• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

JJJ 2013 Glog- C'est fini. -awmost.

So,I may as well grow them, eh?

I started back gardening last year, but I left it to my co-gardener mostly to come up with pepper plants. We had some Bells, and Cayenne, a Carrot pepper, a black Jap, Hungarian sweet, maybe a Bullnose, Then I bought a 4 pack each of Anaheims and Jimmy Nardellos. I set out a little Shoshito start in July and it had a lot of fruit considering. Nothing here to write home about. The Jimmy's did ok. 2 of the Anaheims weren't true (and a cow at half of one of them), one did ok. The last one I planted in a new asparagus bed and the first week some sucky bug drilled it right in forehead and wilted the top. I started to pull it out, but thought, "no harm to leave it to see what would happen". I pinched the wilt off. That pepper forked an by frost it had held its own with the asparagus which hit about 6 foot. I pulled the whole plant day before frost, and it had about 50 nice peppers on it. I blistered and smoked them all.
zvyniq.jpg
.

But this year I'm gonna be pepper pro-active. Thanks to Durham Bull, I have a treasure house of Capscium genes -Bhuts, Scorpions, and the likes -none of which I'd ever heard of a year ago. The generosity of this community seems to only be matched by it passion for peppers. I dig it. Plus I was in at another site with an online seed blind swap and ended up with some mildly hot goodies.

Well I've never grown a pepper from seed. Never. So yet another new door. Bought a heat mat, I've got onions about to come off it now. After Spicy Chicken's glog, I liked his grow station and thought I'd buy some shelves and put overhead fluorescent on them. I had a domestic conversation about where to put the shelves and lost amicably. So I guess I'll have to finally clean out my toolshed after only 4 years to make room.

27y1gmo.jpg


It has a skylight about, 30" x 96", but no heat, no electricity. But I think I can get by with an extension cord, and will have to pick up a little propane heater to knock the chill off. Peppers aren't safe outside here until mid-May.

Yesterday, I got my shelves assembled with one light installed - a 4x4' T8 fixture w/ 6500ks.

96ccnl.jpg


Plan is to wire them on to a gang of light switches, maybe a timer, cover it with Reflectrix movable curtains, some small fans.

I'd appreciate any advice, especially since I'm in the early build phase.

I'm shooting for about 100-150 plants if there's room -some to wind up in rows, some in beds, some into containers, some to share

A friend is sending me some more seeds today I believe, so I'll be closer to a final grow list when I see what that brings.

Thanks for reading and for any words of wisdom you can share.
 
Click to expand...
My biggest problem with Miracle Gro is that it feeds the Monsanto Monster. When I can get Happy Frog for about the same price and get great results it just makes me feel better.
 
+ everyone else' 1s the HF soil I tested was the closest competitor to the MG last year. The plants I grew in it (both Manzanos) did very well.

I used this one:
http://www.roguehydro.com/foxfarm-happy-frog-potting-soil-2-cu-ft/?ref=lexity&_vs=google&_vm=productsearch&adtype=pla&gclid=CITQq56CtrYCFaF7QgodGmIAhg

I think with a tiny bit of teaking it would be a dead heat...ummm without the dead part. For me (living in a desert) the MGs heavy peat and moisture control pellets made my drip system more effective by wicking moisture and distributing to the roots evenly. I think with a touch of added peat or coir and the right feeding schedule the HF is a great alternative. Your forest compost mix shows some promise...I would have it analyzed and do what it takes to make the nutes comparable then go for the MG feel by plussing up the peat and adding some perlite and you will be really close to a winner.
 
I LOVE that composting bed, Carl. I've really considered bokashi . . . and less considered hügelkultur, really want to consider composting toilets but would have to get divorced first :rolleyes: . "Whaaaaaaaaaaa???!!!!!!!!!" Thought he was gonna have a seizure.

Also, while I agree with Carson on Monsanto, 100%, evil bastards, yet I guess with Monsanto, it's like used to see, with factories around here (when there were), black smoke billowing from stacks and going shell on that, but the wispy, nearly invisible stuff was what they were illegally burning off. It's the devil we don't know.

