MeatHead 2014

Thought I'd start a new glog as my 1st year grow plants have now gone, and all remaining plants are intended for the 2014 season. Currently have growing with hopes of keeping through winter-
Yellow bhut jolokia
Brain strain
Aji limon
Chocolate Trinidad scorpion
Fatalii
Black Hungarian
Chinese 5 colour.
Have all healthy plants bar 1 out of 6 inch pots and in either permanent or semi permanent homes. Due to messing up the labels I'm not sure which is which on the Chinense varieties. Have 1 seedling that was seriously struggling, but it's starting to throw out new leaves so there's hope for it yet. Hoping we either have a mild Winter here, or I can get some lights set up in our spare bedroom to get them through until Spring. Have a few more varieties I have yet to plant, but thinking I may wait til the end of January to start those seeds. 
 
Anyway, enough babbling. On to some pics!
Green pot is an Aji Limon, bag TBD Chinense, Venus fly trap and pitcher plant on the cooler in the back, cayenne I'm trying to decide whether to OW or not in the red pot and some cilantro in the cup

Another couple of TBD Chinense's and the struggling seedling that's popping back (over watering was the cause I think)

Chinese 5 colour and 2 more Chinense's

Aloe vera and a couple of strawberries for my wife

More tbd Chinense's

Black Hungarian (already putting out flower buds that are getting pinched off for now)

Last 2 Chinense's

 

[thirdcoasttx]

I bottom watered mine when they were in small pots but in the bigger ones I top water.

 

[Devv]

Up-potted plants are looking good!.
 
I've been bottom watering, and I wonder if it's the cause of the taller plants wanting to fall over. My theory is when sticking to bottom watering how can they grow those side support roots if no water is present at the top? Just a thought.
 
Here's a link on making pots without sewing:
 
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=262977
 
It has a nice sizing chart too.

 

[MeatHead1313]

I bottom watered mine when they were in small pots but in the bigger ones I top water.

My seed starting tray has a wicking mat under the cells, so I guess I've been doing the same lol. I've top watered from solo cups on so far though. 
 

Up-potted plants are looking good!.
 
I've been bottom watering, and I wonder if it's the cause of the taller plants wanting to fall over. My theory is when sticking to bottom watering how can they grow those side support roots if no water is present at the top? Just a thought.
 
Here's a link on making pots without sewing:
 
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=262977
 
It has a nice sizing chart too.

Thanks for the info Scott! Will definitely have to look into making my own. Anything to help keep costs down is a good thing, and helps keep the wife happy too.
Edit:any idea where I could find the pond underlayment?

 

[Devv]

Try this site:
 
http://www.123ponds.com
 
10' x 10' - Geotextile UL-10x10 1 28.00
Pond Underlayment Kit
Subtotal 28.00
Shipping 7.99
Tax 0.00
Total 35.99
 
This purchase netted me 8 20 gal bags.

 

[MeatHead1313]

Try this site:
 
http://www.123ponds.com
 
10' x 10' - Geotextile UL-10x10 1 28.00
Pond Underlayment Kit
Subtotal 28.00
Shipping 7.99
Tax 0.00
Total 35.99
 
This purchase netted me 8 20 gal bags.

Thanks Scott! Definitely looks like a project I'll be trying out. Appreciate it!

 

[MeatHead1313]

Finally got my root pouches yesterday, but couldn't transplant anything due to the weather. Have a day off tomorrow, which coincides perfectly with the weather warming up again so transplant time tomorrow for most of the solo cup plants. Have a Rapid Rooter kit ordered to replace my current germ tray which sprung a leak, and as soon as that comes in will finally be planting some of the tomato seeds I received from Penny. At the moment that's all that will be planted, but I'm fairly certain that some more pepper varieties will end up making there way in there as well. 
Transplanted 2 plants today into the 1 gallon bags. Scotch bonnet TFM and unknown Mexican-

 
Still deciding on what to plant into the 2 10 gallon and 1 15 gallon pouch I got as well. Unsure whether to transplant some of my original supers, or wait until some of the milder peppers are big enough for them and use the pouches for them instead. Decisions decisions. 

 

[MeatHead1313]

Got the results in for the soil test for my homemade potting mix. If I'm reading it right seems like I'm a little low on nitrogen, and high on everything else. pH is optimal for peppers, and slightly high for the tomatoes. Very happy with the results. pH was my main concern, and don't have any worries there. Low nitrogen is easily fixed, but unsure if everything else being high is a bad thing or nothing to worry about.

 

[Devv]

I've been wanting to get my soil tested for quite some time, did you have the local county do it?

 

[MeatHead1313]

I've been wanting to get my soil tested for quite some time, did you have the local county do it?

I got mine done through LSU. Cost $16. $10 for the test and $6 for shipping. One of my local nurseries actually had the kits ready to go so all I had to do was fill a bag with the mix, fill out the form and send it off. 

 

[Devv]

I figure with all the amendments this fall, I'll have it tested after the season ends. I should get better results.

 

[Spankyscolts]

Hey great grow! I didn't read every page but are you trying the cross I sent you? Was just curious how it's doing ?

 

[MeatHead1313]

Hey great grow! I didn't read every page but are you trying the cross I sent you? Was just curious how it's doing ?

