Capsidadburn 2014

OCD Chilehead · Feb 25, 2014

Thanks for sharing. That was very cool of your coworker to hook you up with the fixture. It's a nice fixture and we will be on the look out for Livefortheheat. Plants look great.

Spicegeist · Feb 26, 2014

capsidadburn said:
Thanks Charles! I'm tired of holding the light! My daughter took the pic.

Ok, haha, just hold on a little longer...

meatfreak · Feb 26, 2014

That sounds like a good deal, Mike. Couple of plants for 2 of those light fixtures, score!

Devv · Feb 26, 2014

Plants look great Mike!

It's shame we had to bring them in, and it looks like another cold front next week. Hope that's end of this nonsense.

Great score on the lights too! It's really nice when the rewards come back around!

capsidadburn · Feb 28, 2014

OCD Chilehead said:
Thanks for sharing. That was very cool of your coworker to hook you up with the fixture. It's a nice fixture and we will be on the look out for Livefortheheat. Plants look great.

Yes thank you, it was very nice.

Spicegeist said:
Ok, haha, just hold on a little longer...

I have other things to do!

meatfreak said:
That sounds like a good deal, Mike. Couple of plants for 2 of those light fixtures, score!

Yes, I was quite pleased! Thanks Stefen. I gave a couple of your Jalapenos to another coworker and new member here.

Devv said:
Plants look great Mike!

It's shame we had to bring them in, and it looks like another cold front next week. Hope that's end of this nonsense.

Great score on the lights too! It's really nice when the rewards come back around!

Hopefully the end is near Scott! It was a nice thing after years of giving out!

Here is one last mention of the light darkened plants; This 7 pot Brown was positioned right under the middle CFL in the following pic. AJ, AlabamaJack used to call the the red spectrum bulb and they do put out a little heat. (42/ 150 watt) I have some distorted 3.5" squares as a result. I suspect I can move this plant and the new growth would stay green.

Got some red Creole onions and Garden Berry Litchi tomatos and my daughter is growing the Elephant dill.

My daughter took a few pics of my plants with her Iphone which I should think will be great. Will post them soon.

Sleepy cat in front of temp shelves

Have a great weekend!

Mike

Nulle · Mar 1, 2014

Great looking peppers and beautiful cat.

OCD Chilehead · Mar 1, 2014

Looking good thanks for the update. Have a good weekend as well. Looking at your cat makes me want to take a nap.

HillBilly Jeff · Mar 1, 2014

Nice looking grow...now if you can only teach the cat to kill aphids and such!!!

Red Creole Onions...got me intrigued.

Devv · Mar 1, 2014

Looking good Mike!

Cool how the plants react to the lights. They make it look like we're doing a much better job

Crappy weather coming again :tear:

Enjoy the weekend!

capsidadburn · Mar 16, 2014

Nulle said:
Great looking peppers and beautiful cat.

Thank you Nulle! I hope to have at least one cat pic in each update this season.

OCD Chilehead said:
Looking good thanks for the update. Have a good weekend as well. Looking at your cat makes me want to take a nap.

Thank you OCD! Cats can do that well!

HillBilly Jeff said:
Nice looking grow...now if you can only teach the cat to kill aphids and such!!!

Red Creole Onions...got me intrigued.

Jeff, Sorry this took so long but I got them from Baker Creek. They looked interesting to me too. I've been reading about some plants, (grasses) that can secret a toxin that aphids will run from. Does not seem to be something that is available though. I can see myself in a lab coat injecting all my plants with the substance! I've forgotten the name of the toxin.

Devv said:
Looking good Mike!

Cool how the plants react to the lights. They make it look like we're doing a much better job

Crappy weather coming again

Enjoy the weekend!

Very late quote response Scott, sorry! I feel certain that you have a big jump on the evil summer heat caused pause button for the chinense varieties! Kind of like a giant reohstat control reducing the output.
Keep the cold drinks close by!

It's long overdue for an update here! We have a new vehicle finally, Subaru Outback or "Bluebaru" as my son calls it. After my son's science olympiad next weekend I can turn my focus toward getting the kitchen remodel finished. All of this has slowed my gardening activities.

Last season I made a small experiemental raised bed. It is on top of a pallet and cinder blocks, chicken wire and hay lined, then filled with dirt. It did real well, but initiated a little late. Wanted to make two long ones this season. I count myself among the many who have drooled heavily over Penny's fine raised bed. Caving in to the demands of time I have to settle on function over asthetic. Also, just one bed that is still only half way fininshed at this point.
Here's a few pics.
Early layout. This $10.00 roll of plastic fence which is 40 inches tall by 25 feet long is the floor of the bed laid over recycled pallet boards used like bed slats.

