Staying alive, staying alive.. Ah ah ah and not.

[CraftyFox]

So, I know I've said I was going to do a log.. Guess it has to start somewhere. For those of you who were interested in my Harmonia project, they were all doing great until about a week or so ago when SOMEONE left the door to the room open after dark.. Since then I have only been able to count 5 at any time and would be surprised if there were many more than that, but I'm hoping. One of them has been really lethargic the last few days and I'm wondering at their lifespan.

Regarding the honey.. While they do love it, it is not what induces the breeding. Since having them I've only noticed them breeding twice now, and only immediately after gorging themselves on aphids. Along with the honey, I have been catching adult fruit flies and serving them to them on the 'honey sticks', still squirming.. They seem eager to eat them, but it doesn't solicit the same reaction as aphids do. A good cue to know they are wanting something more than honey is when they start nibbling on you. I generally use the toothpick or similar to move them around.. They don't have to deal with my mammalian funk, and they rarely produce a reaction when handled like this. 

Moisture and available water is absolutely essential for them and I mist the room at least 3 times a day, usually more. I usually end up misting the walls twice before they stop drinking. I'm hovering in the 30-40% range for humidity in there and have been working to improve it a little. I have a lot of different hides and moisture sinks around the room to give them some refuge, but they mainly hang out around the southern window. 

So far they have not shown much interest in the spider mites, only eating a few before losing interest and moving on. I'm probably not going to wait around for them to develop an appetite for them. 

 

 

[CaneDog]

Seemed like a pretty good run with them, CF.  For how long in total were you able to keep them around in solid numbers?

 

[CraftyFox]

You know, that's a great question.. I know it was before December.. Probably sometime in November, we had a warm spell in the middle of the cold setting in and I set the boys out to gather them. Besides the off one here and there, the majority were fine in the closed room until that incident. I lost a couple to spiders, a couple to old age or ??, and at least one that drowned. I'm really hoping those last ones to breed maybe laid some eggs on that spider mite nest, but I'm not sure I want to wait it out. 
Ever since I moved the Coontail into another tank, the aquatic aphids have not been able to crawl out, so I just keep the beetles up in the main room now. 

Speaking of losses.. Too much shock for the Little Brown after the last aphid outbreak and trim. It just never seemed to recover when those pods just "shriveled".. That's the second or third time that has happened and I'll put money on it being a disease, just can't recall the name. I also have my money on these wonderful little BMSB being the vector. Second winter in a row I have found them indoors in the middle of the winter, on a fluke. They even manage to elude all three cats. They are on a short list of insects that I will drop everything I'm doing to intercept. I plan on trying to track down the "source" of them around here, because I saw at least twice as many this last year. 



 

 

[CraftyFox]

Well, I've still got at least 7 Harmonia in the green room. The other day it got in the forties and one of the ones that had exited the room reappeared in the hallway.. I suspect the majority of the other migrants have moved up into the attic. The lethargic one is definitely injured, and just seems to cling to life with no real motivation. I've yet to see any egg laying or recent breeding, but I also have to feed them as my aphids have dried up.. 
The way some of them react to me now has me wondering just how domesticated these can become. They definitely see me as a food/water resource now, and have no qualms about letting me know if they are hungry or thirsty. Oddly enough, it seems the more spots they have, the more bold they are. Also had a winter hatch of mosquitoes from one of my aquatic buckets.. So that was a nice change of diet, for a couple meals.

The Goatsweed PaulG gave me seem to be under the influence of the Tradescantia, and determined to occupy the spread of the shelf, and continue to set pods. Hoping to have a ripe one soon. Some of the others are flowering, but none are setting pods. I think I have my fertility issues figured out now, but I may be repotting a lot of these soon.. 

Can't seem to settle on how I want the green room arranged, and managed to drop the fan on one of the ginger last night.. Guess I'll see how the greens taste sooner than I thought.

Finally got the bulk of the year started now, and had some great pictures of how fast the peroxide method causes germination.. And they were all gone this morning except one. Over half of the batches I did were already germinating after one day soaking.. But hard to see it on the one I have pictures of. Really at a loss to explain why that happens with these android phones, but my daughter has the same issues. I didn't write down the details because I figured a picture is worth a thousand words.. And time. Now all I've got is a handful of choice words I won't share here. 8 batches, at least a dozen pictures, and only one remaining.. But it'll sure save every blurry out-of-focus cast off I take. Deep breath.

