Trent's 2014 Grow Log - COLD COLD COLD

Figure I'll keep track 2014 on here. At least then all my data will be in one place instead of scattered around on slips of paper.
 
First; PSA.
 
I'll *never* use the Jiffy starting pods / soil again.
 
I lost 95% of the plants in these two trays:
 

 
The roots wouldn't form. They couldn't get any nutrients out of the soil, whatsoever, and tried to suck what they could from the layers of paper. 
 
Burpee trays with compressed peat were planted 3 weeks later and within 3 weeks were quadruple in size.
 
Finished transplanting all sprouts on Saturday (4-5-2014).
 

 

 
I might lose a couple transplants but here's the current count (all in 3" paper cups)
 
7 pod Barrackpore - qty 6
7 pod Brain Strain, Yellow - qty 5 
7 pod Brain Strain, Red - qty 11
7 pod Chaguanas - qty 7
7-pod Jonah - qty 4
7-pod Long - qty 11
7-pod Original Red - qty 7
7-pod Primo - Qty 3
 
Bhut Jolokia (brown) - Qty 2
Bhut Jolokia (indian carbon) - qty 6
Bhut Jolokia (red) - qty 9
Bhut Jolokia (yellow) - qty 7
Bhut Jolokia (white) - qty 6
 
Brown Moruga - qty 6
 
Carolina reaper - qty 23
 
Cayenne (Sweet) - qty 3
Cayenne (large) - qty 6
Chili de Abrol - qty 10
 
True Cumari - qty 1
 
Datil - qty 3
 
Dedo De Moca - qty 3
 
Dorset Naga - qty 3
 
Fatali, Yellow - qty 4
 
Giant mexican Rocoto - qty 4
 
Goats weed - qty 3
 
Habanero (big sun) - qty 8
Habanero (chocolate) - all died / no sprouts
Habanero (orange) - qty 4
 
Jalapeno (black) - qty 8 
Jalapeno (early) - qty 14
Jalapeno (giant) - qty 15
 
Mako Akokosrade - qty 3
 
Naga Morich (orig) - qty 6
Naga Morich (monster naga) - qty 3
Naga morich (bombay morich) - qty 6
 
Pimenta de Neyde - qty 3
 
Tobago (seasoning) - all died
 
Tobago Scotch Bonnet (red) - qty 3
Tobago Scotch Bonnet (yellow) - qty 5
 
Trinidad Scorpion (butch T) - qty 8
Trinidad Scorpion (Cardi) - qty 4
Trinidad scorpion (douglah) - qty 3
Trinidad scorpion Moruga - qty 7
Trinidad scorpion (orig) - qty 3
Trinidad scorpion (PI 281317) - qty 3
Trinidad Scorpion (smooth) - qty 1
Trinidad Scorpion (yellow) - qty 4
 
PI 281429 - qty 1
 
surviving overwinters in large pots:
 
7-Pod (orig) - qty 1
Bhut Jolokia (red) - qty 2
Bhut Jolokia (giant) - qty 1
Yellow Bhut jolokia - qty 2
Carolina Reaper - qty 4
Cayenne - qty 1
habanero (golden) - qty 3
habanero (tazmanian) - qty 3
Naga morich - qty 1
naga Viper - qty 2
Trinidad Scorpion - qty 1
Butch-T Trinidad - qty 2
Trinidad scorpion moruga - qty 3
Yatsufusa - qty 1
Scotch Bonnet (red) - qty 1 (sole 2012 survivor)
 
Total 3" pot transplants: 264
Total overwinters surviving: 28
 
 

 

[Jamison]

Wow man that 300 WM makes my R700 in .270 look like a toy!  I do enjoy shooting it though.   Extremely flat shooting rifle with a 130 grain round.  I sometimes shoot 140's and 150's but always end up liking the 130's.   Peppers and toms are all looking good.  I just happened to stumble across this Glog and glad I did.  BTW I'm driving up there to steal your tiller,  actually on second thought I might just get scoped off a mile down the road lol.

