Meatfreak's 2016 GloG

meatfreak · Jun 28, 2016

stickman said:
Right now I'm too strapped for cash to think much about building one, but I can at least try to figure out whether it's more cost-effective to frame it with PVC pipe or galvanized steel fence rail. Cheers!

I've taken precautions for the excess water but I just hope it really stays dry for a while now. So the soil can finally dry up again

To be honest I've haven't follow up on the biochar, I just applied it and thats it hehe. You've seen the pictures from the past seasons so I would say it works.

I understand the cash issue but I would recommend going with galvanized steel. PVC is just more fragile and I don't think it would be so much cheaper. At least not here, then again polytunnels are a more common thing over here so easier to find/buy. Good luck with that project and if I can help out just let me know.

KiNGDeNNiZ said:
AT STEFAN. because of bugs..lol

You can put up a frame and instead of using plastic sheet you can use anti bug sheet?

GhostPepperz said:
Very nice operation! What will you do with all those peppers?

Thanks, I will eat and process those. Also sell to some trusted people cause I don't want the seeds to be spread yet.

queequeg152 · Jun 28, 2016

i like your greenhouse meat.

Devv · Jun 28, 2016

I feel ya on the weather.

We had a 15 year rain sequence here. I don't know just how much but over 6"s in 3 days on top of a whole bunch caused some tomato loss, they rotted on the vine. And my soil drains fairly well. What peppers didn't get eaten by the pack rats did OK, we lost about 2/3 of the peppers. I guess 2 wet seasons helped the rats, we trapped them, but the damage was done. The heavy rains came just 3 weeks before Garlic harvest, and the prior rains had the bulbs close to handball size. So they're rotting before they dry :confused:

I started breaking the larger ones apart, the stems were over an inch in diameter. So my bumper crop of Garlic, may just turn out to be barely enough. Never saw an Onion rot in the dirt before this year either...LOL

This year seems like a rough one for many of us.

I'm hoping you pull it through! And there's always next year

stickman · Jul 1, 2016

meatfreak said:
I understand the cash issue but I would recommend going with galvanized steel. PVC is just more fragile and I don't think it would be so much cheaper. At least not here, then again polytunnels are a more common thing over here so easier to find/buy. Good luck with that project and if I can help out just let me know.

You can put up a frame and instead of using plastic sheet you can use anti bug sheet?

OK... it won't be this year, but it'll be galvanized steel fence rail for the frame when it goes in. You bring up a good point on the coverings... I'd probably use the UV-stabilized plastic film to cover in the cold weather and swap it out for the lightest spun-bonded agricultural fabric when it warms up. Thanks for the advice.

meatfreak · Jul 5, 2016

queequeg152 said:
i like your greenhouse meat.

Thanks!

Devv said:
I feel ya on the weather.

We had a 15 year rain sequence here. I don't know just how much but over 6"s in 3 days on top of a whole bunch caused some tomato loss, they rotted on the vine. And my soil drains fairly well. What peppers didn't get eaten by the pack rats did OK, we lost about 2/3 of the peppers. I guess 2 wet seasons helped the rats, we trapped them, but the damage was done. The heavy rains came just 3 weeks before Garlic harvest, and the prior rains had the bulbs close to handball size. So they're rotting before they dry I started breaking the larger ones apart, the stems were over an inch in diameter. So my bumper crop of Garlic, may just turn out to be barely enough. Never saw an Onion rot in the dirt before this year either...LOL

This year seems like a rough one for many of us.

I'm hoping you pull it through! And there's always next year

Thanks, Scott. It's just a shame of all the work but luckily it has been a lot dryer these past days. Still it's far from summer we normally have. I even caught a cold lol

stickman said:
OK... it won't be this year, but it'll be galvanized steel fence rail for the frame when it goes in. You bring up a good point on the coverings... I'd probably use the UV-stabilized plastic film to cover in the cold weather and swap it out for the lightest spun-bonded agricultural fabric when it warms up. Thanks for the advice.

I uploaded a couple of pictures from my frame to show you. So you get an idea what it looks like (over here). I meant that anti-bug sheet for Denniz. Just leave the UV-stabilized plastic on it, you have to bury it otherwise it gets damaged by winds and all kinds of things. I buried it 3ft, some would say a bit much but we always have wind here and storms from time to time. It has held really well when others had damage on the other plots so... joke was on them

Been a couple of weeks, time for another update

Chinense

Annuums

I like the bush growth of the Cappuccino Chiltepin a lot. Flowers soon

MFPJ23 flowershot, 1 of the many flowers this cross has.

Watermelons are going well!

Tomato, Dark Galaxy.

