seanw first glog (2013) - Racing the End of the Season...

Hello and greetings My first post here, and I'm prepping for my first major season growing. I've done a few small pepper plants here or there, and two summers ago I tried for some variety of ghost chili or other (the pop top cans you can get from thinkgeek), which turned out to look like ghost chilis, but were super mild (may have also been the fact that they were getting almost no sun in the apartment we lived in at the time, and by the time we got the house, they got outdoors just in time for the frost to hit).

I've got a heat mat and a 50 hole rapid rooter en route, and I'll be grabbing some cheapo work lights to give me some light. I also need to rig some sort of container to keep in the heat, they'll be going in my insulated-but-unheated garage until I move them into the garden, thinking either a styrofoam cooler or just putting that silver bubblewrap insulation stuff on a box.

In addition to some herbs and other garden veggies, here's my pepper list for the year:

HP22B
Yatsufusa
Tabasco
Paprika
Firecracker
Early Jalapeno
Moruga Trinidad Scorpion
NuMex Suave Orange Habanero
Chiltepin
Orange Hab
Bhut Jolokia
Red Savina Hab
Hot Cherry Pepper
Butch T Trinidad
Scotch Bonnet

I may have gone a bit gonzo on ordering. We haven't built our garden yet. This will be the second garden, the first is dedicated to berries, and got mauled by rabbits and chipmunks, even with fencing. The vegetable garden is going to be 6'x30', in three sections. Gonna stick peppers and some tomatos in one of the 10x6 section, the other two will be for the other veggies. I'm gonna have to break out some pots for the rest of the peppers. We'll see what happens once we get the garden together, though My current plan is to build a frame around the garden and cover it with 1" or 2" fencing, big enough for the bugs, too small for the critters.

Here's hoping all goes well!

 

[TomStew]

Hey SeanW, where did you get your cumin seeds? Do you happen to know if I could grow some seeds sold as spices? Or would they have been dried at a higher temperature?

In any case, keep up the good work!

 

[SeanW]

I hear ya bro... I'm still waiting for some of the Annuums to pop here too. Guajillos and Big Jim Anaheims popped right up, and a couple Holy Mole' and a Vesena... the rest are still languishing... Even if no more pop, I've got enough for a good grow this year with what did.Time marches on... I started Eggplant this past weekend, and will start Tomatoes this Saturday. Early greens are all sprouted, and I already thinned the Claytonia.

Only a few annuums of mine haven't popped. I removed the lids, anyway, some things were starting to hit the roof. It's all a bit leggy, but I don't think I should raise the trays, they are pretty close to the lights as it is. The broccoli in particular is super long, I don't know if that's normal or not, as it's my first try at it.

Onions are going slowly, I'm not sure if they are too hot at the top of the rack, so I popped the lid. Hopefully that'll help.

I "thinned" the tomatos and broccoli, trying to rescue roots and stuck them into cups for friends. If they don't survive, I have others.

Decided to just go for it and feed the guys in cups. Full strength (2 tbsp/gallon) neptunes harvest, along with whatever super diluted calmag/silicablast/epsom salts were in the 1/8 or so gallon of water before I filled it up the rest of the way, and a glug or two of white vinegar. That fish stuff is stinky. Now that they have some nutes to feed on, I'll let them get dry before watering again.

I agree on the "if no more pop" thing...there are a couple that I'd be sad about (the mallorca pimienta hasn't done anything, but the guy that gave me the seeds said they were a bust for him, too, and one of the other sets of seeds from him didn't go yet, either), but the cherry, firecracker cayenne and pasilla de oaxaca that are being slow are no big deals. My cumin and white sage hasn't gone yet, I'm really hoping the cumin gets going, I'd like to use it in my home grown chili, but it may just be a slow grower.

I've got a stack of herbs waiting another couple weeks to get rolling, went almost as crazy with them as I did with the peppers. I put the herbs in pots and decorate my tulip garden once the tulips have faded. In that vein...the tulips are poking their heads out. I have to see how many I get back, this year, something got a few at the end of the season last year. I intend on digging them up this year, anyway, and replanting with fresh bulbs in the fall.

