Stickman's 2013 Glog - Time To Pull The Plug on 2013

I'm pulling things together to get ready for my next growing season. I bought NuMex variety seeds from Sandia Seed company in New Mexico, Hot Paper Lantern Habaneros and Antohi Romanians from Johnny's Select Seeds in Maine and Korean varieties from Evergreen Seeds in California. Due to the unbelievable generosity of a number of THP members I've also gotten seeds to a wide variety of chiles from around the world. Special thanks to BootsieB, stc3248, romy6, PaulG, SoCalChilehead, joynershotpeppers, highalt, cmpman1974, smokemaster, mygrassisblue, Mister No, chewi, KingDenniz, orrozconleche and most recently and spectacularly, Habanerohead with a great selection of superhots and peppers from Hungary!

There are eleven varieties of Hungarian peppers in here, mostly the early, thick-fleshed, sweet ones that range from white through yellow to purple and red.., plus Aji Lemon Drop, BJ Indian Carbon, Naga Morich, Bishop's Crown and TS CARDI Yellow! Now I just have to go through my seed bank and match the space available to what I want to grow. Thanks Balázs!

 

[stickman]

Whoa you've been a busy farmer Love dat irrigation rig you made, I'll have to give dat a go one of these days ... for now I'm still saving rain and hand watering. We have way too much chlorine in our city water :/
 
Great job brethren, lovin dat look ... Hungarian Mater looks like it’s going to taste out of this world ... WG does backflips \o/
 
 
 

I hear ya brother... chlorine in the irrigation water is  bad news!
 
I wonder if there is a filter that can be mounted on the outdoor faucet as a pass-through for home-type drip systems. I bet bigoledude may know. He used to install them for a living.

 

[WalkGood]

I hear ya brother... chlorine in the irrigation water is bad news!

I don’t know about there but we have the worst city water you’ve ever seen, if you ever pass thru fl all you have to do is look in a clean white toilet and you can see how bad the water is.

I wonder if there is a filter that can be mounted on the outdoor faucet as a pass-through for home-type drip systems. I bet bigoledude may know. He used to install them for a living.

Amazon sells click here and I’ve considered it before but I’d like to hear from someone that’s owned one. That said, the reviews aren’t bad on it and it says it handles up to 10K gallons.

 

[stickman]

The storms this weekend are annoying - we were supposed to be clear of it by tonight! Plant out in the rain will suck, so I might have to push out to Memorial day. NWS isn't reporting any tornado-esque weather for me, hopefully you won't have any of that mess out by you. Just rain. My yard is dry, and my sprinklers aren't really set up, yet, so everything is liking the water. My little plants would like the sun, though!

Well... planting in the rain isn't all bad as long as it isn't coming down in torrents! You get the added benefit that the plants get watered in well, and rainwater is the best for dissolving nutes in the soil and washing them down to the plant roots. Cheers mate!
 
Actually, this is a good segue to my next topic... I indulged my pepper Jones today (don't laugh Bonnie... ) and in addition to buying a replacement for the eggplant that got knocked out by the storm last night I got a Yellow Bhut, a Trinidad Perfume and a couple of Antohi Romanians that look like a good substitute for the Hungarian stuffing peppers that I couldn't get to pop.

 
I also got a bottle of Alaska fish emulsion to hopefully stimulate the runts.

 
and to round off with a couple pics of nons..
   our Rhododendron is in full bloom

 
and the Mock Orange looks like it may start blooming by this weekend or early next week

 
Who knows... I may even get to do a little fishing. I got an order in today of my favorite freshwater lure outside of flies... inch and a half mini tubes colored Motor Oil with red glitter. I've caught a little bit of everything with these. Even a 3 and a half pound Largemouth Bass, but mostly more Trout and Panfish than I can remember.

I don’t know about there but we have the worst city water you’ve ever seen, if you ever pass thru fl all you have to do is look in a clean white toilet and you can see how bad the water is.
Amazon sells click here and I’ve considered it before but I’d like to hear from someone that’s owned one. That said, the reviews aren’t bad on it and it says it handles up to 10K gallons.

