Stickman's 2012 Gochu Pepper Glog

PaulG · Mar 15, 2012

Seedlings looking good - both kinds!
Take it easy, buddy!

stickman · Mar 16, 2012

Boy, the purple striping has really become pronounced. I also noticed that the lower stems, where they come in contact with the soil surface looked white and fuzzy and bumpy looking. Closer inspection showed they were new roots that were loaded with root hairs. Adding rock phosphate at this point looks like it was a very good idea. The plants are starting to put out side branches at each of the nodes.

PaulG · Mar 16, 2012

stickman said:
Boy, the purple striping has really become pronounced. I also noticed that the lower stems, where they come in contact with the soil surface looked white and fuzzy and bumpy looking. Closer inspection showed they were new roots that were loaded with root hairs. Adding rock phosphate at this point looks like it was a very good idea. The plants are starting to put out side branches at each of the nodes.

Did you just sprinkle the rock phosphate on the soil and work it in?
Some of the plant stems on my peppers are totally purple.

stickman · Mar 16, 2012

PaulG said:
Did you just sprinkle the rock phosphate on the soil and work it in?
Some of the plant stems on my peppers are totally purple.

Heck... I just sprinkled on the rock phosphate and didn't work it in. I figured there was enough peat moss in the soil mix that tannic and humic acids from the damp peat would dissolve the rock and wash it down to the roots when I watered.

stickman · Mar 20, 2012

Got a look at the electric bill after a month using the electric heater and grow lights/fans... Yipes! The first electric bill over a hundred dollars since we moved into our energy efficient house. Pulled the plug on the heater and moved the plants under a couple of shop lights downstairs. I guess I'll just carry the seed trays of plants upstairs to put out in the sun on nice days like today... sunny and seventy degrees.

PaulG · Mar 20, 2012

Yah. An electric heater can chew it up. I don't heat the
garage with a space heater, but in the winter I use one
to keep things above freezing in the greenhouse.

stickman · Mar 21, 2012

Now that I'm faced with preparing my beds for planting outside I realize I'll have to break new ground to plant my peppers. I'm pretty limited in what that can be, so I've been forced to revise my grow list. The gochu peppers come first but I want a good mix of the others. The final cut looks like:
42 Korea Winner
3 Kim Chi
4 Andy F1
2 Mat Jang
2 Wae Mae Wo
1 Chun Wu Shin Jo
4 Long Green Korean
1 Oe Mat Put
1 Gwari Put
2 Jwala
2 Pepperoncini
2 Chilaca
2 Poblano
4 Coyame Jalapeno
4 Orange Habanero
3 Numex Big Jim Legacy
If the weather holds out this weekend I'll rent a roto-tiller to prepare the new bed, and get a load of composted horse manure to spade in.

PaulG · Mar 21, 2012

I hope the weather cooperates with you, Rick.
I want to see pics of your plants in the ground!

stickman · Mar 23, 2012

It may have to wait another week or two... the weather forecast has it dropping down into the teens and twenties this weekend. At least I was able to set the plants out in the sun this week...

stickman · Mar 29, 2012

Well, here we are at week eight. Some of the lower leaves got sunburned when I put the plants outside during the warm weather earlier, and now that the plants don't need them as much, they're beginning to turn a bit yellow and go senescent. The tops and stems look healthy though, and I'm seeing flower buds. Probably because the plants are stressed in the 55 degree temperatures down cellar since I unplugged my electric heater. Pinched off the flower buds I could without mangling the upper crown of leaves. Spring can't get here fast enough for these guys! I finally got things cleared with my neighbors about breaking in new ground for the peppers. I live in a condo association, and the community garden for the members competes for space with the "ballfield" the kids play in. I'll get a rototiller this weekend to till the new plot and screen out the grass roots and large rocks. I'll get a load of composted horse manure from a school in town that has a stable and screen that before adding it to the plot. Lastly I'll add #3.5 of garden tone fertilizer and a cup of epsom salts and spade it all in. When the overnight low temperatures are consistently in the forties I'll harden them off and transplant the peppers and erect a hoop house over them. Here are the pictures from this week.