Then...once we get past this frost season, the direct sow stuff will be going in (lettuce, carrots, etc). Also, beans and peas need to be started soon.

This is going to be an ambitious season...maybe I should get my garden built!

I'm planning on rearranging some pepper stuff tonight, we'll see what we end up with.

 

[SeanW]

Hey SeanW, where did you get your cumin seeds? Do you happen to know if I could grow some seeds sold as spices? Or would they have been dried at a higher temperature?

In any case, keep up the good work!

Missed this, sorry

I got my seeds from Burpee (at a lowes). I'm not sure if you could grow out seeds sourced from a spice company. Could always give it a try...sometimes they treat the seeds to prevent sprouting, and sometimes they get baked too much, but other times people have luck, I'm not sure what the case is with cumin.

 

[TomStew]

I went ahead and ordered some from Ebay. I will try germinating those I have not but I doubt they will grow. We'll see!

 

[SeanW]

I went ahead and ordered some from Ebay. I will try germinating those I have not but I doubt they will grow. We'll see!

Sounds good. Good luck! I've seen germination times listed as between 7 days and 3 weeks, depending on who you ask. It may not take transplanting well, I've got mine in rapid rooters, if they are bum, I'll just resow in a pot once frost is past. I started indoors to try and get a good season, you need them to go to seed before you harvest.

Didn't actually rearrange anything in my pepper area. I did plant the rose, and the second rose is inbound, so I guess I should get that ready.

My compost heap has defrosted, and is getting stinky. I shoveled some dry leaves in there to try and balance out the nitrogen...here's to hoping.

 

[SeanW]

Just got a pair of new fans, wired for AC, but haven't had a chance to hook them up. I might top some of the bigger plants once I get the fans in, just to keep things compact for now.

I've been reading a lot more glogs lately. It's kind of crazy to think that, even with the 70 or so plants that I have right now (maybe more...45 established and the piles of seedlings), I'm still in the "small time" category Unsure what I'm going to do with all of these plants, it's gonna be awesome. To think, at the beginning of the season I was intending on 3 or 4 each of Fresno and Jalapeno, a couple Habs, 4 super hots, and a half dozen or so of other varieties. Now I'm sitting at 16ish super hots...and scads of other stuff.

I'm already laying out ideas for next season's grow, going to try and focus more on interesting regional varieties, along with some random things that catch my fancy and the usual suspects. But, we'll see what happens, there's still 8 or 9 months before those hit the germinator, and who knows what will change between now and then!

I'm probably going to bring in bags of pods to the office, with a little note saying what they are and how hot, but I'll probably leave a note on the counter telling people if they want hotter they have to see me personally. We'll see if the bhuts fall into that category, or if they have a good enough reputation that I can leave them out for people to suffer on without my intervention. I just need them to understand that things like the moruga are -really freaking hot-. That, and I want to be present if anyone is dumb enough to shove a whole pod in their mouth.

Is it mid-May, yet? These plants are rarin' to get outside. We're getting up into the 50's, I think once we start seeing 60's outside I'll start to pop them outdoors on occasion for some hardening off. I'm not going to pot up from the solo cups until I can be sure that they can stay outdoors and safe from frost - I don't have room for that many 3 and 5 gallon pots in my garage (at least, and not have my wife just drive over them when she comes home).

 

[stc3248]

"[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]This is going to be an ambitious season...maybe I should get my garden built!"[/background]

Haha....the real work begins!!!

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]"I'm probably going to bring in bags of pods to the office, with a little note saying what they are and how hot, but I'll probably leave a note on the counter telling people if they want hotter they have to see me personally. We'll see if the bhuts fall into that category, or if they have a good enough reputation that I can leave them out for people to suffer on without my intervention. I just need them to understand that things like the moruga are -really freaking hot-. That, and I want to be present if anyone is dumb enough to shove a whole pod in their mouth."[/background]

I did this last year. I labeled the bags: Mild, Medium, Hot, REAL HOT, and HOLY $HIT MY FACE IS MELTING" Yes I really did this...and in spite of all the warnings someone will be a tough guy, or gal and grab a whole pod. Happened only twice as the word got around how funny it was when one of my peppers had them hugging a toilet screaming that they were dying. Just be careful and give fair warning and let them be stupid if they wish...


