BigCedars SuperHot Grow 2012

patrick · Feb 11, 2012

Man I love the pic of all the seedlings on the kitchen floor. Looks like little soldiers in a row.

This is going to be a great log to follow Brandon, thanks for doing it.

Best of luck to you man.

BigCedar · Feb 12, 2012

PIC 1 said:
Excellent review Brandon,
I'm glad to (not see) the aphids. I had those one year, after an attack of "white flies" ....I couldn't beat those with a stick! I finally used a product from "Ortho" that claimed you could it up to a day of harvest and it lasts for 30 days, It worked and it did last for the duration, by that time my plants were being brought out side to harden off.
Nice recovery with the OW's.....I guess you can't beat those with a stick either. I;ll post my updates tomorrow morning, I had to cut back a "Butch T and Chocolate Bhut" they were already 3 ft and I really did.t want to raise the lighting for just 2 plants.
The gallon bottles work for me also,
I was fortunate enough to find 4 ten lb bags of "Osmocote" at a close-out price at Loews. I'll also add that to the mix and pull back from the "Fish, Pro Grow and Karma". when I start to pot up to 2 gal containers just prior to bringing out, The way its starting to look that will be sooner for some plants. .I'll scatter a small amount on top of the soil. Its slow release and will help fertilize outdoors with our spring rains. When the plants settle into the beds or large containers I'll switch to a 10-10-10. I'll still spray once a week with epsom salts and top off the perimeter of the plants with an occasional shovel of compost, but thats about it......................wait a second this is your glog not mine.................
thanks for your photo update!
It will be amaxing at the end of the season to look back at the first post compared to the last.
later,
Greg

Thanks for the reply Greg! the bonide spray is also okay to use up until the day of harvest, I'm glad to not see any aphids to date so far. Don't worry about talking about your grow on my glog lol. I appreciate it. I went to lowes today to check out ferts that I would like to use once I plant out, I found one organic fert that you have to mix into the soil that I was interested in.. derived from alot of stuff and had alot of micro organisms.. I'm gonna try out our local nursery wholesale warehouse and see what they have this thursday.. Glad you like the photos. I too am interested in seeing the beginning and end pictures of my glog. That's why I started this whole deal

stc3248 said:
Looking Great man! Sometimes setbacks are blessings! I'll bet they really thicken up with the new growth...

Thanks stc! I'm hoping they do, I took a good look at them tonight and the stems are getting pretty thick and branch starts are starting to grow above each leaf surprisingly. I think they will really take off once they are outside in real light.

SocalChilehead said:
Awesome update going strong I see preparation is key with those SOB I suffered as well that why I stay packing with some Azomax at all times but only if I knew how to get lady bugs to come on command then it would be perfect. Nice job Brandon look forward to the next update.

Thanks man

I too wish there was some secret to get lady bugs to come to my garden.. Even when I bought 1500 of them last year they all seemed to give me the big middle finger and fly elsewhere. I don't blame em.. It would suck sitting in a mesh bag being starved to death. I would fly far away from my house too lol.

PaulG said:
Really fine work, Brandon; do you just mix all your different ferts together, or just water with them separately? The overwintering idea really has me intrigued. Those plants should be really thick and bushy with all that new growth coming out!

Thanks Paul. I do mix all of them together now.. I liked Gregs idea with the dilluted 5 different types ferts during each watering.. And I have seen results first hand. So to give you an idea.. I'm using progrow, superthrive, calmag, and fish ferts.. I dilute them 1/4 what the label says, throw it into a gallon water jug (I label each jug with the 1/4 strength of each fert so I know what to refill it with if need be) I fill the gallon jug up with tap water and every time I water now I shake up the gallon jug, fill up a shot glass full of each fert into a 2 gallon watering can and water the plants. Again, Gregs idea. I wanted my plants to recieve everything they needed to grow and I couldn't do that fertilizing every 2 weeks like most ferts advertise so this program helps quite a bit.. they get a tiny bit of everything, every watering, and it shows.

As for overwintering? Dude.. You gotta try it this fall.. I might be wrong but I have a feeling all my OW's are going to explode this year and be more productive than any start I have right now.. They seem like they're begging for production. Everytime I cut them back or burn them they come back with 6-8 buds a noid with big ol leaves. And! they are only recieving south facing window lighting. It's nuts.

chileaddict said:
Excellent update Brandon. Keep up the good work!

