Guru's Glog 2012

Is it that time again already? Feels like yesterday I was picking final harvests, disonnecting drip lines out in the garden and digging up pepper plants for the winter. Where does the time go?

Anyhow, I see people are already in full swing here on THP. What a lovely site. I'll be the first to admit, I'm running a little late this year, but I have an excuse I'm prepared to live with....

I needed a vacation! Well that, and a good friend of mine asked if I wanted to open up a restaurant in Thailand. Who says no to that? Not I.

We had a great time. Its paradise, and very cheap. Above all, as a chili head, Thai food is a gift from God himself. I ate better and fresher food than you could ever get in the US, for pennies a meal. The trip was awesome. I think Im even suffering from seperation anxiety...lol I couldn't even begin to go into all the things that happened on this trip, without this starting to sound like more of a blog than a GLOG, so I'll spare you guys for now.

Anyway, down to business. Before I left, I started a 72 cell super hot tray and pulled the mothers from last year outside.

The lady bugs went to work on the mothers, and I felt confident that Mrs. Guru could take care of the germination while I was away.

Now, I'd be lying if I said I never worried for a second while I was away. I had already started my seeds a week or two later than usual and now I was going to be gone while they were supposed to be "born"....lol but I knew the better option for my sanity was to let go, remember I was on vacation and not think about the seeds. Im glad I did, because the ole lady did ok!

I got back, germ rates were near 100% and it was on to potting up!

Quick make shift shade house for the tender seedlings after a transplant and a break in the clouds.

.......

 

[Cayennemist]

Wow, I want my BrainSrain to just germinate, let alone grow like a freaking tomato.

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Lots of growth in a couple weeks. Plants are beasts!

Your 12 days of growth is my 30 days.

Im going organic.

True story.

Wow, I want my BrainSrain to just germinate, let alone grow like a freaking tomato.

Haha! Thanks guys. Cayennemist, thats weird man...I'll be honest with you...the BrainStrain seeds Cappy sent me were some of the BEST germinators I've gotten the chance to mess with in QUITE the long time. Cappy, if you're out there brother, thank you for growing GREAT, viable peppers man. The force is strong with this one!

 

[millworkman]

Incredible growth Rich, and in only 12 days they reached drinking age. Quite impressive.

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Its stinky time boys and girls!

A bit of an update: After noticing the transplants into the garden rows werent doing what they should be, I tested the soil and my ph is way too high @8.0 and my npk is so low its no wonder why they arent exploding like I want. Im in emergency mode trying to get together a bigger fertigation tank. Anyone with plumbing/irrigation experience out there? I want to build a large tank/diluter like one of those inline miracle gro feeders, except HUGE. Im feeding an 1/8th acre.

The container plants are doing great though. They are about to be drinking up some bubbly!

 

[millworkman]

What's in the bubbly, fish, worm and myco? Oh and kelp?

 

[Pinoy83]

Its stinky time boys and girls!

whats inside there guru

 

[Pepper-Guru]

What's in the bubbly, fish, worm and myco? Oh and kelp?

whats inside there guru

Good eye Mill. You got it.

 

[Pinoy83]

i got bad eye from this kind of stuffs...can u use any kind of brand for mycos and can u use frozen fish or needs to be fresh?

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Brands dont matter, just the strains. Still trying to find that special one honestly. Throwing in sawdust from older pepper plants would be better than buying a bag from a company. I use fresh trout after I catch them or frozen. Good bacteria dont mind frozen temps too much. The nutrients are there regardless. This is an aact fo my micro herd. Not the plants. While it will still feed the plants in effect, this is mainly for the soil. We feed the soil first

molasses too! almost forgot....lol

 

[Pinoy83]

Brands dont matter, just the strains. Still trying to find that special one honestly. Throwing in sawdust from older pepper plants would be better than buying a bag from a company. I use fresh trout after I catch them or frozen. Good bacteria dont mind frozen temps too much. The nutrients are there regardless. This is an aact fo my micro herd. Not the plants. While it will still feed the plants in effect, this is mainly for the soil. We feed the soil first

molasses too! almost forgot....lol

Cool thanks for the info...ur really a true pepper guru...u should plant thai peppers theyre the best for thai cuisines

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Cool thanks for the info...ur really a true pepper guru...u should plant thai peppers theyre the best for thai cuisines

Ive got a thai dragon and a Rooster SPur! Love them peppers!

 

[Pinoy83]

Ive got a thai dragon and a Rooster SPur! Love them peppers!

Im trying to germ some thai dragons right now..my friend gave me a pound of those peppers I hope they germinate..whats a rooster spur?

