Stefan_W's 2013 Pods A-Ripenin'! Glog

I am going to start the new glog for my upcoming growing season on a bit of a personal note. One year ago tomorrow (January 3rd) is the one year anniversary of the day that my daughter was diagnosed with a tumour that is lodged in the middle of her brain. The past year has involved treatments and hospital stays, and there were at least three different points when we were pretty sure she was not going to make it. But she is a fighter, and nothing could keep her down for long.

Sofia has personally planted every pepper and tomato seed that I have started in the past three growing seasons. She beat the odds last year to help me, and once again she is defying what medicine has to say to help me out this year.

We started a jalapeno plant about a week ago just for the sake of watching it grow, because we both love it so much. One of the jalapenos grew to the point that it had its firt couple of leaves, so we transplanted him into a bigger pot. While we were at it I decided to put in some aji lemondrops, partly because they take a long time to fruit up and I wanted to give them a huge head start.

This is the jalapeno plant. I pulled the second one out because we did not need it, and discovered that the roots had grown all of the way down to the bottom of the cell.

My daughter personally doing the transplant.

Her aim is better than mine, and so it turned out perfectly.

Next up was taking out the lemondrop seeds from peppermania.

I need a few extras of this type, so I asked Sofia to plant two seeds in each of the four cells. Two plants will be for us, and whatever else grows will be given away to good friends.

Two of the three tiers in my lighting stand are currently being used as toy shelves, which is cool for now. The lights are adjustable, and moved down to get close to the seedling.

The heating pad works extremely well, and once the cells are covered the top clouds up in no time.

A happy early jalapeno seedling in his new home. I thought I heard "feeeeeed meeeeee" coming from that direction, but I'm not sure.

That's it for today, folks! Welcome to my new glog

 

[Stefan_W]

I just joined after lurking aroung for a while, and now I can finally give you props for being an awesome pepper growing mentor its really awesome getiing families involved in gardening. Its nice to see the sucess of another canadian especially with as many varieies as you have in a realitively small space. When do you usually get to do the final plant out?

And on a more relative note I think not wanting to thin your seedlings is a female thing I myself find it very hard to cull plants.

My plants usually go out on May long weekend (second weekend in May). I found that starting the superhots way early is a must with our short growing season, even though it means having a tough time during the hardening off process. The growing season is a bit longer out in your neck of the woods, right?

Thank you for your kind words, and thank you very much for stopping by and having a look!

 

[GA Growhead]

The yellow 7 pod gigantics are from Judy at Pepperlover, and it is my first time growing them so I can't speak to whether they are similar to anything else. Where do you get LRGs?

It wouldnt surprise me if the same plant had more than one name.

I got mine there too. Just Yellow 7 Larges. I like the three letter abbreviation. They were pretty awesome last season. They weren't too much bigger than my yel brains, but definitely bigger than the reg yel 7s i had. Smooth pods. Great flavor with a somewhat tolerable heat that would get me good every once in a while. On mine, the pods grew up, then fell over as pendants as they got bigger. I had two Beautiful plants! So all the same. Hope you enjoy them as much as i did. I have two up so far. Was wanting three this year.

 

[southerncanada]

The growing season can go until late september especially when we get a extended summer, with a greenhouse you might even get into october before plants in a cold frame will drop pods. We have less of a problem with frost and more of a problem with getting the super hot days at the right time. I try to manipulate nature as much as possible so I find it hard to predict when to start it can get really warm in april and then we can get hail a week later so for outdoor in ground you have to wait until may. My seed vendor recommends june Im going to do two phases this year some will move out of the greenhouse early may and some I will wait until mid june, some of my plants will stay in the greenhouse all summer. I put my seedlings in the greenhouse in late march last year and they didn't show stress. Looks like we are going to have an early spring this year.

 

[WalkGood]

So this is what happens when I show the seedlings to my wife prior to transplant. All seven of the plants along the left hand side are yellow 7 pod gigantics. I wanted to keep three of them, but my wife complained about killing any of the extras off. Luckily I didn't show her the hook that would have been number 8. Anyway, I have no idea what to do with all of them now! … …

Your wife is a wise woman, I like dat girl!!!

