2019 - The Farm

saiias · Feb 9, 2019

Does it taste good (Black Pearl) ? Heard contradictory opinions..

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TrentL · Feb 9, 2019

Tomorrow I'm going to do another inventory of sprouts, everything is hooking like crazy right now. I've got close to 100% germination on the Fatalli seeds, tray looks frigging loaded.

The big sun habanero I cooked under the lights aren't looking so great, fortunately, a BUNCH of seeds were evidently "paused" under the high heat and the tray is filling back out. I thought it was going to be a total loss a couple days ago, but then "here comes round two!" The seedlings which *were* up when the lights were on full blast that day all have yellow cotys and are looking very unhealthy, but the new sprouts are vigorous.

It was definitely heat + dry that caused it, the other light that got turned on full blast was a couple inches higher, and the 4x trays of Moruga x Reaper and Reaper have fully recovered from it.

Everything's looking good down there right now. Successfully nipped a mold problem in the ass w/ some good old H2O2, onions are growing like gangbusters, strawberries have sprouted.

Got a few herb trays started, various slow growing stuff (basil, etc).

I also cut the top off of the window-scorpion that survived since last year, and repotted it. We'll see if it's got enough vigor in that old plant to grow some new leaves. the roots looked absolutely horrible, so don't have high hopes.

On a whim I transplanted a scotch bonnet in to "graveyard dirt" from last year. Stuff that was too hot, that killed plants, that I held in a bunch of plastic containers. Hopefully it's had enough time to "cool off" - didn't have any ammonia smell to it, so that was good. I'm worried about the pH though. It's gotta be off the charts.

TrentL · Feb 10, 2019

I had several bins of potting soil from last year I didn't use because after mixing it, it got HOT for a while (like, physically hot, as nitrogen was converted).

I decided to do some test transplants to see if it's viable (if so, might as well use it..)

So 15 brave souls went in to each of 3 bins of it.

It was *way* too hot on nitrogen last year (the kelp meal and blood meal cooked off in to ammonia).

The ammonia is broken down now, so it should be incredibly rich in nitrogen. The bone meal likewise has run it's course w/ the myco I added last year, so should be plenty of available phosphate as well.

We'll see how they do.

Strawberry sprouts are TINY. Wow.

Some other pics I took tonight, cells are starting to fill out with seedlings

Onions are filling in good too

Notice the window-sill yellow moruga scorpion that I gave a massive haircut to... That's probably the harshest lopping I've ever done on a pepper plant. Considering it's roots were brown and shitty looking, I don't really know if it will pull out of it or not.

I would have liked to have kept some leaves but it wasn't in the cards. The plant only had a few, and it waited until node 20-something to frigging fork.

So now, it's gonna fork.

Or die.

It was exactly one year to the day since it was seeded, that I lopped it off. It was the sole survivor from the early soil tests last year.

So it made sense, to use the old potting soil that had cooked off and been binned for a year, to plant it back in to.

If it survives, it'll truly be a miracle plant.

Walchit · Feb 10, 2019

Always love your updates Trent. I should probably start some strawberries

TrentL · Feb 10, 2019

Fertilized trays 13-24, 29-36 w/ fish emulsion and myco

Have a pepper plant population of 1,646 populated cells now. Most of those have 3 or 4 seedlings in them, need to cull them soon-ish.

Had *2* monster nagas from my old 2012 seed stock germinate in tray 9, first time I've seen any old 2012 seeds pop this year. (Maybe shouldn't have pitched those other 2 trays of them so quickly.. these two germed on 21 day mark and I pitched the other trays after 15 days of nothing)

