Sawyer's 2013 Glog - Last Harvest/First Sauce

Sawyer · Mar 25, 2013

Hi, Annie. I just started the rocoto germination test yesterday, so it's too early to see any results. The cold tea soak will get planted today and the warm water soak, tomorrow. I learned something today; I was unaware of the sense of "couple" to mean "a few" (I looked it up). I was confused why, if you planted a couple of seeds and two germinated, why 100% germination wasn't good enough for you. Tough crowd.

I can't bring myself to pay the inflated price/pound for KNO[sub]3[/sub] sold as stump remover. I can get a 50# bag from my supplier for about $66 and from the local farmer's co-op for about $80 (I think). It's a very useful material for a lot of different projects, plus I've thought of making it available in smaller quantities for a reasonable price to folks on THP and other seed starters.

I've got lots of 1-gal and 2-gal trade containers, and am about to order 63 3-gal and 47 5-gal containers, plus 25 of the 5-gal grow bags like DocNRock uses. I want to keep a lot of these peppers under the shade of my silver maples, so containers will be the way to go for that. Still got to figure out how much mix to order to fill them (one of today's tasks). I'm going to use Sunshine #1 mixed roughly 2:1 with coarse pine bark mulch to improve drainage. It's less expensive than buying pre-mixed pine bark-based mix. I'm hoping my cement mixer will work to mix the stuff so I don't have to do it all by hand.

It's not snowing here anymore, but the temperature is 27ºF near mid-day here. Brrrr.

Thanks, JJJ (first J is silent). I have a couple different numbers in clusters, 3 and 5, and I used the same number of separated seeds in the non-clustered cells so the total germination numbers will be directly comparable (and to increase my chances of getting at least one plant per cell). I can think of two ways to identify the compound (well, three if you count reviewing the literature for what is probably already known). If it's a gas that's released, a small "sniffer" nozzle would be inserted into the cluster zone with the other end connected to the input of a gas chromatograph (or other appropriate spectrograph). If the chemical is a liquid or solid, the seeds would need to be removed from the germinating medium at just the right time and rinsed with a solvent (probably ethanol) and the solution run through an HPLC (same thing used to measure capsaicin content). You're right, it would be a great project for a grad student. (Unless it's already been done.)

If I get statistically significant results, I have some ag professor friends to contact to see what's already known about this. On the other hand, if the results aren't significant, there is a plausible explanation. Even with the usual tight level of control we try to use for the germinating environment, there is still variation in temperature and moisture content across a flat. If a particular cell reaches the optimum combination of temperature and moisture, then it is reasonable that most of the (viable) seeds there will germinate. We shall soon see.

BTW, I replaced the first chart above with a color-coded version for ease of interpretation.

WalkGood · Mar 25, 2013

Sawyer love dem different experiments you are doing, great stuff that we are all trying different things and sharing the information. My money’s on Borg sowing, "resistance is futile"

I’ll be interested in reading how your preferred and Greg’s methods work out in comparison to Carl’s technique. This is great stuff! Keep up the great work mon!

Devv · Mar 25, 2013

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

Easiest way to resize (if using XP, or Winders 7 & up) select the pics and right click, choose send to, then mail recipient. It will then open a box that allows you choose the pic size. Email them to yourself and then post.

I'm not sure if this works without Microsoft Office, as mine opens Outlook. But the three Winders versions have Outlook Express. And of course the email software has to be configured to send and receive. The wife showed me this trick and you can resize several pics at once. Now if you have a Mac, not sure but I bet there's a similar way.

Take care,

Scott

Edit: added more stuff

Sawyer · Mar 25, 2013

Thanks, Scott. I do use a Mac, but I thought I had found a way. I open the image in Preview and there is a tool, "Adjust Size". I adjusted the size from 8.5" x 11" for the color-coded chart to 6" x 7.77" (or something like that). Uploaded to tinypic, copied image code to THP and it takes up exactly as much space as it did as the original 8.5" x 11". For the moment, I'm stumped.

Well, I thought (again) I had it figured it out. In the edit window here on THP, I can grab one of the corner control nodes of an image and scale it down to whatever size I want. But when I click on "Preview Post", it automatically resizes to maximum width. Oh, well.

