Devv's 2014- Stick a fork in me, I'm done....

Time for the 2014 start...
 
Many of these plants were made possible by the generous people of the THP sending me seeds and pods Thanks!
 
I'm looking forward to warmer weather and dirt day!
 
I have a bunch of seeds started, and plants at all the stages.
 
Here's the grow bench, a T8 x4 on top and T5 x4 on the bottom, as you can see it's loaded.
 

 
Top rack:

 
Bottom rack:

 
I like starting the seeds in Jiffy Pellets, as soon as they stand up I trim the mesh off and plant them 1/2" proud in a pot, or in this case a cup.
 
Red Rocotto the lonely Pube..

 
A few plants living under the T5, I'm super impressed with this light!
 
Choc Hab
 

 
Bhut x Y7 x Choc Bhut Douglah-Spicegeist
 

 
 
Bhut x Y7 F2-Spicegeist

 
 
Yellow Cardi- Jamie

 
 
Choc Scorp-Ramon

 
Peach Bhut- Annie

 
 
 
Going to do some tilling will post more later

 

[Jeff H]

Everything is looking real nice down there in Texas. I think it is time I moved. We have another storm coming Sunday night. As much as a foot of new snow.

 

[HillBilly Jeff]

You are really making some progress on your plants.  Everything is looking great.

 

[stickman]

Alright Scott! If you're getting new growth on your OW plants, it looks like it's just about time to be thinking about getting them in the ground... good on ya! We're still 6-8 weeks away from where you are, but we'll eventually catch up... I hope...

 

[Devv]

Everything is looking real nice down there in Texas. I think it is time I moved. We have another storm coming Sunday night. As much as a foot of new snow.

Thanks Jeff!
 
I left the frozen North in 1978, don't regret it one bit. The heat can be tough, but it's a 3 month deal. The cold winters can be 5-6 months. It's a trade off. Actually we moved here because the cost of living was so cheap.
 

You are really making some progress on your plants.  Everything is looking great.

Thanks Jeff!
 
Dirt day is just around the corner! Can't wait!
 

Alright Scott! If you're getting new growth on your OW plants, it looks like it's just about time to be thinking about getting them in the ground... good on ya! We're still 6-8 weeks away from where you are, but we'll eventually catch up... I hope...

Thanks Rick!
 
I wanted to hit them with some ferts this weekend, but they were out in the rain the other day and need to dry out some. Tomorrow afternoon the covers go back on the hoops. 32° forecast for Monday morning! They hit dirt as soon as the 10 day forecast is favorable.
 
Was a busy boy today!
 
The Potatoes are coming up, we keep covering them with dirt until they reach the height of the soil.
 
Corn, Green Beans, Zuchini, and Cukes planted, but not watered, not until the freeze passes Monday. LB weeded the Garlic and Onions. And half the 180' run of 1 1/4" pipe to feed the garden is dug and buried. Right now working on a few cold Shiners
 
Finally got something going on with the growdown seeds!

 

 
Spank me for double posting!

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Scott,
 
It is amazing you already have pods on the Sweet Hungarian Paprkika, I am really glad to see Rick is spreadin the pepper love among the THP members. 
The OWs re also looking fantastic, keep up the good work!
 
Balázs

 

[Devv]

Hi Scott,
 
It is amazing you already have pods on the Sweet Hungarian Paprkika, I am really glad to see Rick is spreadin the pepper love among the THP members. 
The OWs re also looking fantastic, keep up the good work!
 
Balázs

Thanks Balázs!
 
My grow is what it is due to the generosity of the fine people here. I was sent more seeds than I could plant
 
Normally I would have the tomatoes and peppers in the dirt by this weekend, but it's been too cold. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be 30°, after that a slow warm-up and nice weather again. I hope it then holds for us.
 
Mental note to self, never ever wait again for the cold front to actually get here before locking down the hoop houses. Winds are 32mph in town, which means 40's here on the ridge. The wood I've been using to hold the plastic down wasn't enough this time. Can you say a big kite? Luckily I had 12-15 2.5 gal jugs filled with rain water. Temps went from 73° to 41° in 2 hours. This morning I brought in the 14 boxes of plants that I had outside, and the OW's and the wifes plants are all safe for the freeze. Hope it's the last one until November!...Make that December!

