STC3248, Just Another Grow Log! Holiday Harvest!

stc3248 · Mar 19, 2012

Ken/Paul...or anyone else that wants to chime in. If this little dude is still alive when I get home I am thinking I should cut back one or both of the shoots just above the graft. Wonder if that would funnel growth and healing into the graft site???

PaulG · Mar 20, 2012

Great graft pics, Shane - Am really enjoying the whole process.
I'd leave it alone for a day or two before doing any cutting. Give
the site some time to get what it needs from the stock, and then
if it looks ify you can try the pruning. But I am conservative, and
don't know anything about grafting : ) I just like to let things sort
of settle in after something like root pruning.

stc3248 · Mar 20, 2012

I guess 90% frost date does leave that 10% out there...calling for 29-32 tonight! Yippy freakin' Skippy!

Soooo...

Merry Xmas pepper plants!

The peppers are looking really good in spite of the cooler temps. Today was in the mid 60's and back into the mid 70's tomorrow through Saturday! Just gotta get past this one last cold weather hurdle. Nice and toasty under the sheets/upturned planters/buckets. I made sure there were a couple lights under each of the planters. Fingers crossed yet again!

The graft is looking good, but there is a little leaf curl in the coty's. I pruned the two branches above the graft in hopes that it would focus its energy into the graft site...Still misting every few hours. Looking promising! I give the lanternapeno a 50/50 shot at surviving...

I'm gonna need a ton of luck all the way around! Night all!
Shane

PaulG · Mar 20, 2012

You have to post this in the ghetto Gear Thread!

stc3248 · Mar 20, 2012

PaulG said:
You have to post this in the ghetto Gear Thread!

You're right...they are ghetto-fabulous! I think it took 8 50'strands to get over, around and through everything. I'll take a few daytime pics tomorrow and then post over there.

Here is the lanternapeno plant aka Frankenpepper.

You can see where I pruned the two shoots just above the graft site. Its still kickin! The slight discoloration is from when I tried to fry it the first time. Keeping it in the dark another day, and if its still kickin I'll start some light in small, distant doses. I'll probably start a couple feet from the plant a few hours at a time...if it makes it that far! Its definitely getting some love from the momma plant or it would have been long since dead. Over 24 hours without roots now!

Shane

PaulG · Mar 20, 2012

All right, lookin' good!

SocalChilehead · Mar 20, 2012

Looks great Shane into the Christmas spirit year round. We just finish dealing with the rain and little bit of hail that damaged some of the leaves, but most of them made it through the cold so far and I hope your does as well good luck.

hooda · Mar 20, 2012

It's looking good to me. Plus all this grafting talk has got me starting some new seeds, as of a couple hours ago.

Beehunter · Mar 20, 2012

Nice! Its a survivor! And i wouldnt worry about the outdoor peppers. All youngins like a little backyard camping!

PIC 1 · Mar 20, 2012

Wow Shane,
You're stepping it up a notch and taking that outdoor grow to the extreme! Camping with the girls?
You could have used all white bulbs........but your hitting the whole color spectrum................lol
Hey you have to do whats necessary to keep the crop producing, As long as the ground stays somewhat warm things will be fine.
Good luck with the grafting project....I've done that with the clips and tomato plants.......Will an inderminate tomato plant grafted with a determinate prouduce a semi-determinate? Well not really but its a good way to combine a diease resistant rootstock with an Heirloom which, can be fragile to "blights and spots" on its own.
Good luck with your project, I can't wait to see the results!

Greg

stc3248 · Mar 20, 2012

PIC 1 said:
Wow Shane, You're stepping it up a notch and taking that outdoor grow to the extreme! Camping with the girls? You could have used all white bulbs........but your hitting the whole color spectrum................lol Hey you have to do whats necessary to keep the crop producing, As long as the ground stays somewhat warm things will be fine. Good luck with the grafting project....I've done that with the clips and tomato plants.......Will an inderminate tomato plant grafted with a determinate prouduce a semi-determinate? Well not really but its a good way to combine a diease resistant rootstock with an Heirloom which, can be fragile to "blights and spots" on its own. Good luck with your project, I can't wait to see the results! Greg

Lol...I only have 1 multicolor strand. The rest are all red. After taking the time to dig out and run all those lights it didn't even frost last night. Lol...I am sure that the plants enjoyed the little extra warmth I supplied them last night. Under the buckets the temp was near 70! I may actually keep the light/covering routine going until the night time temps are a little better. Next several days lows around 50 and highs in the 70's. Next week we're finally going to see some more 80 degree days! When I planted out it was 85 and none of this crap was in the forecast.

hooda said:
It's looking good to me. Plus all this grafting talk has got me starting some new seeds, as of a couple hours ago.

If you're looking to use an approach graft type setup, I would let them grow leggy so you have a nice long stem to work with. I was too impatient and just used the plants I already had going. Good luck!

