Highalt's 2012 Grow Log

xcphantom · Mar 9, 2012

yep 2-4 days i kinda laugh when i see people spend 1000s on grow lights fertilizers grow mats and stuff like that and it takes like 3 weeks for germination. most of my seed is done germinating after 7-10 days most germinate before then though.
btw you can look inside those pellet/pot things your using to see if something germinated earlier i use those sometimes ( i forget the name of them lol ) and it takes a few days for a sprout to come out of the dirt after germination but with those things your using you can see them before they become sprouts

PaulG · Mar 10, 2012

"So I ended up with 38 out of 48 seeds germinating, which gives me a 79% germination rate on the chinense and baccatums. I think the annuum rate will be higher. "

I'd say that's a great germ rate! You should have all the
fun you can stand when t's time to pot up! Good luck
going forward.

highalt · Mar 15, 2012

HELP!!!

I am losing sprouts to what I think is damping off. They looked fine in the Rapid Rooters, but then I potted some of them up last week in a mixture of 2/3 Happy Frog Potting Mix, and 1/2 Jiffy Seed Starting Mix. I am sure I am guilty of overwatering, which I will now cut back on.

Here is what the ones in the Rapid Rooters look like:

Here is what MOST of the ones I potted up look like:

Yesterday, I lost my Zavory with the 3 cotyledons, and today I found these two:

The leaves are withering on this one

Sorry this picture is so blurry, but the seedling is so tiny that the camera would not focus on it. The stem has collapsed at the soil level - classic damping off. Grrrrrr!!!!!

So my question is, other than cutting back on watering, and opening the window to get some air flow, is there anything I can do to keep the damping off fungus from killing the rest of my sprouts?

bushwhackxj · Mar 15, 2012

I water my seedling from the bottom, which helps to keep the real soggy soil lower down. I haven't lost a single one this year out of approx. 80. There is also an anti fungal spray called "no-damp" I believe, that I've seen around. Never tried it though. Best of luck

romy6 · Mar 15, 2012

You know that soil looks awfully wet Bonnie. Ease up and they should bounce back. Might want to add some aggregate to the soil as well.

Jamie

highalt · Mar 15, 2012

romy6 said:
You know that soil looks awfully wet Bonnie. Ease up and they should bounce back. Might want to add some aggregate to the soil as well.

Jamie

Not exactly sure what you mean by aggregate. I have some aquatic planting media I inherited from a neighbor that moved that had a small pond with fish. It says it's a "unique blend of all-natural Zeolite, and Arcillite." No idea what that is, other than it doesn't float, or cloud pond water. Would that qualify as aggregate? Can I mix that in with the Happy Frog, or will I be creating concrete?

stickman · Mar 15, 2012

highalt said:
Not exactly sure what you mean by aggregate. I have some aquatic planting media I inherited from a neighbor that moved that had a small pond with fish. It says it's a "unique blend of all-natural Zeolite, and Arcillite." No idea what that is, other than it doesn't float, or cloud pond water. Would that qualify as aggregate? Can I mix that in with the Happy Frog, or will I be creating concrete?

Hi Bonnie
Aggregate just means sand or fine gravel. I'd suggest sharp sand if you can get it. It opens up the soil and lets air in to the roots.like the matrix in your rapid rooters. I started with just Hoffman's seed starting mix which I think is just peat moss and ground mica... maybe a little sharp sand. When the seedlings got their third set of true leaves I sprinkled a little rock phosphate (powdered phosphate bearing rock) on top of the soil.

highalt · Mar 17, 2012

bushwhackxj said:
I water my seedling from the bottom, which helps to keep the real soggy soil lower down. I haven't lost a single one this year out of approx. 80. There is also an anti fungal spray called "no-damp" I believe, that I've seen around. Never tried it though. Best of luck

I haven't seen the "no-damp" stuff before, but I'll keep my eye out for it.

I let the soil get good and dry this time, and then bottom watered the ones that needed it. I also sprinkled that Zeolite stuff on the top of soil on the ones that still looked pretty wet. It absorbs the moisture, and it is sort of sharp, so maybe it will decrease the growth of the fungus. Haven't lost any more sprouts, so I think I'm on the right track.

On an unrelated topic, some of you may remember my plot at community garden last year. Here is a picture taken early in the summer last year.