 

[Trippa]

Nothing worse than strong wind for weather Devv!". Hope those hoophouses pull through OK!!

 

[GA Growhead]

Yikes!
Good save!

 

[Trippa]

Thanks for the pic of the bhut with old mite damage ... I think many of my newer starts will end up like that ... Most of them have severely stunted or dead original leaders ... With new growth below it taking over ... I have my 2 weekly alternating cycle of sulphur and seaweed and Epsom salts going now which I think is my best option until the end of march ...

 

[Devv]

Nothing worse than strong wind for weather Devv!". Hope those hoophouses pull through OK!!

It sounds like the surf is right outside my house, just crazy winds. We're high compared to town, 200' above them, and our slope faces North. Wish I had put up the wind break this weekend. This is the first really vicious set of winds this winter. I'm thinking as it gets warmer, and a cold front comes they generate higher winds.
 

Yikes!
Good save!

I'm telling ya!
 
Had LB out there standing on one side until we got it handled some. And then 5 or 6 trips hauling the water jugs. I hope this is the last of this cold crap! AND hope the hot weather hangs low...
 

Thanks for the pic of the bhut with old mite damage ... I think many of my newer starts will end up like that ... Most of them have severely stunted or dead original leaders ... With new growth below it taking over ... I have my 2 weekly alternating cycle of sulphur and seaweed and Epsom salts going now which I think is my best option until the end of march ...

I thought you may like to see that, we all have to deal with them now and again. I was thinking they came in from some Poblano's I boughht last season. Never have had any luck germing them, so I found some at the store. Same thing again this year, but I treated them before putting the me near the rest. I also started treating them all with seasweed extract and sulfur, just in case. Never saw the rust, but saw some of that curling.

 

[Jamison]

Wow man!  Wonderful job on the OW's.  Gonna be fantastic year down there.  In the ground already!?  Im a bit jealous  Soil looks fantastic BTW.

 

[JJJessee]

Those OW do look superb, nice job! 
I know what you mean about the surf. I camped up on the mountain Saturday night and the wind just roared all night. Wasn't below freezing, but wind was in steady supply.
Tomatoes look like they are ready to rock and roll. Seems like plants with woody stem just don't take to a transplant as quickly.
Cheers!

 

[Penny]

Everything's looking great!!

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Glad you got the hoop houses under control. Will pass in that wind, yeesh. I use downtown as a windbreak around here!

Sounds like you're gearing up for the big move. Can't wait!

 

[Devv]

Wow man!  Wonderful job on the OW's.  Gonna be fantastic year down there.  In the ground already!?  Im a bit jealous  Soil looks fantastic BTW.

Thanks Jamison!
 
They came out well, you'll see this season where you're at now. Try the hoops, it went down 27° here last night and they're still hangin'!
 
The soil is a lifetime job, just gotta keep at it, as it's gets better and better. Glad you did the move down South in the winter; I did it in August and like to die the first year. In the summer here they start concrete pours for the large jobs in the middle of the night because of the heat.
 

Those OW do look superb, nice job! 
I know what you mean about the surf. I camped up on the mountain Saturday night and the wind just roared all night. Wasn't below freezing, but wind was in steady supply.
Tomatoes look like they are ready to rock and roll. Seems like plants with woody stem just don't take to a transplant as quickly.
Cheers!

Thanks JJJ!
 
They really started to look better after 10 days in the sun last week.
 
You're correct, the peppers do take longer to get going. Hopefully they're working on a root system
 

Everything's looking great!!

Thanks Penny!
 
How long before you get some in the dirt?
 

Glad you got the hoop houses under control. Will pass in that wind, yeesh. I use downtown as a windbreak around here!

Sounds like you're gearing up for the big move. Can't wait!

 
They went nuts while we were trying to close the sides, I guess the wind was drafting through them and when we changed things the whole down wind side came loose and played kite.
 
If the 10 day forecast looks good Saturday I'm planting. Still could get burned, but not normally. I guess the risk is everywhere.

