Ohhh... the horror !!! (update: Al is doing a $150 ghetto greenhouse)

Ok - first post is gonna be somewhat short (typing on a tablet)...

adult male growing peppers... How uncool can my life get? why not do something more exciting, like rub coarse sand into my eyeballs or drill a hole into my kneecap and fill it with Worcester sauce ? I don't know... I maybe it's the cheapskates version of a red sportscar I am not willing to spend moneys on

I am glad I'm married - otherwise I would most Def. not be having any sex the in 2013. Did I mention that I am going bald, too?

Well back on topic...

I always liked spicy stuff, and I do like to grow stuff - so I guess I really carry the nerd deep within. But then again this makes it kind of logical to grow peppers (in a Douglas Adams kind of way).

(to be continued - need to tug the monsters in right now )

Al

 

[RocketMan]

I find that my plants do better with a big healthy dose of "Leave Them The Hell Alone". Unfortunately, I seem to keep that in very short supply...

ME TOO!

really am enjoying your Glog Al, you are bringing a great humorous twist to the art of growing peppers! I think you said your using a premix, if so many of them are set up with something like 6 months or some such of ferts already in there. So, as Pepperhead suggested...

Cheers,
RM

 

[Gotrox]

Only Macho Men grow peppers.
And eat them.


In front of whitnesses.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

Only Macho Men grow peppers.
And eat them.


In front of whitnesses.

I can do that!

but I normally only do it when I am in state of maximum dehydration ...



... helps keeping the tears and sweat within the body ...


cheers,

Al "crying within" B.

 

[WalkGood]

Just caught up, Bill's (RocketMan) right, funny stuff ... btw I also grew a weed for a few weeks, I've never seen a better weed Great success in 2013 and keep up dat good great comedy ^_^

 

[Al-from-Chile]

OK, everybody ... this chapter is about FERTILIZERS ...

and not just any fertilizer ... we are talking about the ACME U-R-in 500 fertilizer ... the mother of all fertilizers ... the professional strenght, industry leading, do-not-try-this-at-home power of NPK and a dash of uranium-138.


I would also like to mention that I furnished the soil with a few hormons from my penis enlargement reduction medicine - the one that is so popular, I get about 20 e-mails per day praising these kind of products.


Yesterday I applied this homegrown fertilizer mix to just one cell of my growing tray ...




and you be the witness

Now isnt that something!!!!




Heck ... when I tried to open the tray, the dam thing SNAPPED at me like a mad dog ...!


gimme a break ! I am just another José 6-pack trying to save a few pesos by growing my own veggies


cheers
Al "necesito una Corona y no un Rottweiler" B.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

My past life has painfully showed me the fact that life is not without irony and funny twists ...

... congratulating a dear friend which I havent seen in quite some time for her pregnancy (turns out she just got fat) ... confusing artificial tears and krazy-glue latenight...things along that line if you get my drift


well ... here is a new chapter ...



anybody want to get picture proof for that? ... well there you go





.

maybe I should start to grow tomatoes - so I could finally reap some peppers...

donno, maybe the guy in the grow-store was so hammered, he sold me the wrong seeds


what do you think?


well - at least I have 4 now 5 Bon Scotts germinating ... none of the Fataliis however ...



are fataliis generally slower to germ'? Damn those lazy africans ... I should have sticked with german pfefferonis, which would germ all 12 seeds on monday, 8.30 a.m. SHARP !!!!!

thx for looking in here

Al "I will go now to molest them frigging fataliis" B.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

OK,

it still bugs me that when I try to grow peppers, the plant that develops best is a tomatoe seed that did not sprout in the medium I recycled ...

along the same line ... look at this pic ...

I am growing a stevia there, and supported it with a stalk ... now look at the top of the stalk ....


ohhhh .... the irony

the plant is dieing and the stalk is sprouting like crazy !!!!!



well, on a different note ... (and on topic)

here is an update on my tray ...

the Bon Scotts are doing fine, 8/12 sprouted ... the fataliis not so much ... I guess I got crappy seeds ... just 1/8 - but it seems to do fine

all that is towered by the bastard tomato ...

I use a semi-transparent tote (think rubbermaid) ... and its reasonable warm during the day (80 deg), but at night I use the 2 three liter coke bottles filled with about 110 degree water as a poor man's heat pad ... works pretty well ...

One of the Scotts which I had germinating in paper towel popped and I transplanted it to soil


here a pic...

thx for stopping in

al

 

[Sawyer]

It looks a little late for the stevia, but you might have some allelopathy going on there with the sprouting stalk you're using as a support.

