ikeepfish's 2014 grow log...season's end is nigh

Dhfreak82 · Jun 18, 2014

Nice plants. Im growing the pmd also. That fatali is really nice

JJJessee · Jun 18, 2014

I'm a big fan of Ocean Forest. Great results for raising seedlings this year.

I'm may go cold turkey on it though(except for a bag I keep hidden for an emergency) and continue to experiment with compost, worm castings, S. moss, and perlite amended with gypsum, Tomato Tone, kelp meal, granite dust, and maybe neem meal(for insecticidal purposes) plus some other goodies.

The Reapers are lookin' NICE.

Helvete · Jun 19, 2014

Ok sorry about the wait, these afternoon thunderstorms are getting a little ridiculous. Here is "tornado alley" of Virginia, the fronts move across the Blue Ridge and develop into brutal storms as they drop in altitude, I'm right at he front lines of it...often it even misses me. We have problems if they come from the southeast...that usually means hurricanes/tropical storm weather. We can see mountains from my road. I live near the upper right hand tip of the I-64 symbol.

Got a lot of shots of my annuum plants I went out and plucked buds from as many of them as I could stand before the storms moved in.

Sangria with one pod ripening. These are going to look amazing in a few weeks with all the different colors

Czechoslovakian black is starting to do something

Jalapeno

1st Poinsettia was topped, second was not. Both are doing well. They took almost ten minutes to pluck buds off of them. I probably won't do it anymore and let them do their thing

NuMex Big Jim, probably going to pluck buds for another few weeks from this one.

Orange bell. Definitely a lot of plucking on this one (or two, it was actually a twin from one seedling and both are alive). I can't stand when you only get a couple of pods off of them.

Some organic squash

Who likes blackberries? Look at all of 'em! Some of the top chutes are 10ft+ tall

can I get a bump?

Runescape · Jun 19, 2014

Bump, that sangria looks fuckin awesome already, dude...

Helvete · Jun 19, 2014

Thanks! It does look pretty sweet. I bought that Sangria live from Lowe's and it didn't say whether it was a hybrid or not, I'm probably going to start seeds from the first pod and start growing it immediately to see what happens. I'll probably try to grow them as a window plant over the winter.

Ok some shots of my speedy FATALII

Flowering

aaaand at the risk of crossposting, this is too cool to not have in my glog. This plant is only around 4 months old...look at the size of the stem on it

I wouldn't be surprised if it's already rooted through most of the 20 inch pot :dance:

This is my Fatalii seed plant for sure. It's grown so ridiculously fast.

OCD Chilehead · Jun 19, 2014

Plants are looking great. Thanks for the pics. I hope the thunder storms mellow out for you.

Helvete · Jun 19, 2014

JJJessee said:
I'm a big fan of Ocean Forest. Great results for raising seedlings this year.

I'm may go cold turkey on it though(except for a bag I keep hidden for an emergency) and continue to experiment with compost, worm castings, S. moss, and perlite amended with gypsum, Tomato Tone, kelp meal, granite dust, and maybe neem meal(for insecticidal purposes) plus some other goodies.

The Reapers are lookin' NICE.

Do you add neem directly to the soil? I honestly haven't needed any pesticide outside *yet* this year for my outside plants. The japanese beetles are leaving them alone (they like the blackberry bushes for sure) and I have hordes of assassin bugs clearing out aphids and caterpillars. And each other. Apparently they're cannibals XD

My next round of seedlings I'm going to make something very similar to Ocean Forest based on what they have listed as ingredients. I already have most of it available, I wouldn't even have to buy anything. I have a bale of perlite just lying around I just didn't really need to use it because the horse compost is so fluffy.

OCD Chilehead said:
Plants are looking great. Thanks for the pics. I hope the thunder storms mellow out for you.

They're ok for the most part as long as the temperature keeps up...tornadoes are no fun though. Every afternoon around 3:30-5:00 it's almost expected that we'll have a chance of thunderstorms in June and July. August is usually bone dry and super hot XD

JJJessee · Jun 20, 2014

+i on the assasins. I don't set them often.

I know people on THP must think I'm an apostle for the Ganja Girl, but I swear I've never seen soil come out as good as her recipe. It has a lot of flexiblity, once you understand her thinking.

