Sawyer's 2013 Glog - Last Harvest/First Sauce

Sawyer · Mar 21, 2013

Devv said:
Don't worry buddy the 90's are closer then you think!

Scott

I'm looking forward to the 90s. It's the triple digits that bug me, and the peppers.

At least the precipitation is no longer frozen. I'd rather have the ground dry out a little so I can till, but we do need the rain here. Beaver Lake (the main local reservoir) is still 6 feet below normal.

highalt · Mar 21, 2013

Just finished reading your glog from start to finish. Found myself looking forward to the next page to see how the critter saga ended, but it looks like it's one of those "To Be Coninued" episodes!

I grew up in Memphis, canoed the Spring River, camped and hiked in the Ozarks a few times, and my husband and I even went to Bull Shoals for our honeymoon, so I have spent quite a bit of time all over the state of Arkansaw.

Sounds like we had similar weather today. Rain mixed with snow here all morning, but things started clearing up by the afternoon. Up valley where my husband was working they had a good 3" of slush on the road.

Your grow is looking great! I'm growing the Pinata Jalapeno this year too, plus Zapotec, Jaloro, and Biker Billy. Can't wait to do a taste comparison on all of them!

Best wishes on your grow this season!!!

Sawyer · Mar 22, 2013

Wow, thanks for taking the time to read all this, Bonnie. There is another installment to the critter tale, but I haven't had time to write it up yet. It's still free range, though.

It's been too long since I've taken advantage of the natural state offerings around here. Sometimes we take for granted the things that make our environment special.

It's still raining here, off and on, but no icy build up. As I said before, I wish my garden would dry out, but I'll take the rain. I get my water from a well, not the reservoir, but I'm happy to start the dry season with a high water table.

I'm not even in the same ballpark as some of the other growers here, as far as producing thick, lush plants indoors, but I can (usually) keep 'em alive 'til plant out time. I still have seeds to sow, Early and Cracked Jalapeno from pepperlover.com and some others I think I mentioned not too far above. It's getting pretty late for sowing chinense, but maybe we'll have a mild summer here (as if) and/or a late frost (quite possible). Plus I hope to have more room for overwinters next time around.

Thanks again for visiting!

GA Growhead · Mar 22, 2013

Sup sawyer? I had my honeymoon in the ozarks. Was first of june, hotter that hot. Went jumped in some lake trying to cool down and it was like bath water. The water got cool about eight down. Was over a hundred every day. Didn't make for the best camping as planned. At one spot i just dripped with sweat doing nothing. Then would go jump in the little creek, that you could walk up to where the water bubbled up from an underground spring, and could only stay in there for a second, was freezing. Get out and be dripping in sweat by the time i was back at the camp site, less than a 100 yards away. Had a blast, just was damn HOT!
Looking good. Expecting some killer plants and a captured elfin at some point on here!

Devv · Mar 22, 2013

Sawyer said:
I'm looking forward to the 90s. It's the triple digits that bug me, and the peppers.

At least the precipitation is no longer frozen. I'd rather have the ground dry out a little so I can till, but we do need the rain here. Beaver Lake (the main local reservoir) is still 6 feet below normal.

Precipitation? Send some my way! Medina Lake is 78' low and at 7%.

I hate triple digits, so when's your plant time?

Scott

Sawyer · Mar 22, 2013

GA Growhead said:
Sup sawyer? I had my honeymoon in the ozarks. Was first of june, hotter that hot. Went jumped in some lake trying to cool down and it was like bath water. The water got cool about eight down. Was over a hundred every day. Didn't make for the best camping as planned. At one spot i just dripped with sweat doing nothing. Then would go jump in the little creek, that you could walk up to where the water bubbled up from an underground spring, and could only stay in there for a second, was freezing. Get out and be dripping in sweat by the time i was back at the camp site, less than a 100 yards away. Had a blast, just was damn HOT!
Looking good. Expecting some killer plants and a captured elfin at some point on here!

It does get hot here in the summers. The Ozark springs, creeks, and rivers are always good for a cool down, though, as is the outflow from the numerous dams, assuming one makes the effort to go visit them. The only thing that has changed lately is the summertime dripping sweat from just sitting around. It's been so dry the sweat evaporates before it can drip, which at least helps it seem a little cooler.

Devv said:
Precipitation? Send some my way! Medina Lake is 78' low and at 7%.

I hate triple digits, so when's your plant time?

Scott

Yeah, we're low, but we're not in a crisis like some folks. Seventy-eight feet down is pretty extreme, though. I think that's worse than the Palisades Reservoir when I saw it several years ago.

