Trent's 2014 Grow Log - COLD COLD COLD

TrentL · May 25, 2014

maximumcapsicum said:
That is a ton of plants man! Looking good though. Can't wait to see what it looks like when they're waist-high. Say hi to Marley for me.

You got a favorite variety this season?

Oddly enough yes, but purely on plant shape.

Last year I was impressed by heat, this year I'm impressed by vigor I think. The ones that have really struck me have been Pimenta de Neyde, Giant Mexican Rocoto and the goofy looking Goats Weed.

I'm growing 60+ varieties this year on my quest to find "the pepper that I like the taste of the best."

In prior years that's been a 7-pot but I'm hoping to find something not quite so punishing that tastes good. I think I about ruined my gut last year from eating too many hot peppers, so I'm going to tone it down a notch this year. Trying milder ones.

I have two and a half rows of annuums this year, a row of Habanero. Also put in a row of trinidad scorpions, another of bhuts, and another of various 7-pots. Then some assorted ones to fill in where I didn't have an even 10 or 13 (chinense or annuums were spaced differently)

cypresshill1973 said:
I watching a vintage chevy????

Hell. No.

That's a vintage Ford Mustang Mach 1 w/ a 351 Cleveland in it.

My other mustang is a 2012 5.0 GT Premium. Soon (hopefully) to be a 2015 5.0 GT Premium.

cypresshill1973 · May 25, 2014

Amazing!!! I really like vintage cars. You restored it, or buy it?

TrentL · May 25, 2014

I bought that one from a car museum.

It's all original with all matching #'s and 52,000 original miles on it.

Devv · May 25, 2014

'71?

Those 351 Cleveland engines were saaweeet!

Garden looks great BTW!

It looks a lot larger with the plants in there

TrentL · May 25, 2014

Devv said:
'71?

Those 351 Cleveland engines were saaweeet!

Garden looks great BTW!

It looks a lot larger with the plants in there

No, unfortunately a 73. But it was in great shape, so I don't hold the year against it. 73 is also known as The Last year of the Real American Muscle Cars.

Yeah the garden looks much better without a big empty pile of dirt in the middle. It is hard to judge scale from pictures; but it's 20' from yard to the pathway I made to square it up, and 60' on the longer side.

The cucumbers and dill are the only veggies growing outside that bigger block. The rest around the rose of sharon is a big flower garden.

Mental note. Next time I plant a flower garden don't make it 8' across. Weeding without killing things is impossible.

gnslngr · May 25, 2014

Damn, Trent- you really come through with gun pics.
1. You are definitely the first Dishka owner I've come across stateside.Thats a hell of a collection......I'm thinking Birthday video :dance:

., I'd say have fun , but that would just be a ridiculous thing to say considering.....

2. Did I see a MG42 in that vast pile of steel?...Now that question is really funny, as I just went back , because I stopped reading text and just oogled the porn.
MG3 full tripod mount w/periscope...another first.Really nice.
3. What!?, no 155mm?Well , I guess that can be forgiven in light of the Mach 1.

4. OKAY- peppers, gardens.....fine looking garden you have as well, you've got that soil nice and finely tilled.Gonna be impressive...or should I say, more impressive when the plants take off.
5. Is Marley a wolfhound?Good lookin dog, especially so with his sword,
Have a good one-
DJ

PS.Now I need a whiskey to settle down , oh, and Happy Birthday

TrentL · May 26, 2014

gnslngr - yeah there's not many Sweeties here in the states. Yes, that's an MG-42. And a wolfhound.

Hit the range today.

A few of my ladies gathered. Decided to leave the german guns at home and just do Soviet Bloc. My RPD is still down so I left it at home, and the RPK's are just pea shooters, so they stayed home too. Brought out the Uk Vz. 59, PKM, and DSHK.

Setting up the DSHK is a REAL pain in the ass. But it's worth the cussing and sweating and hard work. There's 3 pieces that you have to put together to make it work; the gun, the mount, and the tripod. You can't even charge and shoot the gun without the mount, so it's all part of the integral system.

The gun itself weighs over 75 pounds.

With mount and tripod it is at least 250 lbs.

Waiting for targets.

Close up of the feed system. Note the gigantic feed pawl arm.

My buddy Dave about to get his Dishka on.

UK Vz. 59 ran like a champ.

So did the PKM.

