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Pulpiteer 2017 Grow Log

It's kind of hard to believe, but I'm starting my 6th year of glogging on this site.  It's been a great place, even thought I've not had the time for it the last couple of years.  So, I thought I'd leave a link here to my past glogs, mostly for my own use if I want to reference back to them, they'll be in this one place.  Here they are:  2012201320142015, 2016.
 
 
I've gotten off to a late start this year, but things are rolling a bit now.  
 
Here's the grow list as of now:
 
Pepper-List-2017-page-1.jpg


Pepper-List-2017-page-2.jpg


A couple of things right off the bat:

I've once again had trouble with germination this year. I know I have a few really old seeds, but I also have new seeds from good vendors or great folks on this site, and the problems are not in just one area, so I am at fault. I think I was cooking them. The temp in my grow area was mid 90's for awhile, but I've got it down to mid 80's now and germination rates are better.  However, that put me a bit behind.  
 
Also, I used some of those peat pellets and those germinated fine with the right temps, but I found out that if two plants grow in one peat pellet, they are really tough to separate into two pots if I don't want to cull one.  I also went with straight Happy Frog soil to start the seeds in, but I think that was a bit heavy.  So, I think I'll have to just use my normal soil mix exclusively next year.  My soil recipe, by the way, is basically:
5 parts spaghnum peat
3 parts compost (Dairy Doo)
1 part perlite
1 part vermiculite
 
And then I add in a mix of various suppliments by the table spoon.
 
Also - I want to make sure to say thanks to Trident Chili - we once again swapped seeds and he is more than generous.  I took a picture when the card came in, but I can't find it.  I will say this - he has been extremely generous and great to share with.
 
Ok, a couple of pictures:
 
Here's looking into my downstairs growroom.  I'm really happy with how this area has developed over the past few years:

20170313_163755-1024x576.jpg


You'll probably notice that one area had to be transformed into a brooder. I'm finding that chickens are a ton of fun, and they have been great for the kids, so we have 7 new chicks growing that will hopefully be laying hens.

20170313_163808-1024x576.jpg


The plants are coming along.

20170313_163817-1024x576.jpg


Here is one of the Big Black Mamas:

20170313_163823-1024x576.jpg


I've got more that are just starting to poke through:

20170313_163934-1024x576.jpg


20170313_163834-1024x576.jpg


I think I'll have to address one of my spots - I've got some LED bulbs going. One is a 24 watt grow light, but it seems to be burning everything directly underneath it. I had to remove a row.

20170313_163948-1024x576.jpg


And here are my over-winters:

20170313_164000-1024x576.jpg


I broke one of my own rules about these. I brought a couple plants down without doing the full treatment for aphids and guess what? I had an aphid battle in the beginning of December. So, I took all of them into the garage, stripped them, cleaned their pots with bleach, dunked them in soap, a bleach mix, and rinsed, clean dirt, soaked with water and then sprayed with organic spray. I lost two through that process, but I could have aphids in my grow room. I also thoroughly cleaned my grow area with a bleach mix to get everything out. What a pain!
 
Well, that's my 10 picture limit.  I'll try to keep things updated on here.  
 
I hope everyone's season is off to a good start!
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
 
Always good to see the kids pitching in and spending time with Dad ;)  I just wish that thought continued on well into their teens <---been there...LOL
 
Kids and plants look great, both fed well ;)  I watched your video, glad you had such success last year! And I hope they don't move now that you have it down there.
 
Keep it green Andy!
 
Datil said:
Looking great!
It's nice to have young smiling helpers :)
Very nice list, I hope that your yellow bhuts will grow true (that means to me narrow, gnarly, thin skinned pods).
 
Best of luck
 
Datil
 
 
The pictures of the yellow bhuts look amazing - so I'm hoping they turn out true as well.  Thanks!
 
Trident chilli said:
Andy the "Saraga" bonnet came from the Saraga International Grocery Store Indiana Indianapolis.... I believe Justin WHP bought some pods and saved the seeds. I also received seeds from Foggia. The picture he sent showed orange pods however when fully mature they grow red. Thin walled when cut in half they look like dug out canoes a variety that produces lots of pods.....nice heat and flavour

 
Awesome - those sound great.  I'm glad I started some.  I'm excited to see how they taste!
 
Superhot Sim said:
Stunning flavour as well John, I forgot you sent me fresh pods of this. Will be in my grow next season.

