Blorvak 2015! - First Harvest!

blorvak · Feb 3, 2015

Alright! 10 days since the seeds hit the peat, and we're at 58% germination.

Roots are starting to poke out of the jiffy pellets everywhere! I'm having to pot up much faster than I thought I was going to. Looks like I'm gonna have more Solo cups than I wanted this year. Ah well!

Getting better about removing the outer netting of the peat without tearing roots out. It's dicey. Very fragile. But I'll need tough plants in my garden, so they better get used to it!

Some more hookage and greenery:

Plastic hood is now permanently off. Decided to pot a few more up today, and tent the late bloomers with some plastic wrap to keep them moister:

The Aji Amarillo already has some true leaves!

Brazilian Starfish, with a respectable showing thus far:

Pequin, taking less time to germinate this year than last. It was my latest start last year:

And that's where we're at:

Oh, and my brother developed a taste for Guindilla peppers when he was in Spain, and couldn't find the seeds anywhere. Lucky me, I find a farm in Oregon that specializes in Spanish heirloom seeds! That means I gotta order them, right?

And I can't just order one seed. So I got some Mallorcian peppers as well.

Hope I have room for my second wave!

blorvak · Feb 8, 2015

Two weeks in!

Germination numbers are disappointing. Looks like 65% is the best I'm going to get in my current set up. Haven't checked, but it I'm pretty sure I was in the same ballpark last year. It'll have to do.

3 peat pots are still sadly bare: Bradley's Bahamian, Round C. Praetermissum, and a White Bullet Hab. :violin:

Additionally, one Yellow Rocoto sent up a sad, albino sprout. An emergency round 1a of seeds planted as backup.

On to the good news! I got my shipment of 4" square pots!

Ordered the holder to go with them. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit in a 1020 tray. But you can cram them in without the holder.

With pots in hand, everyone gets new shoes!

Here's the current leader of the pack. Queen Laurie, 14 days from hitting the peat, already with a few pairs of true leaves:

Brazilian Starfish has a bit of a pale thing going on. Had this last year with some Baccatums, so I'm not too concerned. Curious if they like to have more nitrogen than your typical pepper.

And now for the lil' guys. My sole Yellow Rocoto. My germ rate was 3 out of 6, and one didn't make it. The other was culled.

One of my Aji Amarillos, this one defeating a helmet head like it was no big thang.

And a group pic. My little hydro guy isn't dead yet, but is growing awfully slow. Suppose I should google the internets and see what's up!

That's the highs and lows for this week! Happy growing y'all!

cone9 · Feb 8, 2015

Coming along nicely. Queen Laurie is my tallest plant as well. Sisters growing up in different families two thirds of a continent apart.

Funny thing, it was so slow to germinate last year I didn't think I was going to have any plants. I was so relieved when it finally showed up.

organic pepper · Feb 8, 2015

Awesome pal! Coming along nicely.

PaulG · Feb 9, 2015

Looking like great progress there, John! The grow shelf continues to perform well!

I find some of my young starts get a yellow leaf or two, sort of like they catch a cold.
They usually seem to snap out of it.

When I see that on a couple of plants, I start watering with 1/3 cup cal-mag/half-strength-fish-fert
combo to each beverage container. Usually around the emergence of the 3rd set of true leaves.
Seems to help a lot, and all the plants really start to take off. I'm about a month in since sprouting,
and I water with this combo every time now, I'll be going into 2 liter pots this week, and then my
fertilizing routine will change a little.

Roguejim · Feb 9, 2015

Nice work! Do you like the new pots better than the Solo cups? Why? I've been thinking of switching, too.

blorvak · Feb 11, 2015

cone9 said:
Coming along nicely. Queen Laurie is my tallest plant as well. Sisters growing up in different families two thirds of a continent apart.

Funny thing, it was so slow to germinate last year I didn't think I was going to have any plants. I was so relieved when it finally showed up.