Black Sesame, I remember seeing this over at Rick's glog last year or the year before. Since I often bake my own bread I would like those use my own grown Sesame on it

It first took some learning on how to grow it. It's quite drought resilient I noticed and prefers dryer soil over to wet. The leaves already have this warm nutty smell that the seeds also have. The flowers are really pretty, might grow this again next year if I will be able to harvest seeds of course hehe.

Trident chilli · Jul 5, 2016

Pleased all looking good Stefan ... weather in the UK inconsistent hope your getting a better forecast ... Elysium Oxide in both variations doing well so thank you to you

OCD Chilehead · Jul 5, 2016

Great house. Plants looking spectacular. Great pics.

I hope to have something in place soon, as far as the hoop house is concerned. I'll be happy if it comes out half as good as yours.

Thanks for sharing

meatfreak · Jul 6, 2016

Trident chilli said:
Pleased all looking good Stefan ... weather in the UK inconsistent hope your getting a better forecast ... Elysium Oxide in both variations doing well so thank you to you

Good to hear the EOB's are doing a lot better this year, hope they produce well for you

OCD Chilehead said:
Great house. Plants looking spectacular. Great pics.

I hope to have something in place soon, as far as the hoop house is concerned. I'll be happy if it comes out half as good as yours.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks man, it's still a WIP that keeps on going

there's always ways to improve stuff

stickman · Jul 7, 2016

Thanks for the pics of your hoophouse frame Stefan. How do you fasten the plastic film to it, or do you just bury the ends in such a way that it pulls the film taut over the frame? I can see where you'd want all the slack out of it if you're worried about the wind off the North Sea.

Cool that you're growing Sesame... mine grew over 2 meters tall. It flowers from the bottom up, and the seed pods ripen the same way. Good luck!

Devv · Jul 8, 2016

Glad to see things are straightening out your way Stefan

Your grow as usual is looking stellar!

I hear you on the summer cold, I had my first one 2 weeks ago. Thankfully it cleared up fast,. just before I had to fly last Saturday.

Keep it green!

OCD Chilehead · Aug 2, 2016

How's it going Stefan? Hope the plants are doing well. Dying for a update and pics. LOL!

meatfreak · Aug 3, 2016

stickman said:
Thanks for the pics of your hoophouse frame Stefan. How do you fasten the plastic film to it, or do you just bury the ends in such a way that it pulls the film taut over the frame? I can see where you'd want all the slack out of it if you're worried about the wind off the North Sea.

Cool that you're growing Sesame... mine grew over 2 meters tall. It flowers from the bottom up, and the seed pods ripen the same way. Good luck!

Sorry for the late reply, Rick. Been slacking a lot over here

I dug trenches about 3ft deep, yes deep but mine doesn't move when we have wind and we always have wind

Yeah the Sesame is a really cool plant, not sure if it will be prolific enough but I like how it grows

Devv said:
Glad to see things are straightening out your way Stefan

Your grow as usual is looking stellar!

I hear you on the summer cold, I had my first one 2 weeks ago. Thankfully it cleared up fast,. just before I had to fly last Saturday.

Keep it green!

Summer... well you can't call it summer here. We had about 10 days proper sunny days. Then it went back to rain and wind again. Most of my outside veggies have been suffering a lot by it. Ruined my Garlic, Onion and shallot harvest.

OCD Chilehead said:
How's it going Stefan? Hope the plants are doing well. Dying for a update and pics. LOL!

I have been planning for updates for weeks. They are doing good but you can see the weather has an big influence on them. Thanks for bring to my attention that I needed to update hehe

Gonna need a bump

So first pods have started to change color.

MFPJ43 F-1 Only 1 plant but this plant is so loaded and big I trimmed it back so other plants have more space. Will have tons of F2 seeds for next year.

MFPJ15 F-2 these 2 plants are similar in shape with F-1, to bad they dont go to the same color changes but the 2nd plant got this purple on the pods. Odd since both parents don't have purple :lol:

MFPJ36 F-1 this is a backcross from MFPJ11

goal was to get the desired shape back.

MFPJ23 F-3, one of the many "new" phenotypes. Went from Dark purple when set to green, caramel and bright red.

MFPJ30 F-2 much different from F-1.

MFPJ28 F-2 #2

MFPJ24 F-2 #2

TBC...
MFPJ27 F-2 my favorite so far

MFPJ10 F-2

Devv · Aug 3, 2016

Very nice Stefan! really cool crosses you have going on

Glad to see they're producing for you.

Sorry the Allium's didn't do so well. I too lost some of mine due to too much rain, which is a rare thing here where I grow. But there's always next year!

OCD Chilehead · Aug 3, 2016

Nice Stefan.