Thanks Richard! I know I asked you last time.. but seriously.. what the heck are ya growin this year?! how are your plants doin?!
Thanks for the reply

romy6 said:
Glad to see you are enjoying your package
Your babies look like they are receiving the perfect amount of love. Might need to borrow some of the neighbors yard. Thanks for sharing your OW process as well(Not that I need it) . It should help allot of you snow birds
I am going to get me some of that Ortho this year. I always have trouble with aphids and spider mites .
Thanks Jamie

Thank you for the reply Jamie! I'm more than enjoying your package of hell! Funny story, My uncle tried a very, VERY tiny slice of a TS CARDI Y pod and he thought he was going to die! lmao.. He said it was the hardest thing he mentally has ever had to go through in his life! Anyway, thanks again, I'm bringing the choco bhut to work tmrw and a co-worker of mine and I are going to split it

I'm excited and he's.. well lets just say I don't think he's glad were friends anymore lol. Snowbirds?! lol. That's a good way to put it. I'm glad you like the OW process I'm going through. It's alot of work being a first-timer so I hope it pays off. I'll be changing alot of things at the end of this year..

Siliman said:
That's a great (mental) image right there. You might consider starting a college fund right now to send her to the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State...

Thanks Sil lol. Oh man.. she doesn't even need to do that, as long as she hangs out with me in the garden that's gonna make me the happiest guy in the world.(she already has) but I've never had a gardening partner until now

patrick said:
Man I love the pic of all the seedlings on the kitchen floor. Looks like little soldiers in a row.
This is going to be a great log to follow Brandon, thanks for doing it.
Best of luck to you man.

I thought the same thing Patrick lol.. Thank you for the reply, it keeps me going! Also, it's nice to hear that it will be fun to follow.. My first year growing from seed, my first year growing superhots, my first real growlog.. Nice to see it's enjoyable. I'll try to keep it interesting I promise

Thanks everyone for all the replies.

Brandon.

habaneroheat81 · Feb 12, 2012

Great looking plants B. I haven't seen your percentage of germination. Where you sitting on that? Did you meet your goal?
Liked the story with your daughter, I'm to afraid to let my daughter around the plants I overwintered so your pretty lucky.
Of course all that stuff you posted about your process lost me a bit.

something about all the different mixes you put in and then putting them together. Why isn't there a mix prepared that has the right Ph and nutrients already? Geez confuse a noob much?

Ohwell, I'm going to keep watching and keep learning.
Aaron

PaulG · Feb 12, 2012

BigCedar said:
Thanks Paul. I do mix all of them together now.. I liked Gregs idea with the dilluted 5 different types ferts during each watering.. And I have seen results first hand. So to give you an idea.. I'm using progrow, superthrive, calmag, and fish ferts.. I dilute them 1/4 what the label says, throw it into a gallon water jug (I label each jug with the 1/4 strength of each fert so I know what to refill it with if need be) I fill the gallon jug up with tap water and every time I water now I shake up the gallon jug, fill up a shot glass full of each fert into a 2 gallon watering can and water the plants. Again, Gregs idea. I wanted my plants to recieve everything they needed to grow and I couldn't do that fertilizing every 2 weeks like most ferts advertise so this program helps quite a bit.. they get a tiny bit of everything, every watering, and it shows.

As for overwintering? Dude.. You gotta try it this fall.. I might be wrong but I have a feeling all my OW's are going to explode this year and be more productive than any start I have right now.. They seem like they're begging for production. Everytime I cut them back or burn them they come back with 6-8 buds a noid with big ol leaves. And! they are only recieving south facing window lighting. It's nuts.

Brandon.

Thanks for the detailed response, Brandon. So by the time you water, the fertilizers are diluted down to a very small strength cuz you're only using a couple of ounces of the 1/4 strength fertilizers in a gallon of water. Should I be diluting my 1/4 strength fish the same way? I just bottom water with it as is ATM.

I definitely want to try the over winter thing!

chileaddict · Feb 12, 2012

Hey Brandon. Sorry I didn't list the chiles I'm growing this year yet. I did not want to put up a big list on your glog. I did finally get it all together. It is on Capsicum's thread What varieties are you growing? I'm trying not to overdo it this year because of all the time it takes and there will be a couple of times where I will be away from home for two weeks to a month. I will be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Oregon to Canada and that will take all of August. Keep up the great work on your plants...we need to meet up soon.