Edit - I'm not real sure when plant out will be. Could have done it by now this time last year, but we've got freezing temperatures coming up next week and I don't have the garden ready anyway. If it keeps raining, it may be quite awhile before I can put anything in the garden. (Knew I should have tilled those few warm, dry days we had a few weeks ago.) I expect after this next cold spell passes, I'll be able to start potting up some of those that will stay in pots. I can always cover them if frost threatens.

highalt · Mar 22, 2013

GA Growhead said:
Sup sawyer? I had my honeymoon in the ozarks. Was first of june, hotter that hot. Went jumped in some lake trying to cool down and it was like bath water. The water got cool about eight down. Was over a hundred every day. Didn't make for the best camping as planned. At one spot i just dripped with sweat doing nothing. Then would go jump in the little creek, that you could walk up to where the water bubbled up from an underground spring, and could only stay in there for a second, was freezing. Get out and be dripping in sweat by the time i was back at the camp site, less than a 100 yards away. Had a blast, just was damn HOT!
Looking good. Expecting some killer plants and a captured elfin at some point on here!

When I moved to Colorado, it took me a while to adjust to the fact that you could actually camp in the middle of the summer here. As a matter of fact, that's about the only time you won't freeze your butt off at night! In the south, you camped in the spring and fall, but never in the summer!

Sawyer · Mar 22, 2013

highalt said:
In the south, you camped in the spring and fall, but never in the summer!

Not unless you happen to really like ticks and chiggers.

Devv · Mar 22, 2013

Sawyer said:
Not unless you happen to really like ticks and chiggers.

And sweating!

stc3248 · Mar 23, 2013

Don't forget skeeters!!!

STEVE954 · Mar 24, 2013

stc3248 said:
Don't forget skeeters!!!

And the alligator snappers!

annie57 · Mar 24, 2013

I feel ya Arksaw . . . I tilled in, after taking a LOT of soil samples, two different pH tests, about 15lbs. dolomite lime into mine yesterday: 75' x 100.' Barefoot: it's been so cold this March I'm almost beginning not to feel the brrrrrr. Almost. Which counts with horseshoes and grenades. They calling for a few slow flurries here late tonight. :rolleyes:

But the worst has been the COLD. Really? <25F below normal? Really? This happened in 2011. Really cold in March. Then, in April, 80's, 90's, no rain, and sudden summer: like die-hard crappie fisherpeople (ahmm) were getting up at 4am to beat heat, as it didn't cool down from 110 until 3am once we got to June. OTH, the cold has kilt lots of bugs. OTOHand, I might have to replant onions. They might be cool season but not 20's at night for a week. Looked okay yesterday but I dunno :rofl:

Ya plants looking good! :party:

Lord, could we have some :hell:

?

Sawyer · Mar 25, 2013

Devv said:
And sweating!

stc3248 said:
Don't forget skeeters!!!

STEVE954 said:
And the alligator snappers!

Yep, and yep, and there aren't enough alligator snappers around anymore to worry about. They make a really good soup.

annie57 said:
I feel ya Arksaw . . . I tilled in, after taking a LOT of soil samples, two different pH tests, about 15lbs. dolomite lime into mine yesterday: 75' x 100.' Barefoot: it's been so cold this March I'm almost beginning not to feel the brrrrrr. Almost. Which counts with horseshoes and grenades. They calling for a few slow flurries here late tonight. But the worst has been the COLD. Really? <25F below normal? Really? This happened in 2011. Really cold in March. Then, in April, 80's, 90's, no rain, and sudden summer: like die-hard crappie fisherpeople (ahmm) were getting up at 4am to beat heat, as it didn't cool down from 110 until 3am once we got to June. OTH, the cold has kilt lots of bugs. OTOHand, I might have to replant onions. They might be cool season but not 20's at night for a week. Looked okay yesterday but I dunno

Ya plants looking good! Lord, could we have some ?

You've been busy, Annie. That's a pretty good-sized garden spot; how much will be devoted to peppers? It never got above freezing here today, with scattered flurries for a lot of the day, and a wind chill down in the teens. We don't often get winds like this when it's cold... must have come from out west. It's mid-20s now, so I'm feeling less guilty about the boxes of sprouting shallots, garlic, and potato onions on the table in the other room.

I sowed a couple more flats today (I really need to figure out how to resize images):

Parentheses in the first image indicate the number of seeds in the cell. I'm running two different experiments here. First, I'm trying four different germination techniques for Giant Mexican Rocoto (#3 in the first image). Direct sowing to mix (3[sup]1[/sup]) is my preferred method, but I've read these rocotos can be tricky. Greg (PIC1) suggested the warm water soak (3[sup]3[/sup]), though I don't have any KNO[sub]3[/sub]. The cold tea (regular drinking tea) soak (3[sup]2[/sup]) and surface sow (3[sup]4[/sup]) methods I found on another site that might cross the line on posting rules. While the flats have humidity domes on them, the surface sown seeds have additional little squares of plastic wrap covering each individual cell. The clock is ticking on all four methods... soaking times count.

The second experiment is a test of JJJ's hypothesis that group sowing can enhance germination. In the cells marked with an asterisk above, the seeds were grouped together in a single hole in the middle of the cell. For the others, the seeds were spaced more or less evenly in the cell.

