DesertChris' High Desert Extreme Gardening Glog

Gotrox · Apr 26, 2013

"Oh man, right on the coast, it never gets too warm, or too cold....I loved the rain, and all the green plants and trees EVERYWHERE!"

But I like to see the sun more than twice a year.

Going up in July to catch some radioactive salmon, right on the cal/or border.
I gain an extra 20 lbs just from my skin sucking up the water.

As for protected trees---ya, here also, within sight of any road, but there is a harvest area, and construction sites have to remove them alive and "give them a good home".

Not worth the effort growing them from seed. unless you are very, very young.

gnslngr · Apr 26, 2013

for that JD infection........and not without a little relevance.....
Question the weather and run through the jungle till you find a long cool woman inna black dress.....works everytime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYJVqpSddMM

If want another distracting sensation, slide stomp one those horn worms in bare feet on a hot patio! :onfire:

Have a good one-
DJ

DesertChris · Apr 26, 2013

Ummmm....yuck!!!

Even my chickens won't eat the creepy things!!

Sawyer · Apr 26, 2013

Ok, this seems like a good place for my horn worm story. I don't remember how old I was, no more than 10 or 12, I think. I worked a few summers for a half day every day with my mom harvesting tomatoes with a neighbor lady who raised about an acre (4,000 plants). It was a family affair, with the neighbor's daughter working, too, which in hind sight is probably why I didn't mind the work (besides the money I got paid). We'd start picking early and usually get about a pick-up bed half full or more by late morning. Then we'd move to the shade and every tomato would be hand-wiped with a clean rag and graded #1, #2, #3, or unclassified. The perfect #1 weighed a half pound, was nice and round with no zippers or cracks around the stem scar. They would be individually wrapped in tissue and packed 4x5 per layer, two layers per box, for a net weight of 20 pounds. A box of #1s would often bring $10 at the daily auction. Remember, this was more than 40 years ago. The owner of the field would often clear $4000/acre in a season, not a bad supplement to a rural home economy.

Anyway, while picking, we would all keep an eye out for evidence of horn worms. Sometimes this would be in the form of visible damage to the plant or fruit, but usually it would be the droppings that were first noticed. We'd be picking two rows at a time, one person on each side of a row. When someone found a plant with a worm, they'd cry out "horn worm!" and we'd all gather around that plant to look for it. When found, the evil one would be plucked off, thrown to the ground and stomped. One time this happened and someone on the other side of the row found the worm. As kids are often wont to do, I was standing there with mouth agape watching the proceedings. You know how those worms pop when stomped, right? Yeah, this one popped and its juice squirted directly into my open mouth. I thought I was going to die! I spent the next five minutes spitting and gagging and coughing and sputtering. Soon enough I realized I would be okay, but I don't think I swallowed anything the rest of the morning until lunch.

Sorry for the non-pepper thread jack, but I thought you all might get a kick out of that.

Devv · Apr 26, 2013

All's I can say is yuck!

I killed one yesterday, and they sure do squirt. Taking notes here....keep my mouth shut...but I've been struggling with that all my life...

DocNrock · Apr 27, 2013

I remember squashing them as a kid. Sawyer, that is an awesome story! Recently I've killed about four sphinx moths, but knock-on-wood haven't found any hornworms...yet.

Pulpiteer · Apr 27, 2013

That was an awesome story. :rofl:

DesertChris · Apr 27, 2013

Oh my.....Sawyer....that is just awful!!

Man what a busy weekend, no time to catch up on everyone's glogs yet, but soon.

Shane, this pic is for you...lol...nothing special, but I used your favorite item for scale...hahahhaha

stc3248 · Apr 27, 2013

That beverage looks familiar! Haha...on the subject of Hornworms.

This is one of many I found last year. For everyone's info, they LOVE the Manzano plants. Almost exclusively went for them...even above the tomatoes. I bet if this one would have been the subject of your story Sawyer you'd have at least gotten a nice burn along with the juicy goodness!

I feel ya on the way behind checking glogs...I have been busy uprooting trees and cleaning the yard up today...and I don't have 1200 plants to take care of!

Sawyer · Apr 28, 2013

stc3248 said:
This is one of many I found last year. For everyone's info, they LOVE the Manzano plants. Almost exclusively went for them...even above the tomatoes. I bet if this one would have been the subject of your story Sawyer you'd have at least gotten a nice burn along with the juicy goodness!

That's good to know; I just received some new manzano seeds today. Yeah, if that had been the one, I really would have freaked out. I had no taste at all for spicy at that age.

DesertChris · Apr 28, 2013

stc3248 said:
That beverage looks familiar! Haha...on the subject of Hornworms.

