2019 - The Farm

TrentL · Mar 19, 2019

PtMD989 said:
Looking good [emoji106] Did the wheat field dry up ,eh
Layers or meat?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, mostly. I've got about 4 maybe 5 acres of wheat that will be a total loss. Not sure what I'll do with it yet. Maybe roll the dice and put some beans in again?

Hawkins said:
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.

Scalable takes time and constant, every-day, everpresent attention to "how can I make this {whatever} faster / easier / more efficient". From everything from potting up plants, to mixing soil, to transplanting, harvesting, washing, whatever.. it's all about "how can I get this crappy hot messy job done easier / faster"

Go diverse, do succession planting everywhere on everything you can, so you don't get big whopper harvests but rather, nice small manageable ones each week over a longer duration.

It takes money to scale, build a client base first, unless you feel like blowing away several hundred thousand dollars of your retirement fund like I did.. on the hope that it actually works.

I have faith, some days it flags a LOT, but I have faith. Not just in our pepper specialty, but in the overall organic thing. Everything tasted better. Everything grew better. That was awesome, all around.

Hell I may not succeed in business at this, I'm stubborn as hell, but I can only absorb so much over the next couple years. We've got another year or two to start turning a profit before I'm in serious trouble, but still, that clock is ticking, and it's always in the back of my mind, just ticking away. Keeps a man motivated.

Honestly I don't know if I'd have the same level of motivation if I wasn't staking so much at the table. It'd be a lot easier to walk away after a major setback (take your pick of any number of them from last year), if you weren't balls deep in infrastructure and equipment costs. Getting out would hurt more than staying in, at this point.

Ruid said:
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.

I honestly thought I'd have no chance of selling any ultrahots but hell, we were selling out of them each week; on the internet website. Aside from the reaper theft, the rest of the stuff (primo, brainstrain, etc) we were shipping 30+ pounds a week of; 3, 4 bushels. Thin skinned ultrahots don't weigh much, more air than anything, so it takes a lot to make weight.

Meanwhile stuff I thought we'd sell a ton of, jalapeno, etc, I couldn't move AT ALL.

And oddball stuff, like aleppo, jeez we sold a hell of a lot of that. At market, at grocers, online.

I've still got a deep freeze stuffed, I'll get around to dehydrating it at some point, if we start moving enough flake & powder at market.

As far as throwing stuff away.. it hurts, at first. Eventually you get numb to it.

Kind of like those monks that harden their testicles by letting someone kick them in them over and over again.

It's something like that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js_3bIni52I

TrentL · Mar 19, 2019

^ that video is the best page topper ever

TrentL · Mar 19, 2019

I think this one will be named Kung Pao.

They eat outta my hand...

Got the gravel done in the isolation tunnel, and all the tabletops are built (stacked elsewhere for now)

The Duke still doing good

In fact.. he's BUDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Food for thought

PtMD989 · Mar 20, 2019

Are the chicks layers or meat? Either way you have a source for renewable fertilizer and a spoiled fruit/vegetable disposal machine there [emoji106]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Kennylay · Mar 20, 2019

Not doubting your lux numbers but I always thought the consensus was that the sun was putting out 100k+ lux on a full sun day. 30k is just outside of full shade.

For someone like me in Florida would it be smart for me to start plants in partial shade?

Just trying to learn as much as possible.

TrentL · Mar 20, 2019

PtMD989 said:
Are the chicks layers or meat? Either way you have a source for renewable fertilizer and a spoiled fruit/vegetable disposal machine there [emoji106]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah from what I've been reading 40 birds will produce ~3,800 lbs (minimum) per year.

Kennylay said:
Not doubting your lux numbers but I always thought the consensus was that the sun was putting out 100k+ lux on a full sun day. 30k is just outside of full shade.

For someone like me in Florida would it be smart for me to start plants in partial shade?

Just trying to learn as much as possible.

100+K on a full sun, noon day, yes. But averages over the entirety of a day will be much less than that. A cloudy day, at noon, you might only see 2,000 or less. Remember it starts at about 5 lux at sunrise and peaks, then declines. So total light deliver isn't 100k over 12 hours or whatever, it's 100k for a half hour or whatever, and less than that during the rest of the day.

Our lights don't vary, they're always what they are, so at 30k you might be more towards afternoon, or mid morning light levels on a sunny day.