 

 

[CraftyFox]

So.. Loading up the seats for another insane grow. 
Uvalde Wild Tepequin x 2 (2 years old)
DeSorta  Pubescens (2 years old)-CD
DeSeda (2 years old) -CD

Cappuccino Tepin x2-Jackson13
Thai Birdseye x 2-Ryan P.
Goat's Weed? x 2-Paul G.
PDNxBMJ Purple F7- dontpanic
KS White Thai - Roper2008
Sedona Sun- (2019MOP)

Hopefully popping soon: Dropped at least 9 of each of these in the last few days..
Mystery Min F2 (2019MOP)
Notta Volante x, Coral F2(Bhuter-ISO)
Aleppo (YamRacer)
Amish Hot Finger (NMLarson)
Leutschauer (YamRacer)
LemonDrop Baccatum (2019MOP)
Padron (SINN)
Sweet Red Aji (CaneDog)
Omnicolor (David P.)
Aji Charapita (TexasHotPeppers)
Binquinho Yellow (Roper2008)
Datil Sweet (TexasHotPeppers)
Fatalii White (Jeff C.)
Pink Heatless Hab (2019MOP)
Johnny's Paper Lantern (2019MOP)
MustardGum NagaBrain (Bhuter-OP)

I've got at least another round coming I think.. We'll see if sanity catches me first. Thanks to all of you who made this possible by trading and participating here!   



 

 

[CraftyFox]

Found my first unexplainable dead Harmonia yesterday.. Just dead. I also saw a pair of them getting busy and wasted a lot of time looking for the aphids that weren't there. I haven't counted in a while, but I'm approaching a dozen of them again. Every warm day we have seems to bring one out of hiding in the house and they get added to the lot. One was even drafted from outside the other day. Now that I moved the primary compost bucket(maggot factory) into the greenroom, I don't have to hand feed them as much.. Which has resulted in them ignoring me more when I come in the room. 

First to hook are the Notta Volante! Go hybrid power! Also looks like the Charapita is starting to pop as well(Nope, it was just perlite).. 
Charapita.. What is this, fourth attempt? I remember when this was my big want, now I debate even trying them. I have a feeling that I'm probably going to migrate away from Chinense in general as I gain more experience with varieties.. With a couple of exceptions. 
About a dozen of these guys popped today..

Finally locked in a couple of Goumi "Tillamook" for delivery next month.. Now I need to find someone with "Red Gem" or another variety. Just a race now to get my other cuttings done before it warms up too much. Seems like we went strait from tundra to spring here. 

Need to split a few of my cultures this week.. The Red wigglers seem to be doing especially well now that they are in the warmth of the greenroom. Already getting stuck on the idea of keeping it going all year round, but that room gets plenty hot in the summer, even when it only had the one window exposed. 

Haven't taken care of the OW plants, and I need to put that on my priority list. Wondering what these little guys in the Sweet potato pot are.. Probably from the rabbit bedding in the pot.

 

 

[CraftyFox]

The pods are starting to look pretty sweet on the KS White Thai already.. And true, from what I recall of the videos. One of the first peppers I saw online and instantly wanted. 

My LemonDrops are running a little wild, as are the Peruvian Sweet Red Aji.. Guess I should have held off on the second misting. 

Divided up the Notta Volante last night. 17 of them popped, and I think that may have been the ones I dropped a seed on, so that'd mean 100% germination. 

I really need to do my rejuvenation pruning on these Pubescens.. DeSorta is flowering again, and DeSeda looks a little rough after I left it sit in the sun all day. I think today may be the day.

The Goats just keep putting the pods on. I can't really call this Goat's Weed anymore, Paul.. Gonna have to be Goat's Weird for now, so I don't get confused when I go for round 2. 

That little guy under the Weird sisters is PdN x BMJ Purple f7, if I recall the name right.. It doesn't like the fan much. 

Finally, one of the many Dysdera that reside here.. Arguably the coolest spider you can find around foundations in the North. They were fairly active thru the warmup last week. 