At the end of the season last year, I bought a bag of alfalfa pellets from the local ranch & feed store and spread it out on the plot to add a little nutrition to the soil. Yesterday, I picked up 10 bags of organic mushroom compost, and today I spent several hours digging up all the weeds that grew over the winter, and raking all of the ammendments into the soil, including all of the straw that I had mulched with last year that had broken down. This will be my fourth year there, and I have to say, I think I've finally started to make a dent in that heavy clay. The soil turned over so much easier this time!

We have 8 more weeks until our last frost date, but I could plant some cold hardy stuff now, except for the fact that they won't turn the irrigation water on until the first week of May. I guess if I wanted to haul water over there, I could get started ...

jsschrstrcks · Mar 17, 2012

haha now thats dedication... I have this image of you hauling 5g buckets across town to the garden... lol

any way hope whatever you decide works out well, and glad to hear the dreaded damping off has been corrected.

highalt · Mar 17, 2012

Hey, I'm just dumb enough to do it!

Forgot to mention that the temperature has been in the upper 60's all week. Of course, as I'm finishing up over there the wind starts kicking up, so I come home and check the weather website. We've got wind gusts over 35 mph now, 60% chance of rain tomorrow, with the possibility of it changing over to snow tomorrow night. Thankfully, no accumulation expected. High for Monday, upper 30's. Sigh ... springtime in the Rockies.

stc3248 · Mar 17, 2012

Glad you got it figured out! I would have said too much soil...

highalt said:
I potted some of them up last week in a mixture of 2/3 Happy Frog Potting Mix, and 1/2 Jiffy Seed Starting Mix.

I think you were using 1/6th too much???

You could always haul a 55 gallon drum full of water up there and that would last you a bit. if you could set it up high enough you could get decent pressure for a gravity feed...once they turn on the plumbing you could turn the drum into a nice composter for you to keep at your plot.

Looking forward to some pics of the little guys now that they're feeling better...
Shane

jsschrstrcks · Mar 17, 2012

Not to be a jerk here... But:

highalt · Mar 17, 2012

Ha! Your lows look like our highs. Hey, what website is that?

I doubt I'll plant as much in the way of cool season crops this year. The broccoli and cauliflower were real space hogs, and we all know that I need more space for peppers!!!

jsschrstrcks · Mar 17, 2012

From the weather channel. I search google for weather 34(zipcode goes here)7.

I receive three options back - weather channel, weather underground, and someplace else... I always just click on weather channel.

stickman · Mar 19, 2012

highalt said:
I doubt I'll plant as much in the way of cool season crops this year. The broccoli and cauliflower were real space hogs, and we all know that I need more space for peppers!!!

How about onions? They don't need much water or attention at first, and they don't need much space either.

highalt · Mar 19, 2012

Not a bad idea Stickman! I usually squeeze a few onions in the tiny vegetable bed here at the house, but in the fall I planted garlic in that spot, so I was thinking I wouldn't have any onions this year. The other thing I thought about doing at the community garden this year is using some t-posts and CRW to create a trellis on one side of the garden to grow pole beans, but I could maybe squeeze in a crop of peas there too.

Spent the day, potting up pepper sprouts ... clean laundry is highly overrated anyway.

This guy was ready for a bigger home

Here is a shot of all of them

As you can see here, the windowsill where my overwintering peppers were has now been taken over by the new kids on the block.

A couple of close-ups

Tomorrow I'll try and install that other light underneath the grow table for the overwintering peppers.

highalt · Mar 20, 2012

stc3248 said:
I think you were using 1/6th too much???

Haha! Just caught that! Should have read 1/3, not 1/2. Glad you were paying attention!

Got the second light installed this morning. Not really a big deal, even for someone like myself, who is mechanically challenged.

At the moment all that's under there are a few overwintering pepper plants. I'm a little concerned about the vent down there once the A/C gets turned on, but for now I think it will be okay.

stc3248 · Mar 20, 2012

Nice setup there! I am running the exact same T8's! Wally world?

highalt · Mar 20, 2012

stc3248 said:
Nice setup there! I am running the exact same T8's! Wally world?

Thanks ... and yep, Wally World. BTW, I'm pretty sure my other half still hasn't noticed the new light fixtures.

Did you happen to notice the ice trays underneath the trays, LOL? The trays are longer than the table is deep, so I was trying to raise them up to be level with the windowsill. Hmmm ... does that quality under ghetto growing?

stc3248 · Mar 20, 2012

I thought that's what those were...wasn't sure. My lights didn't get quite low enough for my trays initially either. I used pizza boxes to raise them up. Now that the plants are bigger its not an issue. That's absolutely 100% ghetto grower!