Oh, and one more thing on that note...make sure anyone taking them away isn't going to play some silly game with them. I also had that happen...where they thought it would be really funny to feed a bunch of folks some guacamole laced with brainstrains...or cut up on a pizza.

 

[SeanW]

"[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]This is going to be an ambitious season...maybe I should get my garden built!"[/background]

Haha....the real work begins!!!

Yeah...most of the garden is for not-peppers, though I'll be putting the milder stuff in there to keep them away from the critters. I don't think the squirrels will bother my scorpions, though Planning on a 25x5ish raised garden, then the peppers mostly in pots.

[background=rgb(255, 244, 228)]"I'm probably going to bring in bags of pods to the office, with a little note saying what they are and how hot, but I'll probably leave a note on the counter telling people if they want hotter they have to see me personally. We'll see if the bhuts fall into that category, or if they have a good enough reputation that I can leave them out for people to suffer on without my intervention. I just need them to understand that things like the moruga are -really freaking hot-. That, and I want to be present if anyone is dumb enough to shove a whole pod in their mouth."[/background]

I did this last year. I labeled the bags: Mild, Medium, Hot, REAL HOT, and HOLY $HIT MY FACE IS MELTING" Yes I really did this...and in spite of all the warnings someone will be a tough guy, or gal and grab a whole pod. Happened only twice as the word got around how funny it was when one of my peppers had them hugging a toilet screaming that they were dying. Just be careful and give fair warning and let them be stupid if they wish...


Oh, and one more thing on that note...make sure anyone taking them away isn't going to play some silly game with them. I also had that happen...where they thought it would be really funny to feed a bunch of folks some guacamole laced with brainstrains...or cut up on a pizza.

That's more of what I'm concerned with. Maybe I'll start with labeling the habs "mild" and going hotter from there - that might get the point across! I have no problem with people taking them and eating them, but I want them to be fully aware of what they are getting themselves into. Particularly since I've seen what a bunch of chopped habaneros does to bare skin, which actually might be advantageous, somebody tries to nuke someone else and gets burned themselves by not using a full hazmat suit to cut them up

ETA: maybe I'll label the bags based on relation to jalapenos...mark the serranos 10x as hot, habaneros 100x as hot, etc. Telling someone "No, really, this is amazeballs hot" doesn't always get the point across.

 

[Sawyer]

I've been reading a lot more glogs lately. It's kind of crazy to think that, even with the 70 or so plants that I have right now (maybe more...45 established and the piles of seedlings), I'm still in the "small time" category Unsure what I'm going to do with all of these plants, it's gonna be awesome. To think, at the beginning of the season I was intending on 3 or 4 each of Fresno and Jalapeno, a couple Habs, 4 super hots, and a half dozen or so of other varieties. Now I'm sitting at 16ish super hots...and scads of other stuff.

I'm already laying out ideas for next season's grow, going to try and focus more on interesting regional varieties, along with some random things that catch my fancy and the usual suspects. But, we'll see what happens, there's still 8 or 9 months before those hit the germinator, and who knows what will change between now and then!

You are well and truly assimilated now. There is no going back.

 

[masschilehead]

Hi there from SE Mass! I've got a daunting list as well. Got my trays started a few days ago. I had a tough time last year and lost about 80 plants that got root bound before they could go in the ground. I wish you all the best this year Sean!

 

[stickman]

Hey Sean, How they hangin'? Your snow must be gone by now... ours is where the sun can get at it, and the early bulbs are blooming. I'm looking forward to nighttime temperatures in the 40s so I can set up my hoophouse and plant outside. I have 70 chiles in various stages of growth that are actually up, and eggplants and Tomatoes on the way, so it's getting kinda crowded in here...

Have a happy Easter!

 

[SeanW]

You are well and truly assimilated now. There is no going back.

