Bike808 getting Dirty in Jersey

Well, it's that time of year where old fashioned folks are making resolutions, and I want to resolve to work on my GLOG consistently in 2019. 2018 was a great year, despite some considerable setbacks. I managed to grow far more chiles than I could ever hope to eat, so I gave tons away. In the end, a few disappointments aside, it was an overall successful season.

The same cannot be said for my GLOG. I neglected the fark out of my 2018 GLOG. This year, I want to post at least once a week, no matter what.

At this point, I don't want to post lists or anything because I have a herculean season ahead of me. See, I intend to overhaul my yard, build some beds, order up some topsoil and compost to fill then, amend the soil with all kinds of other Bullshit, and have all that done before it's time to plant out. Of course, before then, I'll need to have started all my plants and I'll need to know what I'm looking at in terms of density and (dis)organization. Hmmmph.

But, long story short, I'm learning from past mistakes. Only using the right kind seed starting soil. Going to be more diligent with my seeds as I sow them, to avoid leggy-azz seedlings. Harden off early but slowly, and methodically. Try to figure out fertilizers, and maybe develop and enact a strategy as far as that goes, rather than randomly dumping Alaska Fish Ferts on my plants whenever the whim hits me. In summary, take another step towards becoming a real gardener.

So, yeah, I plan on planting less densely this year, so I need to figure some shit out, but a GLOG ain't a GLOG if the first post doesn't include some name-dropping as far as intended varieties. This year will be my usual: far too many Yella Bonnets, a bit too many red, orange, and chocolate Bonnets, various Superhots of the Seven Pot and Ghost/Naga groups, some low heat Habs, many Jalapeños (strictly Zapotec this year), mild to mid Mexican kitchen staples, random other shit, and I have some baccatums to try out this year. (I bought a Bishop's Crown plant from CCN in 2018 and I'm stoked to try others now...)

Oh, and Fataliis. Plenty of those little yellow treasures. The best.

Thanks for reading. Oh, and if anyone wants to be my accountabili-buddy on this one, i'd appreciate it. Just making reminders in case I neglect my GLOG again, LOL...

-rob

 

[Bicycle808]

Looking good Rob ....bonnets and all

Thanks!! I'm definitely looking forward to growing those Bonnets. If I ever had to limit myself to just one plant, there's no doubt that i'd choose a good Yellow SB...

In related news, I only partly forgot about your Walton SB seeds. The truth is, I've been stupid-busy, but I'll get then out this week...

 

[Walchit]

PS- I just want to make a note, for my own personal info, that i have 84 sets of the right-sized solo cups on-hand, plus a bunch of the other ones that are too short/fat to fit in my trays how i like.  I re-use solos, and just like cross-out the old lables and relabel them with a Sharpie.  I guess i'll keep doing that until they are too marked-up to be useful anymore, but the inner ones i don't label so i gues i can keep using them until they split open or whatever.  But, this year, I'm resolving to use smaller lettering and shorthand, to help preserve the service-life of these danged cups.
 
Waste not, want not, or so they say.  I try not to be wasteful, but there's still plenty i want for.  

Just put a little piece of masking tape on them after they are full

 

[Bicycle808]

Just put a little piece of masking tape on them after they are full

That'd work for sure. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Ghost Pepper Revolution]

Rubbing alcohol on a q-tip will take the old permanent marker off, thats what I do bro. Couple years ago I scared my dad when I colored a hitler stash on my nephew while he slept, until out came the hand sanitizer with alcohol to the rescue . Hope it helps Rob

 

[Bicycle808]

Well, that's a big help, actually. I mean, I probably have years worth of space left on these cups but I can probably get ahead of it with the rubbin' alcohol. Thanks for the tip...


I never thought i'd be a knock-off solo cup conoisseur, but I am now. I buy them at the dollar store and the narrow ones let me fit 24 cups in a tray, but the other ones only fit twenty and that's actually kind of a big consideration for me. Even though I got 84 on deck, I'm gonna be checking out the local dollar stores for the skinny jawns. I saved some of the chubby ones, too, but I'll give them to other gardeners at the Community Garden and to green friends on social media

 

[Genetikx]

Great start to the glog, Rob aka my community garden bruh. I don't know what the hell that tape electric roll thing is that you built but looks incredibly helpful. I've got the tiny little heat mat that you see from a lot of people, way too hard to get everything on it. I'm constantly turning bags like a friggin rotisserie with the thing.