Thanks! Yeah I've got a few plants of that cross growing at the moment. Due to fears of over watering and too much fertilizer due to problems with my starts from last year I've gone the complete opposite this year. Under watering and not enough ferts lol. All my new starts are surviving and growing slowly though. I have 1 of your crosses that's lagging a bit behind, but the other one is growing well. Looking forward to seeing what they produce. Loved the flavour and heat from the pods you sent so hopefully they can keep that going.
Finally got nearly all of my solo cup plants transplanted. Due to the temps still dropping down to the 40's relatively frequently at the moment all the new transplants went into the greenhouse to try to limit any shock from the lower temps. Had to make some room in there though as it was getting seriously  over crowded, so a few of the big girls got moved out. The night temps aren't supposed to get too low in the 10 day forecast (for now at least), so they should do ok outside. May lose a few flowers from them but that's no problem. 
Big girls chilling outside-

 

[MeatHead1313]

Finally got most of the solo cup plants transplanted. Have 6 left to go in either 1 gallon bags or 6 inch pots. Also got the starts that were still in the germ tray upgraded to solo cups and out from under the single 2ft t5Ho and under the 4ft 4 bulb t5HO. Love those lights! Everything that was potted up from solo's are now in the greenhouse. Temps have been great here lately so I've had a couple of the vents open to stop the temps inside getting too high, and allowing some airflow from the breezes in. Seedlings seem to be loving it so far. Nothing looking sad or damaged from the move yet so that's a good sign.
Greenhouse running out room due to the babies-

 
This is by far the healthiest seedling I have at the moment, and also the one that made me realize I wasn't fertilizing the rest enough.

As an experiment I'd planted this one in Ocean Forest instead of the light warrior the rest were in. It took off really well, and once I was able to put 2&2 together I started giving the rest some light feeds and they started taking off themselves. When I started the big girls last year they went from the pellets in the Burpee germ kit I got straight into miracle gro potting mix, so I never had to worry about fertilizing them early, which threw me off for these starts. Lessons for me to (hopefully) learn from.
 
Also started some more seeds this afternoon. Planted a few different varieties of tomato from the seeds I received from Penny-Manx marvel, snowball, pink queen, Irish tomato and black seaman. Also couldn't help myself so planted some more peppers as well    . Red Morouga scorpion, Aji chuncho for the growdown after my last sprouts failed due to me not noticing the hole in the germ kit and the soil drying out, CAP 215 (wild pepper I know nothing about), douglah, barrackpore, Bahamian goat, black naga, 7 pot Primo and just because I really love Scotch bonnets a couple more TFM's. Still have some serrano seeds to plant once I get room and then that's it. 

 

[thirdcoasttx]

Looking good man. I plan to use the fox farms ocean forrest as well, seems to be pretty popular around here. They are pretty proud of that stuff though!

 

[MeatHead1313]

Looking good man. I plan to use the fox farms ocean forrest as well, seems to be pretty popular around here. They are pretty proud of that stuff though!

Yeah the ocean forest is great. Happy frog is good too. If I could find it locally I'd definitely use it more, but ordering online just costs far too much once shipping is added in. 

 

[thirdcoasttx]

Yeah theres a store here that carries it but its like 25 bucks for 20 lbs. I was thinking of mixing it 50/50 with some of the organic stuff another local nursery sells. Ive got some happy frog tomato and vegetable food im gonna give the plants outside once the weather clears up.

 

[MeatHead1313]

Stopped by a garden centre while we were out today to check out what they had. Picked up some serrano plants while there, then went to Lowes as the better half wanted some plants to replace the dead begonias in her hanging baskets. Checked out the peppers while we were there, and the better half loved the look of a couple of ornamentals they had, so we got a couple of those as well. Picked up one called purple flash and a sangria pepper. 
Serrano on the left, sangria in the middle and purple flash on the right-

 
More serrano's-

 
Also noticed while checking out the big girls that I have my first superhot pod forming! Can finally start working out which varieties which-

 
Also trying my first compost tea. Using an xtreme gardening xtreme tea brew sample I got in a sample package from xtreme gardening-

 

[MeatHead1313]

Just did a quick count. Currently sitting at 76 pepper plants growing, and a few more varieties planted. Depending on germ rates of the current seeds planted I'll be looking at anywhere from the 76 I currently have up to roughly 100 plants. Think that's enough? Lol.
Got some more tomatoes sprouted. So far have manx marvel, pink queen, black seaman and Irish tomato sprouted. Still waiting on the snowball to sprout.

 

[Devv]

Things are looking really good your way!
 
Love the color of that purple flash, and all your plants look great!
 
So when do you plant? I'm thinking your climate is abut the same as mine or very close. I see dirt day soon!

 

[MeatHead1313]

Things are looking really good your way!
 
Love the color of that purple flash, and all your plants look great!
 
So when do you plant? I'm thinking your climate is abut the same as mine or very close. I see dirt day soon!

Thanks Scott! Yeah the purple flash looks great already. Can't wait to see it covered in pods! The picture for the sangria on the plant tag looks like it'll be a beautiful plant all podded up as well. That's what grabbed my wife's attention with it.
Mine are all staying in pots and bags this year. Don't have the space to put any in the ground where we're at, but most likely going to build some raised beds once we're moved into our new house. 1/2 acre should give me plenty of room to work with. 
The lowest temps on the 10 day forecast is 45 tomorrow night and 41 Monday night, with the rest being in the 50's so I've moved the big plants out of the greenhouse permanently. Still using the greenhouse to help the young plants adjust to life outside for now, but can see me putting it up for the season shortly if the temps stays nice.