Our water is very good here. It's even better at my Mom's place because it's all limestone water there and a dug well for the source. Hers is  some of the sweetest-tasting water I've ever had. Did you know the Kentucky distilleries all use Limestone water for making their Bourbon for that reason?

 

[PaulG]

Hey Rick!  That AK Fish Fertilizer is what I use.  Great stuff.  Easy on the plants.

 

[Devv]

Love to the pods so early in you grow!
 
The ones that aren't as pretty will perk up real soon as the weather warms and after Shane sets them straight

 

[stickman]

Hey Rick!  That AK Fish Fertilizer is what I use.  Great stuff.  Easy on the plants.

Thanks Paul... that's what I thought you used, so I thought I'd try it too. It'll be a couple of days before I do though... the extended forecast calls for 90% chance of showers through Sunday, so I'll probably dose them on Monday.
 
I thought you'd appreciate a pic of the Omnicolor that's the furthest along in podding. I got the seeds from the pods you sent last year.

Love to the pods so early in you grow!
 
The ones that aren't as pretty will perk up real soon as the weather warms and after Shane sets them straight

Thanks Scott! I'm a little jealous of your corn and tomatoes, but mine'll be along soon...

Not too much new to report from the Dawn Patrol... the largest of the Ochsenhorn peppers has started setting pods but the pic was too blurry to post. The plants in pots have been spreading out now that they're out in full sun.
 
Douglah

 
Yellow 7

 
Criolla Sella

 
The Maya Red Habanero is starting to get a bit leggy so I pinched off the primaries to force the side branching.

 
That's all for now... Have a great Memorial Day weekend all!

 

[Jeff H]

Love the irrigation system. I got all of the parts for mine from Irrigation Direct. They seemed to have pretty good prices. My system is all set up very much like yours but I haven't bothered with the timer yet. It either rains every other day or is so cool there is no need to water. Darn Ohio springs. <sigh>
 
How much flow are your emitters? How much is your system set to be on?  I'm thinking in the heat of the summer, the big plants are probably going to need at least a 1/2 gallon a day, maybe more. They sure don't need that now though.

 

[SeanW]

Don't mind planting in a little mist, but I need to get all of my plants in and the fences up in a shot - starting in a mist and getting poured on is no fun, and I need to mix my compost/soil/perlite, which'll just be mud at that point. Guess I could fence first, then plant later, but that restricts movement, some. At this point, the difference between Friday and Monday isn't huge, so whatever.
 
Gardening does something to your head. I'm not a huge cuke or zucchini fan, but I bought some to plant because I wanted to make zucchini relish and pickles. I also don't like eggplants, but I was trying to find a reason to grow them. I was also looking at parsnips, just because I've never had one and wanted to try it...and I'm growing swiss chard because I've never had it before. It's a disease!

 

[stickman]

Love the irrigation system. I got all of the parts for mine from Irrigation Direct. They seemed to have pretty good prices. My system is all set up very much like yours but I haven't bothered with the timer yet. It either rains every other day or is so cool there is no need to water. Darn Ohio springs. <sigh>
 
How much flow are your emitters? How much is your system set to be on?  I'm thinking in the heat of the summer, the big plants are probably going to need at least a 1/2 gallon a day, maybe more. They sure don't need that now though.

 Hi Jeff
   I've got 1 gallon per hour drippers, but the emitters have a knob on them to adjust the water flow. The timer is set for 15 minutes of water every 12 hours (6am and 6pm) and the emitters are dialed back so the plants get about a cup of water in that time. The full-circle sprayers in the herb beds will put out about 15 gallons an hour at normal pressure for a residential line, but I have them dialed back as well. The reason isn't just to limit the water output, but to keep the circle of spray within the 4 x 4 foot raised herb bed.

 
I did a little judicious pinching of leaves to open up the "understory" on a couple of the potted plants and let in more light and air.
 
