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!

 

[KiNGDeNNiZ]

Took me a while but finally got thru. Nice update and nice trees!! Looks like you'll be doing some OT to get them peppers dehydrated.

 

[DocNrock]

Good great thing your "spidy senses" kicked in.
 
Good things always come to good people.
 
I'm confident you'll find an even better place down the road.
 
Now back to peppers!

 
Thanks Scott.  We're content just hanging out where we are for the time being.  Eventually the right place will come along.  For now, the chiles don't have to move, either. 

 
Your plants look great, nice pics too.  If you like beautiful flowers, you have to try C. praetermissum if you haven't already.  Here's a flower on one of my plants from last year:
 
 

 
Thanks, SG.  It always feels great when a master grower has nice things to say.  The flowers on that particular capsicum are awesome!  I have never seen those before.  Looks like one for the 2014.  Are they hard to germ/grow?

Took me a while but finally got thru. Nice update and nice trees!! Looks like you'll be doing some OT to get them peppers dehydrated.

Thanks for taking the time to catch up, King.  Didn't get to the dehydration this weekend.  That's OK.  The pods are safe in the freezer. 
 
Tomorrow we are going to a wedding, so I had to get all chile-related duties done today.  I finished up the drip system, and included my wife's two raised beds.  The job took two days.  One full day last weekend and then all day today to finish it (edit:  it was 106 today!).  I was amazed at how easily everything went together and how little time the job took, relatively speaking.  Before embarking on the job, I thought it would take at least twice as long as it did.  No time for pics as I also needed to get everyone fertilized today and finished right at dark.  Hopefully I can snap some pics tomorrow morning before we take off for the wedding.   

 

[stickman]

Good job on getting the irrigation system set up Doc!
 
I made Chicken Satay for supper last night, and I put a half a tsp of your yellow/peach powder in the homemade peanut sauce with the juice of a lime. nom, nom, nom...

 

[GA Growhead]

I just bought a drip line kit. Its not big enough for the whole garden, but going to get it working and then add on to cover the rest. Relatively cheap too. I'm excited.
Shane, Rick, and you have all inspired me!
Have fun at the wedding!

 

[DocNrock]

Good job on getting the irrigation system set up Doc!
 
I made Chicken Satay for supper last night, and I put a half a tsp of your yellow/peach powder in the homemade peanut sauce with the juice of a lime. nom, nom, nom...
 

Thanks, Rick!  I am so excited to not have to worry about watering 140 plants everyday!  Sometimes when I am on-call I don't get home until very late, and then have to go back in very early.  When the temps were in the 80s the plants would tolerate being a bit dry for a day.  But with the summer temps approaching I'm sure they'd be toast if they even missed a day of watering.  I'll now just have to monitor the hydration of each plant and make sure I don't have to dial back or increase the watering to each one. 
 
That Satay looks awesome!  1/2 tsp, eh?  Either the powder is losing some heat or you have quite the tolerance to capasaicin!  Either way, I bet it was fantastic!
 

I just bought a drip line kit. Its not big enough for the whole garden, but going to get it working and then add on to cover the rest. Relatively cheap too. I'm excited.
Shane, Rick, and you have all inspired me!
Have fun at the wedding!

Jason, if nothing else, I think you will be amazed at how easily and quickly everything goes together.  If I could make one recommendation it would be to actually draw up plans for a larger scale system.  Then make a parts list off of those plans.  I did it all out of my head and had to make four trips back to Home Depot for additional parts that I didn't figure on in my head.  Also, if the kit doesn't come with one, I definitely recommend the hole punch that is designed for the 1/2" tubing.  That one tool was a real work-saver.
 
Good luck!

 

[GA Growhead]

Got the hole punch! Already got the mental plan, but will take your advise and draw it out.

 

[Jamison]

Jeez man I go away for a couple weeks and you have ripe pods and gigantic plants, and plus you went 46 pages deep on this glog! You really are rockin Doc! Plants look extremely, extremely healthy man! Harvests are lookin pretty for sure! You got that touch like I say!

 

[DocNrock]

Got the hole punch! Already got the mental plan, but will take your advise and draw it out.

Excellent!  It was really a work-saver.  You might be fine with the plan in your head, but some little things like right-angle adapters and end-pieces escaped me. 
 

