AJs 2012 Season - A Pictorial Discussion

Trippa · Feb 22, 2012

AlabamaJack said:
by the way, one thing I did not say and probably don't need to, but this hoop house will be broken down in about a month or 6 weeks and the parts stored until next year...hardware is expensive...the one most expensive thing was the U-Bolts....16 of them were $20...good thing they will last a long time...

crazy it is Dale...trying to stay one step ahead of mother nature is aggravating sometimes, but then again, it keeps me on my toes...

thanks wd..

I have a couple of old Markel "strip heaters" or electric baseboard heaters that work quite well...as far as it heating up quickly, since I am attaching the cover with spring loaded clamps (they look like battery cable clamps), I can open any area and as much area as I need to keep it from gettin' too hot...bought a remote digital thermometer yesterday evening...

I really don't know how much tension it can take...it is 3/4" light schedule PVC and pretty limber...matter of fact, these 4 pieces were salvaged from my hoop house that blew down last year...I was pretty careful bending it and tried to make sure no "point" bends were made...tried to make the whole length curve if you understand what I am trying to say...

I am going to have to look at a map and do a little research to see what kind of weather you guys in Italy have...what city do you live in or is closest to you?

I will pass these compliments on to my grandson...he's a supersmart kid with a great personality and he has a little common sense already too...

Yeah I sure do know what you mean about the bend. I work on a $5.8billion tunnel project as an geotechnical engineer technician. Its all about load pressures at the end of the day

AlabamaJack · Feb 22, 2012

OK...got the mini hoop house completed this morning and 190 TS seedlings in it...

these are pieces of "fence" that I cut up and am going to use as attachment points for the clamps...they are screwed in the bottom of the plywood base...

this is a pic with the cover on and it closed up...kinda ratty looking but I think it is going to work...

picture of inside without plants in it and both ends open....

got a remote thermometer for the MHH...

and finally the plants inside....190 scorpions...this cleared up a lot of room in my growrage....now I have room to continue transplanting to 6" containers...

I will add that the temperature inside the MHH is 83F and ambient is about 77F...

PaulG · Feb 22, 2012

Hey, AJ! Your hoop house is awesome; it belongs
in the pantheon of ghetto growing gear! I mean that
as a sincere compliment : ) It looks like heaven for those
190 scorpions! Can't wait to see how they all turn out!
Good luck going forward.

PIC 1 · Feb 22, 2012

Nice work AJ,

"AJ's Covered Wagon" of things...
Man you've got a screaming radius going on with that PVC. Pretty cool!
I like the fact of keeping the plants off the ground away from the slugs and round potato bugs.
I'm debating whether or not to build a temp set-up to beat the bad changes of weather we have here in April.....I just need to get my arse out of the grow room or off the computer and take a look through building materials.............heavy duty visqueen a must!
Your plants are looking green...($)...
later,

Greg

BigCedar · Feb 22, 2012

Lookin good AJ. Got enough TS's? lol. I like the mini hoop house, nice job. Did you have to harden those off at all before you brought them out? Looks like your gonna have a fun season with all the seeds from the auction. Best of luck to you.

Brandon

AlabamaJack · Feb 22, 2012

PaulG said:
Hey, AJ! Your hoop house is awesome; it belongs
in the pantheon of ghetto growing gear! I mean that
as a sincere compliment : ) It looks like heaven for those
190 scorpions! Can't wait to see how they all turn out!
Good luck going forward.

thanks Paul...a lot of the stuff I build as "temporary" is really ghetto IMO...but it usually works...

PIC 1 said:
Nice work AJ,

"AJ's Covered Wagon" of things...
Man you've got a screaming radius going on with that PVC. Pretty cool!
I like the fact of keeping the plants off the ground away from the slugs and round potato bugs.
I'm debating whether or not to build a temp set-up to beat the bad changes of weather we have here in April.....I just need to get my arse out of the grow room or off the computer and take a look through building materials.............heavy duty visqueen a must!
Your plants are looking green...($)...
later,

Greg

love me some light duty 3/4" PVC to play with...it's like tinker toys for old men...give me 20 lengths of the pipe, a box of "T"s and "4-ways" and a few "90s" and I will play all day long...

BigCedar said:
Lookin good AJ. Got enough TS's? lol. I like the mini hoop house, nice job. Did you have to harden those off at all before you brought them out? Looks like your gonna have a fun season with all the seeds from the auction. Best of luck to you.

Brandon

thanks Brandon...not quite enough scorps yet...got another 300-400 that will go with these...will call them "Wahlberg Scorpions" :rofl:

no hardening off yet but now that they are in the natural environment I can partially remove the cover to give them direct sun...and probably will start doing that in about a week....

neobepmat · Feb 22, 2012

AlabamaJack said:
I am going to have to look at a map and do a little research to see what kind of weather you guys in Italy have...what city do you live in or is closest to you?

I live in Piacenza, click on this GMap link
http://maps.google.it/maps?q=piacenza&hl=it&sll=45.038415,9.698267&sspn=0.049855,0.107632&hnear=Piacenza,+Emilia+Romagna&t=h&z=12
my region is the Emilia Romagna, very famous for their first courses :cool:

Have you ever knew anything about tortellini, anolini and "pisarei e fasol?" (the last one is very difficult to translate, here's a link for your information)
http://www.alice.tv/Blog/cucina-regionale/post/2010/10/19/Pisarei-e-faso.aspx
Ok guys, OffTopic closed

AlabamaJack · Feb 22, 2012

I do know tortellini...and what I have had is pretty dang good...

