DocNrock's 2013 Glog - 7/11/13

My 2013 grow officially began 10/14/2012, when seeds hit soil. After seeing Fernando (SocalChilehead) growing in his greenhouse "sanctuary" and KiNGDeNNiZ continuing to start new growth in his AeroGarden, as well as the community HP22B grow thread already being 8 pages, I broke down and started my 2013 grow. I was going to limit it to 50 varieties, but that ended up being 64, 77 including the plants I want to save from 2012. If some varieties don't pop or I end up losing some along the way, I might still be down to 50 (or less!) in no time. The grow list with pop dates is at the bottom of this post.

Since I had plenty of seeds I wanted to try an experiment. Which is better for germination, soil or Rapid Rooters? I have two mini-greenhouses with 36 soil cups each, and one mini-greenhouse with a 72 cell insert loaded with Rapid Rooters. All seeds were soaked overnight in water that had been boiled and cooled and contained a dilution of brewed chamomile tea and H2O2. The Rapid Rooters and soil were both moistened with the same mix. The soil is Sungro Sunshine mix #1 amended lightly with Ancient Forest and worm castings. Wondering if the organisms in the amendments might help break down the seed coat. Each cell contains about five seeds. This will force me to cull the weaklings, as opposed to trying to save them, hahaha! At most I will end up with two seedlings for each variety. If both survive, I can try to gift one of the two. I am thinking that some varieties may germinate better in soil, some better in the Rapid Rooters, and for some it may not make a difference. I read somewhere that kelp solutions are rich in growth hormones. Has anyone added a light kelp solution dilution to their germination setup? I was thinking of adding a couple of drops to each Rapid Rooter cell. Fert-wise, the kelp solutions are very, very weak. I doubt it would do any harm. Has anyone ever tried the kelp? I have not, but might try it later on anything that seems stubborn to sprout.

I am hoping these guys are all budded up come springtime, and ready for an early harvest. Since my indoor space is limited, I am giving serious consideration to building a small greenhouse in the backyard and putting in a couple of space heaters for the night time. I decided against a raised bed, and will probably go with 5 gallon Root Pouches for the larger plants. Some of the annuums and plants I'm as yet unsure of I will grow in 2 gallon pots. If I end up liking them, I can always up-pot them.

Getting organized:

Man, I hope I didn't mix any of these up! 64 cups to keep straight is a far cry from 3. It will be 6 months until I know for sure!:

Rapid Rooters:

Soil:

Let the waiting game begin!:

Also, in case anyone is interested, the white plastic labelling tags are available at Discount Hydroponics, $2.95/100! Cheaper than popsickle sticks!

Regarding the plants I already have, I am going to try to start cuttings off most of them in the event the plants don't make it over the winter. I won't need to start those from seed, although there are four varieties (Douglah, Fatalii, Barrackpore and Yellow Bhut) I am starting from seed, as well.

Question: When we start a new grow season, is it typical to just add to one's glog thread, or is it appropriate to start a new thread for the new grow year?

Anyway, happy growing to you all and thanks for looking. I'm hoping all the lessons I learned this year will help me to make this grow much more successful!

GROW LIST: I will try to edit in pop dates for both soil and Rapid Rooters. The Rapid Rooters might get earlier pop dates since I can see the rootlets before hooks form.

Sown seeds (65):

