z_malloc's grow log for 2014

Hi folks.
 
Last couple years I've obtained seeds from some members here. Thanks to  griff87, cmpman1974, inolan22!! 
 
This year will be my second grow.  Last year I had decent success.  Yielded about 10 large plastic pasta strainers full of peppers from about 80 plants in 5 gallon buckets and some (10ish) in raised beds.  Choc habs, ghosts, reapers, butch t's, carrib reds, red brain strains, moruga trin scorps.  I made a couple huge batches of sauce but most of my peppers are destined for powders. 
 

 
 
The glass viles made for great gifts this Christmas.  Last year I bought a bunch of indoor equipment.  1k watt digital ballast and 8x8 grow tent, ventilation and nice hood.  Living in the Portland OR  area, sun can be scarce.  Last year was a good year though for gardening.  Lots of sunny days.   I used soil that turned out to be too heavy and the plants were calcium deficient.  I got attacked by stink bugs towards the end as well.  Moved about 15-20 plants in to the grow tent late fall (too late).  They were not super happy and were struggling to come back.  We left for several days and when I returned aphids had completely taken over.  It was ugly, so I cut everything down.  The soil I used I thought would have been great but it wasn't.
 
50/50  4-way  and dairy compost
with amendments of vermiculite, perlite, gypsum, and lime.
The calcium deficiency was obvious and many blasts of cal-mag didn't help.  Many lessons learned.
I found that I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate habs.  They are beautiful and hot, but now I'm more interested in great flavor first, heat and growth/fruit proficiency second. Caribbean reds taste better than choc habs imho.  Of everything I grew last year the plain old bhuts tasted the best.  Nothing was more proficient that the carrib reds though.  I had one plant that was short and stalky, maybe 2 foot tall.  It produced something like 150 pods.  Absolutely mental!  It looked fake. Just stunning.  
 
ok. so.. here we go.
 
Grow Log 2014
------
 
Selected varieties
 
Red Bhut Jolokia (pepper joe)
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia (griff87)
Jays Red Ghost Scorpion (refining fire chiles)
Jays Peach Ghost Scorpion (refining fire chiles)
Red Devils Tongue (inolan22)
Red Fatalii (inolan22)
CGN 21500  (cmpman1974)
--added later--
Jalapeno (unknown)
Pequin
Numex Twilight
Purple Jalepeno
Brown Moruga
7 Pot Bubblegum
Trinidad Perfume
Aji Lemon Drop
Aji Dulce #1
Trinidad Douglah
Trinidad Scorpion Sweet
7 Pod White
Large Red 7 Pod
7 Pod Primo
Giant Mexican Rocoto
 
Starting in  Pro-Mix HP  with a little added vermiculite.  Placed in hole punched 6oz styrofoam cups in a plastic tub covered with press and seal (cellophane) to lock in humidity for germination.  Trays will be on a 48" heat mat (awaiting shipment).
 

 
 
I've got just under 100 starts planted. After they sprout and drop their first set I'll be moving them under a 400watt halide until they are about 4-6 inches tall then on to the 1000watt halide. With any luck by spring they should be good sized.  Last year I used peat pots and regretted it. You can transplant them directly and face slow root growth or rip the peat and risk root damage.  This year, though I'm not in love with the idea of using styrofoam for anything, I can just rip the cups without fear of root damage.
 
I've ordered 2lbs of mycorrhizae. http://www.amazon.com/Endo-Mycorrhizae-2-lb-package/dp/B008B04HD2
Going to create a lighter soil mix based heavily on Pro-Mix and use lots of mycorrhizae.  Contemplating a drip line watering system as well as some form of greenhouse action outside.  Probably just a small hoop house.  We'll see on those.  That's it for now.
 
Thanks again to everybody on here.  I've been lurking for a long time and have learned a good deal from the members.  Guess this is my first proper post.  cheers!
 
 
-jay

 

[Jem936]

I use Styrofoam cup to start mostly all of my plants works great with absolutely no root damage and inexpensive

 

[scovilleADDICTION]

Nice list and set up you have, good luck for your growing season! The powders look great in the glass viles, I'm hoping to make powders this year (for the first time) if my crop is bountiful! I can't wait to try a fresh chocolate hab (only ever had them in a sauce), I grew some late last year that never produced so I'm hoping they will do well this season. I thought the pods would be delicious so its interesting to see your opinion on them. Cheers and all the best.

 

[Ragnar]

Nice list and great plan! That's a huge pack of myco - rather than just mixing it into the soil why not inoculate each plant directly (lots isn't a factor like a fert because once the fungi take hold, they're there) with a sprinkle directly on the roots. If stored in a cool dark place that 2lbs could last many a year.

