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AMG's 2013 Grow! Pods Pods Pods. Overdue Update.

Hello friends! So this is my third year growing a garden, but only year two of my pepper obsession. Space is limited in my ittsy-bitssy townhouse backyard, though i just demo'd my HUGE shed that was in the most perfect south facing spot of my yard. Stay tuned for the DIY raised bed going in this spring!

I just got finished building the new and improved Germinator (a few more bells and whistles to come). Last years model has been converted into my overwinter station.

2013 List
Bonda Ma Jacque (Semillas)
Pequin (Semillas/pepper Lover)
Fresno (Semillas)
Corno di Torro (Semillas)
Piment d'espelette (Semillas)
Serrano (Semillas)
7 Pot Brain Strain Yellow (Pepper Lover)
Fatalii (Pepper Lover)
Jalapeno "Cracked" (Pepper Lover)
Chile de Arbol (Pepper Lover)
Lemon Drop ( Peppermania)
Poblano (Local Garden Center)
Jimmy Nardello (Pepper Lover)

Overwinters
Jamaican Scotch Bonnet (Pepper Mania) x 2 - Last years overwhelming favorite. Scored much love from friends for this hot sauce.
Italian Unknown Annuum (Seeds a friends dad brought back from the old country 10 or so years ago, cayenne like, but shorter and fatter)


Here are some shots of the 2012 grow:
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2013 Starts and overwinters in the next post... let the pictture re-sizing begin
 
Overwinters (including the Meyer Lemon Tree)
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Jamaican Scotch Bonnet (can you spot my assistant?)
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JSB Flower
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Baby Lemons
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The new grow box will have two 2'x2' sides. Last years model had trouble handling both the tall growing annuums and 'maters and my chinenses.

One built, one more to go
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The Starts - Chinenses + my one Baccatum this week. In two more i will start the annuums. Two weeks after that are the tomatoes. I do a big giveaway at the office of my extras in mid April. I start about 2x more than i have room for.

Just ProMix in 2" square pots. These fellas will stay in these pots for 4-6 weeks. Then into either solo cups or 4 inch(tall) square.
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Dome on!
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The new and improved Germinator. Still need to wire up the second half of the lights. I have black/white material in the mail now. Going to line some plywood and box her in the back. Also going to line the roof and floor.

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Running 23w CFLs. 1600 Lumens each @ 65,000K
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Myers lemon, I got a nice one in my front yard, Starting to get more and more lemons each year, bunch of flowers now, Good luck wit your grow.
 
Good luck with the 2013 season. Raised beds are cool! The soil warms up pretty fast in them. They drain fast when the heavy storms roll through. Make sure to take photo's.
 
Thanks for the support THP community. Pretty excited for this season.

Looks good! Nice build on that grow box. Good luck this year!

Thanks! Third year starting from seed, third design for the grow box. Learn something new each year to bring to the design. The wife will appreciate it if I can actually settle on one...

Myers lemon, I got a nice one in my front yard, Starting to get more and more lemons each year, bunch of flowers now, Good luck wit your grow.

Jealous of your climate, though she's doing great in doors. This will be our second season with the lemon tree. Last year we got ... One lemon! We made a lemon whipped cream on warm pumpkin bread... Looking forward to more of that!

Good luck with the 2013 season. Raised beds are cool! The soil warms up pretty fast in them. They drain fast when the heavy storms roll through. Make sure to take photo's.

I already have a few design sketched out. Super excited for the build. Even more excited to fill it with something other than the awful native clay in my other beds.

Nice set up and nice peppers. Look forward to seeing it evolve into a jungle of heat.

Jungle is right! I used to have parties in my backyard. Then the pepper addiction set in. Front yard only these days.
 
Nice set up you have going on there. Be cool to see how they get on as I love seeing diy projects for home growing.

Good luck to you this season, will be poping back in to see your progress

Best wishes bud
 
Time to check the temps. Prop mats tend to be much warmer in the center than along the outside edges, even with a dishtowel to help insulate.

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I'll take 83 on the outside, but the middle was running right at 90 degrees. a little to close for comfort.

clean tube sock to the rescue.

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Ill temp again before bed tonight to see if this helps.
 
Two weeks in, time for an update. decent germ rates, i think i fried a few seedlings when i kicked on the lights after the first pop. The heat pad needs to go off with the cfl's on with the dome still on. after a day, i notice the temps spiked to 105.

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Bonda Ma Jacque (Semillas) 2/4 (for sure fried these, could see they germ'd when i dug them up, but all brown and frizzled)[/background]
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Pequin (Semillas/pepper Lover) 3/4 (2 semillas ((one dead of helmet head decapitation)), 1 pepper lover)[/background]
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]7 Pot Brain Strain Yellow (Pepper Lover) 4/4[/background]
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Fatalii (Pepper Lover) 3/4[/background]
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Jalapeno "Cracked" (Pepper Lover) 3/4[/background]
[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Lemon Drop ( Peppermania) 2/2[/background]

We just got back from 3 day trip to Maine for ice fishing and snowmobiling. The wife doesn't let me run the lights while we are out of town (cant put the cats in danger, god forbid) So the older ones got leggy. Lights are back down and the fan is on to get em back in playing shape.

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The rest of the peppers (all annuums) and a few backups of the lower germs from tray 1, plus eggplants just went down tonight. due to volume, i had to switch to standard seeding flats.

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Overwinters are showing some nice new growth.

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As for an update on my projects, i finished wiring and rigging the other half of the lights (no pictures yet). The black/white film is on backorder, So enclosing the box is on hold until the film comes in.

I'm reading Gaia's Garden right now, and im getting all sorts of inspired for the new raised bed. Key hole bed??? Definitely recommend picking this book up. Found it at my local B&N. http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/1603580298
 
Always learning something with this hobby.. Lesson this week, be careful with digital timers. The button on the front is very sensitive. Switched from auto to always on by accident, end result are some sunburned plants. Started to get some crispy edges, but caught it in time before any lasting damage was done. My old analog never did this to me!!
 
Things look really good. Your overwinters look like they are taking off. Nice green color. Keep up the grow. Good luck
 
Building a raised bed or hunting Vampires?

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The Finished bed. I picked up 8 bags of shredded pine bark fines (25%) and 8 bags of Peat free organic planting mix. I have 4 30# bags of worm castings coming in the mail (plug for hayneedle.com, free shipping is insane!) Rest of the mix will be leaf compost, perlite, and Happy Frog soil conditioner.

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Also got the peppers transplanted to Solo Cups. Going Peat Free this year ( minus the leftover ProMix from last year).

I transplanted these into an organic seed starting mix with Coir, rice hulls, shredded pine park, and other goodies. Mixed w/ worm castings and a teaspoon of Myco.

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Hello THP,

Plant out day is always one of the most exciting of the year. It was a hard days work, but we got pretty much everything planted out. The container blend is 2 parts Pine Bark Fines, 1/2 part Lobster Compost, 1/2 part organic no-peat potting soil, 1/2 part Perlite, and the recommended dosage of Tomato-Tone. We will see how it goes.

Next weekend i will hook up the drip irrigation.

The Peppers I kept 2 of each variety, the rest will be given away to friends.
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The reverse angle, good shot of the new raised bed.
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Birds eye View of a Bonda

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Fatalii
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7 Pot Brain strain
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The new raised bed, filled with tomatoes, eggplant, peas, sugar snap peas, carrots, and bunching onions.
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The money shot.

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