stc3248's 2014 small wild grow

stickman · Mar 13, 2014

The barracks grow is looking stellar Shane. Good deal on exterminating the aphids and fungus gnats. Will you be able to take any of your plants with you if/when you ship out? Retirement will be a big change... I expect after a vacation period you'll go back to work or school to stay busy... stasis equals death...

Cheers!

Penny · Mar 13, 2014

Great update Shane, plants look amazing and keep us posted on your orders.

Devv · Mar 13, 2014

Don't cha just hate the like, quote, emoticon popo's? I like the coffee idea!

Plants are lookin' killa!

Keep it green!

maximumcapsicum · Mar 13, 2014

Wow Shane! You gonna pinch the buds, or let them roll?

Keep growin!

stickman · Mar 17, 2014

Hi Shane... I came across this website while looking for info on 3-lobed chiles... Long Beach is close to Fullerton, yes? They're gonna have a big plant sale at the Fullerton Arboretum this weekend. Maybe you could sell off some of your extras and pick up some veggie starts for your truck garden.http://fullertonarboretum.org/ps_veggiePalooza.php
Cheers!

stc3248 · Mar 18, 2014

stickman said:
The barracks grow is looking stellar Shane. Good deal on exterminating the aphids and fungus gnats. Will you be able to take any of your plants with you if/when you ship out? Retirement will be a big change... I expect after a vacation period you'll go back to work or school to stay busy... stasis equals death...
Cheers!

Spoke a bit too soon on the Aphids...but I caught the second round early enough and left the soapy water on the leaves a bit longer this time and found none after the weekend again. I am keeping the upper hand for now, and if all goes well...the barracks plants will be out in the world fighting a real aphid battle later this week anyway.

Penny said:
Great update Shane, plants look amazing and keep us posted on your orders.

Thanks Penny! I didn't like the options listed this go around, but I have a few more months to shop around.

Devv said:
Don't cha just hate the like, quote, emoticon popo's? I like the coffee idea!

Plants are lookin' killa!

Keep it green!

Yeah...I just don't understand the fun police sometimes??? I understand the pics from a bandwidth perspective...kind of, but likes and emoticons...quotes??? Hmmm....

Thanks for the props, They're staying alive, but the wilds might be my cryptonite. I am keeping them going, but they really don't like my grow setup as much as other plants do. Once I get them outside I am sure they'll be fine.

maximumcapsicum said:
Wow Shane! You gonna pinch the buds, or let them roll?

Keep growin!

I usually pinch until annuums have forked and then forked again. The BBG is stunted from the tough life it's had. It literally was a bare stick around Christmas and although beautiful now...may take a while to be a full fledged plant so I will be pinching that one for a bit too. It is the only one up here at the barracks that I potted up to 5" the rest will go straight into 7# containers. I will pinch that one until the rootball fills the 5" then into 7# for the season.

stickman said:
Hi Shane... I came across this website while looking for info on 3-lobed chiles... Long Beach is close to Fullerton, yes? They're gonna have a big plant sale at the Fullerton Arboretum this weekend. Maybe you could sell off some of your extras and pick up some veggie starts for your truck garden.http://fullertonarboretum.org/ps_veggiePalooza.php
Cheers!

They hold that one every year...I have never made it over there, but they always offer some really killer varieties for a great price. I may buy a couple supers from my local nursery to bring up here. I am doing pretty good so far at sticking with mamas wishes on the home front, but I gotta have a superhot or two!!! Will all depend on whether or not I can sneak another bag of potting mix into the cart one of these days... :whistle:

Had a very busy weekend. I got some work done Friday and moved the hardening plants out from under the lattice porch for a more serious hardening in direct sun. Saturday was a bust for gardening, but I did rotate the annuums into the sun a couple more times early and late. We also visited my Daughter's prospective college...San Diego State. Did the full tour and sat through several orientations with her. Over 78,000 applicants to fill only 7,700 freshman spots and she was one of them! The afternoon was mine for a bit more garden/pool work then off to my son's first flag football of the season in the evening...or almost anyway. The field lights are supposed to be on a timer...so after waiting through a one hour warm up in the late afternoon...the game got cancelled when the lights didn't come one...day over. Sunday...well that day was mine, and I made the most of it! I did my first real groom of the new compost pile, chopping all the old plants into manageable chunks layering it with last years potting mix and mowing and adding clippings...looks real good now and will just cook for a month or two. I also finished bringing the pool out of hibernation...well almost. I am sure I will be cleaning the filters again next week...and the week after that. It is a color closer to blue for sure though! :rofl:

Oh...and...

The Annuums went in the ground!!! I am certain they will be badly sunburned by next weekend with the abbreviated hardening, but that's a fact of life with my schedule. They'll survive even if they are ugly for a while...

Plants went in early morning...and by afternoon good things were already happening!!! I think timing is right this season, The timing and a couple years of introducing Ladybugs, I found dozens of Ladybugs out and about and to already have larvae on the plants!!! Life is gonna be hard for the aphids this year!!! I am sure a few will find a way to survive, but I can live a few... :liar

:

During the soil recycling project I found dozens of volunteers...including these three Charapitas and one Wild Brazil... :shh:

I also unwrapped the Birgit's Locoto. It spent the winter wrapped in sheer cloth and the leaves are a bit yellowed from the weak light...but she's gonna be just fine!

Here's a flower that looks like it's being energized by the other layer of frost protection...the Christmas lights.

Not to be outdone...Jamie's Mystery X Goat's Weed is also loaded with flowers...

To help boost my chances of success I am trying some new companion plantings...these onions are outlining the parking spots for my wilds to be planted out in a few weeks...

Once again I think that's 10??? I have more will post tomorrow!
Thanks for stopping by!
Shane

stickman · Mar 18, 2014

Alright Shane! Nice to see you and Scott have chiles and other veggies in the ground! Good on ya for starting a compost pile... if you have to pay for garbage pickup in your area, you'll be charmed by halving the number of trash bags going out each time. There are only my wife and I at our place. We recycle paper, plastic, metal and glass, and compost the kitchen scraps minus meat and fat, and we put out a 13 gallon trash bag every other week on average.
Very cool to see flowers on your OW plants outside... Sweet! We still have 2 inches of icy snow on the ground here, but pics like yours give us hope that if we just hold on a little longer spring will get here too. Cheers!

Jeff H · Mar 18, 2014

Plants are looking great so far. It will be fun following the Birgits this year. Starting off the year at 11'. How high will it go?

Glad you found some volunteers too. May the ladybugs protect them.

millworkman · Mar 18, 2014

AWESOME stuff Shane. But I really want to see a trunk shot of that Birgit. How big around is she?

jonnyb · Mar 18, 2014

Nice grow log. Just had a look here for the first time. Will be interested to see how the wilds do. I've heard they can be a little tricky but would love to grow some myself in the future. Did they need pretreating before sowing (like stratifying) or just hydrate them and wait?

meatfreak · Mar 18, 2014

Great update, Shane. That Birgit's Loco is a beast, sure is nice to be able to overwinter such impressive plant! Last year I planted some Basil between my peppers, not really sure it made much difference but I had a lot of extra Basil

Devv · Mar 18, 2014

Nice update Shane!

Glad to see you have some plants in the ground too.

The Birgit's is sure to grow higher this year. Maybe we can go with a 2 year grow sometime in the future?

A ways back I read where you use a soaker hose on the compost, I took that as a thing to do being I have a HUGE pile of leaves to compost and rain? What's that? Maybe if you move back here the rains will follow? Always finding good advise here.

Keep it green!

maximumcapsicum · Mar 18, 2014

Birgits is a beast! How did you go about supporting it as it went higher?

