Sorry 'bout the glitch... still learning how to use my new "smart" phone. Sometimes it seems like it's smarter than me... 
Stickman's 2017 Minimalist Glog
- Thread starter stickman
- Start date
Hi Folks!
Still waiting for the right conditions to set the plants outside to harden off. This is the extended forecast.
The chiles are definitely happier to be upstairs where it's warmer. Since the upward move the internodal length has lengthened, so the leaves don't crowd themselves and get twisted. The leaf tissue on the Chinense varieties has flattened out too, and hasn't puffed up in between the veins. Sorry about the blurry pics... the intense lighting does that with my smartphone.
The Aji Oro wasn't affected that way by the cool growing temperatures... it seemed to show cupping of the entire leaf and slower growth. Now the leaves have flattened out and the pace of growth has picked up.
While I wait for the weather to warm up a bit more outside I'll turn my attention to amending my soil in preparation for Dirt day. I got the results back from my soil test with Logan Labs yesterday with the following results.
View attachment Hugh Kelley-Soil-20170405-84638.pdf
I signed up with the SoilCalc website and plugged in the numbers from the soil test to their recommended amendments page with these results...
View attachment V4_0D.pdf
My soil is classified as Light since there is a low amount of clay, so I get a small amount of fertility from the clay that's present, but most of it comes from the organic matter I've been adding for the last 5 years. Five percent organic matter isn't a bad result, but in the cooler climate of the northern states it should be possible to push it up to 7 or 8 percent. It's interesting to note that elevated calcium and potassium in a soil with more clay would tend to make the soil more "sticky". One of the cures for that along with more compost is to increase the magnesium in the soil to help it fluff up and become more crumbly. I don't have that problem, and have a mild deficiency in magnesium, which together with the sandy soil would indicate a tendency to leaching soluble nutes. There's also a deficiency of boron, but the amounts required are so small that caution is needed when amending with it. The amount of sulfur in my soil is more than adequate, and I don't want to add more, so the recommended amendments per 1000 square feet are #10 pounds of Kelp meal for trace elements, 1.3 ounces of Borax for boron, and then we come to nitrogen. Nitrogen is something of a moving target in garden soil. It's mostly chemically locked into forms that aren't available to plants until released by the soil bacteria. The bacteria need the soil to warm up enough to be active, so adding a bit of nitrogen early in the season to give the plants a boost until the soil can warm up is called for. Thereafter the soil microbes can extract it from the organic matter in the soil. Because of my limited soil fertility and tendency to leach, I can't add nitrogen that will dissolve quickly, and I don't want to add more calcium and potassium to my soil, so the best organic option seems to be #19 of feather meal (12-0-0).
my five 4x20 foot raised beds comprise 400 square feet, so the final amendments to be spread between them is
4 pounds Kelp meal
8 pounds Feather meal
0.5 ounce Borax
They also recommend foliar feeding with kelp every two weeks to boost trace minerals, and I'd also add a bit of molasses to that.
Cheers all!
Still waiting for the right conditions to set the plants outside to harden off. This is the extended forecast.
The chiles are definitely happier to be upstairs where it's warmer. Since the upward move the internodal length has lengthened, so the leaves don't crowd themselves and get twisted. The leaf tissue on the Chinense varieties has flattened out too, and hasn't puffed up in between the veins. Sorry about the blurry pics... the intense lighting does that with my smartphone.
The Aji Oro wasn't affected that way by the cool growing temperatures... it seemed to show cupping of the entire leaf and slower growth. Now the leaves have flattened out and the pace of growth has picked up.
While I wait for the weather to warm up a bit more outside I'll turn my attention to amending my soil in preparation for Dirt day. I got the results back from my soil test with Logan Labs yesterday with the following results.
View attachment Hugh Kelley-Soil-20170405-84638.pdf
I signed up with the SoilCalc website and plugged in the numbers from the soil test to their recommended amendments page with these results...
View attachment V4_0D.pdf
My soil is classified as Light since there is a low amount of clay, so I get a small amount of fertility from the clay that's present, but most of it comes from the organic matter I've been adding for the last 5 years. Five percent organic matter isn't a bad result, but in the cooler climate of the northern states it should be possible to push it up to 7 or 8 percent. It's interesting to note that elevated calcium and potassium in a soil with more clay would tend to make the soil more "sticky". One of the cures for that along with more compost is to increase the magnesium in the soil to help it fluff up and become more crumbly. I don't have that problem, and have a mild deficiency in magnesium, which together with the sandy soil would indicate a tendency to leaching soluble nutes. There's also a deficiency of boron, but the amounts required are so small that caution is needed when amending with it. The amount of sulfur in my soil is more than adequate, and I don't want to add more, so the recommended amendments per 1000 square feet are #10 pounds of Kelp meal for trace elements, 1.3 ounces of Borax for boron, and then we come to nitrogen. Nitrogen is something of a moving target in garden soil. It's mostly chemically locked into forms that aren't available to plants until released by the soil bacteria. The bacteria need the soil to warm up enough to be active, so adding a bit of nitrogen early in the season to give the plants a boost until the soil can warm up is called for. Thereafter the soil microbes can extract it from the organic matter in the soil. Because of my limited soil fertility and tendency to leach, I can't add nitrogen that will dissolve quickly, and I don't want to add more calcium and potassium to my soil, so the best organic option seems to be #19 of feather meal (12-0-0).
my five 4x20 foot raised beds comprise 400 square feet, so the final amendments to be spread between them is
4 pounds Kelp meal
8 pounds Feather meal
0.5 ounce Borax
They also recommend foliar feeding with kelp every two weeks to boost trace minerals, and I'd also add a bit of molasses to that.