Trinidad Scorpion (AJIJOE) 10/20/12 (RR)
HP22B (Pepper Joe) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/27/12 (soil)
Primo (Primo) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Billy Boy Jonah (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/22/12 (RR)
7 Pot Congo Gigantic (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
7 Pot Barrackpore (Biscgolf) 10/27/12 (RR)
Dorset Naga (Pepperlover - pods) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Naga Morich (Biscgolf - pods) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Bhut Jolokia (JoynersHotPeppers)
Red Rocoto (SocalChilihead) 10/22/12 (RR)
Malawi Peppadew (Refiningfirechiles) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Trinidad PI281317 (Pepperlover) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Anaheim (Pepperlover - gift)
7 Pot Chiguanas (Silver Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR)
Red Devil's Tongue (Pepperlover - gift) 10/28/12 (RR)
Butch T (Pepperlover - pods) 10/24/12 (RR)
7 Pot Jonah (Pepperlover - pods) 10/27/12 (RR)
7 Pot Burgundy (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Infinity 10/20/12 (soil), 10/22/12 (RR)
Yellow Moruga (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/23/12 (RR)
Yellow Brain (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (RR)
Yellow Bhut Jolokia (Biscgolf) 10/26/12 (soil)
Fatalii (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR),10/28/12 (soil)
7 Pot Yellow (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (RR)
Peach Bhut (AJIJOE) 10/28/12 (RR)
Beni Highland (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Trinidad Morova (Pepperlover) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/28/12 (RR)
7 Pot Orange (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/28/12 (RR)
Golden Cayenne (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/20/12 (soil)
Yellow Scotch Bonnet (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (soil), 10/22/12 (RR)
7 Pot Brown (Biscgolf) 10/24/12 (soil)
Douglah (Biscgolf) 10/27/12 (soil)
Black Habanero (Refiningfirechiles) 10/20/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Chocolate Scorpion (KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
Douglah x Chocolate Scorpion F4 (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/23/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Black Naga (Refiningfirechiles) 10/20/12 (soil)
Pasilla Bajio (Refiningfirechiles) 10/22/12 (soil), 10/27/12 (RR)
Long Chocolate Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Chocolate Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (soil), 10/24/12 (RR)
Black Stinger (Refiningfirechiles) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
7 Pot White (Pepperlover) 10/24/12 (RR), 10/27/12 (soil)
Giant White Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/23/12 (soil)
White Bullet Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
White Devil's Tongue (Silver_Surfer via Coheed) 10/28/12 (RR)
Serrano (Pepper Joe - free) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/19/12 (soil) ***FIRST SOIL***
Jalapeno (Pepper Joe - free) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/20/12 (soil)
Red Bell (store bought pepper) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Andy F1 Gochu (Stickman via SocalChilehead) 10/17/12 (RR) ***TIED, FIRST OVERALL*** 10/23/12 (soil)
Korean Winner Hybrid (Stickman via SocalChilehead) 10/17/12 (RR) ***TIED, FIRST OVERALL***
Pimenta de Neyde (SocalChilehead) 10/28/12 (RR)
Trinidad Scorpion Green (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR)
Most Prolific C.chacoense (Pepperlover - gift) 10/23/12 (RR)
Royal Black (AJIJOE) 10/22/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Assam (SocalChilehead) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Trinidad Scorpion "FG" (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/24/12 (soil)
Australian Lantern Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/26/12 (RR), 10/26/12 (soil)
Aji Yellow (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (RR)
Jamaican Hot Chocolate (KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR)
Aji Omnicolor (OROZCONLECHE) 10/19/12 (RR)
Not-Trinidad Scorpion (long yellow pod from Arboretum, KiNGDeNNiZ) 10/22/12 (RR)
Mystery Chocolate Mix (Silver_Surfer) 10/23/12 (RR)
Red Congo (AJIJOE) 10/23/12 (RR)
Peach Habanero (AJIJOE) 10/19/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Yellow Hablokia (AJIJOE) 10/20/12 (RR), 10/22/12 (soil)
Sown 10/20/12
Yellow Bell (store-bought pepper) 10/23/12 (RR)
Sown 10/28/12
Chocolate Bell (Refiningfirechiles)
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion (Refiningfirechiles)
Malaysian Goronong (Refiningfirechiles)
Douglah (Refiningfirechiles)
Peter (Refiningfirechiles)
Yellow Bhut (Refiningfirechiles)
Chocolate Bhut (Refiningfirechiles)
Aji Pineapple (Refiningfirechiles)
Aji Dulce 1 (Tradewinds)
Datil (Tradewinds)
Goat's Horn (Tradewinds)
NuMex Big Jim (Tradewinds)
Paprika (Tradewinds)
Brain Strain 7 (PepperRidge)


What I hope to save from my current grow, either whole plants or clones (13):

Carribean Red (local nursery)
Aji Panca (Refiningfirechiles)
Peter Pepper (Refiningfirechiles)
Jamaican Yellow Mushroom (Refiningfirechiles)
Moruga (Refiningfirechiles)
Malaysian Goronong (Refiningfirechiles)
Thai Dragon (North Park Produce)
Chenzo (North Park Produce)
Red Brain Strain (Baker's Peppers - pods)
Chinese 5-color (Orozconleche)
Aji Dulce (Orozconleche)
Datil (Orozconleche)
Bonnie "World's Hottest Hab" (Fatalii?) (Home Depot)

I'm going to do my best to keep one of each alive, but with 77 total, I might be lucky if a few croak!

 

[Sawyer]

I haven't found breaking up the bails to be physically difficult, just time consuming. It takes me about an hour to break up a bail into loose fluffy mix. I'm surprised you had issues with drainage using the #1. While the #4 is their "rapid draining" mix, I've found the #1 to drain much better than any other potting mix I've tried from places like Home Depot.