Inventory 2/10

Tray # / variety / QTY

15 7JPN WHP 8
18 7-Pot Brainstrain Chocolate AU WHP 2
23 7-Pot Brainstrain Red WHP 18
18 7-Pot Bubblegum Bhut Chocolate WHP 2
18 7-Pot Bubblegum Chocolate WHP 6
18 7-Pot Bubblegum Red BBG7 WHP 11
17 7-Pot Cinder F3 WHP 6
13 7-Pot Douglah WHP 13
16 7-Pot Jonah WHP 7
13 7-Pot Jonah Yellow X SB WHP 6
13 7-Pot Jonha Orange WHP 1
19 7-Pot Jonhah Orange WHP 2
15 7-Pot Lucy WHP 7
16 7-Pot Nebru WHP 8
36 7-Pot Primo 66
13 7-Pot Primo Chocolate WHP 9
15 7-Pot SR Strain WHP 11
14 Bahamian Beast Mustard Stinger F2 WHP 2
16 Bahamian Goat WHP 10
24 Bhut (Andy) 24
23 Bhut Jolokia Chocolate WHP 1
17 Bhut Jolokia Giant Chocolate WHP 1
19 Bhut Jolokia Rust WHP 4
3 Big Sun Habanero 60
4 Big Sun Habanero 66
39 Big Sun Habanero 20
40 Big Sun Habanero 26
19 BOC Devv 21
32 Brainstrain 72
33 Brainstrain 71
19 Brazilian Brainstrain Chocolate WHP 3
21 Brown Moruga WHP 21
14 Brown Reaper Cross WHP 8
9 Butch-T PL2018 4
5 Carolina Reaper 67
6 Carolina Reaper 68
30 Carribean Red Habanero (andy) 70
31 Carribean Red Habanero (andy) 72
14 Devil's Nagabrains Chocolate WHP 2
13 Devils Nagabrains Red WHP 2
13 Elysium Oxide Scotch Bonnet WHP 9
17 Fatalli Chocolate WHP 2
23 Freeport Orange Scotch Bonnet 30
16 Ghengis Khans Brain WHP 7
14 Habanero El Remo WHP 11
21 Habanero Franciscan WHP 24
21 Habanero Guadalupe WHP 23
22 Habanero Magnum Orange 8
22 Habanero Red Dominica WHP 6
16 Habanero Roatan Pumpkin 3
15 Jigsaw x Moruga WHP 11
15 Jonah's Yellow Brain WHP 3
16 Machu Picchu 10
14 Mako Akokosrade WHP 19
29 Matay (andy) 24
1 MOA Scotch Bonnet 71
2 MOA Scotch Bonnet 57
9 Monster Naga PL2012 2
35 Moruga Scorpion Red 69
7 Moruga x Reaper 64
8 Moruga x Reaper 66
9 Moruga x Reaper PL2018 6
13 Nagabrains Chocolate WHP 5
17 Orange Ghost WHP 6
15 P. Dreadie (Devv) 1
16 P. Dreadie (Devv) 1
17 P. Dreadie (Devv) 3
19 P.Dreadie Devv 9
17 Pimenta Black Bhut WHP 10
24 Reaper (andy) 14
10 Reaper x Bhut PL2018 5
34 Red Fatalli 72
18 Sandras Giant Orange (Long Pheno) WHP 2
15 SBJ7 Yellow WHP 2
16 Scotch Bonnet Sweet Moruga Brown WHP 4
15 Scotch Bonnet WHPII 2
20 Scotch Brain Devv 71
18 Skunk Chocolate WHP 6
19 Tepin x Lemon Drop WHP 3
9 Trinidad Moruga Yellow PL2018 6
24 Trinidad X Andy 6
15 USBC X SB WHP 10
10 White Bhut Jolokia PL2012 2
17 WHP027 3

Couple of sample trays (not uploading 53 pics again lol)

Andy's carribbean red habaneros

Scott's Scotch Brains

luvmesump3pp3rz · Feb 10, 2019

Trent, i`m amazed by your grows. i followed your glog last year and see how hard you work to be successful. i wish you all the best for this year! :cheers:

Walchit · Feb 10, 2019

I was so worried my seeds weren't gonna sprout for ya! Those were the first seeds I ever saved. I thought I sent purple ufo too. If so they seemed to go soft as soon as I picked em.

TrentL · Feb 10, 2019

luvmesump3pp3rz said:
Trent, i`m amazed by your grows. i followed your glog last year and see how hard you work to be successful. i wish you all the best for this year!

