Burnin Bob's Ghetto Garden 2014

2014 marks Burnin Bob's first year starting the World Famous Ghetto Garden from seed.  Every year prior I've bought seedlings at my local nurseries.  However, last year I got burned (no pun intended) by one place that sold me what were supposed to be Trinidad Scorpion Peppers but turned out to be some barely hot long pepper. So this year I got seeds from various sellers from ebay and am hoping to have a good season.  The seeds I got this year are:
 
Carolina Reaper
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion
Cumari
Odham Indian
Thai Sun
Tepin
Bird's Eye
 
There are also some other random vegetables my girlfriend started such as cucumbers, zucchini, coneflower, milkweed, tomato, tomatillo, bell pepper, and jalepeno.  You know, normal stuff! 
 
Got a late start, as I was on vacation the first week of April and didn't want to start anything until I got back. But hoping I didn't start too late. 
 
Hope you enjoy, I'm looking forward to a great season!
 
Decided to do the humidity domes with the heating pad for germination.  Used Black Gold Seedling Mix.

 
Once geminated, plants went into the grow tent under the Sunleaves Pioneer VII high output T5

 

 

 

 

 
After a week, it was time to whip together a bigger table

 

 

 
A little bit of concern with purpling of the cotyledons, but after asking about it here on THP, I was reassured this is ok 

 
Another week and its time to transfer into 16oz Solo Cups.  Kicking it up a notch to the FoxFarm Happy Frog Potting Soil

 
Definitely takes up more space now!  Had to get creative to find stuff around the house to place plants on.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Decided to make the table surface larger to accommodate everything

 

 

 

 

[Devv]

Good luck this season!

 

[Phil]

fantabulous set up! Did you say ebay? Good luck!

 

[BurninBob]

fantabulous set up! Did you say ebay? Good luck!


Thanks! Yes I did get the seeds from a handful of different growers on ebay. Hoping they are all legit......

BB

 

[Roguejim]

Hey, BurninBob, stop buying from eBay.  Good people from this forum offer good seed FREE to other members.  All you have to do is supply a self addressed stamped envelope, and the seeds will be delivered.  Keep an eye on the Forum Ads at the end of harvest.

 

[Rymerpt]

Love your set up. Good luck with your grow.

 

[BurninBob]

Hey, BurninBob, stop buying from eBay. Good people from this forum offer good seed FREE to other members. All you have to do is supply a self addressed stamped envelope, and the seeds will be delivered. Keep an eye on the Forum Ads at the end of harvest.


Will do Roguejim! i bought the seeds before i became a member at THP. Definitely would rather buy/trade with other members here!

 

[BurninBob]

Ok, I've fallen behind on the Glog, want to get caught up so here we go:
 
Here's a couple pics from May 5.  I was surprised to see some algae growth (see second pic) as I had only used half strength Big Bloom (i.e., 3 tsp/gallon) up to this point.
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Here are some pics from May 9-11.
The only two nursery-purchased hot peppers this year: One Poblano and one Thai Dragon. 
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Starting to see some good growth, using full strength Big Bloom (6 tsp/gallon) at this point.
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At this point, I admittedly got a little cavalier with the hardening off.  I figured I have more than I will end up potting up, so I just grabbed on of each variety and brought them outside to the Ghetto Garden.  I also topped the Thai Dragon and Poblano.
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2350]
 
Seemed like such a shame to waste the tops, so I applied some Rootech cloning gel and planted them.  We'll see how it goes....
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2351]
 

Here are some pics from May 18.  Growth continues to accelerate, but seeing some yellow in the leaves.  Decided the time was right to start adding Grow Big fertilizer to the mix.  Started off with 2 tsp/gallon along with the 6 tsp/gallon of Big Bloom.
 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2352]
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May 20, starting to green up and continued good growth.  Also have my girlfriend's tomatillos and some other veggies in there.  Oh and a succulent too,
 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2355]
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Definitely seeing the response from the fertilizer now.  Using 6 tsp/gallon of Big Bloom and 3 tsp/gallon of Grow Big.
 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2357]
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Experimenting with some pruning
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2359]
 
And some topping
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And some more pruning, what the heck I have more than I'll end up potting up.
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Cumari peppers are a little slow to take and still king of yellow
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[ArkansasJack]

Looking good so far a lot of times it's trial and error..

 

[BurninBob]

May 25 - Memorial Day Weekend.  Weather is finally starting to turn nice here in Massachusetts so its time to start potting up.  Everything is being potted with Foxfarm Ocean Harvest right out of the bag.  I was going to cut it 5:1 with some perlite, but after opening it up I saw that there was a good amount of perlite already in it so I used it full strength. 
 
First floor porch has Tepin, Odham Indian, Thai Sun, Birds Eye, Cumari in 3 gallon Smart Pots and one Odham Indian in a 5 gallon Sunleaves Grow Bag (First Row); Carolina Reapers and Moruga Scorpions in 5 gallon Smart Pots (Second Row); the topped Thai Dragon in a 5 gallon Sunleaves Grow Bag, a couple tomatoes in a 5 gallon Smart Pot, Rosemary, Dill, Flat Parsley, Curly Parsley, Cilantro in various plastic containers.  Some random seedlings in the 16oz Solo Cups along with the topped Poblano.  Topping the Poblano really seemed to send it into shock and stunt its growth so decided to leave it be for the time being. (Third Row).  Forgive the clutter, but remember, this is the Ghetto Garden!
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2366]
 
