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: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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:
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:
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.
The plants are coming along.
Here is one of the Big Black Mamas:
I've got more that are just starting to poke through:
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.
And here are my over-winters:
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!
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:
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:
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.
The plants are coming along.
Here is one of the Big Black Mamas:
I've got more that are just starting to poke through:
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.
And here are my over-winters:
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!