Everything is looking great. Amazing his much we can get done when our gardening time is truncated. How abbreviated was the annuum hardening?

PIC 1 · Mar 18, 2014

Way to hit the dirt brotha ! Getting down to the ground, while us midwesterners can only watch the snow melt............. :lol:

I'm liking the look of the unveiling of the Birgit. Ya did a great job protecting her from the winter envirement.

Congrats !....to your daughter for her acceptance to SDS..........I remember that process with the kids.......pretty exciting !

The inground plants will be fine...if theres any sunburn...well you already know its only the existing growth Any shade cloth or a cheap roll of window screening ?

If your season is anything like last yrs.(even though fewer plants) than everyones in for a treat with your garden photo's

stc3248 · Mar 19, 2014

stickman said:
Alright Shane! Nice to see you and Scott have chiles and other veggies in the ground! Good on ya for starting a compost pile... if you have to pay for garbage pickup in your area, you'll be charmed by halving the number of trash bags going out each time. There are only my wife and I at our place. We recycle paper, plastic, metal and glass, and compost the kitchen scraps minus meat and fat, and we put out a 13 gallon trash bag every other week on average.
Very cool to see flowers on your OW plants outside... Sweet! We still have 2 inches of icy snow on the ground here, but pics like yours give us hope that if we just hold on a little longer spring will get here too. Cheers!

I keep a compost pile...but I always start a new one each year. That way I can pull from the well composted one while I start a new one. With mama and the kids...we still put out a depressing amount of trash. We recycle...out here in Cali I don't understand how folks don't??? We pay a deposit on our glass, plastic and aluminum which is tacked on to the price posted. Even with that incentive folks still throw it out, and I don't get it. We get back between $30 and $40 monthly which ain't much, but hey that's 3 bags of soil! We take paper too...but don't get much back for it. The rest goes into the recycle bin for the city.

The Birgits never really quit blooming, but I couldn't get in there to snap any pics. They Romy Mystery opened about 200 flowers all at once last week! She's ready to start rocking. I even have unintentional overwintered tomatoes...the winter here was 15 to 20 degrees warmer than average for nighttime lows.

Jeff H said:
Plants are looking great so far. It will be fun following the Birgits this year. Starting off the year at 11'. How high will it go?

Glad you found some volunteers too. May the ladybugs protect them.

Thanks Jeff! She's actually probably closer to 12' and maybe over. I wrapped her all the way to the top...and there was about a foot of new growth out the top! I have no idea how tall she'll, or more how long she'll get. Without building a scaffold or buying a taller stepladder, she's already got me standing on the "Don't stand on or above" rung. I have volunteers everywhere...I even have peppers growing out of cracks in the pool deck! Lol...I am really hopeful that if I keep the compost pile well watered it will end up a big crazy clump of volunteer plants... :shh:

millworkman said:
AWESOME stuff Shane. But I really want to see a trunk shot of that Birgit. How big around is she?

Not as big as you would think??? Impressive, but I have had chinenses and annuums a quarter the height with twice the base. They grew very vine like. Once I can't reach any higher, I will just let her cascade back down...maybe back to the ground??? Build a pepper arch??? Heck I dunno, just glad she made it through the winter! We don't get brutally cold here obviously, but in the foothills where I live temps in the mid to upper 20's are usually the norm in January. A couple of mild frosts this year but the frost protection did the trick.

jonnyb said:
Nice grow log. Just had a look here for the first time. Will be interested to see how the wilds do. I've heard they can be a little tricky but would love to grow some myself in the future. Did they need pretreating before sowing (like stratifying) or just hydrate them and wait?