One of us...one of us...one of us....

Hi there from SE Mass! I've got a daunting list as well. Got my trays started a few days ago. I had a tough time last year and lost about 80 plants that got root bound before they could go in the ground. I wish you all the best this year Sean!

I'm hoping I don't get too root bound, if they start looking like they are going that way before I can get them out in May, I might have to chop up the roots some. We'll see. Better luck than last year!

Hey Sean, How they hangin'? Your snow must be gone by now... ours is where the sun can get at it, and the early bulbs are blooming. I'm looking forward to nighttime temperatures in the 40s so I can set up my hoophouse and plant outside. I have 70 chiles in various stages of growth that are actually up, and eggplants and Tomatoes on the way, so it's getting kinda crowded in here...

Have a happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We still have a bit of snow here or there, mostly in the shaded parts of the backyard. I'm hoping that it's totally gone by Monday, so that I can fertilize the lawn. I've got about 45 young plants, and...5 or 6 dozen annuum seedlings growing. It's a pain in the rear keeping those rapid rooters moist, so I think I lost one or two, but not a terrible loss. I've also got 15ish broccoli seedlings and 4 or 5 san marzano tomato seedlings in the rooters. No primaries on the annuums, yet, so they don't need to be up-potted, but I'm out of space to do so, anyway. Hoping to foist some chinense off on some friends, today...otherwise I'm going to have to get creative I need to cull the annuums, some of the rooters had double germination (I put 2 seeds in each), so I need to kill off the weaklings.

Getting closer to warm enough temperatures to start hardening off....

 

[SeanW]

Threw a few of my beans and peas in cups in the indoor greenhouse this weekend, unsure how they'll transplant, but if they are a bust, I have plenty of other seed, or I can snag something from a nursery.

Starting to get primaries on my tomatos and a few of the annuums. Didn't end up giving away any plants, my friends are moving, so they wanted to wait until after they moved to take anything. Ah well. I'll just have to figure out where the heck I'm going to put all of these annuums...

 

[SeanW]

Starting to get seedlings from the cumin and white sage. Helmet heads, but hopefully they break free.

I like the rapid rooters, I'm getting really good germ rates with them, but the number of helmet heads I get is killer. I also note that they are a devil to keep at the proper water level, they are either loaded or dry. That might be a factor of the heat and lights.

I ordered some tomatillos, a purple and a green variety, from Seed Savers. I need to diagram out my garden so that I can figure out what to plant in the garden, and what to put in pots. Leafy greens, tomatos, tomatillos, mild peppers, and probably beans and peas in the garden, most of my herbs and hot peppers will be in pots.

I've started a cycle of sprinkling various stuff on my unprotected outdoor plants. The rabbits and deer just LOVE my tulips, and avail themselves of other stuff out there, as well. So far I've hit them with garlic powder and ground black pepper. I've got some crushed red pepper, as well, along with blood meal and bone meal. Hopefully by cycling between them, they won't get used to it. My wife is skeeved out by the blood meal, so I'm not allowed to put that on anything we'll (maybe she'll...) eat. It might end up on the hots...we'll see. Gotta find another easy source of nitrogen for the soil in the food garden.

Hoping to fertilize the lawn today, and maybe lay down some rye seed (If I have enough daylight) in the back area. I've got this one section of overgrown yard that we call the jungle, it's mostly bramble and wild rose. I'm hoping I can cut that back as it starts to grow and choke it out with the rye, which should be easier to get rid of once I'm ready to start really working on that area to make it all purty like.

Need to order milky spore and nematodes to start to really work on the grub issues. Not only are they killing the lawn, my lawn is getting aerated (look on the bright side, right?) by a major mole problem. Hoping that if I can push the grubs out, the moles will leave.

Also still inbound is my second rose plant (probably will get here, this week) and some grape vines. I have no idea if the grapes will produce, but hopefully we'll at least get something. Might not be until next year, but whatever.

