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Stickman's 2020. I'm baaack!

Hi all, after a year away dealing with health issues and multiple re-organizations at work I'm back with another slimmed down New England superhot glog. In addition to everything else on my plate last year I had a mild outbreak of Pepper Maggots in my vegetable garden. Due to that I'll be practicing crop rotation and planting onions and garlic there to encourage the little bastiges to move along so I can plant Gochus, Southwest varieties and sweets there again next year.
I'm continuing with my soil mineralization strategy in all of my garden plots to replace what was stripped away so thoroughly in the past. We're located on top of a Bluff above the Green River in the Connecticut River watershed. This whole area was underwater when the glaciers melted at the end of the last Ice Age, and the immediate area around us was a river Delta far enough from the source that the sediment deposited was mostly sand. It was extensively farmed for many years, which stripped away the topsoil. New England has some of the oldest soil in the world anyway, and has lost so much of it's soluble mineral chemistry that I'm working toward replacing what was lost so I can grow happy, healthy and above all, nutritious plants from the soil I've enriched.
This glog is a continuation of that journey, begun in 2018 with Stickman's Soil Mineralization glog. I'll try to keep it fun while sharing my growing methods and results with those of you that're interested in following. Next post will be about soil testing. Cheers all!

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PaulG said:
Very thorough, Rick. With my container grow, I'm
not sure how I would address these issues. I just
apply some amendments and fertilize a little and
hope for the best.
 
If growing in the ground, I can see this would be
the only way to approach it. Good work!
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I think the only real difference is one of scale Paul. In a garden bed the plants have the room to grow their roots out to the limit of their abilities in search of more nutes if the soil in the immediate vicinity becomes exhausted. Planting in pots or hydroponic containers limits them to what's inside, so we have to give them a steady supply of nutes to cover the deficits before they can happen. Whichever way you choose, the plants get their nutes from the soil solution formed by the interaction of the plants roots, soil-dwelling microbes and the contents of the soil itself in the presence of water. Hydroponic solutions attempt to do the same thing after cutting out the microbes in the equation... Or maybe not... How do they extract those nutes in organic hydro solutions? Soil scientists use electrical conductivity to measure the relative abundance of nutes in the soil solution with a tool like the Bluelab ppm pen that hydro growers use. If you look at my soil test sheet in the "other" section below the Silicon reading you'll see mine expressed as mmhos/cm. https://www.gvsu.edu/wri/education/instructors-manual-conductivity-11.htm


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Hi all!
So anyway, I worked out what I'll need to amend with Armor Si to hit the target set by the soil worksheets... first I had to work out what percentage of the total mass was elemental Silicon so I could use the worksheet formula to calculate how much to amend with. Turns out Armor Si is 4% Silicon, so that means I'll be watering in 26 fl. oz. After I've spread the other amendments mixed with compost.
I'll also be adding one more amendment with the compost that doesn't appear on the worksheet... 1# of granular humates to assist the plants with nute uptake.
During the growing season I'll water in a small amount of molasses once a week to feed the soil-dwelling microbes... The rest is just keeping the plants watered.
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I got a few seeds from Neil at the Hippy Seed co... Some 7pot Yellows and Congo SR 7pot Reds. To those I'll add Red Bhuts, MoA Scotch Bonnets and a couple Alphanerdz Douglas if I get germination from the Dougie's... The seed from them is getting a bit long in the tooth and I need to grow a fresh batch to carry them forward.

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PaulG said:
Those new seeds sound great. Can’t wait
to see your fierce pods in the Fall!
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We're a ways from that now Paul... My raised beds are still frozen solid though the snow is totally gone atm. It looks like we may get an early spring here but it could snow anytime in the next few weeks. At least I have my Chiles sowed... Alphanerdz Douglas X3, MoA Bonnets X3, Red Bhuts X2, Yellow 7pots X2 and Congo SR7 X2. I also sowed 4 flats of yellow storage onions to plant in the veggie garden where the Annuum Chile's were last year. It's a crop rotation scheme to convince the Pepper Maggot bastiges to move on. The last time I did this it took them two seasons to come back, and I hope it works at least as long this time around.
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Alright, Rickster! Sprouts nice and healthy.
 
