Shlogg's Glog 2013... Long overdue update.

Pepperhead · May 24, 2013

It's been up and down here for a month or so. I thought we were past frost 3 weeks ago, then this one hit. Right now as long as there's no freeze I just let them fight it out. Today it's wind we're fighting. Already lost a coupla tomatoes.

Dshlogg · May 24, 2013

stc3248 said:
I ain't likin that one! John said they're gonna get frost all weekend...you guys can't catch a break.

Yep our weather blows this year. Literally, we had 40mph winds today. I saw John post about temps below freezing. That really sucks. You know I'll be watching the thermometer like a hawk the next couple nights. Can't afford another mishap. All my plants looked pretty good today despite the flood we had yesterday.

Pepperhead said:
It's been up and down here for a month or so. I thought we were past frost 3 weeks ago, then this one hit. Right now as long as there's no freeze I just let them fight it out. Today it's wind we're fighting. Already lost a coupla tomatoes.

Same here brother. I keep checking the extended Outlook and seeing good temps but then we drop down in the 40s again. We had the winds today too. My plants are to short and "streamlined" right now to be bothered by wind though. Yesterday it was floods. Throw in the cicadas and we have our swarm of locusts

. I lost a few tomatoes, squash and eggplants. I even lost a couple peppers. Could be worse though. When the four horsemen race across the sky then I'll start to worry.

Dshlogg · May 30, 2013

It's has been just over 2 weeks since my frost disaster and 13 days since my last pics of the damage. Some are coming back faster than others but all are showing new growth. I did some experimenting with my post frost treatment. Some plants I stripped all the dead leaves and cut back all the dead stem and others I just removed the dead leaves and a couple I just left alone completely. The plants with the dead stem removed all seem to be recovering slower than the rest. I don't see much difference between the other two methods. Lesson learned there I think.

Here's a few shots of the recovery:

Moruga- I trimmed all the dead stem on this one

Brainstrain- Dead stem trimmed

Butch T- Trimmed leaves only

Jalapeno Purple- Leaves only, this was the worst looking plant after the frost.

Brainstrain yellow- Leaves only

Douglah- Leaves only

Don't have my plantogram here so I'll update the varieties on the next pics later.

Peach Bhut

TS Chocolate

7 Gigantic

TS Sunrise

There coming back pretty good. I hope they start exploding with growth now that the weather seems to have turned.

stc3248 · May 30, 2013

Yes! I like it, and throwing in some different tactics on top! Great stuff! So leave the stem in tact and get rid of the leaves if you can't stand to look at them! Have been really excited for you guys watching the weather reports this week. I hope no more curve balls come your way!

Pr0digal_son · May 31, 2013

Encouraging Shlogg. 4 1/2 months of good growing left. I will have pounds and pounds more than I can use so don't worry if they set fruit late.

*edit* How is your Birgit doing? Maybe we can have a "widest" plant category for you.

Jeff H · May 31, 2013

They are looking much better .

stickman · May 31, 2013

stc3248 said:
Yes! I like it, and throwing in some different tactics on top! Great stuff! So leave the stem in tact and get rid of the leaves if you can't stand to look at them! Have been really excited for you guys watching the weather reports this week. I hope no more curve balls come your way!

Ouch! I didn't know the frost made it as far south as MD and VA. Good recovery, and maybe it did you a favor by nipping the primaries so your plants could grow back much bushier! Drive on dude!

PIC 1 · May 31, 2013

Plants are recovering nicely, they already have the rootzone . As P-Son said you have a long growing season ahead

Dshlogg · May 31, 2013

stc3248 said:
Yes! I like it, and throwing in some different tactics on top! Great stuff! So leave the stem in tact and get rid of the leaves if you can't stand to look at them! Have been really excited for you guys watching the weather reports this week. I hope no more curve balls come your way!

Thanks. From now on I'd only pinch damaged leaves if they block the new growth from sun. I wonder how the dead areas benefit the plant. Possibly they retain moisture or even nutrients or it could just be a coincidence.

The has been somewhat better. We still had a couple nights in the lows 40s last week but that's better than 30s. It's actually a bit too hot now, with temps in the 90s most of this week.

Pr0digal_son said:
Encouraging Shlogg. 4 1/2 months of good growing left. I will have pounds and pounds more than I can use so don't worry if they set fruit late.

*edit* How is your Birgit doing? Maybe we can have a "widest" plant category for you.

Thanks! I hope I have 4 and a half months left. Last year we had a hard frost the first week of October. I was out of town at the time. I lost 3 or 4 pounds of ripe pods and probably 10 pounds of green. The weather was nice for 3 weeks after that but my plants were finished. I should have 4 months at the very least though.

