Jeff's Glog- 2015 edition.--In the dirt

Jeff H · Mar 19, 2015

Plantguy76 said:
Scott this reminds me of my friend John & his wife have fun Jamming out bud enjoy!
I culled my pineapple rocotos down to a chosen four did not soak seeds just put them in the dirt had to wait a good while and was worried I made a mistake but they finally started to come up.
As it is now I am sunburned and my plants have wind damage/stress etc form transplanting outside when it was in the 70s with some wind and occasionally gust lesson learned but I think they are going to make it
I am deciding what to plant next tomatoes are a given
How big is your aerogarden Jeff?
They have two sizes at Walmart and Menard's I am kinda interested in them.
Also what kind of tomatillos do you have?
I like to grow some garlic but it might be easier just to buy minced like I did last year
I like to grow some garlic but it might be easier just to buy minced like I did last year
Just Finished reading your glog Jeff you been a busy man a lot going on here .
Your plants are looking good best of luck this season!

-Aero garden is the 7 hole version. I picked mine up off of Fleabay. In hindsight, I didn't save much.
-The tomatillos I am growing are called Everona Tomatillo. I grew two types last year and these were my favorite of the two. Maybe I'll experiment with different types next year.
-Those pictures were of onions not garlic. My garlic has been outside in the garden since November. I just checked on them yesterday and they are all popping nicely. Both the hard top and the soft top.

stickman said:
+1 on that! I use a light soil-less mix for starting seedlings so they get enough air. Some folks add sharp sand to increase the pore sizes in the soil for that reason.

/Agree, the seed starting mix I have been using has a ton of medium perlite in it. Seeds need the moisture and the oxygen.

chocolatescotchbonnet said:
my cheap smoker....

not bad for $80
sowed 10 large orange thai seeds on march 1st....

Everyone needs a smoker. Yours looks nice for a smaller investment. L O Thai's look good man.

Jeff H · Mar 25, 2015

Here is the Giant rocotos 10 days later in the cheater tank. I can't leave them in much longer before their roots will get difficult to get out. 2-4 weeks tops.

A shot of the two overwinters. They look nice and healthy but on close inspection, I noticed some dying growth tips on the rocoto. Grabbed my 60x glass and sure enough, mites....Again. I sprayed it down real good and gave the other 4 rocoto babies a bath too just to be safe. I didn't notice any other issues but now that have seen them, I'll have to spray for a while to make sure they are exterminated.

Overall shot of the total grow. Right now, only onions, tomatoes and peppers (hot and sweet).

I cranked the MH light up to 100% last week so now there is all 600 watts keeping the plants going until I put them outside. They go out on the deck somewhere around May 1st, depending on the weather, to harden off and in the dirt around Mother's day.

Pulpiteer · Mar 25, 2015

sorry to hear about the mites, but glad you caught them. How do you think they got in?

I overwintered two Giant mexican rocotos this year because they didn't produce a ripe pod for me last year. I'm really hoping I can get one this year - I am anxious to see how they taste!

stickman · Mar 29, 2015

Nice save with the mites Jeff! How much longer do you think until you plant outside? You're gonna love that grill! It's great for smoking peppers too.. just line the grates with foil to keep the peppers from falling through and make a small fire with about a dozen briquets on one side and have the peppers on the other. That way they'll smoke but not so much cook.

Jeff H · Apr 4, 2015

Pulpiteer said:
sorry to hear about the mites, but glad you caught them. How do you think they got in?

I overwintered two Giant mexican rocotos this year because they didn't produce a ripe pod for me last year. I'm really hoping I can get one this year - I am anxious to see how they taste!

stickman said:
Nice save with the mites Jeff! How much longer do you think until you plant outside? You're gonna love that grill! It's great for smoking peppers too.. just line the grates with foil to keep the peppers from falling through and make a small fire with about a dozen briquets on one side and have the peppers on the other. That way they'll smoke but not so much cook.