I've had only mediocre germination rates with three plantings of fatalii from two different sources.

 

[Al-from-Chile]

thx for stopping in

al

lets see ... I am in my 40ies and quoting my own posts in my own thread ... I wonder if in 20 years more I will be standing on some street corner and argue loudly with myself, having a dead cat draped around my shoulders ...


bhut there you go ...


the bhuts you can see in the above pic (the 4 cell container bottom right) now look something like that:

so, we got a 4/4 gremination rate ... the smallest one is a helmet head ... and whenever I get one of those, I wait if things solve themselves but once its clear that this wont happen, I pretty much end up severing the last 3rd of the cotyledons once they have a certain size ... never had one dying here - the coties look kinda ugly later on, but the plant dont mind!!! ... but then again, my sample size is not that big (4) ...



the bon scotts (12 cell top right) had to leave their home




...but they moved to the better part of town and live in a rather upscale condo with vista to the andes

they are doing rather well, too ...

I potted up in a compost/vermicompost/peat moss/perlite mix - they seem to enjoy their pots... however I was so pumped (yeah, I really need to get a life ;-) ... I forgot to put in my secret sauce (hydrogel salvaged from used diapers (yellow ones only) ... If you are clueless, there is a thread flowing around in the growing-section.

so the next batch will get those also ...



here is a pic of the only fatalii that germed out of crappy local seeds ... handsome little b@st@rd, tho ... and hairy as hell (i wonder if they sold me some sweet pepper seeds or so ) ...

anybody else got any hairy fataliis ???

I find she has more hair than in a 1970ies soft pron movie

stay tuned for further updates in the next couple of days

cheers
al

 

[WalkGood]

Alfred, Bon Scotts looking great and you got me laughing brethren, thank you! Keep up dat great work mon

 

[Devv]

Hey Al,

I'm enjoying your glog, and you're even growing stuff here!

Keep it up you're doing a great job!

Scott

 

[WalkGood]

Back for a daily dose of good cheer & smiles, I demand an update

 

[Al-from-Chile]

Back for a daily dose of good cheer & smiles, I demand an update

your demand is my wish, sire ...


well, to be honest them peppas are chugging along nicely ... doesnt merit any pics ... not much new to see ...

so ... right from the category "mundane pointless stuff I feel I need to share with you" ... here we go

.. I went culinary this week with some peppers ... those are regular "run of the mill" peppers from seedlings bought at a local market (a dime a dozen) ... given the above scenario, you cant really ask for a pepper with an exotic first and last name ...

so here are the finished works:

quite a potpurri of peppers I have growing in the yard ... mostly non to medium spicy ...

anybody interested in the recipe? - bump :-)

cheers,
Al

 

[WalkGood]

your demand is my wish, sire ...

Thanks for the update, I’m a bit late to reply but finally found it again

well, to be honest them peppas are chugging along nicely ... doesnt merit any pics ... not much new to see ...

Let us be the judge of dat ... only kidding

… anybody interested in the recipe? - bump :-) …

Sure, post dat recipe

Al, awesome looking potpurri of peppers ... sorry for the delayed bump, guess I missed it. Aren't you heading into you winter now? Do you have to go inside with your crop or can you grow year round where you live?

 

[Al-from-Chile]

thx for the bump :-)

I grow the seedlings indoors but "natural" (no art. lightning) behind a large terrace-window... once I pot up, they go outside from 8am-9pm (aprox.) just to get them hardened off.

Temps are still nice here mornings are 10ºc (45ºF?) ... midday high around 25ºc (75ºF?) we still get tons of (mellow) sun... I guess I can manage to keep this modus operandi all through winter, as it only gets cold at early morning .... I am not sure about the logistics of moving some 20+ big plants twice a day ...

ahhh ... the recipe - well, to be honest there is none

I just suffed the jar with peppers (cut the tip of the off and sliced the top, just to get the air out of them and avoid floaters ... so, once they are packed, I filled up with hot water, salt and vinegar - and nuked them 2-3 mins in the microwave to get the whole shebang up do about 80ºC (180F) --- then wrapped the jar up in a big towel (poor mans dutch oven?) and let it sit for a couple of hours to cook itself - finally some finetuning with some condiments and as last step a 1cm layer of olive oil to seal the content from air. ... it doesnt take much more than 5mins of active work to get it done ...

the good thing is, the different degree of spiciness is evened out by the "pickeling process"... the not so good side is that the texture is not great ... basically you get pepper skin and jellyfish

will post a pic of the bon scotts in a minute ... they are doing great

cheers
al

there them bon scotts

'nother angle ... the one in the center is the Fatalii (which I call Jabalii )

the babies are doing well, too

top right the 4 bhuts,
left tray 3 Moruga Scorps (TSM)
then 2 Jabaliis )
and most left - the choc scorps (need to sprout) ...