BigCedar · Feb 21, 2012

habaneroheat81 said:
Great looking plants B. I haven't seen your percentage of germination. Where you sitting on that? Did you meet your goal?
Liked the story with your daughter, I'm to afraid to let my daughter around the plants I overwintered so your pretty lucky.
Of course all that stuff you posted about your process lost me a bit. something about all the different mixes you put in and then putting them together. Why isn't there a mix prepared that has the right Ph and nutrients already? Geez confuse a noob much?
Ohwell,I'm going to keep watching and keep learning.
Aaron

Good to hear from ya Aaron, I was wondering how you guys were doin. dude my germ rate %s as a whole are pretty off, I had seeds from so many different sources that it's really not even reliable to say.. I had great germ rates with 85% of the sources and there was a few varieties that didn't germ a single seed.. which would put the germ rate % lower in a fast way. All in all I'm happy with what I have. Sorry to confuse ya man lol.. I'm actually a noob myself when it comes to starting from seed, the 4 years before now I grew from starts.. This is a whole new ballgame for me. I'll be happy when I'm outside in my comfort zone lol. When it comes to starts I'm sure there is a all in one fert(that I've yet to figure out) but as for ferts once plant out time comes around I'll be using an organic fert that you mix into the soil in each container and that seems to have the all in one deal.. calcium, mag, the normal NPK, and alot of other stuff..I've grown so many different types of fruits and veggies in my day and I gotta say growing supers has been the biggest challenge for me by far(I think living in the rainy state might have something to do with that) but they are the most tempermental, bipolar plants that I have ever dealt with. Which is why I'm doing this, I need a challenge! lol. Hope all is well with you and your wife n baby or babies? you gotta be nearing the end of the 9month streak with the second, hows everything going?

PaulG said:
Thanks for the detailed response, Brandon. So by the time you water, the fertilizers are diluted down to a very small strength cuz you're only using a couple of ounces of the 1/4 strength fertilizers in a gallon of water. Should I be diluting my 1/4 strength fish the same way? I just bottom water with it as is ATM.I definitely want to try the over winter thing!

Hey Paul! yep, that's correct. Gregs amazon rainforest is a nice presentation of the potential lol. You gotta be making sure your soil isn't already loaded with ferts though, you'll see in my picture post.. I made my 2nd, and 3rd mistake of this year already. I diluted my fish fert 1/4 strength too, make sure to shake it up before you feed as well, itll ;ook pretty gross once it settles. Dude you gotta try the OW deal! I'm more excited to see how those do than all of my superhot starts to be honest. I'm gonna put em in huge pots and hope they just go crazy for me

Hope all is well with you and your grow.

chileaddict said:
Hey Brandon. Sorry I didn't list the chiles I'm growing this year yet. I did not want to put up a big list on your glog. I did finally get it all together. It is on Capsicum's thread What varieties are you growing? I'm trying not to overdo it this year because of all the time it takes and there will be a couple of times where I will be away from home for two weeks to a month. I will be hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Oregon to Canada and that will take all of August. Keep up the great work on your plants...we need to meet up soon.

No worries man. You have a fine list! Your really hiking the Pac Crest trail?! Thats nuts dude! I wish I was coming along.. I've always wanted to, just never have the time.. I hope you have a ton of fun and please, take LOTS of pictures

Thanks for the encouragement with my plants, I hope everythings good with you.

TIME FOR AN UPDATE
Sorry it's been a little while,  Between work, family, taking care of problems with my plants, and being sick as a dog along with the rest of the fam, it has been absolutely non-stop for me. Two pretty serious things have happened in the last couple weeks with my plants..