 

[TrentL]

Wow man that 300 WM makes my R700 in .270 look like a toy!  I do enjoy shooting it though.   Extremely flat shooting rifle with a 130 grain round.  I sometimes shoot 140's and 150's but always end up liking the 130's.   Peppers and toms are all looking good.  I just happened to stumble across this Glog and glad I did.  BTW I'm driving up there to steal your tiller,  actually on second thought I might just get scoped off a mile down the road lol.

 
Well Illinois law prohibits me from using lethal force to defend property... so I can't shoot someone for that.. unless they come at me with a tire iron, knife, gun, etc. I *can* however go outside and legally whoop up on someone trying to steal my stuff.  (Force is authorized to defend property or to remove a trespasser, just not lethal force.)
 
And it's not my tiller, it's my neighbors tiller that I'm borrowing. He has great taste in equipment. If you can believe it, he bought that damn thing to till up a 15x20 garden. He uses it all of about 20 minutes a year. It spent all summer last year in my garage.
 
270 is a great all around cartridge! Good for any game in North America.
 
Done planting the second batch of flowers for my daughter's section of the garden. She kept collecting worms while we were doing it. Big old nightcrawlers and earthworms are THICK in my garden this year! That's a good thing!
 
She even made herself a little "worm farm" that she's been putting them in. She's feeding them banana peels and stuff. I don't know how it's going to work out for her, but .. you know.. she's happy doing it. So whatever. Just not looking forward to the day she finds them all dead.
 
She recently had a funeral for three flowers she tried to plant that died...
 
The three little rocks in the top left corner are "headstones", from what I gathered.
 

 
(I guess she picked flowers and tried to plant them, thinking they'd grow....)

 

[TrentL]

Grr. The flats of marigolds and other flowers I bought at the nursery came with uninvited guests.

I stuck them in the grow room when I bought them last week, because of the low temps this week.
 
Biiiig Mistake.
 
Got clouds of fungus gnats in the grow room now.
 
Hung up a bunch of sticky paper hoping to thin them out a little.
 
Also, my annuums are all showing severe edema.
 
Early Jalapeno
 

 
Mixed annums. Leaves are severely wilted even though the pots are still damp. Leaves feel tissue-paper thin.
 

 
Some necrosis setting in;
 

 
Massive leaf curl.
 

 
It's ONLY affecting my annuums, and it's affecting ALL of the annuums. the bigger specimens I potted up a few weeks ago are also showing signs of edema but they're still growing BIG... the ones I showed above are pretty stalled out.
 
When I dug around in the soil to feel how damp it was, it wasn't saturated, just 'moist'. Nice white roots are sticking out the sides and bottom of the peat cup so I assume the root system is fairly substantial.
 
Irritating.
 
On the flip side, I have a beautiful pimenta de neyde specimen doing rather awesome.
 

 

[Jeff H]

 
Irritating.

 
I'll second that. When you think you have it all figured out, there always seems to be another problem that pops up.
 
Hopefully you can get them outside soon. My annuums seem to be doing a bit better outside then in the grow room.

 

[TrentL]

When the 5" pots show up (monday? tuesday?), the peppers are getting potted up and kicked outdoors in to the shade, starting with the annuums.  
 
Tomatoes are going outside today, to live in the shade for a bit. Most are in 1 gallon containers; except for 3, which are in 3 gallon. Dirt day for them is soon... very soon... as soon as the garden isn't solid mud from all the rain this week..

 

[TrentL]

WOOT! the 5" pots showed up today. I wasn't expecting them to get here this fast.

 

[Jeff H]

I recently invested in some 5" pots. I love them. Perfect size for the larger ones.

 

[Devv]

Those Annuum's look really dark, I'm sure once they're potted up they will do fine.

 

[TrentL]

I bought a case of 200 green ones off of greenhouse megastore. Decent quality and cheap.  (Got green instead of black as they won't heat up the soil as much in the sun, when I leave them out)
 
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/belden-jumbo-square-pot/square-pots
 
Also got the 8-pot carrying trays for them. They don't fit perfectly in them but they work.
 
http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/square-pot-carrying-trays/s
 
4 more bags of 2cu ft. Shults potting soil picked up tonight. It's a bit heavier composition than I'd like but the superhots are loving it.