Douglah

 
and Yellow 7

Don't mind planting in a little mist, but I need to get all of my plants in and the fences up in a shot - starting in a mist and getting poured on is no fun, and I need to mix my compost/soil/perlite, which'll just be mud at that point. Guess I could fence first, then plant later, but that restricts movement, some. At this point, the difference between Friday and Monday isn't huge, so whatever.
 
Gardening does something to your head. I'm not a huge cuke or zucchini fan, but I bought some to plant because I wanted to make zucchini relish and pickles. I also don't like eggplants, but I was trying to find a reason to grow them. I was also looking at parsnips, just because I've never had one and wanted to try it...and I'm growing swiss chard because I've never had it before. It's a disease!

Good luck however you do it Sean, just remember to take pics...
 
I'm curious... how have you had eggplant before? Granted, if the older fruits aren't properly prepared they're a bit bitter and astringent, but the young ones are so creamy and delicious. It doesn't always have to be fried in oil either... it can be baked, steamed or grilled. Grilled is my favorite for making Baba Ganouj out of smoked eggplant.  It's even better still warm from the grill, and on hot days in midsummer I like to make a cold side dish of steamed, marinated eggplant.

 

[HabaneroHead]

Hi Rick,
 
Love your glog, you have beautiful, and healthy plants!
Last year we sowed eggplants, but we did not have much success with them. We usually have really dry weather here, what some insects just love, aphids and colorado beetles especially. What I learned from the last season is: it does not matter how much the colorado beetle likes the potato plants, if you put eggplant in your garden, all of them will choose the eggplant. We were not able to stop the bettle invasion, and the plants eventually died. On the other side it is one of my favourite vegetable, grilling, frying, there are many ways to prepare it. I will probably try growing them next year.
 
Balázs

 

[Devv]

Rick, glad to see everything is clicking along up there!
 
And yes your time will come for harvest! A few more weeks and I'm done save the peppers and back in the woodshop. I just have to finish LB's kitchen....but she did have change orders you know...
 
Have a great weekend!

 

[Trippa]

Its all looking and sounding positive Rick! Do you have specific varieties of tomatoes , cucumbers, and Aubergine you grow every year or does it vary?? Also do you save seeds from your yearly crops of these for planting the next season or do you buy new seeds??

 

[stickman]

Hi Rick,
 
Love your glog, you have beautiful, and healthy plants!
Last year we sowed eggplants, but we did not have much success with them. We usually have really dry weather here, what some insects just love, aphids and colorado beetles especially. What I learned from the last season is: it does not matter how much the colorado beetle likes the potato plants, if you put eggplant in your garden, all of them will choose the eggplant. We were not able to stop the bettle invasion, and the plants eventually died. On the other side it is one of my favourite vegetable, grilling, frying, there are many ways to prepare it. I will probably try growing them next year.
 
Balázs

Hi Balázs! I'm glad you think I'm doin' your peppers right...   I'm pretty excited about it, and looking forward to sampling them soon. I know that the folks who pickle the Almapaprika pick it when full-sized but still yellow. Is there any advantage to letting it fully ripen other than to let it get as much heat as possible... like, is it sweeter when ripe? I assume the Tomato pepper would be picked when it looks most like a tomato (red-ripe). What do you use them for out your way? The Coloring peppers are looking tall and strong with lots of healthy looking leaves. One has just started putting out a few flowers and the other one is right behind it. Also, how do you use the conical yellow to red  frying peppers?
   Giving some thought to your predicament with the Colorado Potato Beetles... Have you thought about putting a low row cover over your eggplants when you transplant them outside so the beetles can't get at them? You'd use the lightest weight agricultural fabric since the idea wouldn't be to keep them warm at night, but to let in light, air and moisture and keep out any pests that would infest the plants you want protected. Just like I did last year, but with a lighter fabric.

If you do use this method, try to put the eggplants someplace where you haven't planted them before... that way there won't be any pest eggs in the soil from the previous year.

 

[stc3248]

Always learning stuff here Rick! Atta boy on the drip system. 