Thank you! It's been a tremendous amount of work. I'm hoping this year goes a little easier.

Walchit said:
I was so worried my seeds weren't gonna sprout for ya! Those were the first seeds I ever saved. I thought I sent purple ufo too. If so they seemed to go soft as soon as I picked em.

These were the ones I put in the dirt. I haven't planted anything purple yet. I have purple UFO on the seed inventory, they'll go in with "round 2" plants in a few weeks

Trinidad X Andy
Reaper (andy)
Bhut (Andy)
Matay (andy)
Carribean Red Habanero (andy)

So far all have sprouted

Ghost Pepper Revolution · Feb 10, 2019

The undertaking is unimaginable :flamethrower:

Kudos to you buddy

saiias · Feb 10, 2019

Trent.. Did you like black pearl? How does it taste.

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TrentL · Feb 10, 2019

Ghost Pepper Revolution said:
The undertaking is unimaginable
Kudos to you buddy

Thanks! It's gonna be a fun year.

saiias said:
Trent.. Did you like black pearl? How does it taste.

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No idea what they taste like, this is the first time I'm growing them.

TrentL · Feb 12, 2019

Transplanted some babies.

That's 2019 soil test mixes A and B.

Starting all over again as I'm swapping out Peruvian Seabird Guano (not sustainable, and expensive) for Tennessee Brown Rock Phosphate for phosphorous and calcium source.

Gotta see if I kill plants!

So far after 24 hours they are growing like gangbusters. But last year, I didn't notice the first fatalities for a couple weeks when the mixes went hot, so .. we'll see.

Pepper-Guru · Feb 12, 2019

TrentL said:
Also pepper seedlings are showing yellowing on the cotys and stems are turning splotchy purple, like last year, when I had magnesium deficiency. They're also still soaked, which doesn't help - I have to keep them wet because every tray still has stuff germinating. Being overly wet really hurts micronutrient uptake, and coco is already short on that (there just *isnt'* any micronutrients in them)

So tomorrow looks like a dose of epsom salt.. might add a dash of liquid bone meal in there for calcium - not much, but some.

And as an afterthought, might try to see if I can get azomite to suspend long enough to get in to the mix.

You could try incorporating a healthy dose of fresh worm castings into your seedling mix and this won't be an issue. Worm castings are my go to amendment for seedlings when using coir or peat. Its cheap, local, has tons of humic acid, micronutrients and trace minerals including magnesium. Everything is looking killer man. Lots of work. I bow in awe.

TrentL · Feb 13, 2019

Pepper-Guru said:
You could try incorporating a healthy dose of fresh worm castings into your seedling mix and this won't be an issue. Worm castings are my go to amendment for seedlings when using coir or peat. Its cheap, local, has tons of humic acid, micronutrients and trace minerals including magnesium. Everything is looking killer man. Lots of work. I bow in awe.

I use worm castings in my pot-up mix. Last year went through a half ton, this year with the scale up of the isolation grow, I have two tons of it purchased

But on seedlings, especially those which are slower to germinate, it can cause seeds to rot prior to germinating. Especially some difficult to germ varieties that take 20-30 days. I did a lot of experiments with it in my seedling mix last year and germination %'s were highest on straight coco-coir.

Wouldn't be a big deal to mix it in to annuum or faster chinense sprouts though. I had bad rot problems in longer germ stuff, some moruga types rotted before they germed. I ran 6 trays with it, and germination % was substantially lower overall, and non-existant in the slowest germinating varieties.

For bulk grow I've found the best practice is give 'em nutes as soon as they peek through the soil, fish emulsion and myco is my go-to this year after all the 2018 experiments I ran.

ETA: after giving fish emulsion this weekend, all the purple stems are gone, except on plants that are supposed to have them, and the four trays I cooked under the lights. Man I did a number on those...

