Next to My Chair

Been thinking about it.. pretty sure I'm growing peppers because I'm bored.  Like, deeply, existentially bored.  Plus, a little harmless pain never hurt anybody, right?  Hell, it's probably even good for you.  We'll see if those are good enough reasons, I guess.  I bought me some "Scotch Bonnet Orange" seeds from Amazon before I found you fine folk, lurked around here for a while, then planted them anyway along with other, infinitely less suspect seeds I ordered from far flung places around the globe(!) as recommended by the very venerable Vendor Vault.  I've got them growing here by my chair.  I sit here and read. (The wall to my right as I took this picture is lined with bookshelves I'm slowing filling as I try to forget the world each afternoon.  Mostly scifi the last few years.)  It would be distracting to have a big boxy tent looming over me, so I've just got them sitting there on a cardboard box.  I hope to replace the box with a little table here soon.

 
 
My rig consists of something like a quarter of the full Amazon Indoor Garden of Tomorrow-orrow-orrow-orrow ®.  This LED light I got is something else, man.  It's REALLY bright!  Paper towel germination, used a few Jiffy pellets, stuck some seeds straight in some old Miracle Grow I had, kept them in the Jiffy box there until they sprouted.  I'm glad to be rid of that Jiffy dome now; it was a pain in the ass.  Ahh.. let's see.. I'm mixing CNS17 Grow into RO/DI water, testing and adjusting up with GH pH kit, pouring it over my little darlings there in about 3:1 coco:perlite.  Just culled and potted up today to 3.5 inches.  All seems to be going well except for some slight canoeing of leaves, which I'm ready to blame on the 24% humidity (We wake up half mummified in the winter.  I know - grow tent.) and a few early spills on my rug.  Trying to keep it simple and not drive myself crazier futzing with dozens of parameters here, so I'm not going to sweat it unless things turn worse.  I'm not!  Worry verges on religion with me, so this will either be therapeutic or turn out to have been a bad idea.. 
Any and all comments or criticisms are very welcome and I thank you all most warmly for having me and schooling me and reading my noodlings! 

 

[CaneDog]

I use that remesh in the 8 x 16 foot sheets for various trellising applications and it's really handy.  Cuts easily with bolt cutters, but I've gotten a leg slashed up more than once by carelessly brushing up against a sharp cut end.
 

The garbage can FO is not happy. Some scorching yesterday, lots of leaves dropped this morning.

 
How'd this piece of news get passed by?  What's causing the problem E?  Just the introduction to real sun?  Is the nute mix right?  How's the prognosis for recovery, good?

 

[Uncle Eckley]

your plants are looking great. the temps have really gone up last few days.
 
  hoping to get mine in the ground this weekend and see how they do.

Thanks! 90° this afternoon, ugh. Most of my plants are pretty well hardened off now, but the poor bonnet in the garbage could have done with a few more days of coddling.

 

[BDASPNY]

Thanks! 90° this afternoon, ugh. Most of my plants are pretty well hardened off now, but the poor bonnet in the garbage can could have done with a few more days of coddling.

im just south of you. surprised it got this hot so fast. still trying to harden off mine this week.  with my work schedule makes it hard.

 

[Uncle Eckley]

I use that remesh in the 8 x 16 foot sheets for various trellising applications and it's really handy.  Cuts easily with bolt cutters, but I've gotten a leg slashed up more than once by carelessly brushing up against a sharp cut end.
 
 
How'd this piece of news get passed by?  What's causing the problem E?  Just the introduction to real sun?  Is the nute mix right?  How's the prognosis for recovery, good?

The cut wire is sharp for sure. I've got scratches all over my arms from reaching through the window I cut in the big cage.

Guess I could've waited a few more days for the FO to harden, but we're still very green, and eager besides. Nutes are the same. His first day in his spot in the corner there was clear skies and 89°. He seems to have managed a little better today with about the same high temperature. I'm not really worried about it (!); he's good and sturdy under the skirt.

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Just starting to bud.
 

 

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Rain cloak.
 
Cheap plastic shower curtain. Cut a circle.

 
 
Cut a small hole in the center, radial slit. 

 
 
Adhesive-backed closed cell foam tape. 

 
 
 
Cut the leading end of the tape to a taper, lay around small hole. 

 
 
 
Wrap lightly around stem .  It'll get a hook and loop cable tie wrapped ever so gently around the whole thing just to keep everything in place and to back up the tape adhesive.  I bought the wrong hook and loop tape, waiting for the right stuff. 
You can see I cut my hole too large.  This was intentional in part, to allow for periodic rewrapping of the stem as it grows, but I overdid it.  The foam should allow for some growth, hoping I won't have to rewrap but a few times. 

 
 
Also need to tack down the overlapping edge of the shower curtain so it won't blow open. 
I'll open the lid every day or two to let in fresh air. 
The one shower curtain will yield two of these garbage can cloaks, plus a few for 5-gallon buckets. 

 
 
Also, the mystery hybrid bonnets are yellow! 

 

 

 

[Orekoc]

Would a row of small holes drilled around the top edge of the can provide enough air exchange where you wouldn't need to open the lid?  Cover the holes on the inside of the can with tule fabric to keep out the insects.
 
But I know nothing about Kracty growing, including how to spell it (and I'm old and too lazy to look up the correct spelling.)

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Would a row of small holes drilled around the top edge of the can provide enough air exchange where you wouldn't need to open the lid?  Cover the holes on the inside of the can with tule fabric to keep out the insects.
 
