alkhall 2015

Runescape · Apr 20, 2015

alkhall said:
Orange(ish) Brainstrain

lol, any pod pics?

alkhall · Apr 21, 2015

Runescape said:
lol, any pod pics?

http://thehotpepper.com/topic/48130-orange-brainstrain/#entry1035860

Yes, Orange(ish).

I am hoping the seeds I saved will produce more of the orange color.

alkhall · Apr 24, 2015

I felt a little ambitious this afternoon after work, so I filled up my 'box' which is basically landscape timbers pinned together at the corners with ½" rebar. It measures 4 ft.x 4 ft. and 16 inches deep.

I used 15 @ 1 ft³ bags Miracle Grow Garden Soil (I know, MG sucks, but it has actually worked very well for me in the past) plus two 1½ ft³ bags Fox Farm Ocean Forest mixed in.

Then I added 8 oz. Neptune's Harvest dry kelp meal plus 8 oz. crab shell.

This mixture will sit and blend together for about another four or five weeks before I plant out. I basically use the 'box' only for Jalapenos and Cayenne.

Pics to follow later this summer, stay tuned.

Runescape · Apr 24, 2015

cool, cant wait to see pics...

alkhall · Apr 26, 2015

Pics from today:

I am cutting off flowers and baby peppers everyday.

They need to get into the ground soon!

Runescape · Apr 26, 2015

Holy cow...and dirt days still 4-5 weeks away?

alkhall · Apr 26, 2015

Runescape said:
Holy cow...and dirt days still 4-5 weeks away?

Yes, I believe I started way too early this year...

alkhall · May 2, 2015

Mostly sunny, low 70°s today.

Time for a little sunshine and fresh air:

EDIT:

It is such a nice day, I thought I should do an inventory of my plants.

BROWN LARGE SCORPION-3

7-POT YELLOW-3

ORANGE(ISH) BRAINSTRAIN-3

CHOCOLATE BHUT JOLOKIA-2

CARAMEL MADBALLZ-1

NOT PEACH (ORANGE(ish)) GHOST-SCORPION-3

RED BRAINSTRAIN-4

YELLOW BRAINSTRAIN-2

CHOCOLATE BHUTLAH-3

YELLOW SUN HABANERO-2

7-POT WES-3

TRINIDAD HOT CHERRY-3

YELLOW PRIMO-2

RED BHUT JOLOKIA-2

JALAPENO Biker Billy-5
                   Big Guy-5
                  Jalapeno M-5

CAYENNE Ecuadoran Hot Lemon-3
       Long Thin-1
                 Large Red-2

BELL PEPPERS California Wonder-5
            Orange Sun-5
                          Great Stuff-5
                          Honey Crisp-5
            Fort Knox-5
                          Big Dipper-5

RED SAVINA HABANERO-2

VENEZUELAN TIGER-1

JAMAICAN HOT CHOCOLATE HABANERO-4

PUMPKIN HABANERO-2

KING NAGA-2

GRENADA SEASONING-2

GOLDEN TREASURE-2

These are the number of pots with the respective peppers in them.

Quite a few, maybe 30%, are doubles. I did not bother to count them.

alkhall · May 5, 2015

Well, it appears we will have a warmer than average May, from looking at the long-range forecast.

I put my plants out last Friday afternoon after work, about 4:30, they got about two hours of direct sun, and came back inside around 8:30.

Saturday, they went out at 8:00 A.M., mostly sunny, temps in the low 70³s, stayed out all day, came in at 8:30 P.M.

Sunday, out at 8:00 A.M., temps in the mid 70°s, in at 8:30 P.M.

Yesterday, Monday, out at 5:30 A.M., before work, afternoon temps in the low 80°s, stayed out all night, temp down to 60°. We had a few rain showers last night and early this morning, about a quarter inch of rain. They have been out all day today, afternoon temp mid-80°s.

No sunburn, no wilting. Our local weather forecast calls for lows in the low to mid 60°s, and highs in the mid to upper 80°s for the rest of the week, with no rain until Sunday. They are outside plants now.

Extended forecast says 70°s and 80°s for daytime highs, upper 50°s and low 60°s for nighttime lows for the next two weeks.

I usually wait until near Memorial Day to plant out, but I believe this year, Mother's Day is the target.

alkhall · May 7, 2015

Hot today; 92°F.

Anyway, planted my tomatoes: five gallon Homer buckets, ~60% Ocean Forest, ~40% Happy Frog.

I use 42 inch tomato cages, the five gallon buckets fit perfectly into the bottom ring, just need to cut off about 8 inches of each of the three 'legs' of the tomato cage. This will prevent the tomato plant from lifting the cage and falling over.

This weekend is plant-out for the peppers:

BELL PEPPERS

CALIFORNIA WONDER - 2
ORANGE SUN - 2
GREAT STUFF - 2
HONEY CRISP - 2
FORT KNOX - 2
BIG DIPPER - 2

JALAPENOS

BIKER BILLY - 2
BIG GUY - 2
JALAPENO M - 2

CAYENNE

ECUADORAN HOT LEMON - 1
LONG THIN - 1
LARGE RED - 1

HOTS

BROWN LARGE SCORPION - 3
7-POT YELLOW - 3
7-POT WES - 2
CHOCOLATE BHUT JOLOKIA - 2
RED BHUT JOLOKIA - 2
CARAMEL MADBALLZ - 1
ORANGE(ISH) BRAINSTRAIN - 2
RED BRAINSTRAIN - 2
YELLOW BRAINSTRAIN - 2
CHOCOLATE BHUTLAH - 3
NOT PEACH GHOST SCORPION - 2
JAMAICAN HOT CHOCOLATE HABANERO - 2
PUMPKIN HABANERO - 2
RED SAVINA HABANERO - 2
YELLOW SUN HABANERO - 2
KING NAGA - 2
TRINIDAD HOT CHERRY - 2
YELLOW PRIMO - 2

NOT HOTS

VENEZUELAN TIGER - 1
GRENADA SEASONING - 1
GOLDEN TREASURE - 1

Hope everyone has a successful and bountiful season!

alkhall · May 10, 2015

Happy Mother's Day.

