Trent's 2015 Grow Log (potting soil probs solved!)

TrentL · Feb 28, 2015

Well, got my little 3.5" pots and trays in the mail Thursday.

Located some potting soil at Menards - was in their outdoor garden area. The bags were frozen solid... ARE frozen solid.. 30 hours after buying them and putting them indoors here.

So maybe sometime mid week I'll be transplanting. At this rate, these bags of soil will take longer to thaw than a frozen turkey!

I have true leaves now on most of the 1st tray I planted back on 2-8.

Plantguy76 · Mar 1, 2015

Trent when do you normally transplant your seedlings?

TrentL · Mar 1, 2015

In past years I've planted them after the 2nd set of true leaves first show.

But the peat they sprout in doesn't have enough "oomph" to sustain them (no nutes to speak of), and sometimes they stall before getting there.

This year my plan was to transplant them to potting soil as soon as the *first* true leaves showed. (Which many have!)

But I've got to wait for soil to thaw.

Plantguy76 · Mar 1, 2015

Thanks Trent I am getting my first true leaves on most of my varieties but for the stragglers and my few new bhuts ss that have just pop up.
Hopefully that soil will thaw soon and you can get your plants transplanted :-)

TrentL · Mar 1, 2015

The bag I cut open last night to check on was still cool today, but thawed enough to work with.

Got 32 peppers and a few herbs transplanted today.

That potting soil stank like pig shit. I imagine it's been in that warehouse at Menards since last year. The soil itself was very wet - I'm concerned about the extended release fertilizer in it "cooking" that long in damp soil.

Guess we'll find out if it nukes my plants or not....

What's left of the first two trays of peppers and the one herb tray...

There's one more pepper tray waiting to sprout.

Plantguy76 · Mar 2, 2015

First eww pig poo!!!
Anyway I was wondering Trent how deep did you plant them.
I think I am going to need to transplant plant soon my Baccatums roots are out the bottom
So I bottom watered real well there all looking well .
Looked at the picks again looks like there planted deep .
My baccatums growth habitat reminds me of tomatoes

Jeff H · Mar 2, 2015

TrentL said:
Located some potting soil at Menards - was in their outdoor garden area. The bags were frozen solid... ARE frozen solid.. 30 hours after buying them and putting them indoors here.

TrentL said:
That potting soil stank like pig shit. I imagine it's been in that warehouse at Menards since last year. The soil itself was very wet - I'm concerned about the extended release fertilizer in it "cooking" that long in damp soil.

Guess we'll find out if it nukes my plants or not....

Careful Trent, that sounds like a recipe for a fungus gnat infestation. If I were you, I would get some mosquito dunks ASAP and start soaking some in the water you use to water your plants.

I know it's hindsight, but when I brought in the o/w plants, I bought new dry soil and only used about 1/3 of the bag for the o/w. The rest I kept in the basement where it was cool and dry until I needed it. So far, no fungus gnats. :pray:

Which is more than I could say about any year I bought soil in Jan at Home Depot.

TrentL · Mar 2, 2015

Jeff H said:
Careful Trent, that sounds like a recipe for a fungus gnat infestation. If I were you, I would get some mosquito dunks ASAP and start soaking some in the water you use to water your plants.

I know it's hindsight, but when I brought in the o/w plants, I bought new dry soil and only used about 1/3 of the bag for the o/w. The rest I kept in the basement where it was cool and dry until I needed it. So far, no fungus gnats. Which is more than I could say about any year I bought soil in Jan at Home Depot.

I fought those little bastards last year. They showed up late, towards April. Hung sticky strips and it cut down on them.

I didn't bring in any overwinters this year and I've sanitized anything going near the plants (reused 1020 trays, etc).

I'm hopeful that the frozen-solid potting soil will be purified of nasties. That soil clocked -12F on the infrared thermometer when I took a reading. It was COLD.

More worried about nute burn than anything - that soil has cooked since last year with the extended release shit getting released.

I should have burned one of my nute test kits to get an accurate reading on it before transplanting but didn't think about it until I was done.

TrentL · Mar 2, 2015

Every time I go down to check on the plants, this doggie follows and watches.

Still getting new hooks from the tray I planted on 2/12

This pimenta de neyde was selected for transplant as it had the darkest leaves of all of the sprouts.

Closeup, true leaves are equally dark on it;

TrentL · Mar 2, 2015

So I pulled a bunch of 7-pot chaguanas out of the deep freeze tonight and pureed them.

Then I poured my death puree in to a mix of my most-perfect jerky marinade

Now the waiting begins....

Runescape · Mar 3, 2015

TrentL said:

lmao, at least youre being honest...

Jeff H · Mar 3, 2015

TrentL said:

So, I'm confused. Which one is the spicy one?? :rofl:

TrentL · Mar 3, 2015

I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. *Usually* I use flake in the marinade for the jerky; about 1 oz per 5 pounds of meat.

However, that tends to burn my gut more than my mouth when I eat it, and causes some severe "afterburner" effect the next day on the toilet.

I think it's because the dehydrated flake carries the heat down instead of letting it disburse in the mouth.

THIS time... pureed 7-pots (about 20 of them!) for 5 pounds of meat... I'm not sure how potent the meat will be, heat wise, but the safe bet is "F'n Hot!"

So I labeled it that way.

I dipped my finger in that puree and tried a bit (yes you know I had to try!) and it gave me severe mouth burn and gut burn.

I have a feeling that the heat will be intense.

The juice will soak in to the meat, and coat the surface of it as it dries ...

Hopefully it gives a much more potent "in your face kick in the teeth gum bleeding fireball" effect, without carrying the heat through the digestive tract and out the other end, like the flake does.

muskymojo · Mar 3, 2015

Sounds killer, but I think it's going to burn all of the above.

...and below. Haha.

TrentL · Mar 3, 2015

LOL! I'll find out in a couple hours after the convection oven does it's thing.

Waiting is the worst part...

OK yeah just a WEE bit on the hot side.

I ate a half a tray (about 5 foot long pieces) before I had to call it quits... mouth... on ... fire...

Runescape · Mar 3, 2015

TrentL said:

Lol, dat firearm in the background...

TrentL · Mar 4, 2015

A gun out of reach is a completely useless instrument.

That's a Glock 19, gen 4, in a blade tech nano holster.

It's my "everyday carry" gun.

Jeff H · Mar 5, 2015

Runescape said:
Lol, dat firearm in the background...

Apparently you're new to Trent's glog . I suggest you check out last years. More than a couple firearms. Come to think of it, there was more than a couple in my glog last year.

Trent, we need to step up the pace, we're slacking with gun photos. :rofl:

TrentL · Mar 5, 2015

Jeff H said:
Apparently you're new to Trent's glog . I suggest you check out last years. More than a couple firearms. Come to think of it, there was more than a couple in my glog last year.

Trent, we need to step up the pace, we're slacking with gun photos.

Dude, it's still negative-f'n-cold outside.

When it warms up and I crawl out of my cave to stretch my legs this spring, there'll be glorious gun pics.

Runescape · Mar 5, 2015

Jeff H said:
Apparently you're new to Trent's glog . I suggest you check out last years. More than a couple firearms. Come to think of it, there was more than a couple in my glog last year.

Trent, we need to step up the pace, we're slacking with gun photos.

lol, i remember that one...half of the posts were about buying bullets or pics at the shooting range...the other half was that crazy ass herbicide...