WalkGood 2013, 2014 and Beyond

annie57 · Feb 28, 2013

Ramon, didn't want to quote the entire post but some mosquito dunks--bust them with hammer and sprinkle them into the babies--let rain do rest--and putting a quarter dunk in 5 gallon bucket water (or more) does put a dent in their population. Between you and Greg, ya killin' me, mon w/food porn! (In a lovely way! :party:

.) Hope no offense taken by suggesting skeeter dunks in FL . . . gotta go watch my Tar Heels! One Love. Annie

WalkGood · Feb 28, 2013

annie57 said:
Ramon, didn't want to quote the entire post but some mosquito dunks--bust them with hammer and sprinkle them into the babies--let rain do rest--and putting a quarter dunk in 5 gallon bucket water (or more) does put a dent in their population.

I grasped that from your glog but before that I had never read that or seen it done, yes I’m sure it’s here somewhere in THP but I’m still a n00b

annie57 said:
Between you and Greg, ya killin' me, mon w/food porn! (In a lovely way! .)

Thank you, you’re a sweetie!

annie57 said:
Hope no offense taken by suggesting skeeter dunks in FL . . . gotta go watch my Tar Heels! One Love. Annie

No, I never take offense and thank you for confirming what I thought with details. Good luck to your U. of NC bball

Sanarda · Mar 1, 2013

Bahamian conch salad after a day on Gold Beach off the great Grand Bahama Island was paradise and well worth alllll the money I spent to take my two babies and my mother for a week. I even ate the pistal out of the freshly de shelled conch. Word around Grand Bahama is the pistal is the reason all them conch babies are running around the island. Aahahahaaa. I had to tell hubby we needed to take it easy for a while. Aahahahaa. Me and the kids ate conch salad for breakfast lunch and dinners or an entire week. Yummmmm

Don't mean to hijack your page but after all that reading all I remember is conch salad

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WalkGood · Mar 1, 2013

Sanarda said:
Bahamian conch salad after a day on Gold Beach off the great Grand Bahama Island was paradise and well worth alllll the money I spent to take my two babies and my mother for a week. I even ate the pistal out of the freshly de shelled conch. Word around Grand Bahama is the pistal is the reason all them conch babies are running around the island. Aahahahaaa. I had to tell hubby we needed to take it easy for a while. Aahahahaa. Me and the kids ate conch salad for breakfast lunch and dinners or an entire week. Yummmmm

Don't mean to hijack your page but after all that reading all I remember is conch salad

Glad you posted, sounds like you had a great time, sounds like hubby even liked conch

I’ll have to stop into your glog and see what other pics you took ^_^

I have mixed coffee grounds into my soil for years per my Abulo y Mami’s advice but possibly in too low of quantity that I can’t say I have noted the benefits. The other day I read a post from Bill (RocketMan) referencing an article written by Mr. Tom Broome (cycadjungle) called “Coffee, Cycads’ New Best Friend?” While the article does not directly discuss peppers, it did get me thinking because I have lost sago palms and wish I would have given Mr. Broome’s findings a trial 10 years ago. Regardless of my sago’s reading this article certainly inspired me because he referenced killing aphids, mealybugs, etc. …

As stated before in prior years to the present all I have done with coffee is to save all my coffee grounds to mix into my soil. I also scatter some across the top soil of my in ground pepper plants and around strategic plants around our yard. Within a day after reading Tom’s article I decided to start some tests of my own. Hopefully Tom has done some of these tests and could chime in. I will pm him a link asking advice and/or tips.