PaulG · Mar 31, 2012

Your seedlings look good, lots of growth buds at the leaf nodes.
They look like they are ready for some outdoor action!
Good luck getting Spring plant out underway!

stickman · Mar 31, 2012

I will once the weather cooperates... After the warm weather a couple of weeks ago the jet stream moved and started pulling down more cold air from the north. The good news is that even though the prevailing winds are still coming down from the northwest it's slowly warming up. Overnight temps. are creeping out of the twenties and into the thirties. When they get into the forties I'll plant. hopefully that'll be by the end of next week.

PaulG · Apr 1, 2012

stickman said:
I will once the weather cooperates... After the warm weather a couple of weeks ago the jet stream moved and started pulling down more cold air from the north. The good news is that even though the prevailing winds are still coming down from the northwest it's slowly warming up. Overnight temps. are creeping out of the twenties and into the thirties. When they get into the forties I'll plant. hopefully that'll be by the end of next week.

Good luck,man! Waiting on the weather is always fun. If MA is like Oregon you get four seasons in five minutes this time of year.

stickman · Apr 1, 2012

PaulG said:
Good luck,man! Waiting on the weather is always fun. If MA is like Oregon you get four seasons in five minutes this time of year.

Mark Twain said of the New England weather that "Everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it", so ya... pretty much like Oregon... :confused:

stickman · Apr 3, 2012

Finally got my Pepper plot tilled today. Still more work to get it ready to plant, but we're on our way!

PaulG · Apr 4, 2012

That space will look just great full of pepper plants, Rick!
You will be in good shape by the time your garden is in!

highalt · Apr 4, 2012

stickman said:
I figure the best non-chemical way to deal with the cutworms is to give the plants plastic collars when I transplant. From what I've heard, the best way to deal with beetles and grubs is to put down a soil dwelling bacterium called Bacillus Thuringiensis. Apparently it's harmless to people, pets and beneficial insects but it controlls beetle grubs.

I lost pepper plants to cutworms my first year. My solution was to slide a wooden skewer, the kind you make shishkabobs out of, along the stem. Haven't lost one to them since then. I've also heard of slicing a piece of a drinking straw lengthwise and wrapping it around the stem, but the skewers worked just fine for me.

stickman said:
Finally got my Pepper plot tilled today. Still more work to get it ready to plant, but we're on our way!

So is this whole area for peppers, or just the newly tilled section on the right? I like the grid idea!

PaulG · Apr 4, 2012

highalt said:
I lost pepper plants to cutworms my first year. My solution was to slide a wooden skewer, the kind you make shishkabobs out of, along the stem. Haven't lost one to them since then.

Just one skewer? Vertical? I'm not getting a
good image of how this would stop them. I wonder if
it would work for Rhododendron bushes?

highalt · Apr 4, 2012

Here is a picture from last year

I think it works two ways. One, it makes the stem thicker, so it's harder for the cutworm to wrap itself around both the stem and the skewer, which is how it eats through the stem. Plus, the skewer is too hard for it to chew through, so it may not distinguish between it, and the softer stem next to it.

stickman · Apr 4, 2012

highalt said:
I think it works two ways. One, it makes the stem thicker, so it's harder for the cutworm to wrap itself around both the stem and the skewer, which is how it eats through the stem. Plus, the skewer is too hard for it to chew through, so it may not distinguish between it, and the softer stem next to it.

That is so cool! I'm definitely going to try that. I have a few packages of unused bamboo skewers that I don't need since I got some Kubideh skewers from an Iranian market. I bet chopsticks would work too.

highalt said:
So is this whole area for peppers, or just the newly tilled section on the right? I like the grid idea!

The newly tilled area is for the peppers. The other garden truck I plant using the "Square Foot Gardening" method that Mel Bartholomew talked about in his PBS show back in the early 1980's. He's still around, and has fairly recently updated his book. If you're interested, his website is http://www.squarefootgardening.org/