Thanks Jonny!!! I have fun, and enjoy posting my progress. This season will be much less impressive in size and numbers that my last couple, but the wilds have me excited anyway. I really didn't do anything special. I did a soak in weak warm tea...and into the dirt. I got good numbers from some, but others have been in for over two months and are a no show. I will not give up on the Tovarii or Rocopica, but once the others go outside...so will the germ tray when the lights go off.

meatfreak said:
Great update, Shane. That Birgit's Loco is a beast, sure is nice to be able to overwinter such impressive plant! Last year I planted some Basil between my peppers, not really sure it made much difference but I had a lot of extra Basil

Thanks! Thought about Basil but haven't gotten around to it. I did put in some cilantro and nasturtiums along with onions and chives. We'll see how it works out!

Devv said:
Nice update Shane!

Glad to see you have some plants in the ground too.

The Birgit's is sure to grow higher this year. Maybe we can go with a 2 year grow sometime in the future?

A ways back I read where you use a soaker hose on the compost, I took that as a thing to do being I have a HUGE pile of leaves to compost and rain? What's that? Maybe if you move back here the rains will follow? Always finding good advise here.

Keep it green!

Yup...it's a little early, but the forecast and lack of winter had me roll the dice. I use a soaker hose and cover loosely with clear plastic. During the summer not only do we lack rain, we also often have single digit humidity. Those two things don't make for prime composting conditions. I think the hose will be a welcome addition to your leaf pile. A two year grow would be really cool...but I think the northern growers would have something to say about that.

Don't count on me bringing any rain from here!!!

maximumcapsicum said:
Birgits is a beast! How did you go about supporting it as it went higher?

Everything is looking great. Amazing his much we can get done when our gardening time is truncated. How abbreviated was the annuum hardening?

Thanks! I used a 15' section of 1" steel pipe and buried it about 5 foot deep...once she got close to the top of that I added a section of bamboo with some duct tape...total height of the stake is around 15'...but I won't be able to reach near that high to tie her up.

I am always way behind on everything these days. I do what I can when I can, but I sure can't wait to at least be stationed closer to home.

PIC 1 said:
Way to hit the dirt brotha ! Getting down to the ground, while us midwesterners can only watch the snow melt.............

I'm liking the look of the unveiling of the Birgit. Ya did a great job protecting her from the winter envirement.

Congrats !....to your daughter for her acceptance to SDS..........I remember that process with the kids.......pretty exciting !

The inground plants will be fine...if theres any sunburn...well you already know its only the existing growth Any shade cloth or a cheap roll of window screening ?

If your season is anything like last yrs.(even though fewer plants) than everyones in for a treat with your garden photo's

Thanks Greg! I sure do feel for all of you that have been beaten down by Ma-Nature this winter. I know that most of those hit real hard expect seasons including a brutal winter to go along with their unpredictable spring and fall...but this one's been one for the books for most including many folks that live far south of where it is the norm. Spring will come for you all...and in the mean time you all can suffer through my complaints of sweating while I plant out in our 90 degree weather!

I don't sweat sunburn too much...I get them as ready as I can, but know that they'll just get a little ugly for a bit. I will trim the worst leaves and make room for the new ones that are sure to form. My season will be nothing like past seasons, but with the 18 in ground annuums at home and four up here those pulls could be impressive...ish. Only two supers, one mystery from pepperprobem and the one Bubblegum 7 pot...(so far). The wilds will be fun, but even if I pull 1000 off each plant each weekend...the pile would not even fill my 5 qt buckets....hmmm....the overwinter birgits and mystery annums...forgot about those....and still kicking around the idea of picking up some plants from the nursery to bring up here to work...no telling where this glog will end up. Maybe with the barracks walkways lined with several dozen supers and me begging the CO for permission to install a drip system??? :party:

Aight so I promised another update...I have been giving the barracks room plants some time out in the sun and WIND the past couple days...

In spite of the recent addition of the small fan (way too late) the slightly legginess produced by growing them under the single desk lamp is making it rough on them. We get the same steady and predictable afternoon winds each day...and it has cost the plants a couple leaves and some zig-zag style stems. They'll get used to it...