SocalChilehead said:
Looks great Shane into the Christmas spirit year round. We just finish dealing with the rain and little bit of hail that damaged some of the leaves, but most of them made it through the cold so far and I hope your does as well good luck.

I think we had more hail than rain last weekend. Several times it blanketed the yard and looked almost like snow. I had the plants covered up, and the only damage was me breaking a branch off one of my Jal plants removing the cover. :banghead:

Beehunter said:
Nice! Its a survivor! And i wouldnt worry about the outdoor peppers. All youngins like a little backyard camping!

They had more fun on the camping trip than me...lol Yeah, the graft is looking pretty good! Don't worry, there is still plenty of time for me to kill it. At 36 or so hours it has already proven that a graft is possible. It is definately pulling what it needs from the host. Still needs some TLC, but I will consider it a victory even if it eventually dies off.

PaulG said:
All right, lookin' good!

Thanks man! So far so good. The Fatalii/Yellow Bhut is looking rough and just dropped both coty's...don't know what's happening there???

Thanks everyone!
Shane

jsschrstrcks · Mar 20, 2012

Graft is looking good. if I am feeling better tomorrow I am thinking I will expose the roots on mine. See if it's drawing it's living off the host yet or not...

stc3248 · Mar 20, 2012

Here are the daytime pics of what I got goin' on out in the garden. Not supposed to have anymore frosts, but I've heard that before! One of the drawbacks of the fantastic Cali weather is night time temps stay pretty cool even in the dead of summer. Not uncommon to still be in the low 50's in July and August, but the averages then will be in the 60's. However for the next several months we are going to have to deal with averages around 50. The past week has been unseasonable cold. I decided to cover the supers every night until the temps come up a bit more. Doesn't seem to be phasing any of the annuums except for the Anaheim and Poblanos. The rest are flowering and setting fruit.

Mucho Nachos are doing real well! Very impressed with these plants so far. The jury is still out on the heat and flavor, but those questions will be answered soon enough. Several pods already getting pretty big.

Toamatoes and a few Jalapeno overwinters really doing well, both setting fruit.

The supers are a different story. They still appear pretty healthy, and some good new growth on a few, but the leaf color is not great and they are showing some leaf curl from the cold nights. Soo...

I took some of my 5 gallon containers and rigged them with Xmas lights through the drain holes and grocery bag.

Here is what they look like sitting on the plants. Gets pretty warm in there. It was almost 70 degrees in there last night when it was 40 degrees outside. Pretty amazing how much heat those little bulbs put out! I really hope that these guys like the extra heat at night. I have a couple spares of all these in the 1 & 5 gallon containers, so won't be a total loss if they fizzle, just a disappointment.

The graft looks just the same as it did yesterday. I am giving it a little indirect light right now. Only a few hours, and then a little more tomorrow. Hoping to see some new growth soon...fingers and toes still crossed on that one.

Thanks for looking!
Shane

PaulG · Mar 20, 2012

Great technique, Shane, very effective. Seventy in one of those
containers makes growing lots of stuff a possibility. Lots of work
setting up, but guarantees frost-free plants. Your grow log always
amazes me! Take care, bro.

stc3248 · Mar 21, 2012

Here's another vid showing the frost prevention setup...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPLWEyigqm4

S.S.Tupperware · Mar 21, 2012

There lookin nice, I hope the weather cooperates with ya...

PIC 1 · Mar 21, 2012

Cool video!...........I was just eating a store bought orange......dam...x2

Greg

gnslngr · Mar 21, 2012

adapt ,improvise,overcome :cool:

Melissa77754 · Mar 21, 2012

This weather sucks huh Shane?? My older girls have been fending for themselves in the cold and doing perfectly fine, all my babies are in the greenhouses. Can't wait for this cold snap to go away, but rain is in the forecast again end of next week! Your plants are looking great regardless!!

stc3248 · Mar 21, 2012

S.S.Tupperware said:
There lookin nice, I hope the weather cooperates with ya...

Thanks! Looks like it will start to improve. Near 80 today!

PIC 1 said:
Cool video!...........I was just eating a store bought orange......dam...x2 Greg

Not a big fan of orange habs...but I still eat them when there is nothing else available. I really need to clean up back there and mow. I don't know how many more vids I'll post??? Takes forever to upload them.

gnslngr said:
adapt ,improvise,overcome

Thats the name of the game! If you can't change on the fly you're never going to be successful.

Melissa77754 said:
This weather sucks huh Shane?? My older girls have been fending for themselves in the cold and doing perfectly fine, all my babies are in the greenhouses. Can't wait for this cold snap to go away, but rain is in the forecast again end of next week! Your plants are looking great regardless!!

Yes it does! I saw there's a chance of rain on Sunday...hopfully its not the same as the crap that just blew through. Not supposed to be as cold either. Temps here should be in the high 60's to low 70's for the next week or so. My overwinters, Jalapenos and Bishop's Crowns are doing great. Only the Chinenses that are really hating the cool nights. To be expected I guess.

Thanks for the comments everyone!
Shane