Here's what I got going:

3 plants with coffee grounds covering the whole surface of soil within the pot. On purpose I spread it up to and around the stalk to see if this causes any damage to the stalk (irritation, burn or what ever). One of these plants has fungal gnats and it will be interesting to see if this kills and rids them.
I made the coffee spray he spoke about. Although my method is; after I've made my morning coffee from fresh ground beans and before I clean out the grinds, I run a second batch producing a lighter coffee mix. That said it still looked very strong so I diluted it with water and started spraying the test plants and other peppers that are not participating in my top soil test. If the grounds do not cause damage to the stalk, I will expand the test to other plants in my current crop.
I'll be taking daily or bi-daily logs if needed to check the stalks looking for any damage. I took some pictures this morning even though I started this roughly 2 days ago so I can have some before pictures. I’ll try to take pictures as often as I note any changes, hopefully creating a picture change log as well as text notes when needed.
I have already started soaking a few seeds in this coffee water. While this was not mentioned, I thought what the hell I'll try to see if I can tell any difference.
I will be planting seeds in a varying coffee grounds & soil mix to see if they germinate (i.e. 50/50, 60/40, 70/30). I'm using my stock Jamaican Habanero seeds as I am very familiar with them. Not sure yet but as they grow I'll probably use a little higher than 10% coffee in soil mix to see what happens. I have already determined that the coffee I had been mixing into my soil has been far less than 10% mix which he suggested in article.

It could be possible for coffee to burn the stalk around the ground level, but this is not fresh coffee, rather 2[sup]nd[/sup] hand. But this is one of the things I'm testing so I packed it a good 1/4" around all top soil right up to the stalk to see this outcome. I hope these tests prove positive as it would be great for organic growers. BTW yesterday was the first foliar spraying and the garden smells awesome!

Datil with bug damaged leaves ...

Covered Datil’s top soil with ¼” repurposed coffee grounds

Serrano that is podding and in fairly good condition.

Serrano, different angle.

Top soil of Serrano with 1/8” repurposed coffee grounds.

Jamaican Habanero (multi-plants in one)

Top soil of Jamaican Habanero with 1/8” repurposed coffee grounds.

This is definitely my worst plant, a growth stunted Jalapeño, don’t ask me how its growth was stunted but it barely grows. All kinds of stuff going on with it, leaf miners, bugs (above and below ground), etc. … I’ve almost given up on it numerous times but have kept it around because it’s alive and it makes a great test plant. Who knows, probably too many tests and I messed it up myself, lol.

Top soil of Jalapeno with ¼” repurposed coffee grounds

Here is the coffee spray that I’m now making to test spraying on plants, not sure yet how good it keeps bugs away but the garden smell awesome, hehe … well that’s if you’re a coffee drinker. I did not follow Tom’s directions per his article, rather than make a sun coffee liquid I just brew a second batch after I’ve finished my first. Naturally I’m reusing the left over grind from the first batch. I noticed that this second batch looks very powerful, so I diluted 50/50 with water into my sprayer.

Will continue on next post, anyone bump please & thank you

Sawyer · Mar 1, 2013

Bump. Will be following your coffee experiments with interest.

WalkGood · Mar 1, 2013

Soaked 6 Jamaican Habanero seeds in diluted coffee water a little over 24 hours.

Here I’ve planted all soaked seeds, 3 went into nuked compost soil and 3 into a 50/50 coffee grind and nuked compost soil mix.

Something non-coffee related but thought I’d show. I started using Sargassum seaweed as ground cover. Here I have around 1 ½ inches of it chopped up and spread over the top soil of potted pepper.

Naturally as I note observations I will update the glog.

Thank you for looking and reading, have a great weekend! Oh and I'll post up some foodie after lunch ^_^

Sanarda · Mar 1, 2013

I second Sawyer

WalkGood · Mar 1, 2013

Sawyer said:
Bump. Will be following your coffee experiments with interest.

Sanarda said:
I second Sawyer

Thanks guys I’ll do my best to identify any changes or information. I have pm’d Mr. Tom Broome, hopefully he’ll tell us he’s already done this stuff and can provide us valuable information. Or he could easily say that WalkGood’s crazy as we all know he’s no scientist, lol …

So here’s today’s lunch thanks to romy6 & STEVE954, great stuff guys and thank you!!!