BTW, the Long Chocolate Habanero and Surprise Hot Mix seeds were gifted to me last year by someone here on THP. I looked back through my PMs to try to figure out who, without success. I'd like to give credit where due, so if the person responsible reads this, please let me know so I can give proper thanks.

Edit: Replaced first image with one resized (test) and color-coded for ease of viewing.

DesertChris · Mar 25, 2013

I would bet the surprise hot mix is from AjiJoe.
He sent me some labeled exactly that!

I have done the group seed sowing a bunch this year, and have a few cups chock full of seedlings from it.
I think there is something to it.
I call it Carpetbombing, but The Borg Collective sowing sounds good too...lol

Sawyer · Mar 25, 2013

In that case, thank you, Joe.

I've done some inconsistent group seeding and there does seem to be something to it, but I wanted a more rigorous test comparing different varieties and known (and recorded) numbers of seeds. I guess one could also call it rattlesnake denning. I like "cluster sowing" because when it doesn't work, you can call it a cluster..... :censored:

DesertChris · Mar 25, 2013

Sawyer said:
In that case, thank you, Joe.

I've done some inconsistent group seeding and there does seem to be something to it, but I wanted a more rigorous test comparing different varieties and known (and recorded) numbers of seeds. I guess one could also call it rattlesnake denning. I like "cluster sowing" because when it doesn't work, you can call it a cluster.....

Well, when it does work you can call it that too!! LOL
I have to figure out what to do with some of them....Mostly I wanted to Fuse some of them for Bonzai, but some were from store bought packaged dried pods that I wasn't sure would germinate.....well....they did...a lot!!

Sawyer · Mar 25, 2013

They separate fairly easily, once the stems get a little strength. Worst case, swishing the roots in water will generally get them to let go of each other. Of course, unless the germination is sufficiently enhanced, it might not be worth the effort. I see it as a way to dramatically increase the seedling output from a limited space germination station... if it works.

annie57 · Mar 25, 2013

Arksaw;-) Carl's (JJJ) right! My mass-germ was result of my fear that none would germ (because even after reading every glog on here, I doubted myself) so I planted a blue gazillion to cell per 6 pack cell. They pull apart great if dry as bone. And the seeds signaling one another makes total sense. Okra/beans/corn do it inground. One minute there, the next, all hooked and up.

Doing the same with maters and holding them back until next week for pot up. Not for germ but volume as plan to sell/give away some mater plants. Only 3 to 4 per cell but it's working.

Have any of the unsoaked manzanos germed? I just soaked everything (except one flat yellow manzanos) in H202 and Potassium Nitrate mix in de-clorinated, warm water, in mouthwash cups, kept warm on heat mat over night. 1. to kill any surface crud with the H202 that would cause damp-off or other disease and 2. both to see what sank, what floated after salt petre softening seed coat. The floaters are my slowest growers, even thought they did germ. I did several 6 packs "labeled floaters mixed" with the names of each in each cell. On the maters, I picked out the floaters for that reason.

I like your experiment! I slapped a couple yellow manzano seeds in just moist soil and only two germed. NOT ENOUGH :mope:

Hope you have better luck! The rest were soaked.

And you can get PotNit at Lowe's or HD as Spectracide Stump Remover, for future reference if you want to try it.

Given the weather we're having, glad held the tomatoes back. The minute they go in bigger pots, gonna take off. One thing I've discovered is that small, healthy toms grow better inground than the large transplants. Same deal with cukes. One set true leaves, cukes thrive. 2 at most. But let the dang things get large, they don't produce long. Toms just produce less. My experience in this soil: amended clay.

How much going to peppers? :shocked:

More than "should." I'd never have thought would have wanted larger field, but I do. I'd love to garden in field zones. One field for the superhots, one for hots like jals, datil, ajis, one for mild peppers, one for sweet. Another for hybrid toms, another for heirloom. And another for cucurbits. And another for corn/beans and another just for taters. Farther away from other fields. One good infestation of potato bugs will cure ya

. So thinking about doing some peppers in pots, 7 gal. Don't want to as I about have to invest in Dynagrow products, forget organic, separate irrigation (takes emiters rather than just drip or tape), and 5-1-1-1 mixes for container-anything, dialing in ferts, and ya just don't get the yield as well as inground. But since I don't wannat go container, thinking "sq. inch gardening." :rofl:

Almost hoping the snow got my kale and beets, as I could use one raised bed for cukes with trellises :dance:

. Are you growing any peps in containers as we watch the unseasonable snow fly? :rolleyes:

JJJessee · Mar 25, 2013

Thanks for putting some real work on the Borging, Sawyer.
A variety of ways to test, but it requires some space. For example, use a tough germinating variety sow 50 singles and then a few clusters each of 5, 10, and 15 with the seed almost touching. Great project for a college Ag student. With and electron microscope or what ever, they could ID the clustering chemical compound.

Devv · Mar 25, 2013

On a quick break, I like your experiments.

So 'yall getting this crappy weather too.

It was mas windy yesterday!

Scott