This is one of many I found last year. For everyone's info, they LOVE the Manzano plants. Almost exclusively went for them...even above the tomatoes. I bet if this one would have been the subject of your story Sawyer you'd have at least gotten a nice burn along with the juicy goodness!

I feel ya on the way behind checking glogs...I have been busy uprooting trees and cleaning the yard up today...and I don't have 1200 plants to take care of!

Wow, out of the 2000 or so hornworms I eliminated last year, only around 2 were on pepper plants.....
they really like tomatoes better, but then again, I didn't have manzano peppers.

Sawyer said:
That's good to know; I just received some new manzano seeds today. Yeah, if that had been the one, I really would have freaked out. I had no taste at all for spicy at that age.

Man I hope your new manzano seeds sprout nicely for you....those have been hard as heck for me...got around 10 to germ, and none made it

DesertChris · Apr 28, 2013

A side note....since my gal is a realtor, sometimes I help by driving her around to show houses etc....

Today she showed a house that was insanely awesome!
5,000 sq feet of extremely custom built home to the highest possible degree of quality.
The woodwork was insane!
The 2.5 acres of landscaping was insane!
The 5' deep Koi pond with waterfall housing over 100 koi was insane!
Everything about that house was insane!
The master bedroom was so cool, you might never want to leave!
And it was a mere $795,000....lol (By the way, that is way at the upper end of prices around here}

Gotrox said:
They look like bad grass for 3 years, then only grow an inch or so a year in ideal conditions.

Better to drive to a harvest area, buy a permit for a couple bucks, and rototill one out and bring it home.

Important hint:
Bring a compass and mark north on the trunk.

They have to be replanted in the same orientation.

I know, off topic a bit, but it may save someone years of frustration watching a little grassy thing do nothing, or harvesting one and planting any which way, only to have it twist and fall over.

Another side note....Joshua Trees...driving around showing houses today, we passed by some homes that had 30+ foot tall ones.
Makes you wonder how old those are! Man they were really big Joshua trees!

Devv · Apr 28, 2013

I'm seeing the hornworms on the potatoes, and early this year. Usually I see them on tomatoes I set out in July.

stc3248 · Apr 28, 2013

Hey...Walter Anderson's Nursery here in Poway usually carries Manzanos if you're in need of MORE plants...Let me know and I can go check. They also had fatalii and bhut, and last year I even picked up a Barrackpore...I really think you need more plants!

Devv · Apr 28, 2013

stc3248 said:
I really think you need more plants!

I agree!

StupidJerk · Apr 28, 2013

Green Thumb had a few different pubes last time I went as well. Red Rocoto, Yellow Manzano, and another I can't remember.

It's going to be a while before I can get that powder to you. I went to Vallarta this week and the manzanos were almost all bad(soft spots, ugly in general) and $4.99 a lb. I'll hit it when they go on sale for $1.99 or $2.99 and do a massive amount.

DesertChris · Apr 28, 2013

StupidJerk said:
Green Thumb had a few different pubes last time I went as well. Red Rocoto, Yellow Manzano, and another I can't remember.

It's going to be a while before I can get that powder to you. I went to Vallarta this week and the manzanos were almost all bad(soft spots, ugly in general) and $4.99 a lb. I'll hit it when they go on sale for $1.99 or $2.99 and do a massive amount.

I wish we had a good nursery here, but the only real nursery I know of has a tiny selection of peppers....

No problem on the powder, let me know when you buy them though, and i'll send $$ your way

We have 3 Vallartas here, and not one Manzano in any of them.....What the heck?????

stc3248 said:
Hey...Walter Anderson's Nursery here in Poway usually carries Manzanos if you're in need of MORE plants...Let me know and I can go check. They also had fatalii and bhut, and last year I even picked up a Barrackpore...I really think you need more plants!

Devv said:
I agree!

Ummmm.....you guys are funny....i'm pretty sure I have way too many plants....lol
I was hoping to grow manzanos, but I can live without them

Oh....yeah..... apparently it is 100° today.....gee wiz....this up and down weather is not helpful at all!!

Devv · Apr 29, 2013

Prepping the dirt yet? It would be especially fun in the 100 temps!

WalkGood · Apr 29, 2013

Great story Sawyer, lols ... You too Chris some nice stories, so when you moving to that killer spread with koi, dems some expensive diggs :o

All outta "likes' guess I'll have to come back and finish dibbing dem out, hehe. And I hear you guys on falling behind, I feel the same way every time I check, too many glogs and not enough time :/

koskorgul · May 3, 2013

Got some catching up to do on your glog. Been MIA the past few days with a chest/sinus infection.