With that said, am gonna hit 5th in A-ville to get some HF for my 5-1-1-1 or 5-1-1-1-1 mix for containers. But if I have to give up a body part to pay for it, am using MG since it's only 1 part of it. Your results speak and tickled you're not giving up on your own mix, Carl. Your first season grow hardly looks like a 1st! But I know you'll stay hungry, continue experimenting, which inspires me. Thank you: greatest gift one can give another is inspiration! ;)

stc3248 said:
I used this one:
http://www.roguehydr...CFaF7QgodGmIAhg
Click to expand...

Carl, called 5th last week, kept info in my log: they have that HF 2 cu. ft. for around 23 bucks. (Have lots of other HF too.) But . . . they were sold out, expecting more in this weekend or next week. Shane, considering gas, that's a great price including shipping!
 
Thanks for the info and encouragement.

KiNG, $5/1.5 cf is a steal. I paid about $10/cf.

I would like to get a close look at the Happy Frog, but it may have to wait.

I'm very curious as to how their (MG's) wetting agent works. Like does it, the sphagnum and coir, lose their wetting agent action once it is wetted and then dried out."
The MG soil seems to be ground finer than you find typical and more aggressive about resisting water than soaking it up -hence the "control" aspect perhaps. It's as if the fine grind and wetting agent do opposite things but complement each other. I wonder if it is soaked in a weak nutrient solution and then dried compounded by the time release pellets.. Research.

The "[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]hügelkultur" aka Sawyer's Pond is heating up. We got about an inch of rain followed by slushy flurries the day after I filled it and the day after that the temp was above 90° at about 4" deep. I fluffed it with a fork, found a few dry places and gave it a drink of humic, Cal/Mag, seaweed very diluteTea. Just want to make sure no microbe goes home hungry. [/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Potted up the last of my tomato sprouts except for some Cherokee Purples. Which puts me at, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes combined, right at 512 plants. Plus some extras.[/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]I started re-potting some of the slow-poke peppers in the MG, before leaving for the week end just to see what would happen. They had a healthy, vigorous root system, it just wasn't translating into lush, bushy plants. [/background]

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]Going to have to start culling or apply for a spot on that show about Hoarders it looks like.[/background]
 
I dig your MG experiment. I too try to avoid MG products. I've been researching organic wetting agents as I believe they are the key to MGs moisture control's effectiveness. Many of the weed growers are now using yucca extract or aloe extract as a wetting agent. They also work as surfacants. I've even heard that aloe contains amino acids that act as growth hormones for plants. I plan on experimenting with both this season.

Here's a pretty cool article on the bad and good sides of wetting agents:

http://jerry-coleby-williams.blogspot.com/2007/02/wetting-agents-are-you-buying-trouble.html?m=1
 
Hey, Dshlogg. I was just about in your neighborhood yesterday, Fredrick, MD getting a truck. Yes surfacant. I'd heard of yucca but not. aloe. Interesting.
So does it make sense that if you want your nutes to permeate every pore of a fine particulate you would put the nutes in solution with the surfacant and grow medium? Presumably, the as the water evaporates, the nutes crystallize out of solution and lodge in the pore structure of the medium. Hence the soil structure itself is chewing the plant's food for them -a higher/deeper nutrient integration level.
Just thinking out loud.

Shane, as a zone 6er, I'm developing a bad case of plant-out envy.
 
Interesting article Dshlogg, the great thing about these glogs is all the information shared.

JJ, I have read that dry molasses is great to add to compost to get things fired up. Anyone have any input on this?

I've used horse manure as an amendment for years, if it doesn't get hot enough to kill the weed seeds all kinds of things popup...been there done that, but you've got heat going on there which is good.

Here's to an early spring!

Scott
 
Ahhh beautiful Frederick, MD. I'm just a few miles south of there.

I'm pretty convinced that we should all be incorporating some kind of wetting agent into our arsenals. Surfactants are what make wetting agents work. Leaves, roots and many types of soil have poor wettability due to oils on their surface. When we foliar feed the solution beads up because of surface tension. Very little if any solution is absorbed into the leaf's pores because of this tension. The droplets just evaporate and leave residue behind but only in a small spot. The same occurs in our soil with most of the water and nutes just rolling off the roots and soil and draining beyond the root zone. Surfactants break that surface tension allowing water to evenly coat the surface and penetrate the leaf's pores. In the soil they allow water and nutes to be absorbed that would otherwise be repelled and lost. This lowers the amount of water needed to wet the soil. It also retains the water longer. Only downside is the cost of wetting agents is pretty steep. I've seen yucca extract for as much as $100 a gallon. Too rich for my blood. That's one reason why I'm looking into aloe. I wonder if anyone on here has tried it.
 