Open face tacos; 2 with romy6 powder, 2 with my home made Jamaican Habanero sauce, one with STEVE954 TFM pod slices and last one with romy6 Chocolate Douglah slices. I’ll let you guess which is which, hehe …

After placing cheese over them, toss into toaster oven and melt cheese

Super hot powder Jamie but very good great and tasty, dam that Douglah can burn da belly mon. Steve you know I love dat Scotch Bonnet taste mon, keep up dat great MoA work ^_^ ... Oh and the powder, well I'll leave that to the "soon come" review but I'm still testing it numerous ways and so far I love dat stuff! BTW those of you who have never been to Jamaica, "soon come" means it's not any time soon, lol ...

Jamison · Mar 1, 2013

Yummy! The coffee grounds was something I've been interested in for years. Ironically, I first saw it in Negril where the "Rastaman" showed me his ganj, and veg plants and compost pile. He told me everyting he puts in the compost. I love it down there! But he said coffee grounds were a huge part of his compost pile and he liked to top his garden with it as well. And I always thought most Jamaicans didn't drink coffee. If I lived down there all I would drink is Blue Mountain Coffee and Redstripe lol! Awesome experiment mon, will be following along with interest!

romy6 · Mar 1, 2013

Ramon mon!!! That has to be some hotties. The douglah alone is enough to burn a hole in the average chiliheads stomach. Obviously you are way above the average :fireball:

As for the coffee grounds. I think they are great for ants and aphids but Mites just laugh at it :confused:

Might even keep them up all night terrorizing our chili's.

:rofl:

WalkGood · Mar 1, 2013

Jamison said:
Yummy! The coffee grounds was something I've been interested in for years. Ironically, I first saw it in Negril where the "Rastaman" showed me his ganj, and veg plants and compost pile. He told me everyting he puts in the compost. I love it down there! But he said coffee grounds were a huge part of his compost pile and he liked to top his garden with it as well.

Very cool!

Jamison said:
And I always thought most Jamaicans didn't drink coffee. If I lived down there all I would drink is Blue Mountain Coffee and Redstripe lol! Awesome experiment mon, will be following along with interest!

You are right, most Jamaicans drink Tea VS Coffee but there are many that drink both. Regarding “Blue Mountain Coffee,” its trademarked and owned by the government, so best coffee there is what’s really grown in the Blue Mountains. Those normally go by the farm name as they’re not allowed to call it “Blue Mountain” coffee. But are allowed to say on the packaging "grown in the Blue Mountains," as long as it's called something else. The government mixes the expensive stuff (and very little of it) from the Blue Mountains with sea level grown crap (I'm guessing 90% or higher). If you get the chance upon a visit I recommend driving up to the Mountains, you can buy it cheaper there but check online and I think you’ll be blown away by how expensive it is. I drove up there once a month to buy a months supply and found it much cheaper dealing direct VS online or any other way.

romy6 said:
Ramon mon!!! That has to be some hotties. The douglah alone is enough to burn a hole in the average chiliheads stomach. Obviously you are way above the average

No sir, I’m not above most here, lol. Remember it did have cheese and you are right, I felt the burn in my stomach as well but it was a good burn :o ... I'm not one that eats whole peppers without food, I will sample a small portion from every new pod I've not tried before but that's not like some that pop them into their mouth and chew up da whole thing. For me it's all about taste first and heat secondary ... thanks again ^_^

romy6 said:
As for the coffee grounds. I think they are great for ants and aphids but Mites just laugh at it Might even keep them up all night terrorizing our chili's.

lol, I’m sure you are right … for the mites I have been spraying with ortho volck oil spray but I’m getting the feeling this is a never ending battle gone for a week and back again to ravage :/ ... Does your water soluble sulfur kill them? I've not tried that ever, only small match heads during pot ups.