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Wonderful - thanks for the feedback!
 
moruga welder said:
Great looking children you got there !  Probably get that from their Dad , eh ? lol , Works for me !  I love the chicken signs !   Heres to a great grow  :cheers:  !
 
Thank you!  Yeah, looks from their dad...  ;)
 
Devv said:
Always good to see the kids pitching in and spending time with Dad ;)  I just wish that thought continued on well into their teens <---been there...LOL
 
Kids and plants look great, both fed well ;)  I watched your video, glad you had such success last year! And I hope they don't move now that you have it down there.
 
Keep it green Andy!
 
Thanks! And don't even mention moving!  As you point out, I'm just getting things where I want them here!
 
stickman said:
+1 on post #18... it looks like a Preying Mantis egg case.  Everything looking great Andy. Drive on!
 
That's great - I've never seen those and that's kind of best case scenario as to what it could be.  Very cool!
 
Andy,  nice list and plants looking very nice.  I'll try to keep a watch out this season if I don't get lost for time too much.  I saw a previous post from John about the Saraga Bonnet.  It was actually Sandra (fiogga) who saved the seeds from the Saraga Market.  I think she saved them several years ago and grows quite a few every year as its one of her favorites.   I grew them last year and the plant threw out all kinds of shapes, some long, some kinda habanero shaped and some kinda like an upside down UFO shape.  Nice not too hot crunchy orange pods.
 
jcw10tc said:
Andy,  nice list and plants looking very nice.  I'll try to keep a watch out this season if I don't get lost for time too much.  I saw a previous post from John about the Saraga Bonnet.  It was actually Sandra (fiogga) who saved the seeds from the Saraga Market.  I think she saved them several years ago and grows quite a few every year as its one of her favorites.   I grew them last year and the plant threw out all kinds of shapes, some long, some kinda habanero shaped and some kinda like an upside down UFO shape.  Nice not too hot crunchy orange pods.
 
Awesome - thanks for that information!  
 
I am growing a couple extras of those to include in the pepper draft, and your description was added to the notes that each participant receives so that they are able to select the best peppers for their garden.  Thank you!
 
 
Alright, here's an update:
 
The plants are off and running.  Here's a shot before I did a bunch of potting up:
 
20170327_225421.jpg


Last night I moved 49 plants out of their starter cells into their 3x3 pots. Here's one batch of 18:

20170327_235338.jpg


Here are some of the first ones I potted up awhile back. They are getting pretty big. Nice big, fat leaves...

20170327_2254131.jpg


Here is a "Big Black Mama" up close (pepperjoe.com)

20170327_225506.jpg


So... sometimes I don't catch the plants when they dry out... only have lost one though.
This one was a Jabba Da Hutt from White Hot Peppers (I still have more left):

20170327_225449.jpg


My overwinter plants are doing just fine. And great news - no signs of aphids either! **knock on wood**

20170327_225437.jpg


When I ordered the California Reapers from Tyler Farms, I also ordered some Key Lime seeds. Well, I'm growing a Key Lime tree. I'm not sure that I'll get that many limes from it this season.   :surprised: 

20170327_225456.jpg


Finally, the chicks are growing too! And trying to escape. And crapping all over everything.

20170327_225535.jpg


That's what I've got - thanks for stopping by!
 
Grow is chuggin' right along, Andy!  You'll
have shelves full of 3x3's in no time!  Looks
like the OW on the left is blooming like crazy.
What is it?
 
Glad to see you are doing the pepper draft
again - that's such cool fun!
 
Carry on, my friend - good luck going forward!
 
 
PaulG said:
Grow is chuggin' right along, Andy!  You'll
have shelves full of 3x3's in no time!  Looks
like the OW on the left is blooming like crazy.
What is it?
 
Glad to see you are doing the pepper draft
again - that's such cool fun!
 
Carry on, my friend - good luck going forward!
 
We're moving right along!  
 
The OW to the left is a NeBru 7 - in fact, here is a labeled picture of all the overwinters
 
overwinter.jpg

 
stickman said:
Looking good Andy! Will you be turning your birds loose in the yard to forage for insects?
 