The Queen Laurie is quite a fast grower! The biggest already is branching at the first nodes, and has roots coming out of the bottom of the solo cup. Hopefully, it won't get too rootbound before I can plant out. Or maybe it'll end up in a bigger pot. Just crazy for less than 3 weeks from the seed hitting the soil!

organic pepper said:
Awesome pal! Coming along nicely.

Thanks!

PaulG said:
Looking like great progress there, John! The grow shelf continues to perform well!

I find some of my young starts get a yellow leaf or two, sort of like they catch a cold.
They usually seem to snap out of it.

When I see that on a couple of plants, I start watering with 1/3 cup cal-mag/half-strength-fish-fert
combo to each beverage container. Usually around the emergence of the 3rd set of true leaves.
Seems to help a lot, and all the plants really start to take off. I'm about a month in since sprouting,
and I water with this combo every time now, I'll be going into 2 liter pots this week, and then my
fertilizing routine will change a little.

Thanks for the tip, Paul! I'll have to recheck yer blog to see if you're growing in a fert-free medium. I potted up using Miracle Grow Moisture Control potting soil which has fertilizer in it, so I'm hesitant to add more. But cal mag couldn't hurt, and fish juice is really mild. I might try it next watering.

Roguejim said:
Nice work! Do you like the new pots better than the Solo cups? Why? I've been thinking of switching, too.

So far, the square shape of the new pots make for easier shuffling around, and hold a bit more soil than the solo cups. What I'm trying to avoid is moving large amounts of solo cups around when I'm doing things like hardening off. Did that last year, and it sucked. The square pots fit in holder for moving en masse. We shall see if it works out!

Doing my daily checkup and I've got some late bloomers!

Very excited to see the Round C. Praetermissum making an appearance 18 days after planting. My only true wild this year, and I only had 4 seeds to plant! Wish me luck!

Overall germ rate bumped up to 75%. Not so bad!

Added a tiny fan to blow the little guys around a bit. Didn't get around to that last year, so I'm curious if it will have an effect.

PaulG · Feb 12, 2015

Awright, John, patience is a virtue! Your germ rate is very respectable.

I'm with you for the square pots. Easier to handle, and the beverage cups
tend to tip over very easily. I lost a couple of plants in the beginning to that
sort of mishap, then made a carrier by cutting holes in the top of a flat box.
Made life much easier when they are in cups!

P.S. Forgot to mention above that I have had a small amount of success
with spraying the seedlings with Cal-Mag foliar when the leaves yellow.
Sometimes dramatic results, other times not so much.

blorvak · Feb 16, 2015

PaulG said:
Awright, John, patience is a virtue! Your germ rate is very respectable.

I'm with you for the square pots. Easier to handle, and the beverage cups
tend to tip over very easily. I lost a couple of plants in the beginning to that
sort of mishap, then made a carrier by cutting holes in the top of a flat box.
Made life much easier when they are in cups!

P.S. Forgot to mention above that I have had a small amount of success
with spraying the seedlings with Cal-Mag foliar when the leaves yellow.
Sometimes dramatic results, other times not so much.

Thanks Paul! I'm going to try some Cal Mag this week!

So, we're at the three week point. Time for an update!

On the whole, the year is starting out pretty well. Although I did kill a White Bullet Hab seedling by not watering it in time :tear:

The fan dries out the area much quicker. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I revisited last years glog to compare a plant. A pequin:

Happy with this! Last year I started with a soil-less medium and struggled to fertilize the plants. This year, the humble Miracle Gro potting soil is working much better. Can't argue with success!

Here's a group shot. As you can see, we've got early growers, and late bloomers:

The Queen Laurie is still in the lead. Worried that she's going to peak too soon. Some of my biggest starts last season went on to perform poorly. May need to try a bigger pot before plant out:

Here's a Yellow Fatalii. Slow and steady

MOA Scotch Bonnet. Really hoping I can get some bonnets this year. Last year, I got 0:

Separated everyone by tall vs. small. For lighting purposes:

That's it for this week! We're having great, record breaking weather (sorry Boston!). Planted some peas and spinach out in the garden today. Hopefully, the weather holds.