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Not too different here. I think we are getting close to plantout too. Just as the kale rebounded from the snow!

 

[Sawyer]

Scott, you sure are making a lot of progress.  The plants, peppers and nons alike, all look great.  I'm just in a holding pattern here right now.  Need a warm day to pot up some seedlings to make more room in the germination stand.
 

The soil is a lifetime job, just gotta keep at it, as it's gets better and better.

Isn't that the truth.  I'm very glad someone started working on my garden space two or three lifetimes ago.  I think at least part of my space has been a garden since 1878 or so.

Okay, so I kind of got obsessed with understanding your new well.  I went back a few pages and I think I've winnowed out the relevant information:

I learned they pump water through the bit, and it comes back up out of the hole, and drains into the pit. They added a real fine clay to the water in the pit, which they ultimately draw from, because water was being lost in the hole, this helped seal it some. The first 27' was rock, and more rock. Then all was good until 85' and more rock after running through some shale. I was amazed the drill rig was made in 1958. Was a most interesting but cold afternoon.

They went down to 300' before the driller was happy, hope it doesn't cost anymore. We'll see. The guy knows his stuff, we talked a lot and he also consulted with an oil well driller who drills around here, and they say I'm in good water. He said the well will last until after I'm in my 80's.

They hit sand at 250' and went to 300'; he wanted the well to be a good producer, and so did I. The water is in the sand, after they went through rock and shale, next typically is the sand. They drilled 200' today. They dropped the casing and the gravel that that fills the space between the hole and casing.

Yesterday they sunk the casing, schedule 40 5" PVC. The bottom 40' pieces have .020 laser cut horizontal lines cut for water to enter the casing. They cleaned it using a 20' piece of 4" steel pipe with a ball valve on the bottom. Using a cable they lower it in and pull it out drain, until it's clean. It started out looking like pudding, gradually it cleaned up. A lot of drillers just force compressed air down, but that can make for a well that always draws sand. When the pipe came up clean (no mud) they dropped it a few more times. They filled the bottom 100' full of gravel around the casing. Then when it was clean they stuffed plastic down the sides of the casing and poured concrete in to seal things. The well is @ 300' and water starts @ 171'. We should be good!

The well at 300' is in 130' of water, the pumps at 220'. This is so it won't pump sand. It's 40' above the .020 slots that allow water to enter the casing, so we should be good.

Thanks on the pump. I buried some pipe today but we had a lot of garden work we wanted to get done today. I still have to run it to clean it out before we hook the house up. What I like is 1 1/4" pipe! Maybe I can get some volume to the garden?

From all that, I came up with this conceptual drawing:

Does that look about right?  (Obviously the vertical and horizontal scales are different.)  I didn't notice the last bit about the 1 1/4" pipe until after I exported the drawing.  Is that the diameter of the water line in the well, as well?
 
If you have time for some more questions:

How did they keep the casing centered in the bore hole as they were setting it?
What's the diameter of the bore hole?
What type and brand of pump does the well use?
I didn't show wiring, but I assume it is tie-wrapped around the water line down to the pump.  Is that right?
Does the concrete seal come all the way to the top of the well as shown?
Can you fill in the gaps and/or correct my interpretation of the strata?
Anything else I got wrong?

 

[maximumcapsicum]

Love the info graphic! Great summary of the well-scapades!

 

[Devv]

Not too different here. I think we are getting close to plantout too. Just as the kale rebounded from the snow!

It's been colder here than forecast, I was hoping to put the plants outside this evening but with 35° for tomorrow morning it's a no go. Hoping to get them outside tomorrow afternoon.
 

Scott, you sure are making a lot of progress.  The plants, peppers and nons alike, all look great.  I'm just in a holding pattern here right now.  Need a warm day to pot up some seedlings to make more room in the germination stand.
 
Isn't that the truth.  I'm very glad someone started working on my garden space two or three lifetimes ago.  I think at least part of my space has been a garden since 1878 or so.