 

[z_malloc]

Nice list and great plan! That's a huge pack of myco - rather than just mixing it into the soil why not inoculate each plant directly (lots isn't a factor like a fert because once the fungi take hold, they're there) with a sprinkle directly on the roots. If stored in a cool dark place that 2lbs could last many a year.

 
thanks guys
 
I was planning on hitting the roots hard during transplanting and since that 2lb bag is so cheap compared to others out there, I was gonna mix liberally in the soil.  So mixing in the soil won't have much affect eh?   I'd read that you really want to get direct root contact.  Some people say when they transplant the sprinkle a bunch of myco in the hole then place the plant in.  If it doesn't help to mix into the soil generally, then maybe I should just skip that eh?

 

[Nick08*]

Good looking start! LOVE powders too!!
 
Have you tried that CGN 21500 before?

 

[z_malloc]

 

 
 
 
I haven't yet, no.  I was put off last year by the fact that they aren't real hot.  But I'm all about flavor this year and these are supposed to have a really nice citrus/pineapple type flavor to them. So I'm pretty excited to try them in my Tears of the Sun sauce adaptation.  Should make for a nice pairing! 
 
As you can plainly see, they really are quite lovely looking as well.

 

[blorvak]

Greetings fellow Portlander! Gonna be watching your glog and comparing notes.

 

[z_malloc]

Greetings fellow Portlander! Gonna be watching your glog and comparing notes.

 
Cheers Blorvak! Yes, please do! Happy to share any way I can.

 

[Ragnar]

When you pot up just sprinkle the myco directly on the root ball. Mixing in the soil works but would be a waste of all those spores. That 2lbs will do 1000s. I used about a gram on 100 seeds. The fungi grows very fast and with the plant, it will spread up and down the root as well. Ideally a seed can be dipped before planting and they'll grow together from the get go. I think most brands tell you to mix into water and soil so you use a lot of the product and buy more. If more people knew it technically only takes a single spore of each sp. per plant there would be know money to be made.

 

[z_malloc]

Here's a sample of the dried peppers from my harvest last fall. The food dehydrator got plenty of use last year!  Looking forward to an even better 2014.  All of the brown ones are choc habs. They comprised about 2/3rds of my crop.
 
 

 

[z_malloc]

Adding to my 2014 list...
 
Pequin
Numex Twilight
Purple Jalepeno
Brown Moruga
7 Pot Bubblegum

 

[z_malloc]

Update.  A bit overdue I suppose...
 
I have about 150 plants now.  The last variety I'm adding for this year is the Giant Mexican Rocoto.  Here are some photos of progress.  You'll notice that some of them are stunted right now.  I was over watering.  Stupid mistake I won't make again.  The ones that got stunted will bounce back sooner or later.
 
 
--------- overflow that moves outside each day until poly tunnel is finished ---------

 
 
 
--------- grow tent w/ 1k watt halide ---------

 
 
--------- Brown Moruga ---------

 
 
--------- CGN21500 ---------

 
--------- some late starters ---------

 
 
 
I finally settled on my soil mix.  I mixed them in 7.5 gallon batches that consisted of...
 
2.5 shovels - White Lightning ( "White Lightning contains worm castings, mycorrhizal fungi, mineral dust, topsoil, fruit and veggie compost, dairy manure compost, mushroom compost, river sand and horticultural pumice" )
2 shovels - Dark hemlock bark fines
2 shovels - Fresh worm castings
1.5 shovels - peat moss
 
1 cup gypsum
1/4 cup epsom salt
1/2 cup dolomite lime
1/2 cup mineral mix that is about 90% azomite
1/2 cup bone meal
1 cup vermiculite
1 cup perlite
 
With each batch I mix up, I check the Ph level and ensure that it's at 6.4. 
At each transplant I hit the roots with Myco.
 
I have acquired about 300 food grade 5.25gal buckets and will be making self watering buckets.  Rather than the usual cup in the bottom, I'm going to shred long bath towels into 3" wide strips and use 3 of them per bucket.  Pull them up from a center hole to serve as wicks. This should hopefully keep the moisture level perfect.  Then I have a food grade 55gallon poly barrel I plan on using as a reservoir to periodically water all the buckets at once with a pump feeding water lines connected to the pvc tubes in the self watering buckets.  All of this to live under a large poly tunnel.
 
My work is cut out for me but I'm certain I'm going to get much bigger yields than I did last year.    Btw, here is my seed planting dates..

SEEDS PLANTED Feb 1. 2014
----
Red Bhut Jolokia
Chocolate Bhut Jolokia
Jays Red Ghost Scorpion
Jays Peach Ghost Scorpion
Red Devils Tongue
Red Fatalii
CGN 21500
Jalapeno
Purple Jalapeno


SEEDS PLANTED Feb 7. 2014
----
Pequin
Numex Twilight


SEEDS PLANTED Feb 14.2014
----
Purple Jalapeno
Korean Giant
Brown Moruga


SEEDS PLANTED Feb 20.2014
----
7 Pot Bubblegum


SEEDS PLANTED Feb 27.2014
----
Trinidad Perfume
Aji Lemon Drop
Aji Dulce #1


SEEDS PLANTED Mar 1.2014
----
Trinidad Douglah
Trinidad Scorpion Sweet
7 Pod White
Large Red 7 Pod
7 Pod Primo

SEEDS PLANTED Apr 7.2014
----
Giant Mexican Rocoto
ps.
I'm dedicating this post to Judy(PepperLover) at pepperlover.com.   We had some shipping problems but she more than made good for me. Best pepper seed retailer on the planet as far as I can tell!!   THANK YOU JUDY!!

