Sawyer '14 - Seed Offer

Sawyer · Jan 24, 2014

Sorry to hear that. Hope you find everything in good shape tomorrow. I was a little worried about my wellhead last night, since even with the taps dripping, the pump only came on three or four times all night. I guess that was enough, though. (Would have turned on the wellhead incandescent, but was expecting 10 degrees, not 0.)

Devv · Jan 24, 2014

Sawyer said:
Sorry to hear that. Hope you find everything in good shape tomorrow. I was a little worried about my wellhead last night, since even with the taps dripping, the pump only came on three or four times all night. I guess that was enough, though. (Would have turned on the wellhead incandescent, but was expecting 10 degrees, not 0.)

My current well, which the casing is in really rough shape (they're suppose to drill soon) is inside the shop now and insulated. It has flexible pipe and has pulled it twice since building the shop. It was warm in there without the light. Now once the new one is drilled, I'm in a rush to do something to prevent it from freezing. Dang yet another front this week, and a low of 20° forecast for midweek. This is THE coldest winter I can remember in 36 years in south Texas...and I'm sure nation wide. I'm sure 'yall just smile at my temps compared to what you're dealing with...but still dang!

Sawyer · Jan 24, 2014

How deep are your wells? Mine is only 80' to the bottom and only about 70' to the foot valve, shallow enough that I can use a jet pump. The only times I've pulled the piping (one 1" line and one 1 1/2" line), the water table was at 30', though it will suck air if I leave it running for irrigation too long. (Forgot about it once and left it running for 6 hours straight.) I've pulled the piping twice, once because the foot valve failed and it lost its prime. That wasn't too bad, because the pipes were empty. The second time was the next day. New foot valve, reinsert the piping into the well, I filled everything up with hauled in water, but the pump just wouldn't pump. Installed a new pump, still no good. (So now I have a spare pump.) Finally pulled the piping a second time and found a shaving of the plastic pipe clogging the jet. That time was considerably more difficult since the pipes were full of water.

Devv · Jan 24, 2014

Ours is at least 250' only because we're on a ridge. The property drops 80' to the east driving 300' in that direction. The first time I pulled the well I was around 37-38; still full of piss and vinegar. I wrapped both arms in ace bandage, pulled 15' and was spent. I did have a helper to help me hang on to it. Slowly we got it pulled, me pulling and the teenager helping me dragging the pipe away. Eventually it got lighter and we got it out. The pump was in 40' of water. Going back in I used 3/8" nylon rope tied to the pump and a block and tackle to lower it. That rope has served me well because since then it's been pulled twice more...about every 7 years. The last time we went with a 1.5 hp pump versus the 1hp.

And you say full off water...yep every pull!

PaulG · Jan 24, 2014

Germination activity sounds very good, John.
Glad to hear you are having a successful start.

Hope you can ride out the cold weather. I see
on the news it is supposed to hang on for a while
and then get a little colder. Brrrrrrr. Meanwhile
we are having such warm, windy and dry conditions
that much of the area is under red flag fire warnings.

Not good weather for peppers anywhere!

maximumcapsicum · Jan 24, 2014

Interesting theory about the high temp helmets. I know my germ temps were mostly too high... I could buy it. Makes sense in a way... The embryo shoots up too quick.

HillBilly Jeff · Jan 25, 2014

I hate the sound of putting a well point down that deep. My hobby shop only went down 30 feet (including point) and that almost killed me.

Sawyer · Jan 25, 2014

Devv said:
Ours is at least 250' only because we're on a ridge. The property drops 80' to the east driving 300' in that direction. The first time I pulled the well I was around 37-38; still full of piss and vinegar. I wrapped both arms in ace bandage, pulled 15' and was spent. I did have a helper to help me hang on to it. Slowly we got it pulled, me pulling and the teenager helping me dragging the pipe away. Eventually it got lighter and we got it out. The pump was in 40' of water. Going back in I used 3/8" nylon rope tied to the pump and a block and tackle to lower it. That rope has served me well because since then it's been pulled twice more...about every 7 years. The last time we went with a 1.5 hp pump versus the 1hp.

And you say full off water...yep every pull!

It was over a decade ago when I pulled mine. I'll be looking for a block and tackle, or maybe an electric winch, next time. I'd still rather deal with this hassle once or twice every several years than be dependent upon others for such a fundamental necessity as water. (Worst case, I just pull the piping and get a well bucket.)

PaulG said:
Germination activity sounds very good, John.
Glad to hear you are having a successful start.

Hope you can ride out the cold weather. I see
on the news it is supposed to hang on for a while
and then get a little colder. Brrrrrrr. Meanwhile
we are having such warm, windy and dry conditions
that much of the area is under red flag fire warnings.

Not good weather for peppers anywhere!

Thanks, Paul. So far, so good. It's not the cold that's causing me problems (with the plants), so much as the yo-yo temperatures. I adjust my heating pads manually and it's hard to keep up with the fluctuations. (Colder it gets, the more the furnace runs, the warmer the germination room gets.)

Oh, and as cold as it was yesterday, we were under a red flag warning, too. Very blustery and it hasn't precipitated in a couple of weeks. It's supposed to get up in the high 50s, low 60s tomorrow, so I'm going to try to get the rest of the alliums planted (I've said that before, I know), and set up a low row tunnel and plant a bunch of early spring stuff.

maximumcapsicum said:
Interesting theory about the high temp helmets. I know my germ temps were mostly too high... I could buy it. Makes sense in a way... The embryo shoots up too quick.

Well, that was my theory last year, and I do have a few helmets this year, but not all that many. I think planting deep is a good anti-helmet strategy.