For me, one big advantage of pre-soaking is keeping the dust down. I haven't broken a whole bale down at once, just filling pots and flats one at a time directly from the bag. I'll be upping the ante on that this year, as I'm going to try using a cement mixer to mix the #1 with the pine bark. Drainage wasn't a problem with nursery pots, but tree pots are very tall and skinny. Think Pringles can aspect. I've also got one bag of Fafard Mix #52 to try. It's supposed to be a well-draining mix as well.

I just wish our legislature would learn how to run a state in a fiscally responsible manner. But that is a whole different topic.

Probably for the "Hot Topics" forum.

 

[DocNrock]

For me, one big advantage of pre-soaking is keeping the dust down. I haven't broken a whole bale down at once, just filling pots and flats one at a time directly from the bag. I'll be upping the ante on that this year, as I'm going to try using a cement mixer to mix the #1 with the pine bark. Drainage wasn't a problem with nursery pots, but tree pots are very tall and skinny. Think Pringles can aspect. I've also got one bag of Fafard Mix #52 to try. It's supposed to be a well-draining mix as well.

Got it. Breaking down a whole bail at one time is not where it's at, lol! Funny you mentioned the cement mixer. I thought of that to mix the #1 with the amendments I had been using. Then I just decided to forego the amendments. It should work pretty good, though. Now I understand about the tree pot drainage issue. You could also try Sunshine Mix #4.

 

[Sawyer]

You could also try Sunshine Mix #4.

I have a note about that in my notes somewhere; I'll have to look. Something steered me away from it, maybe the price relative to the other options.

 

[highalt]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]"Bingo! This year I will find out what I really like and most importantly, what grows well and is productive in my location. Next year I'll scale back on the number of varieties and have more than one plant of the each variety I grow."[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Good luck with that plan! I said pretty much the same thing last year, and then I found a whole bunch more that I hadn't tried before, so the number of varieties went up, not down! [/background]

 

[stickman]

Hi Doc, did you ever get around to sampling any of the ripe gochus?

 

[Devv]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]"Bingo! This year I will find out what I really like and most importantly, what grows well and is productive in my location. Next year I'll scale back on the number of varieties and have more than one plant of the each variety I grow."[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Good luck with that plan! I said pretty much the same thing last year, and then I found a whole bunch more that I hadn't tried before, so the number of varieties went up, not down! [/background]

I just know that's going to happen here, but that's half the fun!

 

[DocNrock]

I have a note about that in my notes somewhere; I'll have to look. Something steered me away from it, maybe the price relative to the other options.

Yeah, I'm sure there are probably more cost-effective options.

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]"Bingo! This year I will find out what I really like and most importantly, what grows well and is productive in my location. Next year I'll scale back on the number of varieties and have more than one plant of the each variety I grow."[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Good luck with that plan! I said pretty much the same thing last year, and then I found a whole bunch more that I hadn't tried before, so the number of varieties went up, not down! [/background]

Hahaha! You're probably right, Bonnie.

Hi Doc, did you ever get around to sampling any of the ripe gochus?

Yes I did, Rick! Very tasty. Tried the tip of it first. Nice fruity flavor. First thought was "not much heat." Tried a bigger piece further up the pod..."ummm, yeah, there's heat!" I'm glad I'm growing it and definitely will grow it again. Question for you: Since the Andy F1 is, well, an F1, have you ever grown out the seeds to see what kind of variety you get from the F2?

I just know that's going to happen here, but that's half the fun!

+1

Wow, I'm tired. Haven't finished yet, but made a significant dent. I don't know if it showed in previous pics, but the area where the plants were placed had a lot of weeds. Didn't really have time to clear it out. Well, that is what I did on Wednesday. Then I knew going from 2 gallon to 5 gallon bags I was going to have to spread things out a bit. Take a step to the left...

New location for the "OWs":



And new location for the previously up-potted ones:



The above areas were de-weeded before putting the plants there. REALLY needed to be done! The other two areas cleaned up for the plants:





Didn't do anything with them yesterday, as I needed to get my oil changed and then had some important paperwork to do. Anyway, got a relatively early start today. I had 47 plants that I wanted to up-pot into 5 gallon bags. They are the back rows. The front rows can wait a while.