 

[heefy]

Just dipped in a read this from the beginning. Very interesting indeed and thoroughly enjoyable.

It’s good to see different peoples grow spaces and methods. All the best for the season.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Bicycle808]

Great start to the glog, Rob aka my community garden bruh. I don't know what the hell that tape electric roll thing is that you built but looks incredibly helpful. I've got the tiny little heat mat that you see from a lot of people, way too hard to get everything on it. I'm constantly turning bags like a friggin rotisserie with the thing.

Yeah the cool thing about the tape is, it comes in a variety of widths and you can cut it to length, so it's very adaptable to a variety of applications. Some ppl use it on carboys for homebrewing, which is beyond me bc when I was brewing, I s always trying to keep my ferment cooler. But I saw some at the local homebrew supply shop and asked the guy what was up for it, but he mostly just got psyched bc I was able to tell him where to buy or cheaply, by the foot.

I guess the only downside is that, while I've never had a problem with it, or has that jenky, burn-your-house-down look to it. My wife was squinting at it pretty hard when I set it up...

But being 48" x21", I got plenty of surface area for seeds and seedlings...
 

Just dipped in a read this from the beginning. Very interesting indeed and thoroughly enjoyable.

Its good to see different peoples grow spaces and methods. All the best for the season.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks for dropping in. I appreciate the feedback. We all have different challenges; for me, i'm trying to juggle the typical Rookie incompetence issues with the lack of space that a semi-urban yard provides. I still have high hopes for the year, though.

 

[Walchit]

I'm feeling pretty thankful for today.  Thankful for a partial day off, so i can work on some shit.  Thankful to Dr. MLKing, for the good shit he worked on, that earned us this holiday in the first place.  Thankful for all the generous THP Members who hooked me up with seeds, for free or in-trade.  Thankful for the vendors who filled in the rest of the blanks, at reasonable prices.  Thankful for my wife for putting up with this shit. Thankful for my cat, who had the wisdom and consideration to stay out while i effed with these seeds....  
 
Started today, January 21 (5 seeds/each, unless otherwise noted):
-Red Brains, Cappy Strain, multiple sources (10)
-Naga Morich
-Bhut Jolokia
-7 Brainstrain Yella
-7 Douglah
-BOC
-JPGS
-7 Jonah
-7 Cinder
-7 Barrackpore Red (6 b/c "oops")
-7 Barrackpore Yella
-Bhut Assam Yella
-Shabu Shabu
-NagaBrains Yella
-Forbing Naga
-Naglah Brown
-JPGS x Primo (WHP)
-Primo Yella
-Primo Choco
-Primo Red*
-BBM*
-Caramel Brainstrain
-Choco Brainstrain
 
Here's some photographic evidence.  I use both white and brown coffee filters, 1 each per bag, so I can use fewer ziplocs but still keep track of what's what.  I document which is which on each bag, b/c I cannot trust this brain of mine anymore.  I got the candy thermometer crammed between the tape and the shelf; temp is steady holding at like 83F.  I'll probably have to check frequently, what with changes in ambient temp and stuff.  I don't mind if they get a little cooler than i'd like, but I am worried about cooking them.

I missed this post.

You don't have one of those reptile thermostat things from when you had snakes? I wanna get a thermostat for my heating pads. I've just been trying to keep the garage close to 80°, and letting the garage help heat the rest of the house lol.

 

[Bicycle808]

I missed this post.

You don't have one of those reptile thermostat things from when you had snakes? I wanna get a thermostat for my heating pads. I've just been trying to keep the garage close to 80°, and letting the garage help heat the rest of the house lol.

My days as a snake keeper are long past. As I recall, compatible thermostats back then we're or of my price range back then, bc the products were less accessible and I was more broke back then. But, yeah, I could probably look into that for this. I've been researching plug-in thermostats for my upcoming keezer project. Gadgets like that have come a long way in the past twenty years.

Here in Jersey, is mostly cold and icy, these days. I'd love to relax in that 80° garage of yours, LOL

 

[CaneDog]

 I've been researching plug-in thermostats for my upcoming keezer project.

Way to just slip that in there all casual.   Hope you'll be posting on the build.

