Sawyer's 2013 Glog - Last Harvest/First Sauce

I haven't done a grow log before, but thought I'd give it a try this year. I'm growing mostly super hots, so I feel like I'm already behind schedule. Anyone know where January went? No pictures yet, I'll add some later when things (hopefully) start popping.

My setup is a basic home-made 2-tier 1" PVC plant stand. Each tier can accommodate 4 standard 1020 nursery flats and has three 2-bulb T-12 4' 40W fluorescent shop lights suspended above. The bulbs are a mix of Daylight, Wide Spectrum, and Power Twist. (I can't give you a K rating on these off the top of my head.) I use heater mats to try to keep the flats in the comfort zone for germination. They are wired to a dimmer switch so I can adjust the current. Even with the dimmer switch, in the past I've had trouble keeping uniform temperature, so this year I've put a layer of aluminum foil on top of the mats to spread out the heat and a layer of kraft paper on top of that. The flats go directly on the kraft paper. If anyone has any tips or tricks for controlling the temperature of heater mats (without purchasing an expensive thermostat), I'd love to hear about it.

I use standard 1020 nursery trays with 1206 (72-cell) inserts. I filled the inserts to planting depth with Sushine Mix #1 and planted anywhere from 2 (new) to 4 (old) seeds per cell. I then topped off the trays with some peat-based germination mix. I intended to use Fafard 3b germination mix, but didn't want to open a new bag for only four flats. I had a small bag of Miracle Grow and one of Ferry Morse left over from days past so I used one of those, I forget which.

The germination stand is in a back room in the warmest part of the house. As plants geminate and become established they'll be moved, either in whole flats, or potted out separately, to a 3-tier, 5 flat/tier stand in front of a bright picture window on the south side of the house. No lights on that yet and may not need them since the window gets direct sun for several hours per day. I'll be starting a lot of other seeds besides hot peppers, so I can't just leave them on the heater mats 'til plant out.

I started four flats today, one whole flat of self-propagated, pure-strain red Bhut Jolokia and up to 12 cells each of the following (note - I prefer the term 7 Pot to 7pod, but am keeping the 7pod nomenclature here out of deference to the vendor):

(First parenthesis is # of plants from first planting on 2/11, second is # plants/# soaked on 3/4)

Red Bhut Jolokia (my own isolated) (75)
Yellow Bhut Jolokia (PL) (0)
Brown Bhut Jolokia (PL) (1)
White Bhut Jolokia (PL) (8), (15/20)
Yellow Fatalii (RFC) (11), (6/10)
Giant White Habanero (RFC) (7)
Trinidad Scorpion Moruga/Moruga Blend (PL) (10), (28/35)
Trinidad Scorpion Moruga/Moruga Blend (RFC) (14)
T. Scorpion Moruga/Moruga Blend Yellow (PL) (6), (19/25)
T. 7pod Congo SR Gigantic (PL) (9), (2/7)
T. 7pod Large Red (PL) (4)
T. 7pod Large Yellow (PL) (1)
T. 7pod Brain Strain (PL) (10), (2/9)
T. 7pod Brain Strain Yellow (PL) (4), (11/12)
T. 7pod Brown (PL) (17)
T. 7pod Burgundy (PL) (8)
T. Douglah (PL) (5), (4/20)
T. Scorpion Butch T. (PL) (7)
T. Scorpion Yellow (PL) (18)
T. Scorpion Original Strain (PL) (1)
T. Seasoning (PL) (4)

New strains/sources started on 3/4:
Red Bhut Jolokia (PL) (45/50)
Scotch Bonnet Brown (PL) (22/34)
'12 7 Pot Yellow (RFC) (0/11)
'12 Bhut Jolokia Chocolate (PL) (0/14)
Datil (PL) (7/22)
Bhut Jolokia Orange (PL) (15/20)
T. Scorpion CARDI (PL) (7/20)
Tobago Treasure (PL) (8/20)

Started on 3/6:
Red Bhut Jolokia (own isolated) (>50)
Trinidad Moruga Scorpion (CPI) (13)
NuMex Pinata (CPI) (40)
White Bullet Hab (PL) (13)

Unrecorded plant date:
Orange Hab (PL) (2)
TS Cardi (PL) (7)
Dorset Naga (PL) (5)