Thanks for stopping in guys. Yes, the mites suck, but the monzano seems to be recovering nicely. Lots of new growth sprouting a week after I sprayed so I think I got them. I'll spray again though in another week or so.

Rick, the plant out time around here is Mother's day so about a month to go.

Today I potted up everything else that was still in the starter pots. 35 tomatoes and 15-20 annuums. Everything is in 3.5"-4.5" pots and the grow room is full full full. I hope nothing has to be potted up to 5" pots before plant out.

Up close of the rocotos.

I pulled the 3 giant rocotos out of the Aerogarden. They are looking nice.

Annuums and tomatillos

Been super busy this spring so that is all the time I have for updates. Just glad I haven't killed the plants from neglect yet. Almost there.

stickman · Apr 5, 2015

I hear ya Jeff... C'mon spring! Your Manzano tribe is looking most excellent, I hope you have good luck getting in a decent harvest from them. Cheers!

PaulG · Apr 5, 2015

Nice slew of peppers, Jeff! The grow shelf looks great.

+1 Rick - the Manzanos are awesome.

Trident chilli · Apr 5, 2015

Great bit of potting up Jeff ... really nice looking healthy plants especially the rocotos

Pulpiteer · Apr 14, 2015

Jeff H said:
Today I potted up everything else that was still in the starter pots. 35 tomatoes and 15-20 annuums. Everything is in 3.5"-4.5" pots and the grow room is full full full. I hope nothing has to be potted up to 5" pots before plant out.

Annuums and tomatillos

Man, those shots are looking great!
It's getting into that time of year where you just hope you don't burst at the seams before plant out.

Your plants are looking wonderful!

Jeff H · Apr 14, 2015

stickman said:
I hear ya Jeff... C'mon spring! Your Manzano tribe is looking most excellent, I hope you have good luck getting in a decent harvest from them. Cheers!

Me too Rick. For some reason, mites seem to be my biggest issue with those pubes. If I can keep the mites under control, it will be a good year. If not, I will get 3-4 peppers like last year. :rolleyes:

PaulG said:
Nice slew of peppers, Jeff! The grow shelf looks great.

+1 Rick - the Manzanos are awesome.

Thanks Paul. I've mostly ignored them for days at a time this year. Other than being a little smaller than last year, they are coming along nicely all by themselves.

Trident chilli said:
Great bit of potting up Jeff ... really nice looking healthy plants especially the rocotos

Thanks Trident. Thanks for stopping in.

Pulpiteer said:
Man, those shots are looking great!
It's getting into that time of year where you just hope you don't burst at the seams before plant out.

Your plants are looking wonderful!

Thanks Andy. Yep, I ran out of room. Good thing the temps look decent for April. See below.

So almost tax day means that onions hit the dirt. Around 200 white and red onions in the ground today. I probably have 100 spares but 200 in the ground is all I had room for in the ground. Photos when they get bigger. You can barely see them sticking out of the ground now. :confused:

Since I am out of room in the grow room, the most cool tolerant plants headed outside today to see some ~~sun~~ clouds. It will be a cloudy and rainy week. Perfect for the rocotos to get their first days outside without the harsh sun.

8 total. 1 o/w and 7 new rocotos. cleared up a bit of space under the lights for the other plants.

PaulG · Apr 14, 2015

Nice group of Rocotos - good luck with those this season, Jeff.

Is that a three- or five-gallon Root Pouch? I don't see any
handles, so I'm thinking 3?

Jeff H · Apr 18, 2015

PaulG said:
Nice group of Rocotos - good luck with those this season, Jeff.

Is that a three- or five-gallon Root Pouch? I don't see any
handles, so I'm thinking 3?

Thanks Paul. That is a 3 gallon. I put it in there when I trimmed it back to o/w it. It will go in either a 15, 25 gallon or in the dirt when plant out time comes. Here is some shots today.