Policed up brass and had to wait a while for guns to cool at the end of the day.. they got a little.. warm.

Some video of the Marcolmar / wiselite semi auto PKM offhand and prone. You do NOT want to know what this beast weighs with 100 rounds of 7.62x54R in the box... heavy damn gun to shoot offhand. All those video games where people run around with PKM's or Pechenegs lie. You can't jump and shoot and run around with these things like that. At least not if you are an average built dude (I'm 6'1" and 190lbs for reference.)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=755155644515368&set=vb.100000628173559&type=3&theater
(There were two failure to eject on the PKM, it was getting dirty by the time I decided to dismount it from the tripod and run it offhand. Fairly easy gun to clear, malfunction wise. Oh, and it THROWS the brass with great exuberance.. have some cuts on my arm from shooting off the tripod where I got winged by brass...)

HillBilly Jeff · May 26, 2014

Some nice looking pea shooters

TrentL · May 26, 2014

Thanks man! Work hard, play hard. Just wish I had more time to play hard.

Bonus video of the DSHK being shot here; https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=755551027809163&set=vb.100000628173559&type=2&theater

Man I'm telling you what.. between planting out Saturday, the "birthday bash" Saturday night, the range trip yesterday... My body is so stiff & sore I can barely move today.

Need to get my ass in gear to go visit a couple of graves today.

BTW Jeff you were right about those peppers I put in the rock garden. They ARE surprising me. I gave them about a 50/50 shot at just surviving, but they seem to be absolutely loving it there.

I have a few "problem children" in the big plant-out, transplant shock on about a half dozen plants. A few are wilting up bad during the day, but they seem to be perking right back up in the evening. No sunburn so far; I think they just don't like the heat. Until they drop those big shade leaves and grow their normal leaves they'll be sad, I think.

I'm going to give them a week to adjust, then go around topping chinense that haven't forked yet, and pruning shade leaves on the sun side to expose the nodes to light. They'll look ugly as sin after I do that, BUT, last year that really helped ramp up production and led to some very strong, vigorous plants.

Devv · May 26, 2014

Digging those vids. Do you load for the DSHK?

Jeff H · May 26, 2014

The garden looks great. That soil looks nice and fine. THe roots should love it.

Guns pics, as always, are enjoyable. Looks like you had a great birthday shoot.

Couple questions: Are you using surplus or reloads for 7.62x54R? I imagine cleaning the corrosive salts out of them would be a real pain. They are a tad more complicated than a Mosin.

None of those are class 3 toys, or are they?

maximumcapsicum · May 26, 2014

Looks like you're having a blast man. Always good.

I've been digging the Goat's Weed too. Jamison sent me some pods and eat the flakes probably 3-4 times a week in some dish or other. The plants are fun too, hairy and sprawling. I'll need to try some roccotos and monzanos next year for sure. Working up that list is a Fall job though.

Those Pimenta de Neydes seem to be making quite a splash. What do you eat them in?

Happy growin'!

TrentL · May 26, 2014

Devv said:
Digging those vids. Do you load for the DSHK?

This one has been rebarreled in US 50 BMG. The Soviet ammo is made of unobtainium.

Jeff H said:
The garden looks great. That soil looks nice and fine. THe roots should love it.

Guns pics, as always, are enjoyable. Looks like you had a great birthday shoot.

Couple questions: Are you using surplus or reloads for 7.62x54R? I imagine cleaning the corrosive salts out of them would be a real pain. They are a tad more complicated than a Mosin.

None of those are class 3 toys, or are they?

I shoot corrosive surplus, and yes, cleaning them is a nightmare. I do the barrels (which have the gas blocks on them too), right away that night. Then I clean the rest of the gun the next night or two.

Reloading for them is pointless; they do horrific things to brass!

No class 3 toys here, Illinois is one of "those" states. Can still lay down a mountain of ammunition out of them though. The semi DSHK will go through about $250 in ammo per minute...

maximumcapsicum said:
Looks like you're having a blast man. Always good.

I've been digging the Goat's Weed too. Jamison sent me some pods and eat the flakes probably 3-4 times a week in some dish or other. The plants are fun too, hairy and sprawling. I'll need to try some roccotos and monzanos next year for sure. Working up that list is a Fall job though.

Those Pimenta de Neydes seem to be making quite a splash. What do you eat them in?

Happy growin'!