Jamison · Mar 1, 2013

Yea I def ordered some online after trying to find that distinct flavor. I must have ordered $200 worth of coffee over the period of a month trying to find that Blue Mountain goodness, yet never found anything that tasted even close to it. Needless to say I gave up. Next time I'm there I'll designate a suitcase just for beans.

romy6 · Mar 1, 2013

The sulfur does kill them but that doesn't mean they won't come back. I am fighting them again as we speak . You should try the sulfur. That oil is just making them slimy

PIC 1 · Mar 1, 2013

Great update Ramon,
I'm trying read through a few glogs here today, your plants are green as can be. The MoA's are on there way, you'll probably be doing food shots with the peppers by June...

Nice lunch platter, did you get a chance to enjoy that meal outdoors today ?

The Sargassum Seaweed will make a nice mulch for the plants, especially if they're in full sun most of the day. I see you started more JA seeds, those are quick to germinate. I've got a couple of plants that are forming small buds at the very top. I moved a few plants up to two gal containers...and away they go. I can already see the new growth after 2 days.

I hope the pest issues are just a seasonal thing. Any chems you use will be much easier on the plants as they mature...

Enjoy the weekend !

RocketMan · Mar 1, 2013

Great write up on the Coffee Experiment but you left out your Hypothesis

I'll be very interested in how your various proportions work out. I have never gone beyond the 10% level and when i made my coffee tea I used the Sun Made method he suggests using Grounds I picked up free from Starbucks which was then wrapped in layers of cheese cloth and hung in the bucket. Let it brew for a week and then added to my 2 gallon sprayer and to a hand sprayer for Foylar spraying. Last year i sprayed the base in the morning 3 days a week and the leaves 3 nights a week on alternating days.

Lunch looked good too Mon :cool:

Edit: Just happened to think, you might post the link to the article for anyone that wants to see what it's all about.

WalkGood · Mar 1, 2013

PIC 1 said:
Great update Ramon,
I'm trying read through a few glogs here today, your plants are green as can be. The MoA's are on there way, you'll probably be doing food shots with the peppers by June...
Thanks Greg

Nice lunch platter, did you get a chance to enjoy that meal outdoors today ?

Greg thanks for noticing my plants ^_^ and no lunch outside today but dinner tonight will be as long as no rain. It’s nice and cool here and I’ll be grilling some pork but no food shots, I think I’ve bored members enough with my pork, lol.

PIC 1 said:
The Sargassum Seaweed will make a nice mulch for the plants, especially if they're in full sun most of the day. I see you started more JA seeds, those are quick to germinate. I've got a couple of plants that are forming small buds at the very top. I moved a few plants up to two gal containers...and away they go. I can already see the new growth after 2 days.

I hope the pest issues are just a seasonal thing. Any chems you use will be much easier on the plants as they mature...

Enjoy the weekend !

Yes the seaweed mulch works fine as I’ve done it before but it doesn’t last too long before it disintegrates, I think it works better to lighten the soil when mixed in. I don’t need more JA Habs, that’s just a test with the coffee. I want to see if it keeps fungal gnats from attacking the seedlings as I’ve lost a few to them :/ Great news on your JA Habs, I think you’ll really love the taste or at least I hope you do. Have a great weekend as well

RocketMan said:
Great write up on the Coffee Experiment but you left out your Hypothesis

I told you I wasn’t a scientist, lol. As long as I can get results like Tom indicated I’ll be happy ^_^ I probably just didn’t write down all my thoughts appropriately, but I think as I update I can pull some of them out of my head, hehe.

RocketMan said:
I'll be very interested in how your various proportions work out. I have never gone beyond the 10% level and when i made my coffee tea I used the Sun Made method he suggests using Grounds I picked up free from Starbucks which was then wrapped in layers of cheese cloth and hung in the bucket. Let it brew for a week and then added to my 2 gallon sprayer and to a hand sprayer for Foylar spraying. Last year i sprayed the base in the morning 3 days a week and the leaves 3 nights a week on alternating days.