Okay, so I kind of got obsessed with understanding your new well.  I went back a few pages and I think I've winnowed out the relevant information:

From all that, I came up with this conceptual drawing:

Does that look about right?  (Obviously the vertical and horizontal scales are different.)  I didn't notice the last bit about the 1 1/4" pipe until after I exported the drawing.  Is that the diameter of the water line in the well, as well?
 
If you have time for some more questions:

How did they keep the casing centered in the bore hole as they were setting it?
What's the diameter of the bore hole?
What type and brand of pump does the well use?
I didn't show wiring, but I assume it is tie-wrapped around the water line down to the pump.  Is that right?
Does the concrete seal come all the way to the top of the well as shown?
Can you fill in the gaps and/or correct my interpretation of the strata?
Anything else I got wrong?

I'll start with the drawing first. The hole he bored was 8" diameter, you're correct with 5" casing, schedule 40. It's made for wells, says it on the casing. The bottom 40' have the .020 slots, they are verticle, spaced about 1/2" to 3/4" apart and about 5" tall. With about 1" between rows. The first 27' were rock, not solid, he'd go through one, then hit another one a foot later. After 27' feet the rockfinding got better, but he was hitting them down to 85'. Then he was in shale. He would hold a shovel and catch the return water and slowly drain off the water and observe the material left in the shovel. The shale made the water like mud wrestling mud, that's why he doesn't add drilling mud unless he has to. I don't know how long he was in the shale before he hit the sand, based upon what he taught me it started at the 171' because the water can't (in my mind) rise above it's level. He went deeper because the quality of the sand, I'm sure from experience he knows when he's in the good stuff because he told me he wasn't satified at 250'. I told him I wanted a good well, not a cheap well. To make a good well and NOT have it pull sand in these parts the pump should be well off the bottom and in good water, that's why it's 80' off the bottom. It also allows me to lower the pump if we ever need to, but it's sitting in 50 of water at the moment. As far as how to keep the pipe centered, you really cant. The concrete seal is supposed to be 10' deep from the top. He wasn't able to get past 9' with the concreate because of a rock, which made the bit slide over some (the rock had to be at an angle). The gravel, according to him comes up about 100', and it's to act as a filter to keep the water as sand free as possible and stabilize the bottom of the well so the sides don't fall in against the 5" pipe. That's another reason he used the baler instead of air pressure to clean out the mud that was left over in the hole. Overall I feel he knows his stuff (highly reccomended) and did the best he could. The pump is a 1.5hp 12 gal per minute Pentak, and starter box is Pentak too. The wiring is just taped with electrical tape to the 1 1/4" pipe that holds the pump. The pieces are 20' long and the joints are a screw type.
 
I have the 180' 1 1/4' run made to the garden with cut offs at both ends, the run to the old well house, where the water filters and treatments are is 160'. Electrical run is 180', being the distance is over 100' I went with #8 instead of #10 wire in the gray 3/4" conduit. All this is done.
 
The way he left the well was wide open, not using the pressure tank or pressure switch. He instructed me to run the well until the water came out cloudy and went clear. I used it to water the fruit trees, and now it ready to be hooked up for use. Today I started the final wiring, which I want enclosed in conduit. I'll finish that tomorrow and start it up and after I flush the lines I'll turn thebreaker off and let it sit for a few days. I'm hoping it holds the preassure wich will indicate no leaks.
 
Hope I answered well for the well!

 

[Sawyer]

Thanks for the feedback, Scott.  I guess I got most of it right.  The bore in the drawing is 8" to scale.  I think I made the water line 1.5", but I'll fix that.  I actually first drew the slots vertical, then went back and changed them after rereading your posts.  The 0.20" is just a typo on my part.  Other than showing the concrete all the way to the top, I guess the biggest difference is that the strata are more of a gradient from one material to the next, rather than the discrete boundaries I've shown.  What is the matrix the rocks are in, in the first 27', and below that to 85'?
 
I like that your pump is 80' above the bottom of the well.  My whole well is only 80' deep, total.  I was going to ask before, how do you treat your water?  I have a lot of iron, a little sulfur, and a whole lot of calcium in my water. 
 
How much deeper would the well have to be to hit gas?  I'd love to have my own gas well, just for personal use.  There are a few folks around up here who have that.