Jeez man I go away for a couple weeks and you have ripe pods and gigantic plants, and plus you went 46 pages deep on this glog! You really are rockin Doc! Plants look extremely, extremely healthy man! Harvests are lookin pretty for sure! You got that touch like I say!

Hahaha!  Thanks bro.  It helps to have started in October! 
 
Thought I'd put up some pics of the drip system.  I have two systems run off of two different spigots. 
 
Circuit 1 gets the patio plants, all the plants on the west side of the yard, and one of the raised beds.
 
A DIG timer.  Connected to that is the Toro "kit" that has a filter, 25 psi regulator, and 3/4" to 1/2" drip line adapter.  It tees off to the patio plants and the houses on the west side of the yard and a raised bed.  The valve is so I can cut off the patio plants if they get overwatered since they get a lot less sun that the others.
 

 
Along the patio: 
 

 
Along the west side: 
 

 
The corner jungle: 
 

 
The first raised bed.  The half inch tubing has 2 gph emitters at the base of each plant.  There is a valve to turn it off in case there was too much of a pressure drop, but so far it hasn't been a problem. 
 

 
The second circuit.  Again, a timer and filter/regulator/adaptor: 
 

 
Split to get the plants on the side of the house and then a line that continues to the retaining wall flowerbed.
 

 
Another valve to turn off the shaded plants in the patio in case they get overwatered: 
 

 
I did have to cross the concrete at one place.  Fortunately, the wood trim didn't fill the depth completely and the tubing fits well within the groove:
 

 
Up to the retaining wall bed: 
 

 
That's 10.  A few more shots ... bump?

 

[annie57]

Bump! More please!

 

[DocNrock]

Bump! More please!

Thanks!  Funny you read/bumped.  I was just reading and posting on your glog! 
 
So after making the climb up to the retaining wall bed, the line tees and goes to the south and north ends of the bed.  At the north end, it makes the drop down back to ground level.  This is where pressure-compensating emitters are helpful (I hope). 
 

 
After dropping back down it goes to quite a few plants and then to the other raised bed.  This bed is set up exactly like the other one, including a valve in case of pressure-drop, but that hasn't been a problem (yet): 
 

 
I just snapped some overview shot of the system for the general layout.  It's 12 shots.  I'm going to break out Photoshop and see if I can make a collage of multiple photos so as to not be limited to 10 shots. 
 
Hey GA Growhead!  Here is the Variegata x ? currently: 
 

 
It is podded up.  Here is a representative pod.  I haven't had one ripen yet so I don't know the final color. 
 

 
And you most definitely have a green thumb, Jason.  I started my Devil's Tongue White seeds before you.  You have a pod.  Mine are just now budding.  Here they are flanking a Datil.  One from Shane's seed and one from Jamison's. 
 

 
Does anyone know what this plant is?  It grew out of seed I got from Ajijoe labelled "White Bullet Hab."  Clearly it is not, but I have no idea what it is.  I also don't know what the ripe color is.
 

 
Gratuitous ripening pod shot.  Fatalii (Ajijoe): 
 

 
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

 

[stickman]

Nice setup Doc! It looks like you've thought of everything. With adequate water, your plants should grow more quickly now. Cheers!

 

[Devv]

Doc, excellent job there!
 
140 plants, I'll bet you were going mad hand watering them all.
 
Nice poddage shots too!
 
Have a good one!

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Nice drip setup Doc, you needed more than plans for that one, you needed a map to keep from getting lost in the tangle. You plan on adding an injector?
 
Plants are lookin' mighty fine as well as the poddage.

 

[DocNrock]

Nice setup Doc! It looks like you've thought of everything. With adequate water, your plants should grow more quickly now. Cheers!

 
Thanks, Rick!  I won't have to spend time watering so I can actually fertilize them weekly.  Then I think they will grow more quickly! 

Doc, excellent job there!
 
140 plants, I'll bet you were going mad hand watering them all.
 
Nice poddage shots too!
 
Have a good one!

 
Thanks Scott!  Going mad...hahaha!  Understatement.    Definitely worth the work to design and install the watering system.  Have a great weekend!