The MFPJ43 has really long pod's. Looks prolific. Nicely shaped calyx. I like the purple on the MFPJ15. It will be interesting to see how it turns. Congrats on the backcross. Do you mind me asking what the MFPJ27 is? Looks beautiful.

Thanks again for all the pics.

Bhuter · Aug 4, 2016

Excellent crosses! I agree with OCD: I like the MFPJ43...nice long pods. I'm also liking MFPJ30...getting a great color. How are your orange and white BBG7 coming along? Great stuff!

-Adam

meatfreak · Aug 4, 2016

Devv said:
Very nice Stefan! really cool crosses you have going on

Glad to see they're producing for you.

Sorry the Allium's didn't do so well. I too lost some of mine due to too much rain, which is a rare thing here where I grow. But there's always next year!

Thanks Scott, I really enjoy growing my own crosses and crosses in general of course. You really never know what to expect and sometimes I expected to much hehe. They are producing okay but that was to be expected as I am growing multiple plants at the same spot. Your right there's always next year but it wasn't only that the weather messed up, now yesterday the wind and rain took down my Quinoa that had gotten huge... stems broke so there's that. Am pretty bummed about that, all my work for the outside garden has gone to ... waste :/ the only thing thats going well are the beets and corn :lol:

I know I'm not the only one experiencing this awful season but it doesn't make this better

OCD Chilehead said:
Nice Stefan.

The MFPJ43 has really long pod's. Looks prolific. Nicely shaped calyx. I like the purple on the MFPJ15. It will be interesting to see how it turns. Congrats on the backcross. Do you mind me asking what the MFPJ27 is? Looks beautiful.

Thanks again for all the pics.

MFPJ43 is really prolific, but I know this is also because it's F-1 and I have only 1 plant of it (pod had 1 seed last year). I try not to focus much on shape/looks yet since F-2 will turn out completely different from F-1. Seen it with all my F-2 crosses this year, some look a bit like last years but most don't at all. It's also no use of having more then 1 F-1 plant besides backup purposes. Also learned last year that in F-1 the father traits are the most dominant when it comes to shape. With color you always end up with red when 1 of the parents is (unless they are like F-1 both).

The MFPJ15 was so cool and unique in F-1, with traits from both Annuum and Chinense. Was really was disappointed not to see it in F-2 but the 2 I showed are close in looks and the purple is neat to. My Italian friend that is helping out with this one had pods that went completely purple.

Hopefully the backcross delivers in F2

so I can continue from there. MFPJ27 is an Scotch Brain cross. Made it 2 years ago so it was pretty unstable back then, last year the pods were all smooth. Now they are more gnarly but they are just setting. I really liked this pheno of it so far, has that Bonnet shape.

Bhuter said:
Excellent crosses! I agree with OCD: I like the MFPJ43...nice long pods. I'm also liking MFPJ30...getting a great color. How are your orange and white BBG7 coming along? Great stuff!

-Adam

Cheers, Adam. The white bbg7 is struggling to set decent pods again like it did before cause of the calyx. It's also completely overgrown by the MFPJ43 that's next to it so I trimmed that one back since I got enough pods anyway. I do have 1 plant that has a smaller calyx then the others so will keep the seeds of that one for next gen. I know the plant can put out bigger pods, it just needs to grow bigger. I kept the F-1 from last year and in the beginning it was only setting small pods to, but now that it's huge, it's setting bigger pods. Still not huge, about 1.5inch. Not growing the other bbg this year but other people are. From what I've seen those are growing true to but haven't seen much ripe ones yet.

More pictures as I couldnt post all last night.

MFPJ44 F-1

MFPJ41 F-1

MFPJ35 F-2

Bumpy White Habanero

MFPJ5 F-3

MFPJ9 F-2

Pimenta Lisa F-4

Some other stuff from the garden.

Dark Galaxy tomatoes

Watermelon, regular red and yellow (Early Moonbeam).

Broad bean Black Russian

peppamang · Aug 4, 2016

Awesome grow!

romy6 · Aug 4, 2016

Wowza !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Speechless

Bhuter · Aug 4, 2016

That's very good to know! Thank you for the F1 info you provided. I guess I shouldn't have grown 9 plants of my F1. Lol. And judging by my plants, you're right about the pod shape taking on more of the fathers' traits. The shape and size ARE more like the father plant. Now I just hope I get the right color.

Thanks!

-Adam

OCD Chilehead · Aug 4, 2016

Great info on F1 pod's. More pics! They look like really nice pod's. This may be a stupid question. What does the PJ stand for. Assuming MF for MeatFreak. LOL. Tasty looking tomatoes. Do they have a dark flesh inside? I almost tried a Cherokee tomato. It has a very dark purple flesh inside. The melons look really good. I've never tried melons before.