 

[Bicycle808]

Trust me; it won't be any time soon. I gotta spend my cash on the yard before I go building my third-floor 2-room mad scientist laboratory.... But I DID tell my wife that, since she never sets for on the third floor more than maybe twice a year, I was going to replace the ratty carpet with checkerboard linoleum tiles and reprise the source to become a home bar(&brewery...well, I won't brew up there, but I'll ferment)/bike shop/chile nursery.

She said "ok"... Which makes sense bc, if I was careful to only do noisy work up there while she's out of the house, she wouldn't have even noticed the transformation until 6 months after completion, LOL.

I think, of I do it right, though, she'll be up there ask the time, sippin' ale and truing her wheels.

 

[CaneDog]

That's awesome bikeman.  Every home should have a bike shop, brewery w/ keezer, and a pepper farm.  Hope it is sooner rather than too much later.  Just out of curiosity, are you planning a dual control for fermentation with heat and cool or just cooling off warmer ambients?

 

[Bicycle808]

That's awesome bikeman.  Every home should have a bike shop, brewery w/ keezer, and a pepper farm.  Hope it is sooner rather than too much later.  Just out of curiosity, are you planning a dual control for fermentation with heat and cool or just cooling off warmer ambients?

I agree that no home is complete without a brewery, bike shop, and large scale pepper patch. I gotta watch the order of operations, though, as too many pints during a wheel build, and the things won't come out very round or true.

One of the closest breweries to my house is a place called Eight & Sand in Woodbury, nj. They offer several chile-infused brews; over samples at least 3 on their tasting room. They seem to mostly use Serranos. Those bed were, in large part, my motivation to get back into home brewing.

Full disclosure: my brewing days were low-tech, low-buck, and low-skill. The only thing I did right was obsessive sanitation. I tended to brew partial mash, with extract providing much of the fermentables. I fermented at room temperatures, and choose styles/yeast that complimented the seasonal ambient temperature in my South Jersey apt, which had no AC and very inefficient heat, which I almost never used. I was a primitive young man, crafting very primitive ales. I occasionally brewed lager recipes, if my cellar was cool enough, but i'd use the Cali Common/Steam Beer yeast due to temperature concerns. I loved that stuff, though, bc it was super flocculent and yielded some crystal- clear pints, which isn't a big concern for me personally... It's just that my dad and the guy who eventually became my father in law demanded such things.

So, that's the background. I'm definitely not a rookie, but my experience is limited and in extra rusty, plus my goals back then we're to produce cheap beer that tastes better that MGD. Now, I looking to brew for real; no extract at all, maybe even worry about optimal fermentation temperatures and ways to achieve them. I'm thinking of running two keezers; one with actual taps for dispensing beer, and the other for fermenting lagers and keeping the on-deck kegs cold. My depth of knowledge (or lack thereof) is such that I can't even imagine the need for dual temp control; I've never wanted to ferment over room temp. (Of course, BITD, my room temperature was on the mid-80s for 3 months out of the year, before I got domesticated...) That being said, I'm sure there is and nowadays, my goals might involve looking into it...

Mostly, though, I just want to have some cold homebrew on tap for house parties, get-togethers, or bike assembly.

 

[CaneDog]

All good stuff and a lot of fun.  I'll be looking forward to pics from that first pour of bicycle's bonnet ale!
 

 

[Bicycle808]

All good stuff and a lot of fun.  I'll be looking forward to pics from that first pour of bicycle's bonnet ale!
 

Ha ha ha, thanks, CD. I'll keep you posted. Gonna start with stouts and bitters/pale ales/hefeweizens and such. Easy shit, ease back into it. Hoping to be being by summer, maybe make some chile brews in fall?

Being realistic, that might be a bit too ambitious. But, it'll come

 

[Bicycle808]

Today's update:  I got 7 seeds that hooked (some had more'n hooked!) so i got them in solo cups with my fave seed starting mix, and i put the solos in a tray on top of that same heat tape, which is 85F on the surface of the tape itself.  I stuck my thermometer in one of the cups, to see what temp that puts the soil at....
I decided that, this year, i'm trying to waste less in general, so i just put one popped seed per cup.  It breaks my heart to try to pull them apart or snip some down when i have multiples in the same cup, so i'm tryna sidestep that mess this year.  I also have, in the past, destroyed many many seedlings by using bullshit seed starting mix, and choking out the seeds due to, i guess, just root issues.  I'm sure there are many other good options, but the Jiffy shit they sell at Home Depot is the only one that has consistently worked for me, so i got a bunch of that and i'm sticking with that for every plant this season.  
 