But I know nothing about Kracty growing, including how to spell it (and I'm old and too lazy to look up the correct spelling.)

 
I thought of drilling two holes in the lid under the curtain at opposite sides of the lid, stuffing one with a cotton ball and fitting the other with a little aquarium air pump..
Maybe I leave out the pump, lol.  Then I could just lift the curtain and blow through one hole.  Maybe just one little hole and let it vent up through the Hydroton when I blow..  I'll still need a tube, though, with that cage.  
 
I'm hoping it won't be a big deal to crack the lid at the front there and wave in some fresh air every so often. The cage sits on the lid, so comes up with it.  For all I know the lid doesn't seal particularly well - or at all.  Maybe there's a gap between the lid and rim like a chimney cap and a good stiff breeze is all I need..  I will investigate.

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Trunk.  Gotta start training all these branches outward or I'll end up with a living chili pepper fasces.

 

 
.

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Got a Papa Dreadie and a cappuccino bonnet moved up from their jars to 5-gallon buckets this weekend.  One more jar plant bound for a bucket, one for a garbage can.  Couple coco/perlite plants still in gallon pots to be moved up to 5-gallon fabric pots.  Getting close to having everybody where they'll stay. 

 

[Uncle Eckley]

P. Dreadie bucket 1 and cayenne bucket had their nutes replaced today. Freeport Orange DWC got fresh nutes yesterday.

Still haven't moved the last P. Dreadie up from the jar. Lazy.

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Just ordered a 4000k HLG-100. Two LED lights now for this monster bonnet next to my chair. How best to arrange them? Both hung above shining straight down? Angled? One below to light undergrowth? There's a 30W Sansi LED pointed at the undergrowth now..
 
Foamboard covered with mylar when I'm not in the room. So many flowers. Definitely >100 buds on this guy. 
 
Tough to get a good shot.  Sheet of 8.5x11 notebook paper for scale. 

 

.

 

[CaneDog]

Jeez E, I don't know what to expect from that bonnet once you drop another LED in the mix.  It's already a monster!  Will you be changing the name of your glog when you become engulfed in your chair?   Better yet, is "enjungled" a word?   'Cause I like the sound of that:
 
Uncle E Grow Log Part II: "Enjungled in my Chair."

 

[Devv]

Looking great!
 
Yeah, the chair sitting is about to get rather tight...

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Little Shop comes to mind a lot lately..

 

[PaulG]

Looking good, Uncle! 

 

[Uncle Eckley]

Got a Purple UFO and a Lemon Drop moved up to gallon pots.  They'll probably stay there.
 
I'm fairly well convinced the other Lemon Drop is ready to go in the garbage can.  I got its cage cut this weekend.  I'd like to wait for a couple cooler days before he's fixed in place in his heavy reservoir, but it looks like I'm not going to get any.  In retrospect, I should've done it this weekend, but I wanted another week of observation.
 
The DWC FO is setting pods like mad.  I hope to get the HLG-100 hung soon; need to make a bar that will suspend both lights (will be a pain to balance them).
 
I tried to get the last plant in a half-gallon jar moved up to a bucket yesterday afternoon, but was interrupted.  Got the hole cut in the lid, cage cut, didn't get to finish mixing the nutrient.
 
Edit: The rain cloaks work very well, but I'm beginning to wonder whether I'll go on using them.  I intend to set up an empty 5-gallon bucket with a net cup full of Hydroton in the lid to leave out in the rain as a test.  I'm wondering whether dry Hydroton won't soak up a fair bit of rain before it starts allowing water to pass into the bucket.  Even if it rains an inch or more in a single event, and even if that whole inch of rain got into the bucket, it still wouldn't dilute my nutrient solution very much.  Even if it did, does it really matter so long as some air volume remains in the reservoir?
 
 

 

[PaulG]

Great questions, Uncle E! I have wondered that
myself regarding the Kratky method outdoors.

 

[Siv]

I have a bunch (15) kratky plants in 5 gal buckets and all I've done is drill a hole in the side of the bucket about 1 gallon down so that any excess water drains out. We've had quite some rain last weekend (12") so hole serves to prevent the top part of the roots being drowned. They were only recently put in the buckets so I'm happy with the level - I may drill another hole lower down later in the season - not sure.

 

[Uncle Eckley]

I have a bunch (15) kratky plants in 5 gal buckets and all I've done is drill a hole in the side of the bucket about 1 gallon down so that any excess water drains out. We've had quite some rain last weekend (12") so hole serves to prevent the top part of the roots being drowned. They were only recently put in the buckets so I'm happy with the level - I may drill another hole lower down later in the season - not sure.

 
That's certain proof against the plants drowning if the buckets fill, all right, but it also allows nutrient to escape the reservoir through the overflow.  If you had twelve inches of solution in your bucket, then twelve inches of rain, that potentially dilutes the resulting solution by around 50% assuming all twelve inches of rain got into the bucket (which it wouldn't).  
The perfect solution would seem to be a shallow conical collar with a diameter greater than that of the bucket.  You'd want the collar to be attached to the plant stem high enough that there's airspace between the lower edge of the collar and the top surface of the bucket for airflow - sort of like those bird feeder collars meant to stop squirrels climbing the post.  I imagine it would be tough to actually implement. 
 
 
NTS - I finally got the last jar plant moved up to a bucket today.