Ah, there is wisdom in your words. …

I see you are coming around, grow them and in the end if you don’t have the space you can always gift them to family or friend ^_^ Every thing is coming along nicely, certainly one glog I enjoy reading the updates even if I don’t get around to replying right away. Godeh mon and may Jah bless you & your crop …

 

[DocNrock]

They are looking good, Stefan. I knew I would have a hard time culling, but I really only wanted one plant of each variety. So I planted multiple seeds in each Rapid Rooter. If more than one came up, it got culled, as there would have been no way to save any if I tried to save them all. Of course, my initial experiment with soil and Rooters did lead to a few "backups."

 

[Stefan_W]

I got mine there too. Just Yellow 7 Larges. I like the three letter abbreviation. They were pretty awesome last season. They weren't too much bigger than my yel brains, but definitely bigger than the reg yel 7s i had. Smooth pods. Great flavor with a somewhat tolerable heat that would get me good every once in a while. On mine, the pods grew up, then fell over as pendants as they got bigger. I had two Beautiful plants! So all the same. Hope you enjoy them as much as i did. I have two up so far. Was wanting three this year.

That sounnds pretty incredible, I hope mine turn out half as good as your did!

The growing season can go until late september especially when we get a extended summer, with a greenhouse you might even get into october before plants in a cold frame will drop pods. We have less of a problem with frost and more of a problem with getting the super hot days at the right time. I try to manipulate nature as much as possible so I find it hard to predict when to start it can get really warm in april and then we can get hail a week later so for outdoor in ground you have to wait until may. My seed vendor recommends june Im going to do two phases this year some will move out of the greenhouse early may and some I will wait until mid june, some of my plants will stay in the greenhouse all summer. I put my seedlings in the greenhouse in late march last year and they didn't show stress. Looks like we are going to have an early spring this year.

The worst thing about early spring is that you never know if a late frost will hit. It is always a rough choice when trying to figure out when to leave the plants out and get them settled into their summer homes.

What seed vendor are you using, if you dont mind me asking?

Your wife is a wise woman, I like dat girl!!!


I see you are coming around, grow them and in the end if you don’t have the space you can always gift them to family or friend ^_^ Every thing is coming along nicely, certainly one glog I enjoy reading the updates even if I don’t get around to replying right away. Godeh mon and may Jah bless you & your crop …

Giving a couple away isnt a problem. The main issue I may have is that with 29 varieties of peppers on the go this comiong season, if I grow 7 of each of them I will not have the room inside the house for the seedlings. It is always a balancing act with space issues, and in cases where I'm only growing one plant out I was trying hard to avoid having more than three seedlings of that type at this stage.

They are looking good, Stefan. I knew I would have a hard time culling, but I really only wanted one plant of each variety. So I planted multiple seeds in each Rapid Rooter. If more than one came up, it got culled, as there would have been no way to save any if I tried to save them all. Of course, my initial experiment with soil and Rooters did lead to a few "backups."

Great mind think alike. I was seriously considering putting a bunch of seeds into a cell and just letting the strongest survive, but for some reason I took another route. Your idea is definitely the way to go if you need to keep your seedling count down to a manageable level.

 

[southerncanada]

That sounnds pretty incredible, I hope mine turn out half as good as your did!



The worst thing about early spring is that you never know if a late frost will hit. It is always a rough choice when trying to figure out when to leave the plants out and get them settled into their summer homes.

What seed vendor are you using, if you dont mind me asking?



Giving a couple away isnt a problem. The main issue I may have is that with 29 varieties of peppers on the go this comiong season, if I grow 7 of each of them I will not have the room inside the house for the seedlings. It is always a balancing act with space issues, and in cases where I'm only growing one plant out I was trying hard to avoid having more than three seedlings of that type at this stage.



Great mind think alike. I was seriously considering putting a bunch of seeds into a cell and just letting the strongest survive, but for some reason I took another route. Your idea is definitely the way to go if you need to keep your seedling count down to a manageable level.

The seed vendor I went with is west coast seeds they are just across the water so shipping time is 2 or 3 days. I usually get at least 85% to 100% success with a heat mat. I like that they are produced in my climate but I wish they had more varieties, they do get new ones every year though. I'm currently kicking myself for not ordering any friars hat for this year.

 

[Stefan_W]

The seed vendor I went with is west coast seeds they are just across the water so shipping time is 2 or 3 days. I usually get at least 85% to 100% success with a heat mat. I like that they are produced in my climate but I wish they had more varieties, they do get new ones every year though. I'm currently kicking myself for not ordering any friars hat for this year.

What types are you interested in? I dont have any friar's hats, but I do have extra seeds from over-ordering that I can send.