Um...lack of peppers in this update. I may have lost the one early jalapeno that I had growing due to a dried out rapid rooter cell, but we'll see if it bounces back. I still have 3 jalmundo seedlings rocking, so it'll be fine. I need to research the "best" jalapeno for poppers. I've made pseudo-poppers for a regular BBQ and Boardgames gathering we go to at a friend's, slice jalapenos in half, fill them with cheese, wrap them in bacon, and cook. We've learned to cook them over indirect heat - bacon and fire make for good fire and not so good poppers. Next time, I might have to try Shane's jalapeno sushi (http://thehotpepper.com/topic/36599-stc3248-2013-grow-logsuper-flowers/page__st__80#entry759188 ), because that just looks awesome.

I also owe you guys some pictures. I'll try to get those in the next day or two.

 

[SeanW]

Picture time!

Peas and Beans. Snap peas and North somethingorother peas from Gurneys on the left, Cherokee Trail of Tears, Cranberry and ... a white variety beans on the right. I have the actual names at home. I suck, and can't read my own handwriting in a blurry photo Beans are from SSE

One of my two germination trays. Jalmundo, early jalapeno, bradley's bahamian, tabasco, cherry, peter...two varieties that I can't remember off the top of my head and can't read the sticks in the picture, san marzano tomatos, barely popped white sage and cumin, and my broccoli forest.

I had a shot of the other tray. So I thought. Will have to grab that, later.

Tomatos and broccoli that I "culled"...by pulling them from the rooters and saving in a cup. These actually look better than the ones in the trays...I might need to move the rest into cups very shortly. Need more light, though.

Blue cup in the back is pepper "culls." I shoved them into one hole in a cup, if any survive, they deserved it and I'll have a mystery on my hands. Foreground is my onion tray.

And the onion tray. 100 seeds sown in the tray, only 4 or 5 sprouts...unsure what I did wrong. These are from SSE. I bought some more onion from Lowes, Bonnie brand, so hopefully I'll have a good amount. I'm hoping to put these around the garden to help ward off bambi and thumper, along with garlic (sown last fall in pots, still outside) and a few other things.

My plants in cups haven't changed, much. I've been pondering popping them outside for a bit of hardening off, but the weather has just been no good.

Lawn has been fertilized, hoping to lay down the rye seed in the jungle after work today.

One thing that I need to keep in mind for next year is the number of each particular variety that I want. In order to make sure I got at least one of each (which...failed, but whatever), I planted in 5 different cells for most of the varieties, and one or two seeds in each cell. Next year, I might limit myself to 2 cells per variety (unless I want more than 2 plants) with 3 or 4 seeds per cell. It's easier for me to cull multiple seedlings from a single cell than to justify the murder of a perfectly happy individual seedling in it's own cell...

Live and learn.

Also, has anyone tried putting soil in the rapid rooter holes? I wonder if that would help with helmet head issues. Fill them with soil, insert seeds. Should get the best of both worlds...I'll have to try it next season.

 

[Trippa]

Great start. Hope you have a bumper season. Cheers Trippa

 

[SeanW]

Thanks! I really have no idea what to expect...my neglected plants in the past have only provided me with a handful of pods each. I could be swimming this year, though...

 

[Sawyer]

I could be swimming this year, though...

I'm envisioning one of those colored ball pits kids play in, but filled with pods.

 

[SeanW]

I'm envisioning one of those colored ball pits kids play in, but filled with pods.

Just jump in..start swimming...and OH GOD IT BUUUUUURNS WHYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

[stickman]

Hey Sean... is your wife any better with bone meal than she is with blood meal? The bones are steamed first to sterilize them before grinding them up. If you're fertilizing outside, maybe fish emulsion would be OK? I've been using Espoma "garden tone" fertilizer in my vegetable garden for number of years and really like it. If you want to go the plant-based organic route there's always Alfalfa meal, Cottonseed meal and Soybean meal. They don't add as much N as other fertilizers, but it is more quickly available to the plants, you don't need to worry about burning the roots and they also add trace minerals and growth hormones.

What variety of onions did you plant? I sowed "Patterson" yellow storage onions I got from Johnny's Selected Seeds in Maine and got nearly 100% germination on a seed heat mat.