First off, now that I'm using the 6400ks I have quite a few spray tanned babies (purple leaves) which is fine ..what wasn't so fine? In a matter of 2 days I noticed the plants started to take a turn for the worst. I realized yet again.. the lights were too close as the plants.. The tops of the leaves were starting to burn, turn yellow, and crinkle if you will.. I woke up early the next day before work, ran to the hardward store, and bought some stakes to put under the legs on each floor in the closet.. I had to jerry rig the heck out of it to make it work. Got that done.. Thought I solved all the problems.. Nope.
Some of the healthy leaves were starting to fall off, leaves were turning yellow.. My initial reaction was.."Are you fuckin kiddin me right now?? wth am I doing wrong?!" Seeing that just killed my spirits(being sick as hell wasn't helping either) I thought yet again it was game over for me.. I sat there going over absolutely everything that it could possibly be, its not overwatering, its not underwatering, its not the lights, its not damping off, its not desease or pests..and out of nowhere I remembered STC posting a picture of his transplants and the ones in shitty soil weren't lookin so hot and he said "amazing what a difference soil can make" and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's the freaking soil. I've used this for years but it's always been the soil used when I transplant gallon sized plants outside.. So I call the company and ask him how loaded their potting soil is with fertilizers and sure enough, this shit is LOADED with manure and other ferts already(be nice if they labeled the bags with that info right?). So between that, and the fact I'm fertlizing them as well the plants were just getting lit up with fert loaded soil. So.. new soil and another freaking transplant later. The plants have bounced back better than I thought they would. It's been 4 days since and the plants that were yellow are now green and new shoots are starting to grow out from where leaves were lost. I'd say theres 2 flats out of my 12 that got hit the worst (the youngest plants) but I'm hoping for a recovery.

Sorry for the novel. Picture time.

The jerry-rig shelf lift

OW Yellow Bhut has flowers n buds all over it

After a total cutback a week ago. The OW Butch T's growth.

My OW deep fried fataliis new growth, Oh btw... I am completely aphid free for the first time since October :dance:

Heres an example of what the badly hit young plants looked like a week ago.. and my mind was thinkin all 208 were gonna follow suit. I was in a tinyyyy bit of a panic as you can imagine..

Not to worry though! the other 10 flats look alot like these, and these plants looked BAD a week ago. I'm so happy I figured out the problems..

Left to Right, Top Row to Bottom Row
Trinidad Viper(purple?), Trinidad Viper(green?) These will be interesting to watch.. 7 Burgundy, 7 Congo, Bhut Choco, Infinity

7 Barrackapore, TS Moruga, 7Brain, Douglah, Bhut Yellow, 7 Chaguanas

MonsterNagaXDouglah "Armageddon", Mystery Red Douglah, Naga Choco, Dorset Naga, Infinity Monster, Bhut THSC

TS Moruga Satans Strain, Black Naga Red Cross, Mystery Superhot Red W/tail, Infinity With Tail, TSXMorango, Black Naga

I'm already excited for next year now that I have learned from the mistakes I've made so far. I think my mistakes have been a good thing in disguise. If I didn't have the hicups I've had so far I'd have shelves full of gallon sized plants taking over my kitchen.. I need a bigger house before I try that route lol. Live and Learn. Greg's blast from the past picture made me realize I had my old camera in the garage full of pics from my first year growing (back when we had a real summer too) I'll post some of those.. pretty crazy to see what a nice spring and summer can do for pepper plants in this area.

Oh! one more thing.. when I thought my plants were doomed.. I might have started another 144 of em. :lol:

I decided to try some out some of the others I decided not to grow.. and the few that didn't germinate at all for me

Ugandan Red Hab, Aji Chombo, White Bhut, West indies Hab, Big Sun Hab, Naga Jolokia, Peach Habalokia,Red Savina, Nagabon, 7 Long, Trinidad Hab, Bonda Ma Jaques, 7douglahXTSMoruga, 7 White, 7 Orange, Naglah, Moruga Red Hab, Pequin Chiapas Mexico.

Hope you all are doing well!

stc3248 · Feb 21, 2012

Shweeeet! Glad to know someone learned a little something from my dumba$$!!! Hey, if my failures make others better...then there are going to be quite a few better motherf@#$ers out there!

Your plants look amazing brother! Glad you figured it out...I am still fighting through the details myself. I have been starting mine in waves on a single germ station, and I have noticed that each set I start does progressivly better as I figure this stuff out. Hell, I have supers that have only been up a few weeks passing some of the annuums from my first set of starts back in December!

When will you be able to plant out? I only have a few weeks!

Keep it up!
Shane

BigCedar · Feb 21, 2012

Since everybody loves pictures.. I thought I'd share some pictures from my first year growing, Ha, I didn't even care or know about chiles, or anything to do with growing for that matter until that year. It was pretty cool checking them out for the first time in 5years. I will tell ya when I saw the date these were taken it made my jaw drop. JULY. To those of you who aren't in the area, for the past 4 years weve had a really bad spring or summer.. or both. To see plants this big in the beginning of July in this area is pretty nuts. AND I had no idea what I was doin! lol.

You have no idea how much I hope we have a year like this again.
So to give an intro, I kinda took over my now ma-in-laws deck.

