HabaneroHead's 2014 Glog - Nuclear Destruction

Devv · Mar 3, 2014

Dang I need to make some sauage!

I was showing LB your plants saying, in a week all those leaves will be touching. So the repot is due

Wishing you continued sucess!

stickman · Mar 3, 2014

HabaneroHead said:
Thanks, guys! :-)
Now you feel what I feel when you post foodie pics. :-)

Decided to repot the biggest ones at the weekend, the latest. They are just too big, so stripping won't be an experiment...it is a must :-)

I be lovin' that smoked sausage Balázs, and your pepper babies aren't so little anymore... c'mon spring!

maximumcapsicum · Mar 3, 2014

Love the update Balázs! Plants are looking strong and the ferment sounds fascinating. What are you planning to do with it? Fermenting sauces is still quite mysterious to me.

How much Epsom salt did you use to green up the little guys?

HabaneroHead · Mar 9, 2014

Thanks for the good vibes! :-)

maximumcapsicum said:
Love the update Balázs! Plants are looking strong and the ferment sounds fascinating. What are you planning to do with it? Fermenting sauces is still quite mysterious to me.

How much Epsom salt did you use to green up the little guys?

Thanks, Adam. I am going to blend the ferment within 2 weeks, and heat it slightly to kill the lacto bacteria in it. (55 Celsius would do the trick) I do not want to boil it in order to preserve the fresh taste of it.
It will be similar to a Hungarian product, which is nothing but crushed pepper and salt:
http://www.chew.hu/eros_pista/

Epsom salt: the most common recommendation is to put 1 tbsp of Epsom salt into 1 gallon of water. So I put a teaspoon into a quart (approx 1 liter). I do not really remember the dose used in foliar feed, (I always google...and forget it...) but maybe a teaspoon into 0.5 liter of water. (1/2 quart, if I am right)

It is time to update my glog, guys and gals. :-)
It's been an exhausting week. Purchasing a new wardrobe, lots of issue at the workplace, labelling the big pots, and filling them with my soil mix...more than enough.
Potting up is always tricky here, since I am storing the ingredients outside (it is 4-14 Celsius outside), I cannot put the plants directly to them...I have to bring them into the house and let them to warm up to room temperature.
I have shared it somewhere, but my soil mix consists of:
- 5 part of normal potting soil
- 1.5 part of perlite
- 1.5 part of worm castings
- 2 part of coco coir

I was choosing the bigger (4 liter --> 1 gallon) pots for the biggest plants, from which I have 40...which means 40 gallons of soil mix. I knew it would take a while...but...I finished mixing at 2:30 AM at Friday night (or Saturday morning).
It is merely 40 plants...guys you have all of my respect. Some of you are growing hundreds of plants, even in pots, that is a lot of work. I spent 3 hours with preparing the mix and filling the pots with it, then today I spent 4.5 hours with repotting that 40 plants, and watering them as well, just like those which will be repotted in the following weeks.
Anyways, bitching is over, it is update time!

Jay's Peach Scorpion

Part of the big guys before repotting

Remaining plants...second run

OW Red Hab is flowering like crazy

Thanks for watching!

Balázs

stickman · Mar 9, 2014

Alright Balázs... way to go with the chiles! It looks like you have a pot of Tulip bulbs you're forcing too, but most excellent that you got flowers on your OW Habs first! Nice job catching the plants at the right time and up-potting before they got rootbound. I think you'll find that between the size and shape of the new larger pots, they'll be in good shape until you finally put them in the ground. Continued success brother!

maximumcapsicum · Mar 9, 2014

Grr double post

maximumcapsicum · Mar 9, 2014

Great looking plants! You're gonna have a ton if red Habs! Roots look good too. They're really gonna fill out those gallon pots!

HabaneroHead · Mar 19, 2014

Thank you, Guys! :-)
I am experimenting with Tulips, just to keep Mommy happy.

It is interesting how predictable the peppers behave. Since the big pots I am using this year are somewhere between 3 and 4 liter, they are at least twice bigger than the 1.4 liter ones I was using last year. It also means that the plant somehow can sense the available space for its roots, therefore in the first two weeks they are developing their roots, rather then their foliage. It is not a bad thing at all, since there is still 5-6 weeks left till plantout. I am still waiting for them to grow bigger, so I can strip them.
41 plants have been potted up so far, and I still have 70....
I selected the next 40, and hopefully I can repot them tomorrow.( today is for labelling the pots, and filling them with my soil mix, bringing them inside, letting them to warm up)
I am always potting up the bigger ones, 'who deserved it'.:-)
I scored 21 pcs 3 liter nursery pots on Monday at the train station...asked the workers who were planting bushes and flowers, whether they need them :-) A smaller pot costs at least 1 buck, so I saved approx 20 :-)
Left one is Moruga Scorpion, right one is White Bhut

Part of the potted up ones

Right row, in the middle: Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion

Same plant, different angle

stickman · Mar 19, 2014

Very nice Balázs... The new pot-ups are looking very happy! Also, nice score on the 3L pots from the landscapers at the train station. I'm always on the lookout for freebies like that... it's about the only way I can support my pepper jones...

