or watch a movie and I've noticed that the What Have You Been Listening To thread is huge and the one about what you watch isn't. I'm guessing that's because music is probably the only media you can enjoy at the same time as the gardening.

Though even if a lot of you are breaking even or even losing money, a hobby you love is worth the cash.

TrentL · Mar 18, 2019

Only a couple pics today

PtMD989 · Mar 18, 2019

Looking good [emoji106] Did the wheat field dry up ,eh
Layers or meat?

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Hawkins · Mar 18, 2019

For me I'm just wanting to turn a small profit this year and see if it's scalable. I would love to be able to have employees, but I'm still a ways away from that. I'll get help from friends and family if I need it. It really depends on what you like to do, I've been growing things here and there for years. I learned from my grand father when they used the farm to feed the family. I remember when I was a kid the front porch was full of watermelons, front yard planted with corn, back yard other vegetables. Sitting with my grandmother stringing green beans. For me growing vegetables just feels like home. Being able to plow, plant, and feel the same dirt my grandfather, and great grandfather planted for years is something that can't be replaced. I moved to the family farm last year and planted a small test, this year it will be more like what they used to plant a few decades ago. I can't wait.

Ruid said:
On a huge scale like this, I understand getting returns... but for the little guys with limited grow space, I wonder whether or not they see a financial return overall.

I buy a lot of SFRBs from you guys, eat what I can fresh and freeze the rest to last me the year. Would I save money trying to grow out my saved seeds? Would I lose a lot of money on trial and error? Even if I do save cash, what about the time invested?

I definitely like being able to play video games with my kids (and wife when she's up for it) or having the family sit down to play a board game or watch a movie and I've noticed that the What Have You Been Listening To thread is huge and the one about what you watch isn't. I'm guessing that's because music is probably the only media you can enjoy at the same time as the gardening.

Though even if a lot of you are breaking even or even losing money, a hobby you love is worth the cash.

Ruid · Mar 18, 2019

Another reason I don't grow is that I'd go overboard. I'd end up with way too many pods and nothing to do with them other than learn how to dehydrate them and make powders. Powder is okay but I prefer fresh or frozen pods.

I wouldn't even be able to give the excess away since almost everyone I know is the "If it's hotter than a jalapeno, I don't want it." type.

I hate food going to waste.