Started on 3/25:
Yellow Bhut Jolokia (PL) - 8/?
Long Choco Habanero (AjiJoe) - 17/42
Pimenta da Neyde (PL) - 14/30
Giant Mexican Rocoto (PL) - 0/40
CAP 1144 (PL) - 0/21
(old) Yellow Habanero (Trade Winds) - 0/24
(old) Jamaican Red Mushroom (RFC) - 0/18
Trinidad Congo Red (PL) - 10/12
Datil (PL) - 9/22 (4 hh)
7 Pot Primo (PL) - 5/18
Early Jalapeno (PL) - 19/36
Cracked Jalapeno (PL) - 33/36
Large Hot Cherry (PL) - 33/36
Surprise Hot Mix (AjiJoe) - 97/144

Edit 4/3: add sources PL=pepperlover, RFC=Refining Fire Chiles, CPI=Chile Pepper Institute
Edit 4/3: (in blue)
Edit 4/29: Edit title (again)

 

[Dshlogg]

Make that money bro! Thanks for keeping up with my glog so far. Don't work too hard. Gotta stop and enjoy life once and a while. Good luck!

 

[stickman]

Give the "Beltway Bandits" an extra few hits for me!

 

[Devv]

Hopefully, you'll find the time to do everything, it's gonna be tough though!

DC area, too much traffic, used to work 12 miles from there, glad you're just visiting...

 

[WalkGood]

Take care of business and come back when you can, I can assure you it's not easy to make a buck in todays environment ... That said, stay out of Georgetown bars if you wana save your loot

 

[Sawyer]

That said, stay out of Georgetown bars if you wana save your loot

Double like if I could. More comments later.

 

[Sawyer]

85ºF today and look at tomorrow's forecast:

We're down the rabbit hole now.

 

[PHB]

It's seems you will have to bring your peppers home in the coming days : http://weatherspark.com/#!dashboard;q=Arkansas

 

[Sawyer]

If it actually snows, it will be the first time I've seen, or even heard of, it snowing in Arkansas in May.

 

[Devv]

Wow, snow forecast, that's just crazy. We're getting some of the cold as well, they're talking record setting..

 

[stickman]

Whoa! Bad Meteorologist! No biscuit! All I can say is I hope they're wrong.

 

[JJJessee]

May does seem late for Arkansas snow. Here in southern Appalachia, it only happens sporadically. My 10 day forecast shows only a night or two as low as upper 40°s. Hope everything pulls through.

 

[stc3248]

Damn...you are in Arkansas right? Not Minnesota??? WTF man, hope you're prepped, just plain sucks brother...keep us posted.

 

[Sawyer]

...stay out of Georgetown bars if you wana save your loot

Double like if I could. More comments later.

And the local ones, too.

Make that money bro! Thanks for keeping up with my glog so far. Don't work too hard. Gotta stop and enjoy life once and a while. Good luck!

I've been doing a little too much of that "enjoying life" lately. Time to buckle down for awhile. While I'm there, I have one day scheduled to visit with some funding agencies for a project that would have relevance here on THP. If anything comes of it, I'll have more to say later.

Give the "Beltway Bandits" an extra few hits for me!

Part of what I'm doing is trying to insure federal disbursements are made where they are likely to reap the greatest reward. Not that it matters much, the little influence I have is a teensy tiny fraction of a drop compared to the wad of cash they blow every year. Random fact: The interest payments alone on the federal debt are over $6000 per second.

Hopefully, you'll find the time to do everything, it's gonna be tough though!

DC area, too much traffic, used to work 12 miles from there, glad you're just visiting...

Thanks, Scott. I do actually drive to get there. (Have low tolerance for being treated like cattle at the air terminals.) I'll time my trip to arrive mid-afternoon on a Sunday and I don't actually go all the way in to DC, stopping just this side of the river. My hotel is only a few blocks off 66 and once parked in the garage, I can walk everywhere I need to be for the week.

It's seems you will have to bring your peppers home in the coming days : http://weatherspark....oard;q=Arkansas

Just finished doing that. Looks like they'll have to stay put until Sunday. If you're wondering why the forecast you linked doesn't show such low temperatures, that one is likely for Little Rock, which is in the center of the state and in the Arkansas River valley. Their weather is usually warmer than ours. I'm in the northwest part of the state, which is something of a mixing area between the predominant plains weather pattern of Oklahoma and Kansas and the predominant river valley weather pattern of the Mississippi and lower tributaries.