A view underneath.

Current level of completion.

More to come.

Have a good weekend!
Mike

Devv · Mar 16, 2014

Looking good Mike!

And so do the plants!

I said it before, but I hope this is the last cold front/wind fest we have.

Me knowing nothing about raised beds other than they take a lot, really a lot of potting soil to fill. So why suspended?

capsidadburn · Mar 16, 2014

The back is the number one reason. When I had 200 #5 pots of plants I used to put them on "pallet islands"on cinder blocks. I got used to this comfort for installing drip irrigation, but also trimming plants, visual inspection for aphids, harvesting, and I believe you limit some of the insect activity.

I think there is an aeration quality of this similar to the function of a Smart pot. I'm not quite sure I would refer to them as smart beds though.

For the half finished bed I used, 50 recycled #5 pots of plant soil from last season, maybe a quarter yard of new "garden mix" soil, some homegrown compost, and some sphagnum peat moss. I do not have but maybe 10 more #5 pots for the other side, but I have 6ish 20 gal size. I intended for the soil level to be just above the split for the 2nd and 3rd board, but decided to back off for fear of being dirtless near finish. Hardwood mulch will go in soon leaving some vertical wall structure for adhereing the drip irrigation to, and also for shade structure or isolation device. I've grouped plants in the hopes of isolating sections to avoid the heat build up in a bag that usually results in bloom drop.

The plants are on 18 inch centers at the closest, which is a little crammed. I will get 32 plants in it which is why I wanted two. Choosing the limited priviledged plants is not that easy!

Thanks Scott!

Mike

Devv · Mar 16, 2014

Very interesting, thanks for the response!

You getting this crazy wind? I was out working in it and had to come in and get out of the noise.

capsidadburn · Mar 16, 2014

Devv said:
Very interesting, thanks for the response!

You getting this crazy wind? I was out working in it and had to come in and get out of the noise.

Yes it's very windy here too! I got my mulch on the newly bedded plants and procurred the remaining wood needed to finish the bed. Probably some slow progress on finishing the bed thru the week. Out of town next weekend. Drip irrigation will have to wait.

Devv · Mar 16, 2014

The drip can wait, not as important this early on. But will be!

I was lucky this week, the school district was closed for spring break, so I was able to pace myself, rather then play weekend warrior like most weekends.

Most of my plants are handling the wind OK, I do have a Yellow Fatalii that on it's side. We'll see with that one...

meatfreak · Mar 16, 2014

Wow, very nice raised bed, Mike! Just a note, aren't you afraid the hay will rot away the ground will fall out? I used anti-root fabric in similar situations. It's not to give you critic, just thinking out loud

capsidadburn · Mar 16, 2014

Yes there is no doubt the hay will eventually compost and begin to filter it's way throught the mesh. I will have to deal with that in a couple years or more. I will just place tarps under it as I dissasemble the bed. I built it with the plan of taking it with me when I leave this house someday soon I hope. Mostly deck screws holding it together. I had built the chicken wire and hay bed last year which is still going. When I found the 4' by 25' roll of plastic fence that will not rot in this decade I decided to build what you see now. There are 4 on the ground raised beds which I may or may not take with me.

No worries Stefan, Thanks!

Mike

maximumcapsicum · Mar 16, 2014

Wow mike it's been too long since I stopped in! Love the raised beds. That should keep roots well aerated and plants should stay super happy. How many inches of soil do you have in the beds? Also how did you select the limited access plants?

capsidadburn · Mar 16, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
Wow mike it's been too long since I stopped in! Love the raised beds. That should keep roots well aerated and plants should stay super happy. How many inches of soil do you have in the beds? Also how did you select the limited access plants?

Actually I haven't posted much lately Adam! There are 9 to 10 inches of soil on top of the compressed hay lining. I know that it is light in terms of what is needed but it's where I had to be.

My choices for the remaining 16 spots of the bed went to my EOB 4 each, 3 each MOA, 3 each BOC, 2 Tobago Yellow Scotch Bonnet, 2 Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion, 2 Jay's Red Ghost Scorpion. It was painful and may even change my mind. I have several others that are really beautiful but mostly looking for some nice flavor or ones that I'm hoping to isolate more of.

Thanks!

HillBilly Jeff · Mar 16, 2014

Bed is looking nice. Not doing the creole, but I do have two different kinds of red bunching onion seeds coming my way.