Yeah I'm thinking some aloe experiments may be in the waking. But the more I think about it and become informed,
I'm thinking water and air management is where it's at. A guy named Al on the Gardenweb has blown my mind with his thread, Container Soils - Water Movement & Retention XV

I'll let my brain chew on it a while.

Well my chiluns got some sun to day.

IMAG1351.jpg


They are still a little on the jaundice side but trying to come around.

This Goat's Weed is getting a little to big for his britches.

IMAG1356.jpg


He may find himself cloned.



I worked on this bed today

IMAG1357.jpg


Could end up with some peppers in it. Who knows.

I chopped the winter kale today. It was setting to bloom and be invaded by harlequin beetles.

IMAG1359.jpg


I blanched a couple of batches for the freezer.

This should last until the new sprouts make good.

Thanks for reading.
JJJ
 
Sorry, missed this earlier. I get the Happy Frog potting mix, not the soil conditioner. It's 16.99 for 2 cu ft at my local nursery, Green Thumb, but it's probably cheaper here being that it is from California. The same nursery sells MG MC for $10 for 1 cu ft. I've not really used anything other than the HF, some terrible cheap stuff that was $8.99 for 2 cu ft, and some ill adviced mixtures I tried to make myself. Once I had great results with the HF I haven't looked back. Maybe I'm not the best one to look to for advice on that ;)
 
Carl just catching up now, great disscussions your experiment has spawned ... reading your link and Dshlogg's now. Great updates and I agree with you, don't give up on your soil or compost ... keep up dat great grow :)

Edit: BTW I have a ton of Aloe we grow, mainly for medicinal purposes
 
Good morning, Peppernation!



My herd got their first full day of sun yesterday and seemed happy when I made it home.
Due to some projected storm activity I penned them up for the night otherwise I think 60° overnight would have been OK.

This is about 2/3 of the flock -peppers, maters, aubergines, bee balm, parsley, a few rhubarbs. (basil's on the way). I have 21 flats at about 32 plants per flat which is... let's see.... well it's....( 2 times 1 and 3 times 2 and 2 times 2...).... well it's over 150 plants.

I'm almost sure of it.

We're back to working on the irrigation project.



I'm catching rain water in 3 55gal barrels plumbed together as my cistern, and for storage, I have a big tank on top of the hill above my gardens and little orchard.
We got a well pump in the cistern yesterday, and Joe, our shop foreman is wiring it up.
I'm gonna put in a temporary 55 gal barrel just above my raised beds, hopefully today, to keep my onions and asparagus happy at least.

Thanks for reading,
JJJ

P.S. Sawyer's Pond hit 128° yesterday. :D
Fungi are going through it like wild fire.
 
JJJessee said:
Good morning, Peppernation!
Click to expand...
Good Morning back at ya!
JJJessee said:
My herd got their first full day of sun yesterday and seemed happy when I made it home.
Due to some projected storm activity I penned them up for the night otherwise I think 60° overnight would have been OK.
Click to expand...
Wow, great to read that weather is getting better for you, full day is awesome!
JJJessee said:
We're back to working on the irrigation project.
I'm catching rain water in 3 55gal barrels plumbed together as my cistern, and for storage, I have a big tank on top of the hill above my gardens and little orchard. … …
Click to expand...
Very cool, I love capturing rain and am so surprised we don’t do that here in FL, in da city I can only use buckets :/ I remember the first roof top capture system I saw & helped put together in the Caribbean as a young boy for one of my Bahamian friends dad … I found the whole thing ingenious, hat’s off to ya mon \o_
JJJessee said:
P.S. Sawyer's Pond hit 128° yesterday. :D
Fungi are going through it like wild fire.
Click to expand...
What no pond picture ;)
 
Great update, JJJ. Plants are looking good and those photos look very "springish". I like your rainwater collection system. I really should set one up. Even though it's not that expensive to pump water from 80' down, it's cheaper still to move it around on the surface, and I did hit the limit of what my well can produce a couple of years ago. (Thought I did last year, too, but that turned out just to be a kinked hose hidden under some bushes.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top