Devv · Mar 25, 2013

Sawyer said:
Thanks, Scott. I do use a Mac, but I thought I had found a way. I open the image in Preview and there is a tool, "Adjust Size". I adjusted the size from 8.5" x 11" for the color-coded chart to 6" x 7.77" (or something like that). Uploaded to tinypic, copied image code to THP and it takes up exactly as much space as it did as the original 8.5" x 11". For the moment, I'm stumped.

Well, I thought (again) I had it figured it out. In the edit window here on THP, I can grab one of the corner control nodes of an image and scale it down to whatever size I want. But when I click on "Preview Post", it automatically resizes to maximum width. Oh, well.

I'm off a day or two, AC guys a coming (and a takin' my money!), but I work with a super Mac user, taught Journalism for years. I'll see what she says.

Scott

edit: typo me?

Chaosbites · Mar 25, 2013

Nice grow list- all that heat!

I hope you catch your midnight nibbler. I think his days are numbered.

Michelle

GA Growhead · Mar 26, 2013

Mac trick. Open in preview. Adjust window to smaller size on your screen making the image smaller with it. Command shift 4 gives you the screen caputure crop tool. Click and drag from top on one side to the bottom of other side. File is saved to desktop of what area you dragged. Open up back in preview and save as jpg. Default screen capture format is png, you can change to jpg in setting somewhere to keep from resaving evertime. I have the adobe suite, but still do screen captures as its quick.

Sawyer · Mar 26, 2013

GA Growhead said:
Mac trick. Open in preview. Adjust window to smaller size on your screen making the image smaller with it. Command shift 4 gives you the screen caputure crop tool. Click and drag from top on one side to the bottom of other side. File is saved to desktop of what area you dragged. Open up back in preview and save as jpg. Default screen capture format is png, you can change to jpg in setting somewhere to keep from resaving evertime. I have the adobe suite, but still do screen captures as its quick.

Thanks, GA. I figured it out. The method I described above works, I just wasn't resizing small enough. Next time I post an image or chart, I'll try to dial in just what size looks best. Also, tinypic.com seems to work as well with .png as .jpg, though a .png doesn't really save a lot of space vs. a compressed .jpg.

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions.

Sawyer · Mar 26, 2013

Chaosbites said:
Nice grow list- all that heat!

I hope you catch your midnight nibbler. I think his days are numbered.

Michelle

MN has gotten pretty wise about traps. Actually, I don't think it has been back in the house since the last raid. I may have plugged its access point, or it may have had enough of hot peppers. It does, I think, still wander around under the house. There is an enclosed space between my bedroom and the bathroom that is inaccessible from the interior of the house, but is, apparently, accessible from underneath. (Not the wall cavity, an actual little 3'x3'x3' volume, an elfin hideaway if you will... it's an old, and odd, house.) For some time now, I've been hearing an occasional skitter and mild ruckus from that general direction and suspected the cause might be one and the same as MN. This first crossed my mind after the first pepper raid, when actual pieces of pepper disappeared, and the next day the rumpus was a little more pronounced and for the first time I heard vocalizations. I don't know how else to describe it except as a most mournful and pitiable squeak. I thought in passing, "Hmmm, it must be eating the pepper," but wasn't really serious about it. Time passed with no more squeaking, pained or otherwise, until the next (and last) pepper raid. The next day, a pattern was detected, with more scrabbling and woebegone chirping. I've heard very little since -- but enough to know it wasn't rodent suicide.

Since the last raid involved the pilfering of two small but whole peppers, it seems obvious MN is a chilehead. I have no more hot peppers to test this theory, but I'll look for something appropriately spicy next time I'm in town and use it for bait in the live trap. The dog food I used previously apparently didn't pass muster. (I've quit setting the kill trap as I now want to see this thing alive.)

WalkGood · Mar 26, 2013

Sawyer said:
... Since the last raid involved the pilfering of two small but whole peppers, it seems obvious MN is a chilehead. I have no more hot peppers to test this theory, but I'll look for something appropriately spicy next time I'm in town and use it for bait in the live trap. The dog food I used previously apparently didn't pass muster. (I've quit setting the kill trap as I now want to see this thing alive.)

Explore the cooking with fire forum, find a great recipe and cook up dat chilihead a nice meal. Sit around with your camera in a wait and see mode, don’t forget he/she will probably enjoy a cold beer with that meal

Pulpiteer · Mar 27, 2013

I've had no luck with my mexican rocotos - and I don't have any salt petre, so I'm really curious about your other methods. I have a few seeds left, not sure if it's too late to try again, but I'm tempted...