Nice drip setup Doc, you needed more than plans for that one, you needed a map to keep from getting lost in the tangle. You plan on adding an injector?
 
Plants are lookin' mighty fine as well as the poddage.

Thanks, S_S!  To sound stupid, what is an injector? 
 
I have a couple of questions for my THP buds.  First, does anyone know what this is?  I've seen it on the underside of a few leaves, but have been seeing it more often, lately.  I've always pulled the involved leaves.  I'm pretty sure it is a pest, but does anyone know what specifically it is? 
 

 
Another question.  I have a number of pepper varieties that are much lighter in green color than I would have expected.  The ones that have ripened have ripened the expected color and depth of color, but the unripe pods aren't as dark green as I would have thought.  Here is a pic of Butch T pods, but my 7 Pot Chaguanas, Red Congo, Jonah (Billy Boy and "standard"), and a couple of others are like this.  They actually look more pale than they do in the photos. 
 

 
Thanks for the input!

It's going to take a while for me to figure out the Photoshop collage thing, so I'll just post up pics of the overviews.  Here are the recipients of watering circuit 1.
 
Along the patio: 
 

 
West wall: 
 

 
Northwest corner: 
 

 
Moving East along North wall: 
 

 

 

 
I have five more pics for the plants on watering circuit 2...

 

[stickman]

Thanks, S_S!  To sound stupid, what is an injector? 
 
I have a couple of questions for my THP buds.  First, does anyone know what this is?  I've seen it on the underside of a few leaves, but have been seeing it more often, lately.  I've always pulled the involved leaves.  I'm pretty sure it is a pest, but does anyone know what specifically it is? 
 

 
Another question.  I have a number of pepper varieties that are much lighter in green color than I would have expected.  The ones that have ripened have ripened the expected color and depth of color, but the unripe pods aren't as dark green as I would have thought.  Here is a pic of Butch T pods, but my 7 Pot Chaguanas, Red Congo, Jonah (Billy Boy and "standard"), and a couple of others are like this.  They actually look more pale than they do in the photos. 
 

 
Thanks for the input!

 
 
Injector to add ferts to the dripline. (now you don't even need to fertilize... let the dripline do the work)
 
Are the white spots on the leaves fuzzy? If so, the white stuff on the underside of the leaves could be a fungus. The concentric rings look like it may be spread and/or propagated by water droplets on the leaves from rain and/or manual watering.(Apple scab is a fungus spread that way for example) If you use liquid nutes, it could also be the salts precipitated from the nutes after the water evaporated. The dripline will water without getting any on the leaves, so that may be a self-correcting problem.
 
Some pods look light to almost white when green, I wouldn't worry about it if the rest of the plant looks healthy.  Cheers Doc!

 

[DocNrock]

Thanks Rick!  Appreciate the input...and the bump!
 
Here is an overview of Circuit 2.
 
Along the East side of the house: 
 

 
The South side of the East wall:
 

 
The North side of the East wall: 
 

 
The Northeast corner: 
 

 
Finally, the second raised bed: 
 

 
OK, time to change into a suit and head off to my Nephew's wedding!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

 

[Devv]

Dang got a jungle going on there!

 

[sicman]

took me a minute to catch up,things look GREAT.     glad you got your drip all up and running,nice job

 

[Jeff H]

Drip system looks great Doc. I have mine up and running on about 30 plants (ran out of parts). I'll have all 50 set up later this week. 

 

[DocNrock]

Dang got a jungle going on there!

 
Hahaha!  Thanks, Scott.  Every week it gets more difficult to search for pods, particularly in the back rows.  But I'm out of room to space them out any further.

took me a minute to catch up,things look GREAT.     glad you got your drip all up and running,nice job

Jason, my man!  Thanks for stopping in.  Appreciate the kind words. 
 

Drip system looks great Doc. I have mine up and running on about 30 plants (ran out of parts). I'll have all 50 set up later this week. 

Thanks, Jeff.  That is the great thing about these drip systems.  They are so modular.  Very easy to add on and/or change configuations.  It's so awesome to not have to worry about watering.  Case in point:  we just got back from my nephew's wedding.  It is dark outside and I have to work in the morning.  I'd have to be out there right now with a flashlight watering if I hadn't put in this system. Yup...definitely worth the effort.