I see you are in way northern Italy...wow...it gets cold there huh?...

neobepmat · Feb 22, 2012

Yes, winters are very cold out there.
As I wrote some comment before, last week we had -16°C.
The weird part is that we had lot of snow 'til 8 days ago, and today Ts° have unexpectedly arisen. For the end of the week we expect max Ts° of 16-18°.
What a crazy weather...anyway, still I'm in my germination phase and new seedlings take place in my double lightbox (Led panel + CFL Bulbs).
Maybe I am going to put outdoor my peppers for the mid April.

Aj, just an offtopic question, where did you put your full germination list?
Is there any special place or position in this forum to publish it "una tantum" ?

AlabamaJack · Feb 22, 2012

someone started a grow list and I posted the varieties I am growing on there...

check post #38 here....http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/27967-what-varieties-are-you-growing/page__st__20__p__561847__fromsearch__1#entry561847

my germination percentages of each variety are contained in this thread....I update it as I transplant from the starter trays to 3.5" containers...

by the way....there are NO off topic subjects in this thread...I will answer any questions and respond to any comments that are made...

heck, it's my thread...

BakersPeppers · Feb 22, 2012

Lookin good boss...like the ol' covered waggon look u got goin on in texas...keep with the western theme!

looking good

neobepmat · Feb 23, 2012

AlabamaJack said:
heck, it's my thread...

loud and clear Boss! :cool:

Sethsquatch · Feb 24, 2012

Hey AJ. Got a few quick questions for you. I was wondering what you use per gallon of the Pro Grow and Karma at the seedling stage. Do you use both? Do you apply them every watering or just once a week. Do you apply the Pro Grow one day and the Karma another day?

I just got some of these based on your response in a different thread and obviously your stellar results. I would really appreciate any guidance you could provide since you have so much experience with these products. Thanks for everything. It's my first year from seed and I'm really learning a lot from your GLOG.

woody3says · Feb 24, 2012

You've GOT to put some wheels on that, hook the dog up, and take the babies for a wagon ride around the yard! :halo:

remember, a happy kid is a healthy kid :rofl:

AlabamaJack · Feb 24, 2012

Sethsquatch said:
I was wondering what you use per gallon of the Pro Grow and Karma at the seedling stage.

read the back label, use 1/2 strength progro recommended at your growing stage and I use Karma full recommended "dossage"

Do you use both?

yes

Do you apply them every watering or just once a week.

every watering

Do you apply the Pro Grow one day and the Karma another day?

both at the same time

Sethsquatch · Feb 24, 2012

Thanks AJ!

BakersPeppers · Feb 24, 2012

Is that shade cloth i see up on some PVC there in the pics??

AlabamaJack · Feb 26, 2012

woody3says said:
You've GOT to put some wheels on that, hook the dog up, and take the babies for a wagon ride around the yard! remember, a happy kid is a healthy kid

don't think I haven't considered it....the wife would freak..."What are you doing to my baby?".....

Sethsquatch said:
Thanks AJ!

YW

BakersPeppers said:
Is that shade cloth i see up on some PVC there in the pics??

yes sir....30%...I really needed more like 60 or 70% for it to do any good...I think I have found out that my problem is NOT the sunshine....my problem is temperature in July and August...then you have an average of over 90F for those two months, there isn't much you can do except keep the plants alive until the September cool down and pray for a late frost/freeze.

Sunday Morning update...my sweet wife is so understanding...I told her I was out of room in the growrage and had moved some plants outside already...she said, you know we ARE going to have another freeze...and that I could use the living room/formal dining room for plants until plantout...

so I took her up on it...

3rd year scorpions...noticed yesterday they are producing pollen and I shook the devil out of the plant...hopefully the pollen is fertile....we will see in a couple of days..this is a south facing window..

overwinters in the west window...

8 week old 7 Pot's - I didn't put one in there but they are taller than a beer bottle now....

more 7 Pot

some scorpions and 7 pots, mostly scorpions

Indian Varieties

baby scorpions

more baby scorpions ready for transplant...

The plants are growing better for me this year than ever before...

S.S.Tupperware · Feb 26, 2012

There lookin happy, thats for sure...

PIC 1 · Feb 26, 2012

Hey AJ,

You'll have to introduce your wife to mine................and let some of that "sweetness" rub off..............ha
Unfortuneately my Living room window faces North, but when my kids leave back to school after spring break their rooms have some nice large windows with the mornings East facing exposure.......I'm running out of room myself

When you happen to wish that everything germinates, ...and it does then...................hey wait, maybe I'll have 2 more wishes to use up!..............lol

Anyways, your plants are looking great......not a bad leaf on the bunch! and those overwinters look "stock"
Good growing never keeps a good man down...

Greg

AJs 2012 Season - A Pictorial Discussion

Trippa

AlabamaJack

PaulG

PIC 1

BigCedar

AlabamaJack

neobepmat

AlabamaJack

neobepmat

AlabamaJack

BakersPeppers

Banned

neobepmat

Sethsquatch

woody3says

AlabamaJack

Sethsquatch

BakersPeppers

Banned

AlabamaJack

S.S.Tupperware

PIC 1