HillBilly Jeff said:
I hate the sound of putting a well point down that deep. My hobby shop only went down 30 feet (including point) and that almost killed me.

I think the further west you go, the deeper the wells get, as a general rule. I've got a friend in Idaho whose well is 750'. He has a... trickle pump(?) down there that runs more or less all the time. Keeps a surface tank (or two) filled with an additional pump to provide pressure to the house.

Things are slowing down. I have 80 up today, still just 11 of 12 varieties. I hope the other 3 flats start popping soon, but I may have trouble with 2 of them. Even with the domes in place, 2 of the flats got too dry. We shall see.

Devv · Jan 25, 2014

I just added water to the flats yesterday and a few more popped, and like you say the crazy weather makes it hard to control the room they're in.

Hoping they continue to pop for you!

Sawyer · Jan 26, 2014

So far so good. I'm up 95 starts in the first flat sown (relabeled PF1 in the original post). I'll lose some of those due to a few fuzzy helmets. Still just 11 of 12 varieties showing. I may get skunked on the CAP 1144. I also have two sprouts of Bahamian Goats (GA Growhead) in one of the flats (PF3) sown last Monday. I edit that post to add labels for future reference.

I finished a second sauce yesterday, based on white pepper (mostly bhut and GWH) purée. White grapefruit juice, white onion, pear, Arkansas-produced white muscadine wine, and a few other things. I was hoping it would turn out white, but it didn't. Too sweet and not hot enough, but both of those issues can be fixed in the next batch. A friend made a chicken curry last night for dinner and this stuff was divine on it. That curry is also the first thing I've tried that the brown sauce I made before wasn't good on. One thing I discovered was taking some of the shredded coconut for the curry, by itself with this new sauce on top of it made a delicious candy.

I'll post some pictures later, but it's sunny and already up to the mid-50s. I've got some alliums to plant and a row tunnel to construct.

Sawyer · Jan 27, 2014

I didn't get very far yesterday with planting the alliums. Even though the air temperatures got into the mid to upper 60s, the ground in the garden is frozen rock hard only an inch or two down. I wasn't expecting that. It was like chopping concrete with my hoe. So I spread a 10' x 20' piece of plastic across three 20' rows and weighed it down with 6 bricks. That should help thaw things out a bit, when warmer weather returns. Yesterday, 60s, today started at 20 this morning and has been dropping ever since. It's around 16 right now and doesn't look like it's going to get any warmer today.

I'm up to 116 sprouts as of this morning (saw a few more last time I looked, but didn't recount). Here's a summary of germination per variety. All the flats (PF1, PF2, etc) follow the same serpentine numbering scheme w/ #1 in the lower left and #12 in the lower right, as seen upthread. Germination numbers are in the green columns.

And since I know "Pics or it didn't happen", here are the pics. All of these are from the flat labeled PF1. Sorry for the horrible picture quality. I was in a hurry and didn't notice the camera was focusing on the dirt, not the plants.
Bahamian Goat:

Bonda Ma Jacques:

Brown Moruga:

Chocolate TS:

Elyssium Oxide Bonnet:

Jigsaw:

Orange Locoto:

Orange Manzano:

Another Orange Manzano:

Bump, please?

Penny · Jan 27, 2014

Looks great so far.......bump!

Scarecrw · Jan 27, 2014

Looking good Sawyer. Just reseeded my manzanos. Anything special to get yours to pop. I waited 4 weeks before trying again.

Sawyer · Jan 27, 2014

Thanks, Penny.

Scarecrw said:
Looking good Sawyer. Just reseeded my manzanos. Anything special to get yours to pop. I waited 4 weeks before trying again.

Thanks, Jeff. No, nothing special. I've had a lot of trouble keeping the temperature stable this year so that may have something to do with it. It's fluctuated from 70ºF to over 90ºF, so I guess it's probably hit the sweet spot at least occasionally. I think the most important thing with Manzanos is to have fully mature, viable seed. First round last year I had almost no luck, but then I ordered some seeds from Trade Winds and had good luck. Those seeds are germinating well this year, too, and the ones I got from PaulG are going gangbusters.

Red Manzano:

Yellow Manzano:

I was hoping this sauce would turn out white, but it didn't quite get there. In any case, it's really tasty on chicken curry. Maybe not as versatile as the brown sauce (last bottle of that shown for color contrast).

maximumcapsicum · Jan 27, 2014

Great sprouts Sawyer! How do you go about separating the ones that are growing very close to each other? And when you do the separating?

Sawyer · Jan 27, 2014

Hey, Adam, thanks for stopping by. Once the seedlings have some strength to the stem, they separate pretty easily. I just lift the whole plug of mix from the cell and gently work it back and forth to crumble it. The plants pretty much separate on their own. It does leave you with bare root plants to repot, but they recover quickly. I'll normally separate when they get their 3rd or 4th set of true leaves. They can go longer, but the roots get more entwined. Then, I'll sometimes put the plug in water and, holding the stems of the plants, swish them back and forth and gradually tug them apart.

Portuge · Jan 27, 2014

Seedlings galore at Sawyers, howd your sauce taste? Looks good

meatfreak · Jan 27, 2014

Wow, that's already a lot of seedlings

Your gonna have your hands full!

maximumcapsicum · Jan 27, 2014

Thanks for the notes Sawyer! I planted my plugs a bit too fast it seems! I may just try to gently dig up any seedlings I want to save and not cull with a plastic fork. May not end up saving any on the other hand. Will see...

Devv · Jan 27, 2014

Glad to see all the youngin's John!

And so many Manzano's, that's just great!

I have had just one Funky pop, it was from your seed. Still hoping for more....I do have the OW still..

Stay warm Polar Plunge Revenge coming back for what the first missed!