My birgits fared better than the others, though I did lose an inch off the top. It's recovering fast so hopefully I can train it for vertical growth. I'm far from first but not in last either. I'll be happy if it gets to 6'.

WalkGood · May 31, 2013

Dshlogg said:
It's has been just over 2 weeks since my frost disaster and 13 days since my last pics of the damage. Some are coming back faster than others but all are showing new growth. I did some experimenting with my post frost treatment. Some plants I stripped all the dead leaves and cut back all the dead stem and others I just removed the dead leaves and a couple I just left alone completely. The plants with the dead stem removed all seem to be recovering slower than the rest. I don't see much difference between the other two methods. Lesson learned there I think.

Daniel, this is great stuff, I love it!

You're down a few points, you feel like it’s getting late in the game but it’s really not and you throw the bomb …. Touchdown \o/ … the crowd goes wild … awesome test mon!!!!

All along I’ve cut back brown stem and always let leaves to the plants control (only yard plants not peppers), I’ve had a lot of luck with this process in cloning yard plants … sometimes they throw off all their leaves look like death has rolled into them and bam I eventually see new growth. Little did I know I may have been taking the longer route. While I’ve never tried exactly what you are doing, it makes sense to me and who would know better first hand than you, great job and write up! I'll be testing your method from now on.

Your plants are all making a nice comeback, the Pepper Jah has blessed your crop

I’m betting you will be harvesting great pods this season. Thanks for sharing this information ^_^

Hope you and the family have a great weekend mi northern pepper brethren!

annie57 · May 31, 2013

Great recovery, D! Nice mulch protecting root-zone! You're gonna have your buckets full! :party:

Dshlogg · May 31, 2013

Jeff H said:
They are looking much better .

Thanks Jeff!

stickman said:
Ouch! I didn't know the frost made it as far south as MD and VA. Good recovery, and maybe it did you a favor by nipping the primaries so your plants could grow back much bushier! Drive on dude!

Yeah it did unfortunately. I never tried topping my plants. I'm not convinced that it leads to more pods. I know a lot of good growers do though. Maybe I'll convert after this season if it turns out good. Thanks man!

PIC 1 said:
Plants are recovering nicely, they already have the rootzone . As P-Son said you have a long growing season ahead

Thanks! With good conditions, I should have enough time to get a decent harvest. Who knows, maybe I'll be swimming in pods. Time will tell.

WalkGood said:
Daniel, this is great stuff, I love it!

You're down a few points, you feel like its getting late in the game but its really not and you throw the bomb . Touchdown \o/ the crowd goes wild awesome test mon!!!!

All along Ive cut back brown stem and always let leaves to the plants control (only yard plants not peppers), Ive had a lot of luck with this process in cloning yard plants sometimes they throw off all their leaves look like death has rolled into them and bam I eventually see new growth. Little did I know I may have been taking the longer route. While Ive never tried exactly what you are doing, it makes sense to me and who would know better first hand than you, great job and write up! I'll be testing your method from now on.

Your plants are all making a nice comeback, the Pepper Jah has blessed your crop Im betting you will be harvesting great pods this season. Thanks for sharing this information ^_^

Hope you and the family have a great weekend mi northern pepper brethren!

Man you sure have a way with words brother. I've never read a post of yours I didn't enjoy. Keep doin what you do Mon!

The dead stems on my plants were brown, shriveled and not even standing anymore. Most of them have fallen off now or shriveled to the point where you barely see them. Anything green is still alive and producing leaves. I don't know how the dead stem helps the recovery but there is a noticeable difference in the plants. I think its do to moisture retention mostly. I wonder if there is a study on the matter out there somewhere.

Anyway thanks for tuning in and I hope the critters stop messing with your plants.

annie57 said:
Great recovery, D! Nice mulch protecting root-zone! You're gonna have your buckets full!

Thanks Annie! The mulch goes both ways really. It can increase the chance of frost by keeping the ground cooler during the day, but it also makes it cool slower during the night. I use it for the beneficial nutrients and microbes more than moisture and temperature control. Plus it keeps the weeds down

armac · May 31, 2013

i think you will be surprised, those plants have been severely "pruned", they will be shorter, stockier, and thicker than they would have been. i think their productivity will be better, just set you back a few weeks.

Devv · May 31, 2013

I'm in agreement with all the above comments, the main thing is they're alive and moving forward. Have you introduced any nutes yet?

I'm sure some diluted applications wouldn't hurt the ones with more leaves.

Good luck!

WalkGood · May 31, 2013

Dshlogg said:
… Man you sure have a way with words brother. I've never read a post of yours I didn't enjoy. Keep doin what you do Mon!