PaulG · Feb 16, 2015

Things are progressing nicely, John!

blorvak · Feb 24, 2015

PaulG said:
Things are progressing nicely, John!

Thanks! Although, I must say that seeing the greenhouse in your Glog has me thinking that I might need one. Mine are going slow and steady. Hopefully they'll win a race or two!

Speaking of which, it's been another week, and the playing field has divided into two teams. Team Big:

And Team Small:

The Chinense predominantly make up Team Small. Next year, I'll start the Baccatums with the Annums. Case in point -- the first graduates to the upstairs window, the Queen Laurie and Brigit Locoto:

Hoping that the cooler upstairs windowsill will slow their roll a bit, so to speak. Plant out is still far off.

Looks like the yellow is mostly gone for most of the starts. Have a few portraits. Here's a Yellow Fatalii:

The big Pequin:

And the Round C. Praetermissum:

All in all, things are progressing less stress-fully this year (knock on wood). Really liking my grow chamber. Still need to polish it up a bit, but I think the increased heat retention is obviously making the peppers happy.

Thinking about planting round 2, Annum-geddon at the beginning of March. Is that too early? Will I run out of room? Only one way to find out!

Plantguy76 · Feb 24, 2015

Bolrvak I like your golg's skimed over last year and decided to check out this years
Nice list,setup and plants.
I like your raised beds outside hope you have an wonderful grow this season.
Those spanish varieties your brother likes are interesting .

PaulG · Feb 24, 2015

Your grow chamber is money, John! The plants
look really happy in there.

You can start your annuums in March. I used to seed over
Spring Break before I had the greenhouse, now I start mid February.

Let's hope that June lives up to it's potential this season. The last two
have seen the plants stall out in the crappy June weather after planting
out in a beautiful May.

Good luck, with your annuums!

Spicegeist · Feb 24, 2015

blorvak said:
And the Round C. Praetermissum:

Looking good!

blorvak · Feb 28, 2015

Plantguy76 said:
Bolrvak I like your golg's skimed over last year and decided to check out this years
Nice list,setup and plants.
I like your raised beds outside hope you have an wonderful grow this season.
Those spanish varieties your brother likes are interesting .

Thanks for dropping by, and for the well wishes! I'm curious about these Spanish heirlooms as well. Will report back if/when I get some pods!

PaulG said:
Your grow chamber is money, John! The plants
look really happy in there.

You can start your annuums in March. I used to seed over
Spring Break before I had the greenhouse, now I start mid February.

Let's hope that June lives up to it's potential this season. The last two
have seen the plants stall out in the crappy June weather after planting
out in a beautiful May.

Good luck, with your annuums!

I always need luck! And yes, I'd trade some of this nice, mild winter for good June weather. If only it worked that way...

Had some time today, so it's might as well start Round 2!

A more patriotic round, to be sure!

My wife saved the container for some scones she bought, and it is just the right size for 25 peat pots. With a lid, and everything!

The Amish Bush pepper has the tiniest seeds I've seen for a pepper. About the size of a pinhead.

Spicegeist said:
Looking good!

Thanks! Really curious how the Praetermissum turns out. It's my first attempt at growing a wild.

Roguejim · Mar 1, 2015

blorvak said:
Thanks! Although, I must say that seeing the greenhouse in your Glog has me thinking that I might need one. Mine are going slow and steady. Hopefully they'll win a race or two!

Speaking of which, it's been another week, and the playing field has divided into two teams. Team Big:

And Team Small:

The Chinense predominantly make up Team Small. Next year, I'll start the Baccatums with the Annums. Case in point -- the first graduates to the upstairs window, the Queen Laurie and Brigit Locoto:

Hoping that the cooler upstairs windowsill will slow their roll a bit, so to speak. Plant out is still far off.