Cheers all!
Hey Rick Aji Oro is lookin good. I think the flower on mine that i took a pic of has actually set a pod. I'm just waiting to see if it grows a bit before another picture.
about your nitrogen...I've pondered covering my garden with a black solar plastic to warm the soil earlier with the addition of planting nitrogen fixing cold tolerant plants into the plastic..like sugar snap peas. then cut them down when its time to plant the peppers later in May/June.
I may try it next year.
about your nitrogen...I've pondered covering my garden with a black solar plastic to warm the soil earlier with the addition of planting nitrogen fixing cold tolerant plants into the plastic..like sugar snap peas. then cut them down when its time to plant the peppers later in May/June.
I may try it next year.
Plants are looking good, Rick! Hope that snow melts away quickly, how about that is that still normal for this time of the year over there? It has been nice weather here with some really warms days. About the Giant TS CARDI, think you can leave out the Giant part. I've grown it for 4 seasons now and the strain itself produces big pods so it's a trait from the variety. Anyway keep up the work and it be spring in no time over there 
Malarky said:
Thanks for the good vibe Matt! I'm not sure if your crop rotation scheme would have time to work in the few weeks before you transplanted your chiles outside, but I hope your experiment goes well for you if you try it. Take lots of pics!
meatfreak said:Plants are looking good, Rick! Hope that snow melts away quickly, how about that is that still normal for this time of the year over there? It has been nice weather here with some really warms days. About the Giant TS CARDI, think you can leave out the Giant part. I've grown it for 4 seasons now and the strain itself produces big pods so it's a trait from the variety. Anyway keep up the work and it be spring in no time over there
April showers and typical early spring weather have melted pretty much all the snow Stefan.
The ground has thawed, but it'll be a few weeks yet until it's warm enough to plant tender crops. Right now it's mostly herbs and early greens. Duly noted about the CARDI Scorpion... I love them for flavor and heat, so no regrets.Devv said:
Cheers Scott! It's nice to get a break from having to put down lots of amendments this year.
I want to bring up the organic matter percentage in my soil, but don't want to add any more Potassium, Sodium, Calcium or Sulfur. so animal manure and compost are out for now. I'm gonna have to look into scavenging cover crops and green mulchs to grow my own and avoid bringing in any more excesses. I also couldn't find any local suppliers of feather meal that would sell me less than #50, so it looks like I may be going with Blood Meal for my main Nitrogen source this spring, and putting a little bit of Bat Guano in together with the transplants to give them a quick boost of energy until the soil-dwelling microbes get busy extracting for the plants.
Blitz527 said:well at least your weather isnt as screwed as ours.... Mother nature must be off her meds cuz we went from 50/55 for a couple days to 3 inches of snow... and 70 this coming monday??????
I think Ill heep em inside till I see consistency in the weather LOL
I hear ya Alex... spring here is always a back-and-forth dance. You're out by Rochester aren't you? How does that compare to Batavia or the Tug Hill Plateau?
Today I splurged a little and finally got the 4-place T5 fixture I've been wanting. In addition to providing more lumens than my old hybrid system, it seems to put out a bit more waste heat too, and it sends the temperature inside my grow-box from 58 degrees to around 72.
I ran the muffin fan for a bit inside the box
TGIF all!
I am actually about 20 minutes north of batavia, Rochester is about 45 minutes to an hour East of me, I am pretty much right between Rochester and Buffalo. I have never been to tug hill. I had a sled for a couple years but never made it there, Sold it because we dont get any decent snow here anymore LOL
Blitz527 said:
OK... I had an aunt who lived near Batavia in the 60s. Her husband managed a large poultry farm there, and we got an earful about the weather there until they moved to Williamstown, MA.
I borrowed a broadfork from some friends to cultivate the raised bed where I'll be planting my chiles this season. You can see how deep it gets to loosen up the soil. Now I just have to rake in the amendments and it'll be ready to receive transplants.
I'll be amending with Azomite and Tomato Tone fertilizer.
I looked up the Azomite; pricey stuff there. How much per square foot? Also I have more tomato tone then the law allows; bought it for 3-5 bucks per 8lb bag at the end of the season at Wally World. How do YOU use it? I've used a little of it, because I'm afraid to over do it. Mainly still relying on Hasta Gro for the most part; as I know it well.