Thank you and back at ya, you have a great glog ^_^

Dshlogg said:
The dead stems on my plants were brown, shriveled and not even standing anymore. Most of them have fallen off now or shriveled to the point where you barely see them. Anything green is still alive and producing leaves. I don't know how the dead stem helps the recovery but there is a noticeable difference in the plants. I think its do to moisture retention mostly. I wonder if there is a study on the matter out there somewhere.

I don’t know either but just a thought, mans intervention isn’t always the best for nature. What I mean is possibly the plant shuts down that area and even though we perceive it as dead wood it might not be completely dead or we cut it and there’s an avenue for bugs, ambient air or water to get in causing more damage that requires the plant to refocus on that area, thus slowing down new growth. Who knows o_O as you said; a study would be a good read.

As Scott says "they're alive and kicking" ... it's going to take a much stronger punch from mama nature to stop dis grow \o/

Dshlogg said:
Anyway thanks for tuning in and I hope the critters stop messing with your plants. …

Tuning in is fun, it’s an awesome glog and I enjoy the read ^_^ AFAIK mites are dead or gone, snails come and go, wouldn’t it be awesome if peppers were as easy as growing pineapples, hehe.

Dshlogg · May 31, 2013

I think you hit the nail on the head Ramon. The plant focuses on healing and closing off the newly cut areas rather than on new growth. As dead as the stalk looks, it still serving a purpose as a barrier if nothing else.

armac said:
i think you will be surprised, those plants have been severely "pruned", they will be shorter, stockier, and thicker than they would have been. i think their productivity will be better, just set you back a few weeks.

I sure hope you're right. I hate to lose a few weeks on my season but if my plants can produce more pods at a time I no worse off.

Devv said:
I'm in agreement with all the above comments, the main thing is they're alive and moving forward. Have you introduced any nutes yet?

I'm sure some diluted applications wouldn't hurt the ones with more leaves.

Good luck!

I fed them all when I planted them a month ago and gave them a foliar feed a few days before the frost. My soil is pretty damp from rain right now so I'm holding off on a soil drench of AACT. I'll probably give them a foliar in the next few days now that they have a few leaves.
Here's a couple more I couldn't fit in my last post.

7 Pot Chaguanas- leaves only

Douglah x Butch T

On another note. I brought this back from my local forest today.

It's a mix of different mediums from the forest floor.

First I scraped back the leaf layer and harvested the fully decomposed leaves below. The soil was a rich brown color and full of small roots. As a matter of fact most of the forest floor is all roots just below the surface. After sifting out the roots I was left with a beautiful, light weight soil that looks amazing.

I then mixed in soil from beneath several partially decomposed logs. This was darker in color and lacked the small roots but was just as light as the leaf soil.

Next I added the logs themselves. I found several fallen trees that had turned almost completely into a sawdust like state. This stuff scooped up so easy I was tempted to fill a whole bag with it.

After mixing all of those I decided to harvest a bit of soil from my local creek's flood zone. Turned out most of that was too difficult to dig up without disturbing the area much. I opted instead to add sand from the creek bed. Mixed it all together and there you have it. I think I'll dub the new mix as "Happy Shloggs Forest Floor". Available soon in a store near you!

I used this to fill a 3 liter Airpot that I planted a Pimenta De Neyde in. Now to see if it works!

stc3248 · May 31, 2013

"Happy Shloggs Forest Floor" just as tasty as the real thing with the satisfaction of self creation sprinkled in there! Ha! I bet it's gonna rock for you! Super jealous of your proximity to a real deal forest! I got kelp going for me though! Looks killer, and I still maintain that with their well developed roots and some new greenery to harvest some sunshine...plus the warmer temps that I see you're getting, they are about to do you proud!

Pepperhead · Jun 4, 2013

WalkGood said:
I don’t know either but just a thought, mans intervention isn’t always the best for nature. What I mean is possibly the plant shuts down that area and even though we perceive it as dead wood it might not be completely dead or we cut it and there’s an avenue for bugs, ambient air or water to get in causing more damage that requires the plant to refocus on that area, thus slowing down new growth. Who knows o_O as you said; a study would be a good read.

What I have learned most from my gardening experience is that sometimes the best fertilizer for plants is a nice healthy dose of "Leave It The Hell Alone". Unfortunately it seems that far too often I don't keep much of that around.

WalkGood · Jun 4, 2013

I'll take a few bags of "Happy Shloggs Forest Floor," where can I find it locally as shipping would kill me, heheh

Another awesome update, keep dem coming brethren!

WalkGood · Jun 14, 2013

Daniel how are your plants getting along? Last pictures I seen were from May 31st I’m guessing they’re doing much better now, any new pics?

Have a great Friday & weekend mon!