On the neem cake, you have to let it break down in the soil for at least a month to avoid burn. Using neem oil in the soil is not recommended. I'm not convinced there is a dramatic affect from the neem cake, but wouldn't hurt to investigate.

Dhfreak82 · Jun 20, 2014

ikeepfish said:
My next round of seedlings I'm going to make something very similar to Ocean Forest based on what they have listed as ingredients. I already have most of it available, I wouldn't even have to buy anything. I have a bale of perlite just lying around I just didn't really need to use it because the horse compost is so fluffy.

Very nice I like your style. Why pay 17 a bag when you can probably mix it yourself. What's the best source for organic calcium in your opinion?

Helvete · Jun 20, 2014

Dhfreak82 said:
Very nice I like your style. Why pay 17 a bag when you can probably mix it yourself. What's the best source for organic calcium in your opinion?

Well water!!!

besides that, kelp,and self-ground bones/antlers. I have a friend that makes knives out of re-purposed saw blades and AR plating and he often uses antlers for hilts. He has a lot of scrap left over after cutting the antlers and gave me a brown grocery bag filled about halfway with them. I took a 4" grinder and ground them down to powder into a large bin with the rope handles (wearing a dust mask/safety glasses of course). I only used it on a couple of my plants but I swear the ones that got it are showing it. I'm sure the powder breaks down much faster than the pelleted kind does. Bones also contain phosphorus, Kelp has your potassium.

JJJessee said:
+i on the assasins. I don't set them often.

I know people on THP must think I'm an apostle for the Ganja Girl, but I swear I've never seen soil come out as good as her recipe. It has a lot of flexiblity, once you understand her thinking.

On the neem cake, you have to let it break down in the soil for at least a month to avoid burn. Using neem oil in the soil is not recommended. I'm not convinced there is a dramatic affect from the neem cake, but wouldn't hurt to investigate.

I used to see the black and red assassins every once in a while and figured they were a kind of walking stick bug. The big 2" ones with the saw looking thing on their back I always though were cool just never really knew what they did until I saw one decimating a hornworm a few years ago

Devv · Jun 20, 2014

Lot's of good info and pics going on here!

Wish I had stopped in earlier!

Manassas? I lived there from '86 until late '87, bull run was in the backyard of the houses across the street. Worked in Alexandria, was just too much civilization for me. Had to get back to rural Tejas

Keep doing what you're doing!

Helvete · Jun 22, 2014

Devv said:
Lot's of good info and pics going on here!

Wish I had stopped in earlier!

Manassas? I lived there from '86 until late '87, bull run was in the backyard of the houses across the street. Worked in Alexandria, was just too much civilization for me. Had to get back to rural Tejas

Keep doing what you're doing!

Thanks! I lived in Manassas from '99 to '05. I lived across the street from what is now the Bull Run Library on Ashton Ave. I prefer a more suburban area to live in, this rural life is growing on me but I'm too much of an extrovert to really enjoy living back here a 1/2 mile in the woods...I have a hard time connecting with people around here too, I have to go to Charlottesville or Richmond to really find anyone that I feel like I can relate to rather than potentially be related to.

I got a couple of shots

My new helper

another helper, I've been watching her for a good month or so...she's a nursery web spider

and she finally laid her egg sac that she's been carrying on one of my Fatalii plants!

Also, pertaining to the assassin bugs, I found out that the black and red ones ARE the 2" ones I see...it's the nymph of Arilus cristatus or the wheel bug. They're at the top of the insect food chain because of their armor and will even take out a mantis if the odds are in its favor :shocked:

From wikipedia (also the image):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arilus_cristatus

A_Wheel_bug_%28Arilus_cristatus%29_eating_a_Japanese_beetle_%28Popillia_japonica%29.jpg

"Wheel bugs are highly regarded by organic gardeners because they consume a variety of insects and their presence indicates a healthy, pesticide-free ecosystem. "They’re the lion or the eagle of your food web,” Dr. Michael J. Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland, notes. “They sit on top. When you have these big, ferocious predators in your landscape, that tells me that this is a very healthy landscape, because all these other levels in your food web are intact.”[1]"

JJJessee · Jun 23, 2014

Awesome shot!
Japanese Beetle -down for the count!

After I told you I hadn't seen one in a while, I saw an assassin the very next day. It had the red spot.
Let the beetle stabbing begin. If I can find it again, I may move it to my raised bed area where there's better hunting.