Here's a graph of light levels plotted out over a 14 year period for Ithica New York (part of this study: http://www.greenhouse.cornell.edu/structures/factsheets/Greenhouse%20Lighting.pdf)

mol/m2/day is the measurement of daily light integral; sum of the light for a day.

One lux = 0.092903 foot candles; 30,000 lux = 2787.0912 foot candles.

If you are giving plants 24 hours of light, like I do, your foot candles per hour are 2787 (we don't have to add up hour by hour and divide by 24, as you would with natural light measurements)

Flourescents have a calibration factor of 0.146 (https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/conversion-ppfd-to-foot-candles/)

So we are putting out PAR of (at 30,000 lux from flourescent) 2787 * 0.146 = 406.9 µmol.m-2.s-1.

Calibrating to DLI = PAR (µmol. m-2.s-1) x 0.0864 = 35.15 mol. m-2.d-1

Per perdue;

DLI Recommendations Plants grown under light-limiting conditions (a low DLI), typically have delayed growth and development. Research conducted at Michigan State University indicated that maintaining a DLI between 4 to 11 mol·m-2·d-1 during stage 2 (callusing) and stage 3 (root development) accelerates propagation of petunia and New Guinea impatiens cuttings (Figure 4). Experiments with these petunias and New Guinea impatiens have shown that, as propagation DLI increases, rooting, biomass accumulation (root and shoot growth), and quality (reduced stem elongation) generally increase, while subsequent time to flower generally decreases. Similarly, experiments with seedlings of celosia, impatiens, salvia, marigold, and 6 to 12 mol·m-2·d-1 are medium-light crops, 12 to 18 mol·m-2·d-1 are high-light crops, and those requiring more than 18 mol·m-2·d-1 are considered very highlight crops.

source; https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/HO/HO-238-W.pdf

So we are still (at 30,000 lux from T5 flourescent bulbs run 24 hours per day) giving these plants *double* (35.15 / 18) the lower threshold light for very-high-light crops (those demanding the most light of any plant species on the planet) and triple that of high-light crops, 6x that of medium light crops, etc.

So yeah, man 30,000 lux is plenty, in fact, if you run it 24 hours per day you are giving even very high light requirement plants *double* what nature does in the best scenario.

However, we have plants on the border of tables, which only receive 12,000 lux (give or take) which (if you run the conversions again) results in 14.06 mol·m-2·d-1, which is still with the range of high-light crops.

So yeah even at 12,000 lux, given continuously over 24 hours, you're doing fine. I will still have to rotate out plants with a peak of 30k and a low of 12k lux, but not as often as I would with 40k+ max (which is counterintuitive, it stunts plants, simply too much light)

Anywho.. there's the science behind it.

Kennylay · Mar 20, 2019

Great info Trent, the 24 hour day length and continuous light intensity makes a lot of sense as to why numbers no where near 100k are needed.

Kennylay · Mar 20, 2019

Edit: good ole accidental double post.

BlackFatalii · Mar 20, 2019

Ruid said:
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.

There are plenty of great tasting milder peppers that you could grow as a ~~gateway drug~~ starter pepper to ~~lure~~ interest your non-chilehead friends and family. Bishop's Crown and Brazilian Starfish come to mind immediately. And Tekne Dolmasi makes a damn fine stuffing pepper. Worst case scenario is, you end up "stuck" with a lot of extremely tasty mild peppers. And that is not such a bad thing.

Wermland · Mar 20, 2019

So glad I found this thread, truly inspirational!

Good luck with the grow, I will be following this one closely!

BlackFatalii · Mar 20, 2019

TrentL said:
Kind of like those monks that harden their testicles by letting someone kick them in them over and over again.

There is a US version of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyXhysmMNhE

CDNmatt · Mar 20, 2019

TrentL said:
Yeah from what I've been reading 40 birds will produce ~3,800 lbs (minimum) per year.

100+K on a full sun, noon day, yes. But averages over the entirety of a day will be much less than that. A cloudy day, at noon, you might only see 2,000 or less. Remember it starts at about 5 lux at sunrise and peaks, then declines. So total light deliver isn't 100k over 12 hours or whatever, it's 100k for a half hour or whatever, and less than that during the rest of the day.

Our lights don't vary, they're always what they are, so at 30k you might be more towards afternoon, or mid morning light levels on a sunny day.

Here's a graph of light levels plotted out over a 14 year period for Ithica New York (part of this study: http://www.greenhouse.cornell.edu/structures/factsheets/Greenhouse%20Lighting.pdf)

mol/m2/day is the measurement of daily light integral; sum of the light for a day.