Thanks Rick! I think I'll run some meat birds through the garden area in a chicken tractor, but they won't be in the raised beds - so not much there.  However, we did just get some new birds this weekend that should help with my fruit trees and bushes:
 
20170402_231131.jpg

 
We ended up with three ducks and 2 bantam chickens.  I've heard quite  bit how ducks are great foragers and pest control, and that they are better with the plants as they don't dig everything up like chickens do.  I'm excited to get the ducks to work in the yard.  And - I hope we have females and can develop a small market for duck eggs!  The Bantams - well they were just so stinkin' cute...
 
20170402_180659-e1491364553703.jpg




The grow shelf is looking good and full

20170403_211235.jpg


20170403_211244.jpg


20170403_211250.jpg



I moved a few up from the 3x3's into bigger pots. You can see by the roots, it was time:

20170402_233237.jpg



In more non-pepper news: the chicks from a month ago are growing quickly. This one is a light Brahma. You may have seen the viral video of the huge chicken exiting a chicken coop. It was this kind of bird, although probably not purchased from the local feed store. I hope this one is a hen...

20170403_211430-e1491364762874.jpg


Finally, one more project - we are incubating some eggs. We candled them on Monday (started them the previous Friday) and think we have about 6 that are fertile. Very cool experiment. The kids and I are learning as we go!

20170403_211926.jpg


Thanks for stopping by!
 
Cool! I wouldn't mind having chickens around potted plants, but they'd scratch up the soil around the in-ground plants and kick off the mulch. I'd be curious to see how the ducks do for you. Too bad you can't train them to crap in your raised beds. ;)
 
stickman said:
Too bad you can't train them to crap in your raised beds. ;)
Quote of the day that Rick and made me snigger lol sign of a good gardener always thinking ahead.

Plants all looking good Andy, I know John is growing your black river sb so watching that keenly.
Not long until plant out day.




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Work has been crazy, followed up by spring and plant out that has demanded a ton of my time, so I've been away...
Anyway, here's a bit of an update with old pictures.
 
stickman said:
Cool! I wouldn't mind having chickens around potted plants, but they'd scratch up the soil around the in-ground plants and kick off the mulch. I'd be curious to see how the ducks do for you. Too bad you can't train them to crap in your raised beds. ;)
 
So I began with the ducks by using this set up for a movable paddock.  They don't scratch up everything, which is good.  They also crap all over the place, which provides nitrogen.  But they'll also nibble a bit on plants - so I'm trying to move them around and away from the fruit bushes.  It's a work in progress...
 
20170420_180255-1024x576.jpg

 
Superhot Sim said:
Quote of the day that Rick and made me snigger lol sign of a good gardener always thinking ahead.

Plants all looking good Andy, I know John is growing your black river sb so watching that keenly.
Not long until plant out day.




Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk
 
Thank you!
 
PaulG said:
Wow, you always have lots of fun stuff going on, Andy!
 
Your grow shelf does, indeed, look great!  Kudos   :clap:
 
Yeah, it feels a bit too much sometimes - but man, there's a lot of fun and interesting stuff you can do, and it's been great to work with the kids!
 
Dash said:
Wow, your plants and your animals look awesome! Very nice.
 
Thank you!
 
bpiela said:
what is the  Black River Scotch Bonnet?  I don't think that I have heard of that one before.  Do you have any pics?   Awesome birds btw!
 
It's a Bonnet I grew out from seeds that someone from my church brought back with them after a missions trip in Jamaica.  I'm going to try to do a better job isolating the seed this year.  It's a true Jamaican Bonnet - really cool stuff!
 
 
I did some work in the chicken coup towards the end of April - here are the chicks on the new roost, made from a tree branch I took down
 
20170424_185029-1024x576.jpg

 
I also added a nesting box attached to the outside of the coup so that they can lay in here and roost up high.  This way the nesting box is clean and there is easier access to the eggs.  
 
20170425_181654-1024x576.jpg

 
I also worked on a better set up for food.  Chickens like to rake food out of their feeders and spread it all over the ground, wasting it.  This seems to help.  I had to abandon the tube leading down into the feeder though, that just didn't work out.  It kept coming off and tipping over.
 
20170425_181704-1024x576.jpg

 
Violets in the yard. An argument against spraying lawns with herbicides.
 
20170425_204619-1024x576.jpg

 
So with the little peat pellets, if you plant two seeds in a pellet and they grow out, it really isn't possible to divide up the roots like it is if you start them in seed cells:
 
20170427_122623-e1494902737175-576x1024.jpg

 
20170427_122722-e1494902679148-576x1024.jpg

 
I thought I'd try tearing them apart and planting one in soil with as much root mass as I could get anyway.  I think the key thing was stripping off most of the leaves so that the roots weren't supporting all of that structure above the soil.  That way they could grow in and then the plant could bounce back.
 