Sawyer · Mar 28, 2013

No news yet on the most recent plantings and experiments and I'll update the final numbers on the 3/4 and 3/6 plantings soon. I potted up another 3 flats (54 plants) yesterday for a total of 108 in 3.5" square pots (all superhots, so far). Here are some pics of the grow stand, which is slowly starting to populate. I hope some weight will help flatten out the sun-curled plywood. It's been quite cool since the last update, so there hasn't been a whole lot of growth. Everyone seems happy, nonetheless. It's supposed to be up in the mid- to upper-60s for the next few days, :woohoo:

so I expect them to start kicking up their heels.

A close up of the bottom shelf. These are the ones potted up yesterday.

A close up of the top shelf. These were potted up a couple of weeks or so ago.

And a close up of the OWs.

I'll post some portraits of individual plants soon.

Devv · Mar 28, 2013

Nice update!

The plants are doing real well, here's to some warmer weather coming your way!

Scott

PS, My Journalism friend said try Iphoto, just another way possibly.

Sawyer · Mar 28, 2013

Devv said:
PS, My Journalism friend said try Iphoto, just another way possibly.

Problem's solved. Check out the pics again; they are 800x600 and fit nicely on the screen, except the tall one. Well, they fit nicely on my screen; I can go smaller if need be.

Devv · Mar 28, 2013

Sawyer said:
Problem's solved. Check out the pics again; they are 800x600 and fit nicely on the screen, except the tall one. Well, they fit nicely on my screen; I can go smaller if need be.

The pics are clear and well sized, tall one looks good from my house, glad you found a method that makes you happy.

Scott

capehog · Mar 28, 2013

Well I made it through all 8 pages to find the critter has like Elvis left the building. Lets hope he has moved on to his outdoor home. You have given me several things to try next year from the foam board insulation to raising the seed starter trays off of my heat mats. Lots of great information here but it is all trial and error and what works best in your own situation. After reading several glogs tonight I'm just happy to have 165 plants that have survived and will hopefully produce a few peppers in the coming months. I'm going to try the Walmart bags as well as a test. Hope our weather warms next week so we can both get the tillers going.

Sawyer · Mar 28, 2013

Tilling is definitely on my list for this three-day weekend, if the rain holds off.

stc3248 · Mar 28, 2013

Overwinters are about to GO OFF! Like that x2! Here's to spring just around the corner! :cheers:

Sawyer · Mar 29, 2013

Well, the rain didn't hold off. Woke up this morning to a thunderstorm, power outage, and steady (intermittently heavy) rain. Will need a few dry days, preferably warm, sunny, and windy, before I'll be able to get into the garden effectively.

Due to the power outage, rain, and it being a holiday (perfect excuse to sleep in), my phone being on the charger in the other room, the fact no one ever confirmed my order before this morning (after numerous unanswered emails and phone calls on my part -- dude was down with the flu), and my assumption that no response meant no deliveries on Good Friday, I missed the BWI delivery driver this morning. Apparently he is still in the area and they are going to try to send him back by here. I've ordered 63 #3 blow-mold containers, 47 #5 blow-mold containers (with handles!), 25 lbs of 20-20-20 Peters water soluble fertilizer, (4) 3.8 cf bales of Sunshine #1 mix (to go with 5 or more I already have), (10) 3 cf bags of pine bark mulch (to mix with the Sunshine for improved drainage), and (1) 2.8 cf bag of Fafard Mix #52 (a pine bark based mix for comparison).

...hang on, someone's at the door...

Ok, delivery received. All's well that ends well.

I've added four 23 Watt, 1500 lumen, 6500K CFLs to the grow stand. These are primarily for supplemental lighting during cloudy stretches.

I talked to the guy at the hardware store where I got the CFLs and have reached a tentative agreement in principle to market some of my excess pepper plants through there. (Did this last year with some daffodils.) Also talked to a friend of mine who owns one of the local burrito chains about putting some pepper plants in front of one his stores. He has a 6' x 24' space where he wants to put a salsa garden, so it won't be 100% peppers. This will be a raised bed on concrete. Any comments on how deep the soil should be to give this idea a chance of success? He'll probably use railroad ties for the sides.

Stefan_W · Mar 29, 2013

Nice looking updates! It definitely pays to have a plan in mind for offloading extra seedlings.