One lux = 0.092903 foot candles; 30,000 lux = 2787.0912 foot candles.

If you are giving plants 24 hours of light, like I do, your foot candles per hour are 2787 (we don't have to add up hour by hour and divide by 24, as you would with natural light measurements)

Flourescents have a calibration factor of 0.146 (https://www.apogeeinstruments.com/conversion-ppfd-to-foot-candles/)

So we are putting out PAR of (at 30,000 lux from flourescent) 2787 * 0.146 = 406.9 µmol.m-2.s-1.

Calibrating to DLI = PAR (µmol. m-2.s-1) x 0.0864 = 35.15 mol. m-2.d-1

Per perdue;

DLI Recommendations Plants grown under light-limiting conditions (a low DLI), typically have delayed growth and development. Research conducted at Michigan State University indicated that maintaining a DLI between 4 to 11 mol·m-2·d-1 during stage 2 (callusing) and stage 3 (root development) accelerates propagation of petunia and New Guinea impatiens cuttings (Figure 4). Experiments with these petunias and New Guinea impatiens have shown that, as propagation DLI increases, rooting, biomass accumulation (root and shoot growth), and quality (reduced stem elongation) generally increase, while subsequent time to flower generally decreases. Similarly, experiments with seedlings of celosia, impatiens, salvia, marigold, and 6 to 12 mol·m-2·d-1 are medium-light crops, 12 to 18 mol·m-2·d-1 are high-light crops, and those requiring more than 18 mol·m-2·d-1 are considered very highlight crops.

source; https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/HO/HO-238-W.pdf

So we are still (at 30,000 lux from T5 flourescent bulbs run 24 hours per day) giving these plants *double* (35.15 / 18) the lower threshold light for very-high-light crops (those demanding the most light of any plant species on the planet) and triple that of high-light crops, 6x that of medium light crops, etc.

So yeah, man 30,000 lux is plenty, in fact, if you run it 24 hours per day you are giving even very high light requirement plants *double* what nature does in the best scenario.

However, we have plants on the border of tables, which only receive 12,000 lux (give or take) which (if you run the conversions again) results in 14.06 mol·m-2·d-1, which is still with the range of high-light crops.

So yeah even at 12,000 lux, given continuously over 24 hours, you're doing fine. I will still have to rotate out plants with a peak of 30k and a low of 12k lux, but not as often as I would with 40k+ max (which is counterintuitive, it stunts plants, simply too much light)

Anywho.. there's the science behind it.

Some very good food for thought

So Trent, those of us who run say 16 to 18 hours a day would one aim for a tad higher lux then the 30k or so??

No matter if it was the heat or light intensity both have been adjusted now so if things can turn around I likely won't know which was the cause. But there was certainly a difference from the middle shelf to the top which was both cooler and not as bright, in fact more of a blueish light if anything.

TrentL · Mar 20, 2019

BlackFatalii said:
There is a US version of this:

Heh yeah I have his book... I've been in martial arts since I was 8, and I'm a gray old man now. Love his youtube channel.

Wermland said:
So glad I found this thread, truly inspirational!

Good luck with the grow, I will be following this one closely!

Thanks! So far I've got 3200 vibrantly healthy chinense going and another 3,000-ish annuum sprouts in the basement, this year is off to a great start.

BlackFatalii said:
There are plenty of great tasting milder peppers that you could grow as a ~~gateway drug~~ starter pepper to ~~lure~~ interest your non-chilehead friends and family. Bishop's Crown and Brazilian Starfish come to mind immediately. And Tekne Dolmasi makes a damn fine stuffing pepper. Worst case scenario is, you end up "stuck" with a lot of extremely tasty mild peppers. And that is not such a bad thing.

Tekne, we sold out of them every market. Once word spread that they were really sweet stuffing peppers, instead of those bitter green bells, we just couldn't get enough of them. I'll be planting out about 500 of those this year.

CDNmatt said:
Some very good food for thought

So Trent, those of us who run say 16 to 18 hours a day would one aim for a tad higher lux then the 30k or so??

No matter if it was the heat or light intensity both have been adjusted now so if things can turn around I likely won't know which was the cause. But there was certainly a difference from the middle shelf to the top which was both cooler and not as bright, in fact more of a blueish light if anything.