Helvete · Jun 29, 2014

Ok, a taste of things to come, a little bit of pod porn. The speedy Fatalii is loaded, and I mean loaded right now and doesn't show any signs of letting up. Several others have started blooming over the last few days, and an Aji Pineapple has pods set as well. I've been slowly working on building a flower isolation cage out of tulle and PVC pipe to replace my old panty hose method, I just keep getting distracted and haven't finished yet.

Speedy FATALII look at all the buds in the second pic...remember that's a 20" pot so the canopy spread on that plant is around 2 feet!

this Aji Pineapple is short and bushy and has some pods setting. This is my first season with any baccatum plants so I'm not sure what to expect with this one.

Pimenta de Neyde flowers

one of my Reapers had one bloom on it this morning, more to come. averaging 4 buds per node.

can I get a bump please?

Dhfreak82 · Jun 30, 2014

Bump for the huge fatali and pmd flowers

Helvete · Jun 30, 2014

Thanks! I'm not sure why sometimes it lets me post 10 and sometimes it doesn't *shrug* Maybe I should upgrade to Extreme...been thinking about it.

This White Bhut has been stalling but finally looks like it's about to take off

same with the Scorpions, all four are about the same...two are TS Morugas two are Chocolates

Ah, and here is pictured a very large female Latrodectus mactans the only deadly spider in Virginia. Normally I kill on sight with extreme prejudice but granted this one a pardon because she was devastating a beetle of some sort. If I see her in the open again she's toast XD

Ragnar · Jun 30, 2014

Garden helper #1 is pretty cool, but #2 with her brood is pretty friggin wicked to say the least! Great shot of the little ones. Peppers are looking great, and a lot of cool info in the trenches. Good luck with the rest of your season IKF. I'll have to make sure to check in again.

Edit: Leave your new friend be! You know where she is, she's not moving far, let her be! Just be mindful that she's there.

Thought two: I've found white peppers to be very sensitive, too. That bhut looks primed and ready to go though.

Helvete · Jul 4, 2014

Not a whole lot going on right this minute other than I have some Fataliis looking like they'll ripen at any minute. Couple of plants have finally set pods, the Reaper isn't pollinating for some reason, not sure what's going on, maybe it was all the rain we got over the last few days.

Pimenta de Neyde

Aji Pineapple (I wasn't expecting these to grow upright, I'm in love!)

these are a couple of Nosegay plants that floricole sent me seeds for from Quebec. I've been plucking buds on them

AaronRiot said:
Garden helper #1 is pretty cool, but #2 with her brood is pretty friggin wicked to say the least! Great shot of the little ones. Peppers are looking great, and a lot of cool info in the trenches. Good luck with the rest of your season IKF. I'll have to make sure to check in again.

Edit: Leave your new friend be! You know where she is, she's not moving far, let her be! Just be mindful that she's there.

Thought two: I've found white peppers to be very sensitive, too. That bhut looks primed and ready to go though.

Yeah nursery web spiders are pretty cool, those little ones have dispersed over my entire grow area now, I've found at least one on every plant. The widow actually must have died because I found spiderlings where her nest was...I didn't kill them...per se...but I peed on them which might have done something. I don't tolerate widows...it's senseless to ignore them, there are so many other non lethal spiders here (basically any other type of spider in VA) that I don't have to put up with them. The White Bhut is actually a fast grower compared to some of the others...the white 7 pots are really sensitive it seems, they're super runts but slowly growing...they look healthy but are taking forever to grow a root mass.

sp33d · Jul 4, 2014

Dude your sangria plant looks ridiculous my man...awesome plant...everything else looks great as well.....

Helvete · Jul 5, 2014

Got a couple of more shots today

blistered out fatalii pod, these are almost ready to ripen

I spaced out my rows a bit and used the weed eater in between them (accidentally nicked a few of the sacks too, oh well.) as you can see a lot of my plants are still runts XD they are definitely rooting. Not a single one that I moved didn't have roots coming through the bottom of the sack

The raised bed

sp33d said:
Dude your sangria plant looks ridiculous my man...awesome plant...everything else looks great as well.....

THey have absolutely no neat at all, they taste like miniature bell peppers, I've already had some in salads