Patrick's 2013 Grow Log

millworkman · Mar 8, 2013

If there are any microbes like the mycos then the molasses helps feed them.

Silver_Surfer · Mar 8, 2013

Barley-pop57 said:
How or when did you hear of putting in molasses ??? Wonder what it does for them.......probably "Sweet Heat"..

Molasses contains potassium, calcium, nitrogen, iron, magnesium, trace amounts of vitamins and micronutrients and promotes microbial activity.

I add it to vermi compost tea while aerating to feed and boost the reproduction of beneficial bacteria.

patrick · Mar 9, 2013

Rodney the gallon jug is my molasses stash. About a good heaping teaspoon to a gallon of water.

Mike I read about using molasses to feed beneficial bacteria either last season or the one before. I was always going to get around to trying it but never remembered to buy it. Well I was reorganizing my pantry and lo and behold there was a bottle. I really believe it's the reason behind the fuzzy roots. I've used mycorrhizae the past three season and have never seen my roots look like this.

spicy_echo · Mar 10, 2013

With bottom watering in your cups how long do you let them sit in the water when watering?

patrick · Mar 11, 2013

spicy-echo when I water I pour enough into the second cup to come up about 1/4 of the way. Then I just set the cup with the plant in it and that is that. I use a large packing peanut that sits between the two cups. That will provide some space for any excess water that isn't wicked up. Three or four days later I do it again.

I'll post a couple of pics, easier to show what I do.

Here's how I do it. Take the cup with the plant out of the bottom cup and add water. Due to the angle it doesn't look like that much but it does go up about a 1/4 of the cup. That's the packing peanut.

You can add more or less water, up to you.

After I add the water I put the cup with the plant back into it. It floats on the water for a few seconds then it will begin to drop as the water is wicked up through the holes. The packing peanut will keep it from going all of the way to the bottom allowing for a little space for any water that wasn't wicked up. The roots that come out of the holes will continue to suck up the water. If it dries out and stays dry for a few days the exposed root will die. That will cause the root inside the cup to send shoots out adding to the root mass. Just like an air pot. Brilliant huh!? :rolleyes:

Here's what's left of the water after the plant sucked up what it wanted.

Once I put the cup with the plant back into the cup with water that's it, I move on to the next one. Hope this explained things.

spicy_echo · Mar 11, 2013

Patrick, explained very well! For some reason in my head I pictured bubble wrap not a packing peanut, which I know is what you said. I transferred a Lemon Drop from my aerogarden to solo cup last night using your method except I put bubble wrap in the bottom. I guess it's the same concept. Just creating a void below. It already had a vast amount of roots so I hope it transfers okay. Thanks for explaining. I will give it a shot.

patrick · Mar 12, 2013

Glad that helped spicy. You can use anything as a spacer, I just happened to have a bunch of the packing peanuts handy.

I took a couple of shots this morning to show off the myco's effect on roots for another thread but am going to post them here too. I just love fuzzy roots!

Too cool.

Sawyer · Mar 12, 2013

That reminds me. I gotta get some myco for my grow.

Vegas_Chili · Mar 12, 2013

Wow that's amazing. I just got a 2.2 cf bale of Pro-mix® HP, and I'm also wanting to try compost tea. I figured .... Synthetic ferts are too much of a hassle to apply, I mean you can over fert, burn, or maybe kill the plant. I'd say it's safer to do compost tea and just feed the plant and not worry about burn or anything. Besides I been doing some reading and I found out that plants with mycorrhizae actually are more resistant to disease and extreme weather conditions than non-mycorrhizae plants. It's one of the reasons I want to give it a go.

Patrick you inspire me man! I'd also like to thank you for helping out in some of the other threads that I made asking for advice.

,Vegas

meatfreak · Mar 12, 2013

Time to get a trimmer, Patrick

Looking good, buddy! I'm glad it's going a whole lot better then season for you.

millworkman · Mar 12, 2013

ROOTS!!!!!! Those are awesome Patrick, great work man.

patrick · Mar 12, 2013

Thanks guys.

Vegas you're most welcome for any advice I've given you, hope it all works out!

I have some type of mosaic virus making it's way through the plants. Seen others around here with the same thing. I'm trying different things to stop it or at least reduce the damage. I've tried spraying one entire plant with a weak solution of water/hydrogen peroxide and giving it a does of salica blast. That was about a week ago. So far the new growth is looking clean. Next thing is aspirin. I came across a site that talks about one of the chemicals in aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid being used to combat viral infections. It's made from a natural compound that comes from the bark of willow trees called salicin. The author talks about using three aspirins in four gallons of water. Anyway what the acetylsalicylic acid does is make the plant fire up it's own immune system. Kind of like us getting a shot. It also talks about using dimethyl sulfoxide to help the acetylsalicylic acid penetrate the cell walls. Cool huh? So I'm going to mix up a batch of this stuff and spray a few of the infected plants and see what happens. Wish me luck!