Wow, snow forecast, that's just crazy. We're getting some of the cold as well, they're talking record setting..

Have you had your weather yet? How did it turn out?

Whoa! Bad Meteorologist! No biscuit! All I can say is I hope they're wrong.

I know, right? They are often wrong and this just seems too unreal to be right, but the plants are inside and I only have a late planting of shallots in the ground. They won't mind a little frost/snow.

May does seem late for Arkansas snow. Here in southern Appalachia, it only happens sporadically. My 10 day forecast shows only a night or two as low as upper 40°s. Hope everything pulls through.

Off hand, I don't even recall an April snow, though a light dusting wouldn't necessarily be memorable. I did see snow once in May, but that was in Germany, which actually, where I was reminded me a lot of where you are.

So as I said, the plants are back inside for the duration. Has anyone noticed that annuums seem to harden off better than chinense? Maybe I'm imagining it, but that seems to be the case.

I didn't get as much done outside the last two days as I had hoped. I was shoveling a pile of rock and dirt the highway department left in front of my driveway from scraping the edge of the pavement and something went "twinge" in my back. It's not too bad, but I'm worried about aggravating it by doing too much. I hope to be more mobile by the time the good weather returns. I had just commented in someone else's glog who was having some back troubles (sorry, I forget who), that I had been fortunate in that regard lately. I guess I forgot to end the comment with a "knock on wood". Oh well, it's not like I don't have plenty to do in the meantime.

 

[Devv]

Not quoting because of length.

I hear you about the herding cattle thing at airports, no lie, I have mooed more than once while in line.

Our weather: We got .6" last night, which is good, corn's leaning south from the wind. Right now we're having 20mph winds gusting to over 40, not cool! Hopefully damage will be minimal. Morning temps expected 41-42 for Friday and Saturday.

Actually I worry more about the people who planted out this weekend and their plants, mine will recover from a wind beating.

Sorry to hear about your back, becareful with that drive coming up.

take care

Edit: and your weather?? did the forecast come true?

 

[annie57]

I'm sorry, Saw. Dayum. Good you brought them in: I WAS concerned about you . . . with lows tonight/tomorrow night, more rain last night, I brought curcubits and basil in (only because I didn't want to forget later today) but I suppose everything else can tough it out . . . "when's plant-out?" I went by this ole timer's house this morning, early--man still gets up at 4am--plants garden big as mine (he's scaled down)--he's about disgusted but only thing he's got out are onions, lettuces, etc. "I done planted one round punkin seed" (man grows delicious pumpkin) "and dayum watermelon seed like an idiot" (man grows amazing watermelon). "So hell, I reckon gonna wait until the hell the Lord wants it to dry the hell up and warm the hell up! I'm sorry for cussin,' honey." But snow? No. Or . . . not YET! Be safe (?) in D.C. smh

 

[capehog]

Just got a call from a friend in Fayetteville where they are bringing out the salt trucks for the wkd. Good luck with everything hope you have it all covered up and your plants are hearty. We are going to be in the high 30's but no snow of course that can change at the blink of an eye. We need a good 10 days of low 80s to dry everything out and let the plants start growing again.

 

[Chaosbites]

I hear ya on the snow. I guess you are getting our leftovers. It snowed all day yesterday and it was a delightful 80 on Monday. Today it is melting quickly and the sun is out so we are good.

I am from the DC/Baltimore area. We moved away 13 years ago and the traffic still sucks. My oldest lives there, but you couldn't get me to move back. Yeah, I'll visit, but I won't stay!

Sorry to hear about your back. Mine like to act up too.

 

[DesertChris]

Booooo on snow
Travel safe!!

 

[Sawyer]

It started snowing a little after midnight this morning and is still coming down, but almost done. There has actually been some accumulation, as much as a couple inches in some places; I got about an inch and a half. It's hovering just above freezing, so with the warm ground, it isn't sticking around long. It's the first time since records have been kept that it has snowed in Arkansas in May. I assume records weren't kept as far back as 1816 (year without a summer), because surely that year saw snow here. Of course, Arkansas only became a state in 1836, so maybe that wouldn't count. Here are some pictures:

I planted the pots with some left over shallots a couple of days ago. I wish I had planted rhodiola, since the instructions specifically say "a covering of snow enhances germination".

 

[WalkGood]

Dam I accidentally hit “like this” I hope your snow goes away and it warms up for your peppers & nons …