Is that rockwool in the AeroGarden baskets?
 
PaulG said:
Alright, Rickster! Sprouts nice and healthy.
 
Is that rockwool in the AeroGarden baskets?
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Cheers Paul!
Nope, not rockwool, I ran out of the Aerogarden sponges and substituted Oasis Horticubes trimmed to shape. Seems to work just fine! [emoji16]

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stickman said:
Cheers Paul!
Nope, not rockwool, I ran out of the Aerogarden sponges and substituted Oasis Horticubes trimmed to shape. Seems to work just fine! [emoji16]

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Thanks, Rick. Great idea. I don't really like the AeroGarden sponges.
 
Alright, Rick!!! I need to take some soil amending tips from you. Might be buckets for me this year. Can't get away from the whatever is wrong: 2,4-D...juglone or the plantola Virus????

Great stuff and I'll have to look up Alphanerdz Douglahs. Heard about them...but don't remember.


-Adam
 
Bhuter said:
Alright, Rick!!! I need to take some soil amending tips from you. Might be buckets for me this year. Can't get away from the whatever is wrong: 2,4-D...juglone or the plantola Virus????

Great stuff and I'll have to look up Alphanerdz Douglahs. Heard about them...but don't remember.


-Adam
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Cheers Adam!
Be happy to chime in on soil amendments in a garden environment but I know a good deal less about hydro and container growing. I mainly use the hydro for germination and transplant into soil as soon as practical.
Dang! I hope you're not having problems with farm runoff from a neighbor that uses glyphosate, or a nearby stand of Black Walnut trees... About the only thing I could suggest outside of the containers you mentioned is a raised bed to keep your plants roots away from the contaminated soil. I'm not sure if that would work in the long run anyway.

Things are progressing nicely with the Bhuts, Yellow 7s and MoA
Bonnets. They are all at least starting to put out their second set of true leaves. I snipped most of the redundant seedlings yesterday but kept a cell with multiple Bhuts to plug the holes in my garden plans in case I get zero germination from the Douglas. There's at least one Congo SR7 hooking up and a few radicles showing on the Douglas so I'm hoping to get a full card by the end of next week.
We got 8 inches of wet snow last Friday but it was gone by Tuesday. Overnight lows are trending from the upper 20s to mid 30s, but when they hold in the low 40s I'll set up the low row cover to harden them off.
Cheers all!
 
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stickman said:
Cheers Adam!
Be happy to chime in on soil amendments in a garden environment but I know a good deal less about hydro and container growing. I mainly use the hydro for germination and transplant into soil as soon as practical.
Dang! I hope you're not having problems with farm runoff from a neighbor that uses glyphosate, or a nearby stand of Black Walnut trees... About the only thing I could suggest outside of the containers you mentioned is a raised bed to keep your plants roots away from the contaminated soil. I'm not sure if that would work in the long run anyway.

 
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Cool, a stick-it-in-the-ground guy! I'm less than a layman at soil amendments, and your calculations are a bit over my head, but this stuff is fascinating to me. Our place is in the midst of corn/wheat/soybean/sugarbeet farms, LARGE ones, lots of broadcasting, cropdusting and runnoff, besides the fact that our propity used to be a farmyard for many decades, meaning critters were penned and corralled in the same dirt I plant in.     
 
Following...
 
stettoman said:
 
Cool, a stick-it-in-the-ground guy! I'm less than a layman at soil amendments, and your calculations are a bit over my head, but this stuff is fascinating to me. Our place is in the midst of corn/wheat/soybean/sugarbeet farms, LARGE ones, lots of broadcasting, cropdusting and runnoff, besides the fact that our propity used to be a farmyard for many decades, meaning critters were penned and corralled in the same dirt I plant in.     
 