Tat soil doesn't look sandy any more
Tat soil doesn't look sandy any more
Devv said:I looked up the Azomite; pricey stuff there. How much per square foot? Also I have more tomato tone then the law allows; bought it for 3-5 bucks per 8lb bag at the end of the season at Wally World. How do YOU use it? I've used a little of it, because I'm afraid to over do it. Mainly still relying on Hasta Gro for the most part; as I know it well.
Tat soil doesn't look sandy any more
Yeah, Azomite is pricey, but I don't add much after the first application. The raised chile bed is 40 square feet, and I added 3 pounds of Tomato Tone, 2 pounds of Azomite and 2 grams of borax. I used the Tomato Tone in this bed because I only added compost since I built it... no animal manure like I did in the community garden. That's the one I had tested. Turns out the manure adds lots of sodium and calcium... who knew? It helped when measuring out amendments that the raised bed for chiles is exactly a tenth the size of the community garden.
The soil underneath the biochar/compost mix is still sandy. You can see the line of separation in the pic with the broadfork, but hopefully by loosening the soil a bit it'll help work in the mix as I aerate the soil. Cheers!
stickman said:
OK... I had an aunt who lived near Batavia in the 60s. Her husband managed a large poultry farm there, and we got an earful about the weather there until they moved to Williamstown, MA.
There are 2 dairy farms right outside Batavia that are very VERY smelly. One has a HUGE slurry pit. I was thinking of asking the farmer or a farmhand if I could buy a bucket of it from them for after the grow season, I would imagine it is still quite "hot" as everyone says, So after I harvest and get the garden ready for winter, Id throw a bit of the slurry into the garden and till it in a little,let it sit there until the next season. I notice that mid february the farmers around here begin to spray their fields with the stuff. Ill tell you all one thing, I have never in my life seen something as interesting and disgusting as a shit slinging sprinkler HAHAHAHAHA
Heres the pit from an aerial shot. its the 4 car garage sized circle between the cattle houses
Heh... if it's that liquid, you could use it to brew up some compost tea.
It's another week and the chiles are champing at the bit! At least I have space enough for them for another couple of weeks if the weather doesn't co-operate.
First up are the topped and cropped plants...
Piment Cabri
CARDI Scorpion
Randy's Cross
Large "baby" leaves on the MoA Bonnets. They're sure to jettison them when they finally get outside, but for now it's helping them grow bigger.
The other players...
P. Dreadie Bonnets
Forbing Nagas
The Douglahs... Alphanerdz strain on the left and Randy's on the right
View attachment 48485
Have a great rest of the weekend all!
It's another week and the chiles are champing at the bit! At least I have space enough for them for another couple of weeks if the weather doesn't co-operate.
First up are the topped and cropped plants...
Piment Cabri
CARDI Scorpion
Randy's Cross
Large "baby" leaves on the MoA Bonnets. They're sure to jettison them when they finally get outside, but for now it's helping them grow bigger.
The other players...
P. Dreadie Bonnets
Forbing Nagas
The Douglahs... Alphanerdz strain on the left and Randy's on the right
View attachment 48485
Have a great rest of the weekend all!
Attachments
All coming together nicely Rick, I love the big leaves on MOA, they always loom a real dark lush green.
P. Dreadies looking like a couple of healthy players that will fly when they hit dirt.
We're all soon be making Gochu spicy ketchup he he he.
Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk
P. Dreadies looking like a couple of healthy players that will fly when they hit dirt.
We're all soon be making Gochu spicy ketchup he he he.
Sent from my VFD 900 using Tapatalk
Essegi said:
Cheers Giancarlo! Who knew that the reason we have this kind of weather is that we're really an Alpine region...
Actually we're at 82 meters above sea level here. I wish you could have sampled the soup... it had lots of depth and layers of flavor. 
Superhot Sim said:
Probably no ketchup made with gochujang 'til the Romas ripen in July Sim, but meanwhile I'll try to bear up under the disappointment...
Thanks for the good vibe! PaulG said:
Cheers Paul! They do require watering a bit more frequently, but the payoff is so much bigger that it's worth it to me.
Devv said:Those plants are screaming "I want outside"!
I t won't be much longer
This coming weekend will hopefully tell the tale Scott. The pepper bed is prepped and the amendments are raked in, I just need to lay down the drip hose and plastic mulch before transplanting. The mercury this time of year can be all over the place so I take my cue from the old fashioned Bleeding Heart in our backyard. When it starts to reach for the sky it's time to harden off and transplant the chiles.
Have a good night all!
Your soil data and how you're amending it are interesting. Can you have too much calcium? I read somewhere that calcium actually helps a plant take in other nutrients as well. Some process where it's needed to bind with it somehow. I've also heard that earthworms will eventually work that dark soil you have further down into your sandier stuff. You comment about soil warmth for stuff to come to life so the plant could take in nitrogen was a good reminder for me. I'm not as quick for dirt day as I used to be, because just because it isn't frosting doesn't mean my plants will thrive. Living soil and how a plant grows is so fascinating.
Anyway, your plants look great! Spring is coming
Anyway, your plants look great! Spring is coming