Barley-pop57 · Mar 12, 2013

Patrick,

You are one of a lot of outstanding pepper growers here on THP !!! I can see you now--driving your Harley on your cruises and peddling peppers and taratulas on your journey....lol.

Great job buddy....cont'd success on all fronts.

meatfreak · Mar 13, 2013

patrick said:
Thanks guys.

Vegas you're most welcome for any advice I've given you, hope it all works out!

I have some type of mosaic virus making it's way through the plants. Seen others around here with the same thing. I'm trying different things to stop it or at least reduce the damage. I've tried spraying one entire plant with a weak solution of water/hydrogen peroxide and giving it a does of salica blast. That was about a week ago. So far the new growth is looking clean. Next thing is aspirin. I came across a site that talks about one of the chemicals in aspirin, acetylsalicylic acid being used to combat viral infections. It's made from a natural compound that comes from the bark of willow trees called salicin. The author talks about using three aspirins in four gallons of water. Anyway what the acetylsalicylic acid does is make the plant fire up it's own immune system. Kind of like us getting a shot. It also talks about using dimethyl sulfoxide to help the acetylsalicylic acid penetrate the cell walls. Cool huh? So I'm going to mix up a batch of this stuff and spray a few of the infected plants and see what happens. Wish me luck!

I'm using it this season as well, some guys on the dutch forum are using it for years already. When they get their second set of true leaves they will get their shot

Devv · Mar 16, 2013

Hey Patrick,

Nice looking plants!

I'm taking notes here, very infomative, I like the watering technique.

Scott

stc3248 · Mar 16, 2013

Damn Patrick I hate to hear of a potential virus problem...Aspirin seemed to help the plants fight it last year for me, but the virus won out in the end...if I have a repeat viral outbreak this year I am going to just let them all go through it and see which plants do best...then save and grow infected seeds next year and once again keep seeds from whatever plants are healthiest. Maybe eventually I can come up with something resistant...but if not I will know I am at least only growing the ones that will produce through the pain. Hope you get it under control...I got a sick feeling in my stomach when I read your post.

Vegas_Chili · Mar 16, 2013

Hey Patrick we need a spicy update man! We want to see some root porn.

Hope you solve that viral thing man that really sucks.... Try to make an AACT and spray it on the leaves I read somewhere in the "pinned" thread that it helps with disease or infection something like that. Hope it all clears out and we can have an update soon.

,Vegas

DesertChris · Mar 16, 2013

Dang....I hope you eliminate that disease

I have been really enjoying following your glog.
Awesome stuff going on.

PS, I love tarantulas! My gal would neber let me have any here, but as a kid, had a few for pets, including those smaller black ones native to the San Diego area. Also raised an insane centipede...it used to eat cockroaches like corn on the cob...lol

patrick · Mar 17, 2013

Thanks for the well wishes and the compliments folks. I really appreciate them.

I may have misdiagnosed my problem. It may not be viral. Right now it isn't spreading like I figured it would so it may be a nutrient issue. I'll let everyone know when I get it figured out.

Enough on that for now. Thought it was time to show the progress on the cuttings I took. Put most of them into one gallon pots of Pro Mix HP. They're sitting on the kitchen table/chairs so they can get the morning sun. Up first however is one that didn't get potted and is still sitting in a glass of water.

Roots

And the other end of it.

The older leaves look a little haggard but there are four or five buds coming out of that one node. I've got my first hydro set up. Who knew it was that easy? Ha!

These are two different cuttings that did get potted. Again the old leaves don't look the best but the new growth, along with all of the new buds, looks wonderful

This one has five different nodes, top to bottom, that have buds developing. If I new it was this easy to grow peppers inside I may never have started doing it outdoors!

patrick · Mar 18, 2013

Time for a couple of pics from up top. First off are the plants under the T5 lights. Few of these were started with the first batch and have had some issues, my fault with lights or feeding. Most of them are from the second and third time I started seeds and are doing good.

These are of the ones from the first seeds that have done well despite my best efforts. They all started out under the T5 lights and were moved over to the Wally World $10 2" florescent grow lights a couple of weeks ago. They have started growing taller and the lower nodes are getting some space. The lights have been kept between 8-10 inches from the top. I am very happy with these.

Another view.

Until next time.