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Just another Asian c. Annum. Imagine a Thai dragon that's hotter, smaller and has a slightly different palette in terms of aroma and taste. Plants get around 3 ft tall for me and really bushy. Some family has supposedly been growing these for 100 years in the states.

Here they are to the right of the white bullets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-guru/6068278336/

 

[MGOLD86]

Thanks Guru for that little tidbit of info. I just went through that photostream and HOLY S**T! I tried to post one of the photos (the one with all the harvest on the table) but couldn't figure flikr out. Anyways, simply amazing.

 

[Jamison]

Man that sucks about your soil! Hope you get it taken care of, and I'm sure you will. That homebrew looks awfully tasty :

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Thanks Guru for that little tidbit of info. I just went through that photostream and HOLY S**T! I tried to post one of the photos (the one with all the harvest on the table) but couldn't figure flikr out. Anyways, simply amazing.

Thanks dude. I guess its about time to upgrade to their account thing so all my pictures will be available. They only give access to 200 pics on free hosting

Man that sucks about your soil! Hope you get it taken care of, and I'm sure you will. That homebrew looks awfully tasty :

Things will be delayed a bit but Ill be getting some sulphur into the soil to lower the ph and make available the nutrients that are there and then start amending each hole. Then Ill start shooting some goodies through the irrigation system. Thats the thing with growing in mounds and trying no till methods. These mounds breath very well and are super loose, but they are easily leached of good stuff just like container gardening. After a season or two without mulching, youll get pretty low in nutrients on the top of the mounds. Every now and then you roll with the punches that the garden gods throw at ya. Good news is, Ill have a visitor helpin out Thursday! Right Seth?

 

[PaulG]

Hey PepperGuru, great to finally get to see your grow log.
Just as awesome as everyone says! Most logs don't start
out with world travel and end with world class plants!
Thanks for contributing so much to the forum; I've learned
a lot vicariously through your posts on other folks' glogs!!

 

[Sethsquatch]

Hell yes. It's gonna be more of a day thing though. Morning till noonish. I'm getting the pass while my wife goes to the three hour graduation ceremony. 3 year olds hate that kinda stuff. But he will L O V E hanging out with another kid! And I will love hanging and helping or whatever the hell we do. Ha. Just glad to take this opportunity to hang with another THP grower. Hell, wherever I travel from now on, I'll be finding the members to hook up with.

 

[rabid48]

Just another Asian c. Annum. Imagine a Thai dragon that's hotter, smaller and has a slightly different palette in terms of aroma and taste. Plants get around 3 ft tall for me and really bushy. Some family has supposedly been growing these for 100 years in the states.

Here they are to the right of the white bullets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-guru/6068278336/

I have a poinsettia pepper plant, which are very similar to those rooster's spur/chilly chili/takanotsume peppers. I'm just starting to get some pods on the ones in my window at work. I love those types of plants; it would be interesting to grow all of them at once and see if you could tell the difference.

I look forward to seeing what a healthy dose of that tea does to the plants!

 

[Pepper-Guru]

Hey PepperGuru, great to finally get to see your grow log.
Just as awesome as everyone says! Most logs don't start
out with world travel and end with world class plants!
Thanks for contributing so much to the forum; I've learned
a lot vicariously through your posts on other folks' glogs!!

Wow, thanks for the kind words. There are a big lot of great growers here at the hot pepper! Im just glad I found this place

Hell yes. It's gonna be more of a day thing though. Morning till noonish. I'm getting the pass while my wife goes to the three hour graduation ceremony. 3 year olds hate that kinda stuff. But he will L O V E hanging out with another kid! And I will love hanging and helping or whatever the hell we do. Ha. Just glad to take this opportunity to hang with another THP grower. Hell, wherever I travel from now on, I'll be finding the members to hook up with.

Im just messin with ya. I wouldnt do that to you. Honestly, what I may do may be pretty scary and involved. We can just hang and enjoy a Tsunami Pale Ale that a buddy and I came up with. After our trip to Thailand and realizing there is no good beer in SE Asia, we wanted to make a brew that represented the food, slash and burn agriculture, and the tsunami we waited at Ao Nang beach for. It was quite the rush and this beer tastes like a tsunami washing up Thailand into your mouth. Cant wait to meet you Seth.

I have a poinsettia pepper plant, which are very similar to those rooster's spur/chilly chili/takanotsume peppers. I'm just starting to get some pods on the ones in my window at work. I love those types of plants; it would be interesting to grow all of them at once and see if you could tell the difference.

I look forward to seeing what a healthy dose of that tea does to the plants!

I absolutely LOVE rooster spurs. They are the greatest sandwich pepper in the world. Aside from chinense, Id say the asian annums are my second love. Oh yeah the tea! Gotta go check on that! BRB!