 

[z_malloc]

Got a good deal on a Sun Blaze 46
 

 
So those ones on the garage floor will be getting some light on these dark wet days.

 

[z_malloc]

Quick update.  getting warm here this week.  moving plants in and out now.   This is the bulk of them.
 

 

[z_malloc]

Welp.. a lot has happened since my last post. I bought a custom portable greenhouse I'm using as a high tunnel for the rest of the summer.  I started building self-watering buckets but after about half way through I decided it was an insane amount of work for something that might not really be helpful. After streamlining the process I was spending about 10-15 mins per bucket. I did try an early test bucket to determine if the wicking action seemed sufficient and concluded that the test sucked   because as the plant grows and its watering needs change along with the variability of the weather, you just can't get a good idea until you actually try it real world. Given the amount of time, effort and extra cost ( xtra bucket, towels, drilling, pvc etc ) I figure 50 or so buckets over the course of this season would be my 'test'. 
 
A bit later, I noticed that my earliest test bucket that I began using with a pepper had soured.  The water in the reservoir smelled like sulfur.  Not a fan of this technique for the future. Would be fine if you had a few as you could monitor and flush periodically.  With 100+, it ain't gonna happen.  So I added a drip system.  More on that momentarily....
 
I think I've figured out why I get such bad leaf curling/waviness.  I did a pH and chlorine test and my pH out of the tap is insanely high at 8.4.  The chlorine level was also at the top of the scale.  At first I started setting out buckets of water in the sun to let the chlorine dissipate.  This works pretty good, but takes a few days.  Then I added aquarium pumps and air stones and bingo.  Chlorine purges in hours.  Next.. how to easily and cheaply lower the pH.  Did some looking and was about to go by a product called pH Down but was struggling to accept the cost, so searched a little more and found that vinegar (acetic acid) should do the job cheaply.  Tried it out and indeed, it lowers it wonderfully.  Plants aren't bothered in the slightest.  Now, how to deliver pH adjusted water to all my plants? 
 
I got a 55gal food grade poly barrel hooked to a farm watering float that uses a garden hose connection. Found a hack online to turn a auto misting air fresher into a simple dosing pump and connected it to a timer.  This *might* have worked, but the thing was far from reliable or precise.  It also had a hard time keeping the line primed.  Long pauses would result in air entering.  Rubbish.  More research led me to a peristaltic pump.  Found one from hong kong on ebay for 10 bucks.  Got a 6 dollar power supply, 10 dollar acid resistant tubing, and an 8 dollar digital timer that does 1 min intervals from harbor freight.  Now I can deliver with enough precision to be effective.  Inside the barrel are air stones and 2 pumps, the dosing pump pushes vinegar into the water and the water is pumped into the drip system with a 30 dollar pond pump (mag drive).  I've seen enough improvement in the leaves to know this is working. But since the design floods in as the water pumps out, it's still delivering a varied mix.
 
As the plants get larger though, they seem to tolerate the higher pH a little better.  Next year, I'm going to really focus on pH during early stages.  Here is a photo montage.  On the last photos, I saved for something that is just amazing to me.  A Jays Red Ghost Scorpion.  I've not seen a pepper plant bud like this before. If all or most of them produce, this is going to be flat out insane!
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 
^^^ this is a garden box we throw food waste and worms into.  it has 1000's of worms in it. anything we plant in it goes bananas!  most of these are carib reds and i expect this box to easily produce 400+ pods^^^
 

 
 
---- below are from today ----
 

 

 

 

[harrylarry]

gj my brother!

 

[z_malloc]

 --- Now for the Jays Red GS ---
 
 

 

 

 

 
It's not just one or two spots.  Every node intersection has these masses of buds.  Probably 30 per node intersect. insane

If anyone has seen this before and can say what the likelihood that all/most of these will actually produce pods, I'd love to hear about your experiences.  Thanks!

 

[z_malloc]

I've had about a half dozen tiny pulls, but this morning I finally got one of decent size.  They should start coming in daily and much larger. This are really coming late this year.  The new greenhouse is gonna serve me well and help me get most of them to finish before it gets really cold here.
 
Here's todays pull.
 

 

[z_malloc]

Second pull grabbed today.  My brown morugas are looking amazing. Very prolific plant!  Here's todays pod prons