I try to not go crazy on quantities, b/c I feel manhandling 60 halfgrown plants might take some fun out of the hobby and become actually WORK (there, I said it ... hahahaha)

 

[WalkGood]

Awesome, year round peppers is the way to grow ^_^ For logistics, I use a red wagon from our kids younger days and yea the wagon has seen better days but I say what the hell, I'll use it till it rusts apart, lols. Great shots and nice recipe ... keep up dat great grow mon and have a great day!

 

[koskorgul]

Very funny glog, glad I found this and will be following.
Plants are looking good. I planted a few Fatalii's this year, they should be ready to go outside in a few weeks. Hope you have the same luck

 

[Al-from-Chile]

ok, lets face it ... this glog started out extremely weak, and from there went south pretty fast


Might as well run for the "internet's worst award"


but back on topic ...

things keep chugging along nicely ...

I dont loose any plants, do have fairly good germ rates (especially if I include the tomatoes germing out of pepper seeds ) ... so either this whole pepper growing stuff is easy as picking one's nose ... or I dont know.

Meanwhile I got the amphid infestation (separate thread) pretty much under control ... ripped out 70% of them and the remainder got hit with neem pretty good (4 times or so) ... and I hardly see any moving bugs anymore ... just bug-cemetery ...


I planted 2 bon scotts in soil (in house) .... and look whats happening ...

this was of course before yesterday a hoard of 4 year olds trampled all over the place in a birthday party ... the plant lost a couple of leaves - but not the bud ... donno if I should pinch it - the plant is about 8" tall

(pls insert your comments here)



My Bons are doing so well, I really start to get cocky .... by running a little experiment (without words)

before

after

lets see how things pan out ....


I also uppotted the 4 Bhuts into 5" pots ... but that doesent really merit a pic ...




ok, gotta run now ... theres pidgeon waiting in the park to be poisoned

cheers, Al

 

[Al-from-Chile]

Ok, Al Gore just called me ....
 
 
"Hey Al, my internet is gettn kind of slow and boring - Facebook will drop below $15.00 again, Google is desperate, and MS threatened to not update windows 8 until 2015 ... you really need to update your sh!tty glog... we need people streaming in there, so that those folks over at homland security think again there is a DDos attack going on".
 
Well there we are ... Al to the rescue!
 
 
This time I want to show the 3 main pepper places in our house, starting with No 1:
 
1.) the nursery (el semillero)
 
here go all the small plants during the day ... they get nice filtered light, temps are cozy, and everything is nice and dandy there ... you can also see the pequeña princesura - there, I said it
 

 
all those coke bottles are not there in case I get thirsty, but rather they serve as thermal buffer. The water heats up in the day (around 100º on a good day) and radiate the warmth overnight, keeping the makeshift green-table cozy and well above freezing, even if the grass gets all white in the early morning hours (we have winter now )
 

 
 
there are them Bon Scotts, doing there thing ... mind their size! the smaller ones are mostly Bhuts and the odd Butch T. On top are some passiflores (Maracuya?)
 

 
 
 
 
2.)
In-House:
 
this is the 2nd place that sees some Dr. pepper action
 

 
 
its our roughly 60sqft herb-garden in the living room. I have place for some 10more plants, so I have plans to put the bhuts, the butch T and some other assorted plants in here for a permanent home. I already have some Indigo Rose tomatoes lined up for some color flashes :-)
 
I have no idea how things will work out over a 365 days cycle :-/ - so lets sip tea and wait it out
 
Those 2 plants are the brothers of the Bon Scotts out in the semillero ... they already have tons of buds (too many to count) and are flowering ... so I hope to have some action there going on soon.
 
 

 
 
Obv. they like the place, or they wouldnt be twice the size of their brothers. Top right is a Fatalii (I fatherly call him the Jabalí ).
 
Here are a couple of tomatoes, garlic-chives, strawberries and a couple of aphids as well...
 

 
 
 
 
3.) the Greenhouse (in construction)
 
well to get to see the GH, you most "Shirley" have to bumpedy bump this thread
 
cheeers
Al
 
 
ps: Al Gore called and said the internet is pretty much back to normal ... so people - move on, nothing to see here - go out poison some squirrels

 

[PIC 1]

Very entertaining...you've got the British style humor going