When they're not outside they're under the lights...except when I am sleeping, because even just one 23w 6500k is too much in a small barracks room while sleeping...not that I've tried or anything??? :liar

: All but the recently potted up BBG 7 will get put into their 7# containers on Thursday and put outside for good. The BBG will go out too...but it still has a ways to go to grow into the 5" container.

Now for some leftover weekend pics...

Galapagoense

and another Galapagoense...

A CGN 19198 that started off a bit wonky with some good looking new growth and the sole surviving Cap. 1530, I had two more sprout, but they all had trouble escaping their seed shells. None sprouted with the helmets...the just stayed stuck underground with a hook that kept expanding until they finally gave up and died...I helped this one stand upright and performed seed helmet surgery...touch and go for a bit, but I think she may be out of the weeds now.

Another CGN 19198 starting to really take off.

Can never get enough of the fuzz...need to buy a fo-real macro lense to get the real picture.

My larger of two Chacoense var Exiles...purpling of the lower leaves??? never seen this before. I have seen it on the upper leaves due to the lights, but on the lower leaves??? I moved the lights up a little just to be safe. There is also a little yellowing going on...maybe too much water. I have mama water them whenever they feel light to her, but she is no expert. I lean toward her keeping them a little too wet because yellowing is better than dried up and dead. I think I may be close to being able to harden a few of the larger plants like this one soon.

And another Exile...also starting to purple down low. Wonder if I am dealing with a nute lock issue??? I had these on a regulated heat mat, but cut that off to see if maybe the root zone was staying too hot??? Still don't think there is much to worry about, but I am puzzled. The annuums and chinense plants love this soil, but I am beginning to think these wilds are not big fans...the lower center of the pic shows the painful truth about the only rocopica to sprout with the funny single cone shaped coty...not moving forward and just taking up space. There were other seeds sowed in that container so she's still around...but ain't gonna ever amount to anything.

Another shot of some of the inground plants...you can see a couple Nasturtiums center of the pic, just threw seeds I gathered from last years here and there and they are sprouting everywhere.

It for now...I may post a couple pics of the barracks plants once I get them outside on Thursday afternoon...

Happy growing y'all!
Shane

stickman · Mar 19, 2014

Hi Shane,
   Maybe you can get an arched doorway made of wicker at Home Depot that you can set up in your backyard for the Birgit to grow on... or you could make one like this from rebar...http://www.familyhandyman.com/garden-structures/build-a-garden-archway/view-all
   You must have a CO who's a decent guy that doesn't sweat the small stuff. Wish I'd had one like that at my last posting instead of the jumped-up martinet we got. Nobody respected him, and his performance reviews were consistently negative, so eventually he left the service, but not before he raised the blood pressure of everybody around him. I'm just glad we never ended up under him in a wartime situation.
   Keep the pics coming brother... we're jonesing for spring here and they make the waiting bearable... cheers!

JJJessee · Mar 19, 2014

That Birgits alone will produce bushels of peppers and I'd say a little Bubblegum goes a long way.

That's an interesting observation about the soil and the wilds. That gene pool may not be used to MG style ferts or at least the volume they are engineered to release for the average plant. A "poorer" soil may suit them better. Just thinkin' out loud.

Everything looks top-notch.

We wanna see a pic of you on top of that ladder picking Birgits wearing a parachute.

RocketMan · Mar 19, 2014

Wow Shane, things are really rolling out west there. Both grows are coming along nicely. It would be pretty cool to see the Supers planted outside the barracks but you might wind up with some drunkin sailors, btw what do you do with one, stopping by for a snack on a dare late at night so make sure you have a wireless cam set up to catch the fun. Oh, and yeah, Rick's right, your CO must be one in a million.

Any word on the next Billet?

compmodder26 · Mar 19, 2014

Grow looks great Shane! Of course I wouldn't expect anything less from you!

millworkman · Mar 19, 2014

That makes sense. For me the Birgits had a perfect straight stem but like you said, small compared to others. Great shots on those wilds too!