I had one bail of Sunshine Mix #1 still in the garage. Once I broke that up, I added to the pile three loose fill bags of #1 and seven loose fill bags of #4 with myco. Here is roughly 29 cubic feet of potting mix:



I managed to get 35 plants up-potted today before I ran out of daylight (and energy). 32 are shown here:



I still have 12 left to go:



Made a definite dent in the potting mix pile. I hope there is enough left for 12 more up-pots:



I'm going to have to do the remaining 12 on Sunday. We start house-hunting tomorrow.

Oh, and Bodeen, here's Jimmy:



Obviously not ready to up-pot yet, but not camera-shy anymore.

There are a few more plant shots if I can get a bump...

 

[Portuge]

Heres your Bump Doc.

 

[StupidJerk]

Beautiful plants, as always! Looks like your new plants are starting to dwarf your overwinters. Not a bad problem to have, I suppose!

 

[GA Growhead]

Everything looks nice and clean around the yard there!

I have some variegatta seedlings showing variegation. I am sure that yours is crossed by the flower description. Still looking forward to seeing what pods up.
Good luck on the house hunt! Hope you take down a big one.

 

[DocNrock]

Heres your Bump Doc.

That was quick! Thank you, kind sir.

Red Rocoto (SocalChilehead):



Bishop's Crown (GA Growhead):



White Bullet Hab (PaulG):



This one was sickly for a while and had a single pod on it. I sacrified the pod and removed the sick-looking leaves. It has bounced back pretty well and is budding up. Korean Winner Hybrid (Stickman):



This one had a bit of a spider mite infestation, but I was able to remove the involved leaves and spray the rest of the plant down with sulfur. It seems to have worked and knock on wood they didn't spread to the rest of my grow. It was quarantined for about a week. It's flowering and even has a small pod starting. 7 Pot Orange (Silver_Surfer via Coheed):



Finally, another thing I did on Wednesday while cleaning my grow area is add soil and amendments to my wife's two raised beds, which she promply populated. The first has an established eggplant to the left, red romaine and baby pak choy on the right, and various seeds just planted in the middle.



The second one has something on the left and in the back on the left, can't remember what it is. There are a couple of beets just to the right of that, and then various seeds freshly sown in the rest:



She was happy to get her grow on, too. But if we end up finding a place we like tomorrow, we could be moving by the time her grow is up and running...oh well. At least mine is portable.

That's it for now! Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll try to post up some more pics on Sunday if I get a chance to finish the up-potting job.

 

[Portuge]

Well Doc whatever you do find just make sure you have plenty of yard space to play with... Just wouldn't be the same, gotta have yardage to get your grow on...... Just going thru my content when you needed the bump..

 

[stickman]

Most excellent pics Doc! Nice to see your babies about "growed up". Last year was the first time I planted the Andy Gochus. I saved the seeds, but they're mixed in with the other 5 varieties I grew. The taste is close enough in all the varieties that I didn't bother keeping them separate. You got the last of the packet I got from Johnny's Seeds.

Good luck house hunting... I know you'll get a place with enough garden space for your needs... Cheers!

 

[WalkGood]

Hola Doc Brent,
The OWs look great next to the sago palms, love dem but most have been wiped out in our area. Including one I had over 20 years I hear you on weeding, constant chore that’s not much fun IMO, something I’ll have to do to prep my isolation area for MoA’s.

Love the shot showing all the plants lined up military style at the Doc Brent estate, looks very organized. I’m sure they be lovin there new location outside. Wow 35 up-potted, hmm wonder how many operations you pull per day, hehe … I don’t think I do more than 15. That’s probably the reason I keep my total numbers low, lolz.

All the plants look great and I like the look of your wife’s raised bed Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend!

 

[DocNrock]

Carson and Jason, it looks like you two posted while I was typing my second post!

Beautiful plants, as always! Looks like your new plants are starting to dwarf your overwinters. Not a bad problem to have, I suppose!

Thank you very much. Only one of the overwinters ever got anywhere close to the size of the plants that I currently have, a Carribean Red I bought full-size at a nursery ($10!). The ones shown are the ones that survived my learning curve, so I'm not surprised they're a bit stunted. Hoping to see some growth in them this season, though. If not, oh well.

Everything looks nice and clean around the yard there!

I have some variegatta seedlings showing variegation. I am sure that yours is crossed by the flower description. Still looking forward to seeing what pods up.
Good luck on the house hunt! Hope you take down a big one.

Thanks, Jason. It was a big-ish job that was easy to keep putting off with the excuse "not enough time." It was now or never. Glad to hear your Variegatta is growing true. I'll snap a pic on Sunday so you can see what it looks like now and let me know how it compares. If you wouldn't mind, can you post a pic of yours on my glog so I know what the whole plant looks like?