 

[southerncanada]

What types are you interested in? I dont have any friar's hats, but I do have extra seeds from over-ordering that I can send.

I'm interested in as much variety as possible, I've been looking for bhuts, scorpions, and anything with a unique quality.

 

[Stefan_W]

I know I have lots of extra fatalii seeds, and I saved some of my own bhut seeds from last year. I'll take a look later and see what else I have on hand.

 

[Stefan_W]

From my own seeds I have bhuts, tabasco, atomic starfish and kung pao. The plants were not isolated, so even though I am not saying the seeds will grow into a turnip I'm not ruling it out either.

From extra seeds from assorted sellers I have fatalii, chocolate habs, and dozens (if not a hundred or more) assorted seeds of various heat levels. If you give me a heat level I can just toss a few assorted varieties in.

 

[southerncanada]

I'll give some of your own seeds a shot and the fatalii and chocolate habs sound interesting.. as for heat level 300,000 or under is what id like the most of in my garden this year. I hope to experiment with isolated pollination this year so I can produce my own seed for my future seasons. Thank you for the offer!

 

[Stefan_W]

Just PM me your mailing addy and I'll get a package out to you this week. I'll put in the bhut seeds even though the pods are definitely going to be over 300,000 scovies.

 

[Sanarda]

Happy wife, happy life is the smartest thing I have read on here yet Thats the reason my hubby has tolerated losing his utility closet. Your off to a great start. No doubt do to the baby putting the seeds in the soil. You should have 100% germ with everything . This year is gonna be kick ass no doubt.

 

[Stefan_W]

Happy wife, happy life is the smartest thing I have read on here yet Thats the reason my hubby has tolerated losing his utility closet. Your off to a great start. No doubt do to the baby putting the seeds in the soil. You should have 100% germ with everything . This year is gonna be kick ass no doubt.

Thanks for the kind words, and thank you for stopping by!

 

[romy6]

Man that was some of the tastiest looking pizza I have seen in a long time. Nice of you to save yoyr daughter a not so spicy piece. babie are looking good . Keep the pics coming !!!!!

 

[Stefan_W]

Man that was some of the tastiest looking pizza I have seen in a long time. Nice of you to save yoyr daughter a not so spicy piece. babie are looking good . Keep the pics coming !!!!!

Thanks Jamie! Yeah, that pizza was all sorts of awesome. It was so good I ended up making it again a few days later!

I'll be putting up some more pics either today or tomorrow. There is no action yet with the seeds we planted a few days ago, but it has been a few days since I took some of the babies.

 

[Weed]

I have a base model Canon EOS SLR.

Here is a new pic with the same plant under the new grow lights I bought yesterday, please let me know if you see a difference in the white:

This second picture has some of the fourescent lighting from the kitch light creeping in to the corner:

I tried buying and testing out a cheap 50mm lens for close shots, but I found the base lens I already have does a slightly better, or at least on par, job so I'm going to return it. I played with the idea of getting a cool macro but I just can't bring myself to justify the cost of those things. Good ones would drift into the 500-600 dollar range, and the one I really want is over a thousand.

Anyway, any feedback is appreciated. It is better to refine my mad picture taking skills now than have sub par shots later when the growing really starts.

If you hold the lens on backwards you can get some decent macro shots. However focusing is done by moving back and forth. If you want to use anything but a wide open aperture you have to hold the DOF preview button down with the aperture set where you want it and then remove the lens.

I took these with this method using a canon t3 with the kit 18-55mm lens held on backwards.

Not much depth of field but I believe I took both of these before I knew you could set the aperture. Neither of these have been cropped at all.

 

[Stefan_W]

If you hold the lens on backwards you can get some decent macro shots. However focusing is done by moving back and forth. If you want to use anything but a wide open aperture you have to hold the DOF preview button down with the aperture set where you want it and then remove the lens.

I took these with this method using a canon t3 with the kit 18-55mm lens held on backwards.

Not much depth of field but I believe I took both of these before I knew you could set the aperture. Neither of these have been cropped at all.

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely try it out!

My biggest frustration is always depth of field, because when I take pictures of rows of seedlings there are always a bunch that are completely blurry.

 

[Weed]

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely try it out!

My biggest frustration is always depth of field, because when I take pictures of rows of seedlings there are always a bunch that are completely blurry.

Try stopping you aperture down for more depth. Just need more light when you do or a slower shutter.

Down in this case actually means a bigger number, like from F2 to F22. F22 is smaller.