 

[CraftyFox]

I still haven't had time to sort out what all made it to this point, but I'm thankful to have so many varieties to enjoy this year!! I have a lot of variables this year, due to sourcing issues and now, I'm not sure what to make of these symptoms. 
Looks a lot like Sulphur deficiency to me, but with the weather and switching out so many variables with the grow.. I'd love some consensus. 
These guys are probably about 2 weeks into hardening off again, at best, after the first step was interrupted by that cold blast a few weeks ago.. Then the scorch, now cold and soaked. I'm sure quite a few have experienced this as well. I just haven't had time to catch up on here. I've been potting them up in stages, when I have time.
This year I'm using a mix of ProMix and Mushroom Composted Manure.. Somewhere around 4:1 respectively. Seems like they have been yellowing more and more as time goes on, even prior to the last cold spell/drench.
Hope everyone is hanging in there and managing to dodge the crazy weather!

Here's the little stowaway pepper seed from the Strawberry seed package, off to a good start, unlike the Alpines who have all but croaked.. Very similar look to how I recall the Poinsettia Pepper looking, any speculations? Tall girl in the middle.

 

 

[CaneDog]

Hey Crafty.  Happy to see you're not experiencing any shortage of pepper plants for the season.  Most of those look healthy green to me.  What yellowing I do see looks to me like the cold/wet variety - at least that would be my guess.  What have you been seeing in the roots as you pot up the yellower ones?  Are you seeing solid development?

 

[Downriver]

I think your plants look good CF, especially with the crazy weather we've had over the last month or so. I agree with CD, the first thing I thought about the yellowing was temp swings and maybe too much water. Nobody likes cold, wet feet lol. Let's hope the weather finally stabilizes and you can get your grow show on the road!

 

[CraftyFox]

Most of the roots have been really well developed and most of the ones that weren't didn't get to go right into those trade liners. I suspected it might be mainly weather related because I have a few in the house yet that don't have any of those symptoms and have never been outdoors.. Just juggling a lot of variables. 
Now they are getting another drenching. 
The yellowing started with a few and seems to be getting more common.. They seem to be growing well, despite dropping quite a few leaves.. But then I have to remind myself that they are mostly still dealing with old leaves there, not attuned to being outdoors. 

Glad I have a few I'm keeping indoors for perspective. I put the Rocs out for a bit earlier this month, but they didn't react well to the heat spell, so they are back inside again.. I still haven't repotted them. Seems like they can go a LONG time in a fiber pot without a need to repot. I have a feeling if I don't this year, I can forget about any kind of harvest from those two. Both have flowered and dropped them already, at least once. They also are both getting in the habit of shutting down older branches.. So the signs are definitely there. 
 
Yep, doing that today.

 

[CraftyFox]

Well, now that I've dumped out all of the trays from last nights soaking, my project today involves trying to figure out where to get more of these blocks.. It would help if I could recall the name of them. 
12x12x8, I think.. Anyone know the name?

PdNxBMJ Purple F7.. Just now starting to really come around.. Hanging out with two volunteer Sedum seedlings, which have quite a different look from the one that came with the house. 

First Padron well on the way! In spite of me forgetting about this tray on the floor for a few weeks, most of these are doing quite well. 

And, of course, my little greasy buddies in the backyard are letting me know I need to move this grow to the driveway.. Or war! Seeing as we also have quite the bumper crop of Earwigs running around now too, I might just have to go with both. 

 

 

[skullbiker]

The most common name for those blocks is "breeze blocks".

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

The most common name for those blocks is "breeze blocks".

 
 
SB nailed it.>Breeze Blocks

 

[ahayastani]

The most common name for those blocks is "breeze blocks".

 
Especially older houses here in the tropics use this type of construction blocks as part of a passive ventilation system. I didn't know there was a word for it.

 

[CraftyFox]

I guess they also call them ventilation or screen block too.. Not that it helps me locate these. Haha! Appreciate the help all the same!  I plan on working in mud this year, so I'll come up with something. 
Wish I could send this rain where it's needed. We've had to empty the trays for four days in a row now and yesterday we had to do it thrice. Starting to get the urge to bring the Chunk leaves inside and leave the Anns and Frutescens out there, as they seem to take it better. It's gonna warm/dry up though.. Right?!? 

My Prunus and Amelanchier seem done with the rain too.. All but one flopped over yesterday. 

DeSorta is looking happier after the second heavy pruning, and soil upgrade.. Maybe she'll stop self-pruning now. 