The proportions are for the germination to see if I can have a mix that will ward off fungal gnats without any need to add anything to kill them later. I have bags of dried left over coffee (Hispanics drink lots of strong coffee, hehe) and while I’ve made sun tea, the way I have done this works fine without having to wait 5 days. In fact I think it may be too strong, thus I diluted it down with water into the sprayer. What do you think if you spray too strong, could there be any damage? I could test full strength of second hand coffee on the worst plant to see what happens.

RocketMan said:
Lunch looked good too Mon

Thanks it was spicy and good

RocketMan said:
Edit: Just happened to think, you might post the link to the article for anyone that wants to see what it's all about.

Look again, I hot linked it to the name of his article (VB code, like below) when I first posted and I double checked the link again after you gave me a heads up, still works well.

Code:

[url=link]name of article[/url]

Edit: I have to ask you Bill, did you notice any house flies hanging around your plants? After I sprayed, roughly an hour later I found a few common house flies hanging on the leaves I had sprayed, could they be there for the coffee buzz o_O

Thanks all for stopping by the glog, have a great weekend

Stefan_W · Mar 1, 2013

Your glog always makes me hungry. I'm now timing things so I come here and catch up just before supper.

WalkGood · Mar 1, 2013

Stefan_W said:
Your glog always makes me hungry. I'm now timing things so I come here and catch up just before supper.

Are you sure you don't want to pull up a chair and enjoy a cup of Cuban Café

Thanks Stefan, I enjoy your foodie shots as well ^_^

cycadjungle · Mar 1, 2013

Hi everyone, WalkGood sent me a PM and said you all were talking about using the coffee. The coffee article I wrote was printed in The Cycad Newsletter and was mainly for killing Asian scale on cycads. I wrote this more than 5 years ago now and I have performed many experiments since then. Since I experiment with everything, I have certainly experimented with my pepper plants and already have results that I have put into practice for a couple of years now.
I am using the used grounds as a 10% mix with my potting soil when I pot up new pepper plants. The key with using coffee, that I have found mainly from working with it for 7 years now, is that the alkaoids in the coffee grounds and liquid mix only last 4 1/2 to 5 months. After my barrel has had the mix, it just doesn't work any more after that period and if I have any extra, I just pour it out and start over. It keeps aphids off the plants, systemically for almost 5 months, but on an existing plant, I did not see any systemic results until the grounds had been in the soil for a good 3 weeks. Using it as a top dress is fine and I have not seen any bad results with a half inch of grounds near the stems of the plants. Also, the jug of water you show is dark enough looking to be, what I think is strong enough. I do not think you will find any advantage to soaking seeds in the coffee mix, but hell, you never know what might come out of an experiment like that.
People have used, used coffee grounds in their compost piles for decades. When I was researching the topic before I wrote my article, I shocked to see that nobody had ever talked about the fact that coffee would kill insects, but now I know that when people compost, that material sits around for a long time and if it is in the compost bin for close to 5 months, then that is why nobody ever mentioned this aspect of the cultivation. What coffee does have is about 1.3 organic nitrogen, some manganese, some calcium, and I think a couple of other very minor amounts of other elements, so it is just fine for a weak fertilizer, whether or not it is too old to kill insects.
I am in the middle of writing a new coffee article, that will still go into the newsletter, but it will include most of the new things I have learned in the last 5 years and I will include some of my non-cycad experiments, like with the peppers.
I'll watch this glog for a while, if anyone has some questions about this subject, I'll see what I can do to help. All I know is that I have 500 species of plants here at my nursery and all I have had to use in the last 7 years is either coffee grounds in pots, or the coffee "sun tea" as a direct contact spray to kill all the insects I have to deal with here.

Stefan_W · Mar 1, 2013

WalkGood said:
Are you sure you don't want to pull up a chair and enjoy a cup of Cuban Café Thanks Stefan, I enjoy your foodie shots as well ^_^

I'd rather have a nice cuban cigar. Its been a few years since I had one.