Looks like the yellow is mostly gone for most of the starts. Have a few portraits. Here's a Yellow Fatalii:

The big Pequin:

And the Round C. Praetermissum:

All in all, things are progressing less stress-fully this year (knock on wood). Really liking my grow chamber. Still need to polish it up a bit, but I think the increased heat retention is obviously making the peppers happy.

Thinking about planting round 2, Annum-geddon at the beginning of March. Is that too early? Will I run out of room? Only one way to find out!

Very nice! I'm betting you have some root bound plants in those red Solo cups.

PaulG · Mar 2, 2015

Awright, John! round Two in the dirt!

Good luck going forward, buddy!

blorvak · Mar 6, 2015

Roguejim said:
Very nice! I'm betting you have some root bound plants in those red Solo cups.

I'm a bit worried about that! I held off on my plant date this year, and they grew much faster than expected. It didn't prove to be the worst problem last year, but I did have a few plants that never did recover after hitting the raised bed.

PaulG said:
Awright, John! round Two in the dirt!

Good luck going forward, buddy!

Thanks! Planting more rounds is addictive! But I totally know when to stop! I keep telling myself that

So, I typed up this big update yesterday, hit the 'Backspace' key at the wrong time at the very end, and it vanished into the ether of the deepest innerwebs. Guess I'll have to do it right this time!

I've got my first hooks on my annuums! The winner of the 4 day sprint are both varieties of the jalapenos, and a Tekne Dolmasi! Today, I got even more: Aleppo, Bell of Lebanon, Goat's Weed, Purple Cayenne, Guindilla, and Ros de Mallorca. Poppin'!

Time for a bit of photo blogging!

The Better Bhut is the biggest Chinense so far. Looking good! Can't wait to try a pod!

And now my tiniest first round plant, and my only Frutescens, Bradley's Bahamian. The first seeds did not sprout after two weeks, so I added 4 more to round two. It took 16 days for them to sprout, and they're lagging way behind. At least, there are some true leaves:

My other Bhut, the Guwahati Bhut is almost as big as the Better one. My first year growing bhuts, and having got my seeds from Spicegeist, I know they'll be top notch:

I failed at Scotch Bonnets last year. This year I've got MOAs going, and they're looking good at this stage:

And my sole surviving Yellow Rocoto is looking much healthier than last year's specimens. I got a decent harvest, and am hoping this one grows big and OW worthy:

And here's the expanding upstairs staging area, with a 22 of The Abyss for scale:

We've had the warmest winter on record in Portland... weather folks are even predicting that it might make it into the 70's this weekend. Sending positive vibes out to all of you under snow... which seems like pretty much everywhere else!

I've got spinach, peas, onions, and carrots seeded outside. Perhaps optimistic, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

PaulG · Mar 6, 2015

Hey, John, your plants are looking good. I wonder why your
little Bradley's Bahamian is so slow? And you have seeds
in the ground! We are having an amazing spell of weather
for sure; hope it stays that way and we don't pay for it later.

Good luck going forward, buddy!

blorvak · Mar 16, 2015

Looks like I'm overdue for an update!

So, we've had one of the warmest winters on record in the PNW, and all of my starts are growing at least twice as fast as they did last year. My entire first round has graduated to the kitchen window:

Next year I need to start my first round even later. If I can last that long!

Here's a few solo shots: Round C. Praetermissum

The Queen Lauries are getting too tall. First plan is potting up. If that doesn't work, topping:

Better Bhut!:

And here's the very vine-y Brazilian Starfish. I hear this isn't unusual for their growth habit, so I'm interest to see how it does in the soil:

And I potted up all of round two this weekend. Lost track of the germination rates, but it was much better than the first round. I'd guess in the 75-80% range. I've already started to thin them out, so I don't think I'll have an exact % this year :shh:

:

And that's where we are in ides of March! I am sooo far behind in my glog reading. I'm getting on that right now!

Hope everyone is out of the snow!