Elderberries are loving the rain. Last year we caught the drought as just the right time to ruin the Blackberry and Elderberry and Chanty abundance.. I don't see that being a problem this year. 
Some people don't believe the size of the Elderberry flowers I have when I tell them.. I have yet to find ones that get bigger. They are just now starting to reach the size they were on the original mother. 

First seedling Elderberry that has shown up.. This is it's second year. I was planning to get a second specimen for genetic variety, and now I'm torn. Either way I'm going to move and grow this one out to see how they bear. 

 


 

 

[CraftyFox]

Thinking about Beetles again. As our Sonchus and Arctium start getting size, the aphid populations start to rise and new predators start arriving in our yard.. As some aphids find the Charapita (What is with aphids and Charapita?) I find myself considering how I may stock the Greenroom this winter. 
My camera didn't suddenly get amazing either.. My daughter has been kind enough to help me out with steady hands and a lot better software. 
I really like the look of Propylea and Calvia, and especially love the stats on Propylea.. Usually we have more of the pink/black flavor of them around here, but there seem to be a lot of cream colored ones this year.. Even the Earwigs wanna go blonde.

Propylea male, and the distinctive digital BDU

Calvia

 
How can you hate such a beauty? 

I'm guessing the Earwigs are more a symptom of our tree line getting cut down than a overpopulation.. Hard to say with the bumper crop of other insects I'm seeing. I have more than enough Hedge mustard and aphids to go around, so I think we are at peace for now.. As long as the albino lives anyway. 

One issue I can see with Propylea and Calvia already is they are tiny and can fit thru the gaps in my old window. Another is they are really fast, untrusting, and are just as quick to fly as run. While the Harmonia could get in the cracks around the window, they never succeeded in getting in between the two sets. I really like the size of them, for being able to get into those leaf margins where bigguns like Harmonia won't fit. 

Anyone ever keep Propylea or Calvia indoors?

 

 

[CraftyFox]

Peruvian Sweet Red Aji.. Shaping up to be one of the more captivating peppers in my grow this year. I can't seem to find any pictures of them growing skyward like this. The flowers hang down until fertile, then they are upright within a day of shedding the corolla. 
Just wondering if this is typical, because all of my fruiting ones seem to be of a similar habit. Interesting flowers too, very lantern-like as they are opening. Totally stoked about this pepper!

I'll have to go back thru CD's growlog and try to find it sometime. Definitely becoming one of my favorites to watch this grow. I have a feeling that these and the Coral Volante are going to be two of the best producers this year.

Speaking of Coral Volante (Peach Volante X).. They are also starting to really put some pods on. Since these are all F2, I'm really curious to see if we get a real glimpse at the other parent. From what I can tell there is very little variation among them, thus far. 

Some of the Chinense, however, not doing so hot.. Like the White Fatalii.. They are just starting to get dry, hoping that helps.

 

 

[CaneDog]

Hey, Crafty.  Things are looking good! - perhaps those last few chinense excepted, but hopefully they'll come around.  I can help with a couple links on the Aji.  It was sourced in Peru and I've yet to see another baccatum like it, so there's not any info on it out there to my knowledge.
 
Plant with pods (last picture) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/71003-canedog-2019-hirsute-pursuit-rocotos-wilds-moar/?p=1647800
 
Flower close-up - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/71003-canedog-2019-hirsute-pursuit-rocotos-wilds-moar/?p=1644750
 
My experience was that the pods start growing upward, then bend down with weight as they lengthen.  Nice flowers.  Very good production.  Matured through color phases until red.  I'd wanted to grow it again this year, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle.

 

[CraftyFox]

Hey, Crafty.  Things are looking good! - perhaps those last few chinense excepted, but hopefully they'll come around.  I can help with a couple links on the Aji.  It was sourced in Peru and I've yet to see another baccatum like it, so there's not any info on it out there to my knowledge.
 
Plant with pods (last picture) - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/71003-canedog-2019-hirsute-pursuit-rocotos-wilds-moar/?p=1647800
 
Flower close-up - http://thehotpepper.com/topic/71003-canedog-2019-hirsute-pursuit-rocotos-wilds-moar/?p=1644750
 
My experience was that the pods start growing upward, then bend down with weight as they lengthen.  Nice flowers.  Very good production.  Matured through color phases until red.  I'd wanted to grow it again this year, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle.

Thanks for the links and feedback on these.. Definitely the flower I'm seeing too. I notice you didn't say anything about the flavor..
How were they?