Where The Addiction All Started

Ring of Fire

Bhut

Super Chile

AjiLemon

Ghost

Scorp

PaulG · Feb 21, 2012

Hey, Brandon - great pics, bro'! Nice save on your seedlings;
hope they kick into high gear for ya! Love those big pepper plants!

hooda · Feb 21, 2012

Wow, I hope my Aji Lemon turns out like yours!

BigCedar · Feb 21, 2012

stc3248 said:
Shweeeet! Glad to know someone learned a little something from my dumba$$!!! Hey, if my failures make others better...then there are going to be quite a few better motherf@#$ers out there!
Your plants look amazing brother! Glad you figured it out...I am still fighting through the details myself. I have been starting mine in waves on a single germ station, and I have noticed that each set I start does progressivly better as I figure this stuff out. Hell, I have supers that have only been up a few weeks passing some of the annuums from my first set of starts back in December!
When will you be able to plant out? I only have a few weeks!
Keep it up!
Shane

Ha! no, your not much of a dumbass at all. Your plants look freaking great, slug attack and all. I was hoping you'd read this, I wanted to tell you thanks a million, that single soil quote turned around my entire season, I don't think I would have even thought about that if it wasn't for you. Thank you very much. If I can get these damn things to produce your gonna be on my list of send out thank you bubble mailers lol. A few weeks til plant out!? well I guess that's Cali for ya. I'm jealous! I was wanting to shoot for the middle of March but I think that might be a bad idea with our bipolar weather (it snowed in March last year out of nowhere) So I'm shooting for April

Good luck to ya man. Thanks again Shane.

PaulG said:
Hey, Brandon - great pics, bro'! Nice save on your seedlings;
hope they kick into high gear for ya! Love those big pepper plants!

Thanks Paul! It has seemed like a never ending battle on how to be good at growing from seed for me.. I'm so use to buying starts, potting up, and callin it a day.. I wanted a challege and I got it lol. I have a couple sick days from work for the 2nd time in 10 years so I hope to check out your glog and everyone elses.. The time I use to spend on THP has now turned into time taking care of plants.. Anyway. They're now growing faster with the new soil in 4 days than they had in 2 weeks in fert loaded soil. So I think your right! Thanks for the reply. Hope all is well with you.

hooda said:
Wow, I hope my Aji Lemon turns out like yours!

Thanks for the reply. That plant out-grew all the rest that year and I had buckets of peppers come harvest time. I hope I have the same result this year with supers.. Best of luck to ya

Trippa · Feb 22, 2012

Those seedlings are starting to look really good there bro. Nice work on the pest eradication by the way. It can be a tough thing inside especially to get rid of pests without nature to give you a hand.
Love the pics of your first year growing ... question .... how much do you think you have learnt about chilli's between then and now??? and how many hours do you think you have spent on this forum since then?? :hell:

Ridiculous questions I know... but it is amazing to think about for me even for my short time here!!

stc3248 · Feb 22, 2012

BigCedar said:
Ha! no, your not much of a dumbass at all. Your plants look freaking great, slug attack and all. I was hoping you'd read this, I wanted to tell you thanks a million, that single soil quote turned around my entire season, I don't think I would have even thought about that if it wasn't for you. Thank you very much. If I can get these damn things to produce your gonna be on my list of send out thank you bubble mailers lol. A few weeks til plant out!? well I guess that's Cali for ya. I'm jealous! I was wanting to shoot for the middle of March but I think that might be a bad idea with our bipolar weather (it snowed in March last year out of nowhere) So I'm shooting for April Good luck to ya man. Thanks again Shane.

Yeah...those damn slugs. I do have some great looking plants...and some not so great looking plants. I still have way more than I can plant out, but some of the ones I experimented on early might not pull out of their funk! I'm really trying, but I guess it's all in the game. I keep meaning to post some side by sides of the ones that were in bad soil. Unfortunately, some of them went from bad soil to mediocre soil and they're still struggling. That was all part of the process though. I intend to learn as much as I can this season...and that means not being afraid to try some different stuff. So a few failed experiments were expected. I do wish now though that I would have purchased one bag of "the good stuff" to start with as a control and to ensure more healthy starts. (take note of that any fellow noobs that read this!)

Of course I'm going to read this! Did I not hit the follow button yet?!?!?! If not coming right up. There are several of you guys that I try not to miss a post on...and you're one of 'em! Very detailed, down to earth, humble yet VERY impressive glog my friend! Hope the weather is in your favor!