Well, another way to look at it is base the amount of time per day off of your lux rating. You'll still run in to some issues with some plants growing faster than others (too much light slows them down, not enough makes them spindly). The goal is to try to get as even coverage as you can on the plants, and if you can't due to space constraints or whatever, rotate them around regularly so they stay as even as possible.

Based on casual observations peppers really do best when they are continously given around 15,000-20,000 - which on my tables is the first row "in" from the outside edges. The outer plants tend to grow a little too tall, so I rotate them in to the center (as the plants getting too much light grow appreciably slower).

After each big bottom watering (about once a week) I give them a break, for 12-16 hours, then they go back on continous light for a week or so. I just kind of play it by feel, more than anything. Sometimes a plant looks like it needs a rest, so I rotate it out to the edge. Sometimes a plant looks like it's getting a little too spindly, so it gets dead center in the table to slow it down. (This also causes each node which now gets light to send out shoots, which slows upwards growth a LOT).

With 3200 plants it just becomes a routine, I walk by a table of 216 plants, glance it over, and hands start moving stuff around, not really much thought in to it at this point, just go by feel, but there's science behind it. But there's also gut feel, which I'm finally starting to develop.

I went around and pruned some of them today which had gotten too crispy before raising the lights to the optimal point. Probably a couple dozen had gotten "sunburned" pretty good.

Since raising the lights the plants are growing much more evenly. So ~30k lux at the center looks to be my sweet spot.

Rotating plants around also helps as light hits them in a different way; whenever it gets on to a node good, the plant sends out shoots, which will help get nice bushy plants this year. Last year some were better than others, at production, this year I want (more or less) as even production as possible.

It sounds like a lot of work but I can rotate plants on all 15 tables (360 "columns" of plants, 9 deep by 24 wide per table) in about an hour. It doesn't take long grabbing two pots at a time, I rotate 4 with each pickup, so can do a row (plus a shuffle of the 9th) in a few seconds.

I spent more time getting optimum light levels this year for even production, than last year, because once they fully canopy grabbing pot edges to rotate stuff around becomes a major pain in the ass, and much slower.

TrentL · Mar 21, 2019

Another day at the office

The dude at Tractor Supply sold me 13 chickens for $1.10

I sexed them today, 9 roosters and 4 hens.

Got 61 in there now. If they hop out of their bins pretty sure the lower sprouts are toast, peppers are up a shelf

About $1300 in wet wiring pieces, conduits, panels, breakers, etc required to get lights, fans, and receptacles wired in to this high tunnel, not counting wire, which I already had on hand.

Will have overhead lights, door entry lights, 8 receptacles, and 12000 cfm 30" fans soon.

(The excavator pics above are me trenching for buried conduit, going to pull thhn 6 gauge, will have 60 amps of service to the high tunnel)

TrentL · Mar 21, 2019

Also the electrical conduit is 1/2" and will also serve as mount points for shade cloth, I have 40" clips for shade cloth for 1/2 EMT. That'll help during hardening off, put them out there under 50% shade cloth for a couple weeks then open it up

Ghost Pepper Revolution · Mar 21, 2019

Kennylay said:
Not doubting your lux numbers but I always thought the consensus was that the sun was putting out 100k+ lux on a full sun day. 30k is just outside of full shade.

For someone like me in Florida would it be smart for me to start plants in partial shade?
Yes for May on, until then they can handle our sunshine.

Just trying to learn as much as possible.

TrentL · Mar 23, 2019

I found an old grade marker from when we built the high tunnel last year

Busy adding electrical to the tunnel for greenhouse fans, receptacles, lights

Wermland · Mar 23, 2019

Looking good! [emoji2] you doing all that by yourself? Impressive.

Skickat från min SM-N910F via Tapatalk

TrentL · Mar 23, 2019

I also did a photo dump of 30 pics to the farm page the other day, plants are growing really well.

https://www.facebook.com/LawrenceProduce/posts/1673466282951936

Since I took those the plants have just about canopied over the pots.

These are from Wednesday;

Big Sun Habanero

Fatalli, some misc, and some MOA

MOA scotch bonnet

Misc aji's, some butch t

Carolina reaper

Moruga x reaper, brown bhuts

Misc ultras

TrentL · Mar 23, 2019

Misc ultras, some habs

Misc habs

7-pot brainstrain

Misc habs

Caribbean reds (I think? Either that or the primos above .. can't remember)

Misc ultras