You getting any of the cold weather this weekend?

 

[stickman]

Rick, glad to see everything is clicking along up there!
 
And yes your time will come for harvest! A few more weeks and I'm done save the peppers and back in the woodshop. I just have to finish LB's kitchen....but she did have change orders you know...
 
Have a great weekend!

Thanks Scott, you too! Good luck with the kitchen remodel... My wife's heading out the Canada in June when she drives her Mom back, and I have a kitchen tile job to do while she's gone...

Its all looking and sounding positive Rick! Do you have specific varieties of tomatoes , cucumbers, and Aubergine you grow every year or does it vary?? Also do you save seeds from your yearly crops of these for planting the next season or do you buy new seeds??

Hi Trippa!
   I have my favorites, like Italian-type Black Beauty eggplant, Sungold cherry tomatoes and pickling cukes that I plant every year. I usually experiment with at least a few new varieties though. This year it's a Thai variety of eggplant called Masego, a long purple Asian eggplant called Orient Express, yard-long pole beans, vegetable amaranth, Korean hobak squash, Black Trifele, Cherokee Purple and Brandywine Red tomatoes. Seed saving is also something new... I usually grow hybrid veggies, so I start with purchased seed and use it until it runs out, then I buy more as needed.

Always learning stuff here Rick! Atta boy on the drip system. 


You getting any of the cold weather this weekend?

Unfortunately... yeah, we are. Tonight's supposed to get down to the mid 40's, and Saturday and Sunday night it's supposed to drop to the  mid to upper 30's. I brought the potted plants inside tonight and left the in-ground plants to fend for themselves. The next 2 nights I'm going to put agricultural fabric over them for protection and take it off during the day.
 
Have a great weekend all!

 

[DocNrock]

Looking great, Rick.  So much to take in with your glog.  Keep it up!  Plants are going to be behemoths in no time!

 

[stickman]

Thanks Doc, I've gotta get over there and check out my SoCal brethren's glogs. Lots to do here and not enough time...
 
Having the potted plants up on the grow table again gives a different perspective. I hadn't realized how many flower buds were coming on them...
 
Douglah

 
Maya Red Habanero

 
The Dawn Patrol reports the chiles made it through the night OK. It got down to 46 degrees but the cloud cover and rain kept them relatively warm. The pods on the Chilhuacle Negros are slowly getting bigger...

 

[DocNrock]

Lovin' the dawn patrol.  Keep it up!

 

[stickman]

Thanks for the good word Doc... will do.
 
Time for another Dawn Patrol report... We made it through the night OK. I decided not to put up the agricultural fabric because it was supposed to stay overcast and rainy last night, and when I saw the overnight low was 41 degrees I knew we were golden.
 
That reminds me... Welcome home Matt!!!
 
Tonight's a different matter, because the sky's about 40% clear and I can tell it's gonna be a pretty windy day today with steady winds in the 15-20 mph range and gusts of up to 30 predicted and temps spiking in the low 50's. Tonight's gonna be the cold one... especially if the wind dies and the air is still. I guess my gardening chores today will be staking up everything so the wind doesn't beat them up too badly.
 
Still, lots of growth, even with the cool temps we've had the last few days. I finally got a good pic of the ripening Criolla Sella

 
The most recent transplants look fine.

 
The Manzano looks like it's decided to put out some flowers for real... these are bigger buds than it's put out before now.

 
The Aji Panca's have been getting pretty leggy, so I topped them this morning to force the side shoots.

 
The first Tomato Pepper pod is about the size of a quarter now

 
The second Jalapeno Zapotec has started blooming and setting pods

 
The overall effect... it's early days yet. I just need some warm, sunny days to encourage these guys to really reach for the sky

 
Have a good one all!

 

[stc3248]

If anyone can deal with this weather its you Rick...I know you're prepared, I just hope everyone else is paying attention. That Manzano's new growth is looking really good! Maybe with some luck she'll start setting some pods early for you! Ripening pods in May!!! That's just nuts!