Here's the good one of the two:
 
20170427_122957-e1494902614251-576x1024.jpg

 
And here they are planted up:
 
20170427_123137-e1494902889649-576x1024.jpg

 
 
Several weeks later, I did not loose any of the 5 or so pairs of plants I did this with. Oh, also pictured above: I gave the plants plenty of water with the root dip and kelp plant food mixed in.  
 
Finally, I decided to try to encourage mason bees on our property, so I made this simple little mason bee house.  You put the rolled up paper in them, so you can pull them out in the Fall and remove any mites or bad stuff.  Then you can release them in the spring, by a method I am not yet familiar with...
 
20170428_152119-e1494902826463-576x1024.jpg

 
Alright, I'll come back later when I can post pictures of the 2017 Pepper Draft.  Until then - thanks for stopping by!
 
Mason Bees are awesome: my gardener friend has
several bee boxes.   You are doing a good turn for
the environment, Andy!  
 
Wow, time for another pepper draft already?  Looking
forward to seeing your pics of the festivities!
 
Pulpiteer said:
Work has been crazy, followed up by spring and plant out that has demanded a ton of my time, so I've been away...
Anyway, here's a bit of an update with old pictures.
 
 
So I began with the ducks by using this set up for a movable paddock.  They don't scratch up everything, which is good.  They also crap all over the place, which provides nitrogen.  But they'll also nibble a bit on plants - so I'm trying to move them around and away from the fruit bushes.  It's a work in progress...
 
20170420_180255-1024x576.jpg

 
 
Thank you!
 
 
Yeah, it feels a bit too much sometimes - but man, there's a lot of fun and interesting stuff you can do, and it's been great to work with the kids!
 
 
Thank you!
 
 
It's a Bonnet I grew out from seeds that someone from my church brought back with them after a missions trip in Jamaica.  I'm going to try to do a better job isolating the seed this year.  It's a true Jamaican Bonnet - really cool stuff!
 
 
I did some work in the chicken coup towards the end of April - here are the chicks on the new roost, made from a tree branch I took down
 
20170424_185029-1024x576.jpg

 
I also added a nesting box attached to the outside of the coup so that they can lay in here and roost up high.  This way the nesting box is clean and there is easier access to the eggs.  
 
20170425_181654-1024x576.jpg

 
I also worked on a better set up for food.  Chickens like to rake food out of their feeders and spread it all over the ground, wasting it.  This seems to help.  I had to abandon the tube leading down into the feeder though, that just didn't work out.  It kept coming off and tipping over.
 
20170425_181704-1024x576.jpg

 
Violets in the yard. An argument against spraying lawns with herbicides.
 
20170425_204619-1024x576.jpg

 
So with the little peat pellets, if you plant two seeds in a pellet and they grow out, it really isn't possible to divide up the roots like it is if you start them in seed cells:
 
20170427_122623-e1494902737175-576x1024.jpg

 
20170427_122722-e1494902679148-576x1024.jpg

 
I thought I'd try tearing them apart and planting one in soil with as much root mass as I could get anyway.  I think the key thing was stripping off most of the leaves so that the roots weren't supporting all of that structure above the soil.  That way they could grow in and then the plant could bounce back.
 
Here's the good one of the two:
 
20170427_122957-e1494902614251-576x1024.jpg

 
And here they are planted up:
 
20170427_123137-e1494902889649-576x1024.jpg

 
 
Several weeks later, I did not loose any of the 5 or so pairs of plants I did this with. Oh, also pictured above: I gave the plants plenty of water with the root dip and kelp plant food mixed in.  
 
Finally, I decided to try to encourage mason bees on our property, so I made this simple little mason bee house.  You put the rolled up paper in them, so you can pull them out in the Fall and remove any mites or bad stuff.  Then you can release them in the spring, by a method I am not yet familiar with...
 
20170428_152119-e1494902826463-576x1024.jpg

 
Alright, I'll come back later when I can post pictures of the 2017 Pepper Draft.  Until then - thanks for stopping by!
There's definitely no moss on you Andy! All looking good at your place. [emoji106] How cold is it out your way?

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