Devv said:
Glad you're getting more hooks, not much else one can do on a day like this but stare at the plants...
Speaking of helmet surgery...I clipped the edge of one and its cotys broke through. The helmet now is around the stem and so tiny I'm afraid to kill the plant, it's a NagaBrain F3 and would hate to lose it...Any ideas?
You have to be careful with the collars. I had a plant try to grow out and it got its own collar around the coty. I took two toothpicks to pull the collar apart. The coty continues to look rough, but the plant is putting out trues now, so it should be okay.
If it is just around the stem, I'd nip at it until you break through. There should be space between the stem and the helmet to do so. I would leave it but not sure if it would keep that part of the stem too wet.
maximumcapsicum said:
Man, coty surgery sounds intense. I have a couple helmet heads... about a third are coming up that way... guess I didn't bury them deep enough or keep them wet enough. Last year I didn't do anything and the seedling basically stifled... how did you go about clipping it Devv?
Sorry for the hijack! Interesting in methods of helmet surgery.
I had bad helmets last year, but that might have been because I used root riot sponges. I don't bury mine too deep either and had just a few helmets this season so far. It is a fine line when that hook is trying to pull free of the dirt to spread its coty. Sometimes I have let them go and they just don't make it and rot. I have had one helmet that came up that the coty rotted in and that was just this morning. When I cut off a helmet I go into the bathroom where the light is the brightest. I try to see the coty inside the shell. I nip around the edges and try to open the helmet a bit. Gotta be careful of the coty and of the stem itself. All but a couple of my helmets worked themselves off and all I did was to spritz em a few times a day.
Devv said:
I've had helmets no matter how deep or wet I plant, they just happen. The Annuum's seem to work their way through better....or atleast have for me this season.
Actually Jeff mentioned using nail clippers to clip the very edge, I gave it a try and still caught a tiny, tiny piece of the cotys, but it didn't hurt it any. I also try gently squeezing with tweezers, some pop open, some don't. And it's always a gamble, but so is doing nothing.
No matter what you do, if it doesn't work out you're like darn it I should have waited, and if you wait and it dies, you're mad at yourself again. I think its a gut thing.
I fish a lot. Generally just to have something to mix in with my hot peppers when I eat them
Indiana has a Fish of the Year program where you send in pictures of verified catches of certain species for a shot at fish of the year for that species. I got five fish of the year this year, the same number I got last year. Only went back to back on two species though, Sauger and Rockbass.
Also bagged my biggest crappie ever.
And now the not so glamorous fish, but they fought well.
And they also give away patches for your jacket. I have only entered for 4 years and I am up to 11 patches.