Has the ground thawed enough for digging out your way? We've still got about 5cm of icy snow on the ground here, but it's patchy in places, and a little more melts with each sunny day. Continued success brother!

HabaneroHead · Mar 20, 2014

stickman said:
Very nice Balázs... The new pot-ups are looking very happy! Also, nice score on the 3L pots from the landscapers at the train station. I'm always on the lookout for freebies like that... it's about the only way I can support my pepper jones... Has the ground thawed enough for digging out your way? We've still got about 5cm of icy snow on the ground here, but it's patchy in places, and a little more melts with each sunny day. Continued success brother!

Thanks, Rick! To be honest I was amazed this season by seeing you guys suffering from snow, ice etc. We had snow only once, which melted in a week. Currently we have daytime temps above 20 Celsius, which is around 5 Celsius in the morning. I was starting to dig the garden, since I would like to prepare two raised beds and also would like to sward the remaining part. Well, well, I am going to post some pics what I found in the ground...basically everything...stones, bricks, rubber chicken heads...and the top of that it turned out that there used to be a pond where I would like to have a bed...but they did not cleaned it (thick foil at the bottom + pebble stones), only covered with 20-25 cm of soil... I managed to clean it to approx 60-80 cm depth...it was a nightmare.
Now have to run to the TGIF! :-)

TGIF for everyone!

Balázs

Sm1nts2escape · Mar 20, 2014

Plants look good. That sausage mmm.

Devv · Mar 21, 2014

Plants are looking great Balázs!

Nice score on the pots, free stuff is always cool

HabaneroHead · Mar 23, 2014

Sm1nts2escape said:
Plants look good. That sausage mmm.

Thank you :-)

Devv said:
Plants are looking great Balázs!

Nice score on the pots, free stuff is always cool

Thanks, Scott!
Yes, it is good

Free pots:

Now let's see all the monsters I found in the soil when I was digging...soil was untouched since 5 years (!)

Wardrobe room/baby room/pepper room
Currently I have 61 plants potted up...still 50 is waiting for it...looooots of work, which is tipically done after work, meaning that I quite rarely go into bed before 2 am. I hope they will repay the pampering :-)

Thanks for watching!

Balázs

stickman · Mar 23, 2014

Watch out for the curled up caterpillar next to the millipede Balázs... that's a cutworm... smash every one you see. Millipedes only feed on dead vegetable matter as far as I know, and I don't recognize any of your beetle grubs. Seedlings are looking stellar... looking forward to seeing them in the dirt my friend!

Devv · Mar 23, 2014

That first critter looks like the borers I see in my Mesquite BBQ wood, I'm sure it's a different type though.

As usual plants are looking fantastic Balázs!

HabaneroHead · Mar 26, 2014

Hello Everyone,

Update time :-)

61 plants potted up so far

There is still 50 more waiting for bigger shoes

Biggest one so far

I can put 9 of them under the fluorescent light

Peach Ghost

OWs

Thanks for watching,

Balázs

Devv · Mar 26, 2014

Looking good as usual Balázs!

When do they hit the dirt?

Nulle · Mar 27, 2014

Good looking plants.

HabaneroHead · Mar 28, 2014

stickman said:
Watch out for the curled up caterpillar next to the millipede Balázs... that's a cutworm... smash every one you see. Millipedes only feed on dead vegetable matter as far as I know, and I don't recognize any of your beetle grubs. Seedlings are looking stellar... looking forward to seeing them in the dirt my friend!

Thanks, buddy! Indeed, I destroyed both of them. I did some search on this millipede, and fournd that in Hungary it is called 'vaspondró', which stands for 'ironworm', I guess it is because they are pretty hard. Bad thing is that they are also stinky when you step on them. Interesting thing is that they tend to behave like locusts, meaning that in certain years they decide to move, and when millions of these guys start to move it can be real annoying. Back in 2006 there was a city which had an invasion, meaning approx 100 millipedes per squaremeter... Hopefully I won't have any issues with them.

Devv said:
That first critter looks like the borers I see in my Mesquite BBQ wood, I'm sure it's a different type though.

As usual plants are looking fantastic Balázs!

Thanks for stopping by, Scott! To be honest, I have kind of neglected them...I guess this is the key for success. :-)

Devv said:
Looking good as usual Balázs!

When do they hit the dirt?

Thanks, Scott! I am planning to plant them out when the night temps will be above 59 F (15 Celsius). This will be somewhere between the 1st and the mid of May. Hopefully rather around the 1st. :-)

Nulle said:
Good looking plants.

Thanks :-)

Devv · Mar 28, 2014

I guess maybe I push mine a little too hard in the spring, I shoot for most nights above 50°.

I'm sure during that time they set nice roots, at least I hope they do