Decided to bust out the Topsey Turvey this year, didn't use it last year but had used it the two previous years.  Don't laugh, I've had good success with this thing, it really does work!  The seedling took a little beating as they were planted in it.  Trying to get them in the openings when they were coming from the 16oz Solo Cups was a little rough.  But they will bounce back.  Planted the more bushy varieties in the Topsey Turvey: Odham Indian, Thai Sun, Birds Eye, Tepin, and Cumari. 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2367]
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Third floor porch has one of each of the following in 3 Gallon Smart Pots: Odham Indian, Thai Sun, Birds Eye, Tepin, and Cumari.  There is also a Bronze Fennel in a 5 gallon Smart Pot.  I plant the herbs because I like to cook with them and also because the varieties I have are supposed to attract beneficial insects.  Keep the Dill and Fennel separate to avoid cross-pollination. Oh yes, cant overlook the Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA, also known as my Session Beer.
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2370]
 

May 27 - Everything seems to be going great until I notice that I have a handful of seedlings, almost all of which are Carolina Reapers, that seem to have some sort of rotting of the stem
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After posting pictures here on the THP, I quickly learned that this is dampening off.  Despite having 2 fans going right at the level of the seedlings in the grow tent, the combination of high humidity and the large lower leaves is restricting air flow at the base of the stems.  The growth I was so excited about is now causing some major problems.........
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May 28 - After getting some great advice from others here at THP, it was time for evasive action.  Everyone was watered with a solution of 1/2 cup of H2O2 per gallon of water to help halt the Dampening Off fungus, and all seedlings are getting their lower leaves trimmed to improve airflow at the base of the stems.  Also opening up the sides of the grow tent to improve airflow and laying of the fertilizer for a bit. 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2376]
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May 31 - Woke up to find a huge mass of baby spiders in a web on the topped Poblano. Was pretty sure this is not a big deal, and actually probably pretty good since spiders are predators that will eat other insects.  But posted pics here on the THP just to be sure. Consensus was that they are Garden Orb Spiders and ok to be left alone so that is what I did. 
 
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[BurninBob]

Ok what a difference a couple weeks makes!  These pictures are from last Sunday June 15, which was a fabulous summer day here in Central MA!
 
First floor porch, peppers obscured a bit by my herbs: Cilantro, Curly Parsley, Flat Parsley, Rosemary, Dill
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Aerial View
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Stage Right - topped Thai Dragon is hiting its stride
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Stage Left
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Whoa, check out the Topsey Turvey!!  Its overcome the initial roughhousing from the planting and bounced back nicely!  Quite the difference when compared to the pic back in post #10.
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2385]
 

Two more Reapers and Moruga Scorpion in cheap nursery pots
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Street view

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Closeup of the Topsey Turvey from the street.  Cumari is still a little slow and getting out competed by the others, but I'm confident they will soon hit their stride.
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Street view of first floor porch
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The cloned top of the Thai Dragon is hanging in there, has its good days and bad days......As far as the cloned top of the Poblano, well, not so much.....

[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2391]
 
Third floor porch, has one additional Reaper, one additional Moruga Scorpion, the topped Poblano (which is also coming along nicely), and a Bronze Fennel (to attract beneficial insects).

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Stage Right
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2394]
 
Stage Left
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:2393]
 

 

[Runescape]

Plants are lookin neat... I suggest uploading your pics to imgur.com, and then posting them...

 

[magicpepper]

plants look good! i like the Topsy turvy idea. i have a couple with just one hole at the bottom for tomato plants, i might give it a try with a pepper plant lol

 

[BurninBob]

plants look good! i like the Topsy turvy idea. i have a couple with just one hole at the bottom for tomato plants, i might give it a try with a pepper plant lol


The one I have (with the additional holes on the sides) was a gift from my Old Man a few years bag. To be honest, I'm not sure they still make this one. They came out with a "Pepper" Topsey Turvey, but it is much shorter. I havent been able to find the same one as I already have.

BB
Plants are lookin neat... I suggest uploading your pics to imgur.com, and then posting them...


Yes, I too am disappointed that my pics show up as thumbnails. The first ones I posted showed up as images, and I think that I may have done those through imgur.com. But then I joined as an "Extreme" member so I have just been posting the pics from my gallery. Next update I will try imgur.com.

BB

 

[BurninBob]

This is a test to see if loading from imgur puts in a full image instead of a thumbnail
 

Success!

 

[Runescape]

This is a test to see if loading from imgur puts in a full image instead of a thumbnail...Success!

Awesome, im too lazy to go through and click them all lol...
 
 Topsey Turvey is badass, can't wait to see pods hangin from that thing lol...

 

[BurninBob]

Awesome, im too lazy to go through and click them all lol...
 
 Topsey Turvey is badass, can't wait to see pods hangin from that thing lol...

 
Ok, I've been remiss in keeping up with my Glog, gonna get caught up with it over the next few days.  For starters, I wanted to accommodate Runescape's request:
 

 

[BurninBob]

Ok trying to get caught up here, the above pics for the Topsey Turvey are from August 9.  Lets go back in time a bit, the pictures below are from June 28, 2014:
 
First Floor.  Thai Dragon (Sunleaves grow bag on far right of second row) was still on the first floor at this point as was my tomato (Far left second row).  The Thai sun would eventually make its way to the third floor and the tomato to my entry porch.
 

 
 
 
Topsey Turvey and three super hots on the entry porch (2 Carolina Reapers and 1 Moruga Scorpion).  The Moruga Scorpion would succumb to the high winds we had during a storm over July 4th....
 

 
 
 
Street view of the first floor
 

 
 
 
 
I had five seedlings left over after giving a bunch away at work so decided to throw them in some pots and put them against the house.  The two on the far right are the Carolina Reapers with dampening off issues in the earlier pictures.
 

 
Third floor.  I would eventually move the Thai Dragon from the first floor up here too.