 

[TrentL]

Lot of flowers (and flower seeds) went in the ground today.
 
Worked until dark, back is killing me. Barely got a few pics snapped on the last light, just as it started raining.
 

 
"Cucumber triangle"
 

 
My girls thought this stone paver path was the coolest toy I've ever build them. I wish I had their energy.
 

 
It's all her fault. My daughter Raven wanted a flower garden ... I just hope she helps weed it!
 

 

[TrentL]

Overwinters have been in the garage for the last week due to the low temp & cold rains.
 
They've now been kicked outside, permanently. I did what I could to keep them alive over the winter, now it's all up to them! Not hauling those damn pots around anymore!
How that same spot looked last year in July.
 
 
No idea how my floral garden arrangement will work out. Treading deep new waters there.
 

 

[randyp]

           Trent I can relate,my back is toast after planting out Saturday.Getting old sucks.

 

[OCD Chilehead]

Doesn't even look like the same place. Trying to fight the crab grass. So yesterday me and my son dug up a little area in the front yard for tomatoes. Was looking around for other plots. I found some. Good luck Trent.

 

[Devv]

Take car of that back, only get one to live with!
 
My key to keeping it going is stretches and crunches 5 day a week.
 
Take a hot bath

 

[TrentL]

After all that time in the garden yesterday and the entire day on my feet at the high power match I ran today, my back HURTS. I mean, every, single breath I take is painful.
 
This sucks.
 
I think I pulled a muscle yesterday while raking out clumps of sod.

 

[TrentL]

The 2012 Scotch Bonnet that was dying, which I hit with a gallon of hydrogen peroxide 3%, is making a great comeback.
 

 
Unfortunately I've had 3 more overwinters die since they were moved outside.
 
Death row;
 
RIP Trinidad scorpion
 

 
RIP Naga Viper...
 

 
And BT Trinidad Scorpion...
 

The Naga Viper, I tried re-potting to bring it back; it had VERY little root material left, and what roots it did have were brown. So ... no bringing that one back. 
 
The BT Trinidad and the normal Trinidad, they just croaked. I suspect the roots also deteriorated on it. They had a *little* bit of new growth a couple weeks ago when I first took them out but the leaves were tiny and misshapen... maybe soil was exhausted, maybe I over-fertilized at some point this winter, dunno. But they are toast.

 

[Jeff H]

My condolences for your loss. Although they can never truly be replaced, I trust that you have several that can step up and take the place of the fallen.

 

[TrentL]

My condolences for your loss. Although they can never truly be replaced, I trust that you have several that can step up and take the place of the fallen.

 
Yeah it sucks that I tried to nurture them all winter long.. and lose them right at the end. But .. it happens. I still have one Naga Viper an BT Trinidad overwinter that's living. The trinidad scorpion was the only survivor from last year, but I have tons of fresh new ones growing. 
 
I tried to err on the side of caution and keep at least 2x of each specimen I grew last year, which paid off.
 
I can't do that this winter. I went from 17 varieties to over *70* varieties. I will have to pick and choose what I save at the end of this year. Not looking forward to "culling" at the end of the year for overwinters.

 

[sicman]

one hefty garden you will have. place looks great.
 
take cae of that bonnet and back

 

[TrentL]

Hopefully it'll look better when things start popping up from seed.
 
Put in cucumbers, oregano, lettuce, and set out my first couple of tomatoes yesterday.
 
I'm worried about my tomatoes. They grew very tall, indoors, but have VERY little root mass. Not sure what I did wrong. 
 
(The root ball on my 2' tall tomatoes was about the size of my palm; most of the soil in the 3 gallon pots just fell right out, no root mass to speak of.)
 
The ones indoors are going outside today, permanently (in the shade at first). So are a BUNCH of peppers. Time to start hardening. I planted about this time last year and a frost on May 11-12 nipped the first 40 pepper plants I took out. Stunted them. So I'm being more careful this year.
 
On the tomatoes, I dug a trench and laid them in sideways with about 5-6" of the tops sticking out the soil. Hopefully they grow a LOT of new roots off that 1 1/2 foot long stem that is now underground...