Following...
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Hey Eric, Welcome back to the zoo!    Believe me, this stuff isn't rocket science. I got the tip about more detailed soil testing and interpretation of the results from a book recommended to me by some homesteaders of my acquaintance. They try to grow everything they eat organically as best they can, and soil re-mineralization is a big part of that. It's all laid out in the book "The Intelligent Gardener: Or How To Grow Nutrient Dense Food" by Steve Solomon and Erica Reinheimer. We have the book in our library system and you may too. Imho it's required reading for stick-it-in-the-ground people like us... ;)
 
https://soilandhealth.org/steve-solomons-home-page/
 
You always have good information to
pass along, Señor Stick!
 
Really glad to see you active on the forum
this season. NowI will have your grow log
to make me feel small, inferior and worthless  :rofl:
 
stickman said:
Cheers Adam!
Be happy to chime in on soil amendments in a garden environment but I know a good deal less about hydro and container growing. I mainly use the hydro for germination and transplant into soil as soon as practical.
Dang! I hope you're not having problems with farm runoff from a neighbor that uses glyphosate, or a nearby stand of Black Walnut trees... About the only thing I could suggest outside of the containers you mentioned is a raised bed to keep your plants roots away from the contaminated soil. I'm not sure if that would work in the long run anyway.

Things are progressing nicely with the Bhuts, Yellow 7s and MoA
Bonnets. They are all at least starting to put out their second set of true leaves. I snipped most of the redundant seedlings yesterday but kept a cell with multiple Bhuts to plug the holes in my garden plans in case I get zero germination from the Douglas. There's at least one Congo SR7 hooking up and a few radicles showing on the Douglas so I'm hoping to get a full card by the end of next week.
We got 8 inches of wet snow last Friday but it was gone by Tuesday. Overnight lows are trending from the upper 20s to mid 30s, but when they hold in the low 40s I'll set up the low row cover to harden them off.
Cheers all!
 
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".....or a nearby stand of Black Walnut trees..."
You hit the nail on the head, sir. Our property is LITTERED with Walnut trees. A huge PITA when mowing. I shoot them everywhere. That's how I heard of Juglone. Grew maters in buckets last year and had more production than the combination of the previous 5 years.

It may just be a raised bed, after all. Lol

Thank you!
 
PaulG said:
You always have good information to
pass along, Señor Stick!
 
Really glad to see you active on the forum
this season. NowI will have your grow log
to make me feel small, inferior and worthless  :rofl:
Click to expand...
Cheers Paul! You're not doing too shabby yourself... Your setup is giving you some monster plants to begin the growing season with. I'm a little jealous of your greenhouse but it wouldn't be practical at our condo association.

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Bhuter said:
".....or a nearby stand of Black Walnut trees..."
You hit the nail on the head, sir. Our property is LITTERED with Walnut trees. A huge PITA when mowing. I shoot them everywhere. That's how I heard of Juglone. Grew maters in buckets last year and had more production than the combination of the previous 5 years.

It may just be a raised bed, after all. Lol

Thank you!
Click to expand...
Jeez... That's a cast iron b**** as far as growing in-ground, but it could be quite lucrative if the trees are of harvestable size.
https://web.extension.illinois.edu/askextension/thisquestion.cfm?threadid=8714&catid=196&asksiteid=87

From what I've read, your biggest problem is in the nuts and leaves. Raking up and disposing of fallen branches, nuts and leaves in a timely fashion should help. If you log the trees off it should take around 4 months for microbial activity to break down the allellopathic compounds in your soil.
https://www.gardenmyths.com/walnuts-juglone-allelopathy/
Not much help for this season, but next season should be better for your veggie garden. It could take a little longer for your 'maters and chile's since nightshades are particularly sensitive.

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