I guess i should also mention that, last year, i decided to skip that whole step with the tray with all the tiny little cups.  I went from coffee filters straight to solos, and from solos straight to the ground.  I figured this would save time, materials, stress on the seedlings, and stress on the grower.  The strategy worked well last time, so i'm planning to stick with it this time.
 
Another improvement i made this year is, I'm actually logging every step, pretty much, on this glog plus i am also writing the date i move the seeds into the solos on the solo so, when I start to stress about not seeing them pop up in a few days' time, I can remind myself it's only been a few days, lol.  Which, incidentally, I am a bit worried that i buried these seven seeds too deep today.  In the past, I had trouble with planting them too shallow and getting helmet-heads.  So, I tried to go deeper this time but i'm worried I overcompensated.  But, then again, I tend to worry too much, so who gives an F?
 
I think that, so far, the one thing I am doing right this year is managing my time better.  I'm a pretty busy guy; I work long hours and I got other shit on my plate (as i'm sure many growers do) and, these past two years, I had trouble balancing my grow and my other obligations.  This year, I'm as busy as ever but so far I'm laying out a timeline and more or less sticking to it.  Of course, it's still only January.... I got plenty of time to mess it all up, right?  But, as of right now, I;m pretty stoked on how gardening has helped inspire me to get me personal life a bit more organized, despite my hectic workin' life.
 
Enough of this self-congratulatory bullshit!  Here's the list of which seeds popped and hot put in some dirt today:
-2x 7Brainstrain Red 
-2x Bhut Assam Yella
-1x BBM
-1x 7Barrackpore Yella
-1x JPGS x Primo
 
Yeah, it's all stupid hot shit right now, but the milder shit will get started later on.
 
As always, thanks for reading!
-rob

 

[Bicycle808]

In solos today:
-3x Naglah brown
-4x Primo Yella
-2x Shabu Shabu
-1x Bhut Assam Yella (3 total)
-3x Yella NagaBrains
-3x 7Barrackpore Red
-4x 7Barrackpore Yellow (5 total--that's 100% germination in 8days!)
-4x 7Douglah
-2x JPGS
 
Today's my birthday.  Took off of work to relax a bit, catch up on laundry, and take care of some seeds.  Thank goodness I did; 26 more seeds hit the dirt in cups today.  Last year, I wasn't very vigilant with my seeds, and when they sprout too much in the baggie, they are doomed to a leggy lifestyle for months to come.  So, seeing all these new hooks (and a few with shockingly engorged taproots), I put some dancehall on to clear my head, and got to work.  Once the dust had settled, I'd blown through 48minutes of the Street Sweeper Riddim, and found 4 chile seeds on the floor by where i'm working!  (I'm not too concerned; they were bone dry so they weren't anything I am starting now.  If I weren't soon to be entirely overrun by seedlings, i'd be curious to germinate them to see what they are.  But no way do I have room for that nonsense....)
 
I'm definitely feeling like the heat tape has helped me out.  I usually have a lot of luck starting seeds (germination is, honestly, the only pepper-related activity I am any good at) but it's kinda amazing to be at 100% in 8 days with a Superhot variety, and at 80%(out of 5) with 2 other Supers....   On the other hand, there are some that are still sitting at 0%, so time shall tell....
 
But, at this rate, having started 5 seeds of varieties of which I am only planning to take 2 plants through the entire season, I think I am going to have to start finding folks to adopt some of these puppies.  I gave away a whole lot of seedlings last season right at planting time; I'll have to hope to do the same thing this year.
 
Enjoy some dancehall, y'all; thanks again for reading.

-rob
 
 

 

[CDNmatt]

Rob your glog never disappoints I tell ya sir...I normally leave this one for a few days cause I know it will give me at least 30mins of reading to catch up, which I highly enjoy.

 

[Bicycle808]

Rob your glog never disappoints I tell ya sir...I normally leave this one for a few days cause I know it will give me at least 30mins of reading to catch up, which I highly enjoy.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the feedback. I figure that, those of you who follow my malarky on here are my accountabili- buddies. I fear that, so long as y'all Leo taking, I'll keep posting. And posting on my GLOG keeps my grow moving on the right direction more than most other things, right now.

U truly, from the heart, thank you cdnmatt and everyone else, for following. (Soon, these things will be truly sprouting with cotyledons and then at least I'll have cool pics to keep it interesting.)