I hope it doesn't get TOO sprawling, since I planted one of those in with the rest of them in the garden! They look soooo frigging strange - not used to having hairy things growing in my garden.

I haven't eaten the Pimenta de Neydes yet, this is my first year growing them. Will see how they taste when I get pods and go from there.

I just finished transplanting 10 overwinters in to fresh dirt. THAT was a hell of a job. I washed all the old dirt out of the roots, detangled the roots, and replanted them in fresh soil. The roots were NASTY looking; mostly brown and dead. Took about 3 hours to do 10 of them. Have 10 more to go still.

Got some pics to load for a bit of show & tell on those.

2013 plant that had a peat pot planted in to a 6" pot, then later transplanted from the 6" pot to a 17" pot.

The soil and dead roots on the 17" pot fell right off, leaving a distinct compressed outline of the 6" pot it was in. Soil was different so it avoided the new soil for awhile, and continued to get root bound over the winter.

Inside that mess, I found the original peat pot still fully intact.

So much for those degrading over time. It was in there for 15 months.

Roots flushed and de-tangled. It's been planted back in to a 17" pot with fresh soil, roots spread out as evenly as I could get them.

One of my wife's cats trying to do an intervention on the other. He has a nasty catnip addiction.

TrentL · May 27, 2014

Weed barrier. Realized after laying the first strip I have nowhere NEAR the amount of stakes that I'll need to finish.

That's not snow, either. The locust trees are shedding their flowers/seeds.

Overwinters that I re-potted were looking sad today, until I watered them.

These bloomed a month later than they did last year;

Marigolds bounced back. Well, most of them. I killed about 30% of them. Bought them too early, held them in the grow room for a week, and they did NOT like it.

Ageratum. I plant these every year as a border.

Runescape · May 28, 2014

TrentL said:

For a second I thought that flower had some cool looking white spots... /facepalm

Still neat, but the ageratums look even neater.

TrentL · May 28, 2014

Runescape said:
For a second I thought that flower had some cool looking white spots... /facepalm

Still neat, but the ageratums look even neater.

Heh yeah the water droplets reflecting a sky ..

The ageratums are really cool looking flowers. So different. When they really take off mid-summer they are quite a sight.

Someone asked about those red spiky flowers - remembered the name finally; those are Celosia. Those will look cool as well when they take off. Again, different than your average flower.
(Why all the flowers near a pepper garden? To bring in the bees, baby!)
Some dickhead neighbor upwind of me sprayed 2,4-D again this year to kill off weeds.

cypresshill1973 · May 28, 2014

Very good work! Not much room looked like it would win.

It has really been very well organized. Also the front of your house, will be the envy of the neighbors ... I would put some weapons for custody of their peppers.

Devv · May 28, 2014

I would have to go have a talk with the neighbor!

TrentL · May 28, 2014

Devv said:
I would have to go have a talk with the neighbor!

Yeah. I thought it missed my spares but about 30% of them look to have the same issues. They're more sheltered.

So far (taking damage tally) it hit my tomatoes, ALL of my peppers in the garden... and a couple of ornamentals.

Got some more pics coming up soon.
(You know a big part of me wants to find this neighbor and spell out "THANKS DICKHEAD" with straight 24-0-0 nitrogen fertilizer concentrate, in their pretty green weed free front lawn. First year it'll kill the grass and simply spell THANKS DICKHEAD with the dirt. They'll replant seed, and in subsequent years the grass will spell THANKS DICKHEAD in much darker, faster growing lush green grass.

Some days being a creative thinker is dangerous indeed.

Devv · May 28, 2014

Have you read up on how it works against the plants? So maybe you can limit the damage?

I use a Roundup knock off. It has the same chemical formula. I use it to keep the Bermuda grass out of the garden and spray a 2' perimeter. I really don't spray, it's a little more than a dribble. Absolutely no mist in my settings and use the wind correctly.

Sounds like your neighbor is an inconsiderate asshole. ~~I'm afraid my evil mind would be thinking of some sort of payback~~ They definitely need a talking to. Perhaps a tour of your garden...."and BTW since you sprayed in a fine mist with the wind blowing, you hurt months of my work".

I have only 2 neighbors, would rather have none..LOL. The one North of me knows not to let their dogs run loose lest they catch lead poisoning...

And Bees, I have a watering station setup right next to the garden for my little friends.