Shane

Yup...I already had it followed! :rofl:

BigCedar · Feb 22, 2012

Trippa said:
Those seedlings are starting to look really good there bro. Nice work on the pest eradication by the way. It can be a tough thing inside especially to get rid of pests without nature to give you a hand.
Love the pics of your first year growing ... question .... how much do you think you have learnt about chilli's between then and now??? and how many hours do you think you have spent on this forum since then??

Ridiculous questions I know... but it is amazing to think about for me even for my short time here!!

Thanks Trip! I agree with you.. indoors is crazy when it comes to pests. I just saw a couple fungis gnats in the grow closet tonight.. It just never ends. As for what I have learned since my first grow.. TOO much lol.. I think the biggest thing I've learned is plants like cal/mag.. I had no idea. Other than that, the importance of soil quality.. I had no idea how important it is, especially with starts. Instead of getting the free potting soil from my work I'm gonna be buying some high quality soil.. It's gonna cost me but hell.. I'm in too deep to bail out bc of soil. As for spending time on THP? I honestly have no idea on hours spent.. 200 hours + before my grow.. since I started? 3 hrs or so.. I wish it was more but I just haven't had time unfortunatly.. Hope all is well with ya man

RaelThomas · Feb 22, 2012

Lookin' great man!

chileaddict · Feb 22, 2012

Glad they survived Brandon. Get on those fungus gnats ASAP. I fought with them most of last year and think they had a lot to do with stunting the growth of many of my potted chiles. I thought I was winning the battle by waging war with the above ground gnats flying around until I learned about the larvae and got beneficial nematodes. That helped, but most of the damage was already done. I see the gnats are making a comeback on my overwinters and seedlings and now I will try mosquito dunks today. If I don't see quick results with that I will order the nematodes again before it gets much worse. By the way, I tried using potato slices (google it if you don't know what I mean) and never caught a larvae that way. Good luck man.

PaulG · Feb 22, 2012

Hey, Brandon - don't apologize for not visiting the THP so much since
the peppers got going; the pepper plants are more important! I'm following
your bug escapades with interest since I make my own potting soil. I'm just
hoping :pray:

that there is a wide enough variety of organisms that the meanies
are kept more or less in control.

BigCedar · Feb 22, 2012

stc3248 said:
Yeah...those damn slugs. I do have some great looking plants...and some not so great looking plants. I still have way more than I can plant out, but some of the ones I experimented on early might not pull out of their funk! I'm really trying, but I guess it's all in the game. I keep meaning to post some side by sides of the ones that were in bad soil. Unfortunately, some of them went from bad soil to mediocre soil and they're still struggling. That was all part of the process though. I intend to learn as much as I can this season...and that means not being afraid to try some different stuff. So a few failed experiments were expected. I do wish now though that I would have purchased one bag of "the good stuff" to start with as a control and to ensure more healthy starts. (take note of that any fellow noobs that read this!)

Of course I'm going to read this! Did I not hit the follow button yet?!?!?! If not coming right up. There are several of you guys that I try not to miss a post on...and you're one of 'em! Very detailed, down to earth, humble yet VERY impressive glog my friend! Hope the weather is in your favor!

Shane

Yup...I already had it followed!

WOW Thanks for the compliments and the follow! That was very nice to read

I'm trying to keep it interesting, its a challenge at times after seeing some of the grow veteran pics around here. one day I'll get there! lol.. Speaking of soil I never stated what I'm using now I just realized? Duh. Well others may chime in and tell me how good this really is but seeing plants go from yellow to green and growing for the first time in 2 weeks is telling its pretty damn good, it was at fredmeyer, 7bucks for 18 qts, Black Gold Nartural & Organic potting mix .05 .00 .00 on the ferts so that had me hooked lol. I'm with you man, it's all a learning process, see what works for you and what doesn't. I'll second that comment for any new growers, SERIOUSLY. Soil is very very important. Btw I checked out your Running blog, thats very cool and impressive Shane. Good luck with your plant out!

Raelacea said:
Lookin' great man!