After 4 days outside, they are pretty much fully hardened off. Got to love that 600W MH bulb. It puts out so much light that there isn't really much to the hardening off process.

These littler guys are in 4.5" pots.

Did a little potting up to 5" pots for the tomatillos and a few peppers. I'm trying to avoid the 5" pots due to how much soil they go through, but it was unavoidable for some. ---And probably many more in the next 3 weeks. :rolleyes:

These are my mystery pepper. Got them from pepper Guru thinking they were a type of jalapeno. Seeds were normal looking. These ain't no jal, that is for sure.

Forking and budding if you can see from the crappy out of focus pic. The bud looks purple. This will be interesting for sure.

A couple more pics coming, but they are taking for ever to upload for some reason so I'll post them later.

Scorched · Apr 18, 2015

Those are some really beautiful plants. Wish my ows looked half as good as that one of yours. Gotta love mystery plants. Always kinda exciting to see what you end up with

Jeff H · Apr 19, 2015

Scorched said:
Those are some really beautiful plants. Wish my ows looked half as good as that one of yours. Gotta love mystery plants. Always kinda exciting to see what you end up with

Well, truth be told, I only photograph the good looking ones. They don't all look that good, and some of them look like shit but they are still growing.

Finally got those photos to upload.

Here is a few of my growdown plants.

Shot of a red ghost but it could as well be any of my chinense. Look how closely spaced the nodes are. The MH light definitely is cranking out the lumens. All my chinense plants are short and dense.

Noticed this at Kroger today. I see curry in my future some time this week.

I'm a little hopeful that it will be hot. If not, I have plenty of powder to add.

Devv · Apr 19, 2015

Plants look great Jeff!

Glad you nailed the mites early too

Jeff H · Apr 20, 2015

Devv said:
Plants look great Jeff!

Glad you nailed the mites early too

Thanks Scott. Yes, I've sprayed a dozen plants or so for mites. Most only took real light damage. They are a pain, but are easy to kill if you know what to look for.

My wife said she didn't want to see any white chicken. I think I was successful. A dry rub of salt, chili powder, hot paprika, onion and garlic powder. all the ingredients

got cozy for 24 hours or so then seared on the grill.

$20.00 hoop house:
It is getting into the high 30s for the next couple of nights and I have a handful of plants hardened off and I don't want to bring them inside so a trip to Lowes and I am good to go. I'll likely bring the rest of the crew out in a few days if this is a success and get them hardened off in the new hoop house.

All buttoned up for the next few days.

Took about 10 minutes to build. I was rushed and didn't have any tools or I would have cut the hoops down. 10' conduit is too long for a 4' garden even if you bury 6". I'll likely cut a couple of feet off if I keep this for the fall or next spring.

There is enough room in here to harden off all the plants.

stickman · Apr 21, 2015

Nice looking low row cover Jeff... that'll ease the transition outside a lot! Great grillin' and lots to look forward to here this season! Have you tried the Ghost Pepper curry sauce yet?

Jeff H · Apr 25, 2015

stickman said:
Nice looking low row cover Jeff... that'll ease the transition outside a lot! Great grillin' and lots to look forward to here this season! Have you tried the Ghost Pepper curry sauce yet?

Thanks Rick. Haven't tried the curry yet. Soon though.

Lights are off. Took this pic right before I shut off the lights for the year yesterday.

Moved everything to the mini greenhouse.

It is a rainy day today so I took the row cover off so the plants could get some nice rain water, but for the most part, the low row cover will stay on for the next 2-3 weeks until plant out.

Pulpiteer · Apr 30, 2015

Where did you get the plastic for the hoop house? Very cool, looks like it works great.

gnslngr · Apr 30, 2015

Hey Jeff-
That stair railing turned out really nice-never that pattern "anglized" -looks cool.

That is 3rd aerogarden glog post tonight(finally stole some glog browsing time-though the bandwidth started to die off and the last page was just tops of pics), its got me hmmmmmmm'ing.....

Good luck on the plant out.