Pepper-Guru · Feb 13, 2019

TrentL said:
I use worm castings in my pot-up mix. Last year went through a half ton, this year with the scale up of the isolation grow, I have two tons of it purchased

But on seedlings, especially those which are slower to germinate, it can cause seeds to rot prior to germinating. Especially some difficult to germ varieties that take 20-30 days. I did a lot of experiments with it in my seedling mix last year and germination %'s were highest on straight coco-coir.

Wouldn't be a big deal to mix it in to annuum or faster chinense sprouts though. I had bad rot problems in longer germ stuff, some moruga types rotted before they germed. I ran 6 trays with it, and germination % was substantially lower overall, and non-existant in the slowest germinating varieties.

For bulk grow I've found the best practice is give 'em nutes as soon as they peek through the soil, fish emulsion and myco is my go-to this year after all the 2018 experiments I ran.

ETA: after giving fish emulsion this weekend, all the purple stems are gone, except on plants that are supposed to have them, and the four trays I cooked under the lights. Man I did a number on those...

Yes! Ok, wasn't thinking about you germing IN your mix...good point. Once germed though....that worm castings just can't be beat! Love the stuff.

TrentL · Feb 13, 2019

Pepper-Guru said:
Yes! Ok, wasn't thinking about you germing IN your mix...good point. Once germed though....that worm castings just can't be beat! Love the stuff.

Oh yeah worm castings are awesome. I use them in my 5:1:1 mix (my version is 5 parts coir, 1 part perlite, and 1 part worm casting)

That is the base I use for all of my soil mixes, so worm castings are 16% of my overall media volume.

To that is added dry ferts; blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal, azomite, peruvian seabird guano, etc.

Except this year I'm dropping the peruvian seabird guano (if I can) and trying different phosphorous / calcium source in Tennessee Brown Rock Phosphate.

That's what that last post is testing. Peruvian seabird guano is hell on the environment and not exactly sustainable at the quantity they harvest. It takes decades or centuries to build up the deposits they mine of guano (islands are covered in like 20+ feet of guano off the coast of peru). They destroy the birds nesting places, and ecology when they take it out, so it's really bad on 'em. They limited it to a couple of islands at a time now, but that still destroys the ecology on them and also makes it very expensive.

Tennessee Brown Rock phosphate has high amounts of nitrogen and calcium, like guano has, but I can order it by the rail car if I wanted to, it's so "dirt cheap" (see what I did there?)

I just don't know if mycorrhizae will establish fast enough to break it down in to usable form. Rock phosphate requires microorganisms to break it down. Will have to see as the plants grow out if they grow P deficient.

TrentL · Feb 13, 2019

Pepper-Guru said:
Yes! Ok, wasn't thinking about you germing IN your mix...good point. Once germed though....that worm castings just can't be beat! Love the stuff.

Also last year when I started tomatoes and watermelon/cantaloupe, I'd used my potting soil mix under a 1/2" layer of coco coir. The seeds were still primarily in the coco, but as soon as they shot down roots they hit the soil mix and took off like crazy. There were some nutrient deficiencies in the tomatoes that showed up pretty quick, though, the soil that worked so well for the peppers didn't really work as well with tomatoes. Not sure what the difference was, or why, hoping to figure it out this year with potting soil mix experiments with tomatoes.

PaulG · Feb 13, 2019

saiias said:
Trent.. Did you like black pearl? How does it taste.

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TrentL said:
No idea what they taste like, this is the first time I'm growing them.

My take on them is that they are not great snacking
peppers. Kind of a 'bald' taste with a hint of fruit. Maybe.

However, they make awesome flakes. Nice heat
and the taste is mellowed out in drying and processing.

TrentL · Feb 13, 2019

Well, got some attachments ordered for this year.

Rain Flo 2600 mulch layer w/ double drip line attachments

Rain Flo 1600 water wheel planter

And a Rain Flo 1800 mulch lifter (for end of season cleanup)

This should make field prep and plant out a lot easier this year.

By my calculations I'd already lost money on produce by the time the plants were in the dirt last year, so hopefully this will let me reserve $$ for harvest labor, and we should stand at least a passing chance of breaking even on produce.

PtMD989 · Feb 13, 2019

Did you ever find out who stole your Reaper crop last year?

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