Thanks Rael! I havn't seen a post from you in awhile? then again I haven't been on THP much.. anyway, hope all is well with you dude.

chileaddict said:
Glad they survived Brandon. Get on those fungus gnats ASAP. I fought with them most of last year and think they had a lot to do with stunting the growth of many of my potted chiles. I thought I was winning the battle by waging war with the above ground gnats flying around until I learned about the larvae and got beneficial nematodes. That helped, but most of the damage was already done. I see the gnats are making a comeback on my overwinters and seedlings and now I will try mosquito dunks today. If I don't see quick results with that I will order the nematodes again before it gets much worse. By the way, I tried using potato slices (google it if you don't know what I mean) and never caught a larvae that way. Good luck man.

Thanks Richard. And Thanks for that info! I was planning on googling every possible way to knock em out, that dunk stuff looks pretty legit.. I find most of the gnats are in the tiny bit of soil in the bottom of my flats, since I bottom water I think that will work pretty well.. I don't even wanna walk today from body aches but I'm gonna make myself go to the hardware store and get some. I've found out over the years delayed responses with pests is a bad idea. Pretty weird tho, they aren't touching my OW's that I know of.. just the babies. I also found a pretty cool organic fert that you mix into the soil at plant out and its loaded with beneficial nematodes and micro organisms as well.. I'll get the name of it when I'm out.. I don't wanna be battling them all year like you and I did last year either.. They seemed to love my plants in the GH's, it seemed like a day or 2 after I took them out of the GH the gnats were gone.. Anyway thanks again for the info, keep me posted on how it works with you, I'll do the same.

Thanks for the replies
Brandon

PaulG said:
Hey, Brandon - don't apologize for not visiting the THP so much since
the peppers got going; the pepper plants are more important! I'm following
your bug escapades with interest since I make my own potting soil. I'm just
hoping that there is a wide enough variety of organisms that the meanies
are kept more or less in control.

Thanks Paul! That's what I thought too, I've invested way too much to turn away when something goes wrong. Good luck with your soil. I'm excited for plant out so I can add that organic stuff I mentioned full of organisms, I think that will help give me a break from the constant war on bugs. I swear theres always bugs in our house, we live right next to the forest so I think that has something to do with it, you cant open the front door without something flying or crawling in. lol.. I'll keep ya posted on the new fungis gnat battle.

PIC 1 · Feb 22, 2012

Wow,Brandon
I've been mia the last few days but I'm glad I came back to check out this one!
"Retro, Metro, or PEP-tro"....whatever you make of it, those photos are too...cool!
Look at all those plants with the amount of chili pods on them. I bet that brings back good memories!
Your plants are moving along quite fast now. Before you know it you'll be bringing them out doors for some fresh air and sun..........ha..........I can't wait to see that.
Today I start my sweet and mild peppers. 2 weeks from know the tomatoes. When will it end?
Never, as usual.
Glad to see some photos from beyond

Greg

BigCedar · Feb 23, 2012

PIC 1 said:
Wow,Brandon
I've been mia the last few days but I'm glad I came back to check out this one!
"Retro, Metro, or PEP-tro"....whatever you make of it, those photos are too...cool!
Look at all those plants with the amount of chili pods on them. I bet that brings back good memories!
Your plants are moving along quite fast now. Before you know it you'll be bringing them out doors for some fresh air and sun..........ha..........I can't wait to see that.
Today I start my sweet and mild peppers. 2 weeks from know the tomatoes. When will it end?
Never, as usual.
Glad to see some photos from beyond

Greg

Thanks Greg! I'm glad you liked em.. Yes indeed it does bring back good memories

I think the most important one of them all was having a nice spring and summer that year.. I've lived here my whole life and have never seen the weather weve had for the past 4 years. I hope it turns around. It's gonna make or break my season. They don't look near as nice as your starts but I will tell ya, my starts look nicer than the ones I bought in the middle of june from nurseries. So I gotta stay optimistic. For the first time since my 1st transplant into the not so good soil I can see growth rate from day to day.. I'm pretty happy at this point, when I thought I killed them all it was a total different story lol.. Anyway, I hope I have this down to a science one day like you.. your a true inspiration. And really... tomatoes and sweet peppers? dude... how the heck do you have time for all this! it's gotta a 2hr+ job a day! Other than that.. I think I need to just bite the bullet and spend some money on good soil for plant out time.. after seeing what the soil I thought was great turning out not so great I think I need to go ahead and buy some good stuff.. I'm not excited about the cash it's gonna cost but I think the outcome will outweigh the money invested.. Anyway I'll shutup for now lol. Hope all is well with you my friend, thanks for the reply.

Brandon