Well Doc whatever you do find just make sure you have plenty of yard space to play with... Just wouldn't be the same, gotta have yardage to get your grow on...... Just going thru my content when you needed the bump..

Most definietly, Portuge. I want enough land but not too much. I'm thinking a 1/2 acre lot would be plenty. We have seen a couple of decent places online. The housing market around here is awful right now. Even though it is technically a buyer's market because of the economy, the currently available inventory is not that great. Hopefully our agent will have the inside scoop on some properties we have not been able to find ourselves.

Most excellent pics Doc! Nice to see your babies about "growed up". Last year was the first time I planted the Andy Gochus. I saved the seeds, but they're mixed in with the other 5 varieties I grew. The taste is close enough in all the varieties that I didn't bother keeping them separate. You got the last of the packet I got from Johnny's Seeds.

Good luck house hunting... I know you'll get a place with enough garden space for your needs... Cheers!

Thank you, Rick. Always a pleasure to have you stop in, my friend. Understood about the Andys. I can see why you like the Gochus so much.

We are looking forward to getting into a different house. The house we currently are in I bought in '98 when I was a resident and single. My wife and I got married towards the end of my residency and moved away, but kept this as a rental property. When we moved back to the area last year, it was vacant so we just moved into it for the time being and sold our house in San Diego. This house is less than half of the square footage we had in SD, so a lot of our things are in storage. It has felt like a bit of a "time warp" living in this house again, lol!

 

[PeriPeri]

Awesome plants Doc... that garden is going to be brimming with pods! Can't wait to see the harvest

 

[DocNrock]

Hola Doc Brent,
The OWs look great next to the sago palms, love dem but most have been wiped out in our area. Including one I had over 20 years I hear you on weeding, constant chore that’s not much fun IMO, something I’ll have to do to prep my isolation area for MoA’s.

Love the shot showing all the plants lined up military style at the Doc Brent estate, looks very organized. I’m sure they be lovin there new location outside. Wow 35 up-potted, hmm wonder how many operations you pull per day, hehe … I don’t think I do more than 15. That’s probably the reason I keep my total numbers low, lolz.

All the plants look great and I like the look of your wife’s raised bed Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend!

Thank you, Ramon. Glad to see you back around the forum. You were definitely missed, and I hope things are getting better. That sucks about the sago palms in your area. Some sort of plant disease? Love sago palms. Fortunately the dirt area where I put the plants is hard clay and the weeds do not grow quickly or very densely. But when ignored the population kind of sneaks up on you.

I tried to line the plants up with enough space between them for air circulation and for future growth. Also to be able to get between them for watering, pruning, and harvesting. I started at 10 am. By the time I got the workspace setup, the soil ready and the ferts mixed, it was 1 pm. Finished around 7 pm. 35 up-pots in 6 hours. Used 20 gallons of my fertilizer blend. Kinda sore this morning, lol! I do between 5 and 7 operations on my OR day. Did I misunderstand, are you a Surgeon,also. 15 a day? Sounds like an Opthalmologist.

After all the work that goes into a grow, it's a good feeling to stand back and look at the outcome. But it's great to be able to share it with all the great people here and get such wonderful feedback! Have a great weekend, yourself!

Awesome plants Doc... that garden is going to be brimming with pods! Can't wait to see the harvest

Thanks, Lourens. One cool thing about having each plant on the worktable one at a time for pruning up before up-potting is being able to do a close inspection at eye level. I found pods I didn't know were there! At this point, most every plant that I have up-potted has at least one pod on it. Even if only 1/4 of the buds on these things eventually become ripe pods, I'm going to be buried! LOL, good problem to have, but no where near your grow and productivity.

Oh, I almost forgot. I was at the grocery store the other day and they had Orange Manzanos! Never seen them in our store, before. Anyway, I have Red, Orange, and Yellow growing, but have never tried one. So..



This one tasted OK. Not a whole lot of flavor to it, but I attribute that to commercial growing. Home-grown always tastes better, right? It did have some heat. Anyway, the seeds are currently drying.

 

[sicman]

dang!! youve been busy. looks great have fun shopping for house.

 

[Jamison]

Doc, holy busy buddy. You just don't realize how much soil your gonna need until ya need it eh? Plants are looking magmarvelous! Score on the Manzano!

 

[stc3248]

Dang...that Manzano should have had the most unique pepper flavor you've ever tasted. Like an annuum x pineapple with a heat that lasts for a nice long time. Plants are looking stellar doc! Hope this weather finally takes a turn and we stay warm!