Planted out yesterday evening and this morning.

Main raised bed:

2@ Honey Crisp Bell, 2@ Orange Sun Bell, 2@ Big Dipper Bell, 2@ Fort Knox Bell, 2@ California Wonder Bell, 2@ Great Stuff Bell.
2@ Yellow Sun Hab, 2@ Pumpkin Hab, 2@ Red Savina Hab, 2@ Jamaican Hot Chocolate Hab, 2@ King Naga, 2@ Trinidad Hot Cherry.
2@ 'Not Peach' Ghost Scorpion, 2@ Red Bhut, 2@ Chocolate Bhut, 3@ 7-Pot Yellow, 1@ Venezuelan Tiger, 1@ Golden Treasure, 1@ Grenada Seasoning.

Some BigBagBed Minis:

Top- 2@ Yellow Brainstrain, 2@ Red Brainstrain.
Bottom left- 1@ 'Orangeish' Brainstrain, 1@ 7-Pot Wes, 1@ Caramel Madballz, 2@ Brown Large Scorpion.
Bottom right- 4@ Chocolate Bhutlah.

The "Box":

Top row- Ecuador Hot Lemon Cayenne, 2@ Big Guy Jalapeno.
Middle row- Long Thin Cayenne, 2@ Jalapeno M.
Bottom row- Large Red Cayenne, 2@ Biker Billy Jalapeno.

Tomatoes in Homer buckets:

2@ Roma VF, 2@ San Marzano.

The orphans:

Various, I have not sorted through them yet. I will probably put some in buckets, give others to friends.

Security system armed and ready:

Nulle · May 11, 2015

Love your security system!

More pics and details please.

alkhall · May 11, 2015

Nulle said:
Love your security system! More pics and details please.

Thanks.

Male Chow-Chow, 22 months old.

If I can get him to hold still for a pic... he does not seem to like his picture taken for some reason.

EDIT:

@Nulie,

Guarding the pepper patch:

alkhall · May 25, 2015

Planted out the orphans.

I decided to go with BigBagBed Minis and to try Dr.Earth Planting Mix as the medium.

Map:

OK, so I also had among the orphans what I had labeled as Red Brainstrain. But as you can see, it is obviously not. The question is; what is it?

tsurrie · May 25, 2015

looking good.
How big are those pots you're having 4 peppers in each ?
The last plant could be Lemon drop, maybe...

alkhall · May 25, 2015

tsurrie said:
looking good.
How big are those pots you're having 4 peppers in each ?
The last plant could be Lemon drop, maybe...

Thanks.

http://bigbagbed.com/get-the-bag/

I am using the Mini, 24 inch diameter and 8 inch high. They hold about 2 ft³ of medium.

Lemon Drop, interesting. I never have had any, must have gotten mixed in with some of the seeds I bought. Definitely going to grow it out, will update later when the pods ripen.

alkhall · Jun 10, 2015

Well, it has been a month since initial plant-out and I thought I would post some new pics of the progress.

Raised bed:

The Box:

Tomatoes going STRONG:

The 'unknown pepper':

The fabric planters:

Yellow Brainstrain getting there, SPIKY!!!:

I also have several Jalapenos and a couple of ripe Red Cayennes that I did not take pics of.

Stay tuned for further updates.

tsurrie · Jun 10, 2015

Nice progress on the plants man... everything looks OK. A little yellowish leaves in the fabric pots around the box maybe - is your soil mix different there?
The yellow brain strain already looks delicious... and look at those tomatoes... how many stems do these have? Do you prune them or leave them be?

alkhall · Jun 10, 2015

tsurrie said:
Nice progress on the plants man... everything looks OK. A little yellowish leaves in the fabric pots around the box maybe - is your soil mix different there?
The yellow brain strain already looks delicious... and look at those tomatoes... how many stems do these have? Do you prune them or leave them be?

Thanks.

The ones in the fabric planters around The Box have Dr. Earth Planting Mix, and I am not impressed, quite disappointed, in fact. I had had a couple of local nurserymen recommend it, so I gave it try. I may just dump it out and replace it with Ocean Forest.

The other three fabric planters have the Sta-Green Potting Mix I posted here, and while I am seeing good growth, they exhibit signs of Molybdenum deficienies (I believe). I gave them some Tomato-Tone and Neptune's Harvest Seaweed Saturday. It is too soon to see what effect that had.

The tomatoes; I used a 60/40 mix of Fox Farm Ocean Forest/Happy Frog, I have not tried to count the stems, but they are so bushy I can barely see the several tomatoes growing. I just leave them alone and water every other day, no ferts or anything.

Next year, I and using Fox Farm exclusively, even if it is 50% more expensive.

alkhall · Jun 14, 2015

First ripe pod; Yellow Brainstrain.

It has quite a few 'spikes' all over it, as you can see here on the left side: