Gardening: the beets must go on

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Gardening: the beets must go on

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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I've been using a tsp (5ml) of cal-mag and foxfarm liquid fertilizers into a gallon of water every week for my balcony self-wicking container peppers and they're doing incredibly well this year.

Started them all from seed back in January shortly after I moved into this place because I've got a south side balcony.

The Cha-Cha is starting to produce a ton of peppers already with the tiger bloom stuff.

Also, that Earth box is incredible for patio gardening, it holds an entire 2 cu.ft. bag of soil and a 3 gal water reservoir. I put some mycorrhizae and fertilizer in the soil before sealing it with the plastic liner. I've only had to add water once since April.

# ¿ Jun 9, 2023 00:30

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 00:59

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Something's stealing chunks out of my pepper leaves, I think it may be a leafcutter bee. I've seen a big fat bee flying around but I haven't seen it land on the plants.

I guess it's better than something that's actually devouring the plant like caterpillars.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2023 18:59

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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ThePopeOfFun posted:

Started fertilizing my peppers and tomatoes more. Everything is exploding and flowering. Lots of spider friends, too. BT has kept the worms away. Spotted a big rear end earwig on my sweet pepper plant. Might try the newspaper trick, we’ll see.

Gardening rules.

Hell yeah, gardening does rule. My peppers are going nuts right now, check out this Bangalore Whippets Tail that just keeps getting longer:

# ¿ Jun 20, 2023 19:29

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Arsenic Lupin posted:

Okay, none of the labels I put in last fall are readable now. In my life, I've tried:
* pencil-on-zinc labels (faded)
* stylus-on-copper labels (oxidize, unreadable)
* pencil-on-popsicle-stick (good for one season)
* Sharpie-on-plastic-markers (faded within 6 months)
* Labeler-on-plastic-markers (faded within 3 months).

Anybody got a favorite long-term solution for labeling plants? I don't care if it's carrots or annuals, but I would very much like to have permanent labels on the roses, peonies, and rare bulbs.

I just took a paperclip and scotch tape and wrote on a tiny piece of paper then sandwiched it together like a little laminated flag and somehow it's survived several storms and direct sun without fading or coming apart because the tape is sealed all the way around the paper.

I only did it as a temporary thing with the seedlings and ended up putting them outside. I'm sure a real laminator or maybe vacuum sealed business card sized labels would be more pro and look nicer.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2023 14:18

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Does anyone know if these speckles are caused by disease or pests? I've been searching online and haven't come across pics of anything like it for common problems.

It's only on one of my plants but it's in the same planter as 3 others and I don't know if I should rip it up to prevent disease spread.

That plant had pretty bad edema when it was a seedling but that was like 3-4 months ago and these are all leaves that grew outdoors.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2023 14:37

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Arsenic Lupin posted:

Could you put up a picture of the bottom of a leaf and of the stem?

e: Ordering Emboss-O-Tags, thanks.

Stems look good, I looked under the leaves and didn't see much on most of them but underneath one of the really old leaves near the bottom I think I found thrips.

I'll spray them down with Neem oil I guess later.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2023 19:37

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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I have some holes like those in my pepper leaves, my only guess is a leafcutter bee here because I've seen a few big fat bees flying around and the cuts are perfect little circles.

Mine are like one hole every few leaves though that looks like a ton of cuts.

# ¿ Jul 5, 2023 16:10

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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These two pots are both Hurt Berry super-hot peppers, no idea why one of them decided to hulk out and grow like 4 feet tall.

"What is root bound? My home planet needs me."

I'm basically just growing it hydroponic at this point and keep filling the lower water dish like every day.

I think Neem oil managed to keep the thrips/aphids off the plant I posted earlier because it seems to be doing well and is covered in crazy looking peppers now.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2023 18:55

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Jhet posted:

maybe it went through a spell without getting enough light and decided to use the good nutrients to get super leggy.

This is most likely the culprit, there was also a sulfur cosmos flower in that pot that I eventually cut out after the first month or so of it being outdoors. I was fertilizing pretty heavily and it was not getting full sun.

# ¿ Jul 7, 2023 19:52

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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I lived at a place that had a bed about that size in the back yard that we planted early and late blooming strawberries in and I wish I still had that for making more jam. It also had an elderberry bush in one corner and some yarrow around.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2023 22:20

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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I started dehydrating some hot peppers last night and now my entire apartment smells amazing and fruity like a habanero.

*Sniiiifffff* "Ahhh yeah that's the stu..." *cough cough wheeze*

Dr_0ctag0n fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Jul 27, 2023

# ¿ Jul 27, 2023 14:37

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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I dried all these out from the first ripening peppers and ground them into flakes/powder. I kept the superhot hurt berries out of the mix but those fatalii peppers are hot as poo poo and just a tiny flake will absolutely light you up so this mix is a bit dangerous haha.

Probably going to try making some fermented sauce with all the rest, there's like 4x that many peppers out there ripening now and our season still has a couple months left.

The freakish hurt berry is loaded with peppers now that it's like 4ft taller than it's sibling and stealing all the light. There's about two dozen on that plant and they're pretty large.

# ¿ Jul 28, 2023 18:25

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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That's a really cool and happy looking basil plant!

# ¿ Jul 28, 2023 18:54

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Arsenic Lupin posted:

By the way, if you want to avoid the hurty grinder thing and have a dehydrator, we always dry habaneros and other serious peppers cut into rings. Then you pop as many rings as the spirit moves you into the dish you're cooking.

This is a great idea, thanks for all the helpful advice!

# ¿ Jul 28, 2023 21:20

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Not sure about that melon in particular but you can usually tell when a watermelon is ripe by thumping it with your finger. If it's more of a "thwok" sound like it's a solid it's not ripe but if you hear more of a 'hollow' "thump" sound they're generally ripe.

That's how my grandfather's jubilee watermelons always worked. Or you could wait until the deer and coyotes start busting them open, they seem to know exactly when they're ripe lol.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2023 14:54

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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I'm going to try to overwinter these peppers this year and I had a question about where to top the freakishly large one.

Since this hurt berry hulked out and grew 5ft tall I'm wondering if I should chop it back at the lower "Y" at the bottom like normal, or if I could keep the extra few feet of stem and make it start taller next year in a larger container by cutting at the second "Y" further up.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2023 15:02

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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They're apparently pressure washing and painting the building tomorrow and said I need to move everything off the balcony, but there's no way I can move the pepper garden. I think I'm just going to make a big bubble around the plants with a plastic dust cover and tape in the morning. What crappy timing now that I have dozens of fruit ripening.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2023 01:39

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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I'd get at least one big-rear end jar and pickle a bunch of them. Or make some cowboy candy Mmmm

# ¿ Oct 28, 2023 16:56

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Discussion Quorum posted:

Tell me about your experience with self watering planters from 5 gallon buckets. Thinking about experimenting with them for figs (already in 5 gal buckets) and maybe some dwarf tomatoes (rather than grow bags). The main objective is to cut down how much I need to manually water in our summer heat, especially if I want to go away for a long weekend and not come back to stressed or fried plants.

I was thinking about moving away from peat this year and using coconut coir, but some sources indicate it doesn't wick well enough to move water up 12+".

I bought 4 5-gallon buckets to try making two last year but then I saw an earthbox on sale and went with it instead. I may try making the bucket ones next year.

Even with four full-sized 4-5ft tall pepper plants it could go about three days during the hottest summer heat before the 3-gallon reservoir ran dry. During the milder temperatures it would last almost a week with less evaporation.

I just used normal "moisture control" miraclegro potting soil and it stayed at a perfect moisture level as long as you have water in the bottom and some sort of plastic/mulch over the top.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2023 15:41

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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OscarDiggs posted:

Is this the place to ask questions about gardening in an apartment/flat?

I've got a little bit of south facing balcony I want to fill with pots and do something with, but I've got little experience in the matter.

I would recommend looking into self-wicking buckets for balcony gardening. You can build some really easy or buy a pre-built kit like an earthbox. I had great success last year with hot peppers in a small 8x5ish spot of full sun.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2024 23:30

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Jhet posted:

I used the Fox Farm liquid line when I had a pepper room in my basement. Doesn’t stink and the general nutrient levels worked right. I think there’s guidance to dilute to something like 1/8th of what you’d normally use for small seedlings, but I’m not at home to look for where I wrote it down.

You're right, also the newer labels have a measurement for seedlings. At least on my bottle of grow big it says 2.5ml/gal rather than normal feeding rate of 10-15ml/gal

# ¿ Feb 8, 2024 23:29

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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OscarDiggs posted:

Investing in proper pots and containers would have made the project a little to expensive, but I managed to snag some containers kinda like this one for a fantastic price (free).

They need some work on them. Drainage holes in the bottom, for one. Then some sort of mesh to keep everything thats inside staying inside. They're about 28cm wide, 25cm deep and about 45cm long (Or about 11, 9 and 17 inches).

Past that, I need some questions answered. I've seen just as many posts out there that say to put rocks on the bottom for drainage as ones that say not to, so a definite answer one way or the other would help. Also, are there any reasons I shouldn't be using a container like this at all? I think lastly, can I just leave the containers with the holes on the balcony itself, or should I be looking at something to elevate it a little? Once all that's done I can decide what's actually going into them.

Do you have any good DIY tutorials that I can look at and see what sort of work would need to be done?

Those would probably work fine for a self-wicking container, or at least as a free test for leafy greens and herbs or onions but they're pretty small if you plan on growing larger plants like tomatos, peppers, cucumbers, etc. I had 4 pepper plants in one container that would slurp up 3Gals of water every few days during the hottest months of the summer. I had to cover them to protect from the apt maintenance spray-painting the buildings and as soon as the sun hit them it inflated like a sauna with all the water that was being perspired through the plants, here's a picture lol

Rocks are generally used just as a buffer layer between the soil and the artificial water table so you don't have the dirt sitting underwater which will drown the plant or cause root rot and invite fungus. If you set up a wicking container properly you won't really need rocks in the bottom unless you want to add extra weight to make it more stable or just use the single container rather than one with a 'false bottom' created by nesting two.

Here's a slightly over-complicated version that shows a way to make them with 5-gal buckets, it's got some diagrams to see how the basic structure works and you could apply it to any containers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOXDCFSKdNo
For your containers you'd just need to put something in the bottom one to keep the top elevated a bit like maybe some empty crushed soda cans or rocks and then drill some holes in the bottom of the top bucket so when you water it all drains down in and then slowly wicks up either with the roots, or cotton strings, old clothes strips, or whatever you have laying around to hang down into the water and draw it up into the soil.

Dr_0ctag0n fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Feb 10, 2024

# ¿ Feb 10, 2024 19:33

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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eke out posted:

how do you stop those things from being Mosquito City? is it just that it's hard for adults to get in and lay eggs

I just put a sandwich baggie over the fill pipe with a rubber band and it seemed to work fine.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2024 23:20

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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This year's "winter" has me wondering when the last frost date will be. Between the 2023 revised USDA zones and the fact that February has been like 65 degrees I really have no idea when it'll be safe to transplant outdoors. I think I waited until mid April last year.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2024 22:38

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Chad Sexington posted:

Pepper seed are sown in flats

it has begun

I got my super hots sowed Jan 15th, they've got about three sets of true leaves now in solo cups. This year I'm making a crappy webcam time lapse of them growing for the whole season. Unfortunately my cam doesn't have adjustable focus up close so the quality will be kinda blurry until I move them out to the patio and the camera is a few feet away.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 17:24

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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eke out posted:

man some peppers are so slow -- half of mine started in december are in small pots with numerous leaves, meanwhile some hong gochus and aji dulces barely even have their second set of true leaves yet.

probably should've started them at like 80 degree soil temp or something, but my heating mat struggled indoors when it was literally freezing outside

Yeah, they're all super slow for the first month or so. I invested the $20 or whatever for a germinating mat and it really helps speed up the germination process for peppers as well as the early growth rate for seedlings. It still took like a week or so before they started popping up, where as lettuce seeds will start sprouting roots overnight on the heating pad.

I planted all C. Chinense varieties this year, the Yellow Fatalii are growing faster than all the others and have the thickest stems. They really seem to be the healthiest and most prolific variety I've grown. I think I'm going to also try a hybrid project this year between Fatalii and peach moruga scorpions.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2024 18:20

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Chad Sexington posted:

Those don't even have true leaves yet though. Can't pot up until they do. Planted mine a week after you OP and I just potted up a bunch in the last few days.

Try adding some diluted fertilizer.

diluted? why not just give them the REAL SAUCE

(these were seeds on jan 15th)

I had to move the few I intend to grow outdoors into Gallon jugs just so I don't have to keep hydroponic watering them twice a day like the others:

I'm going to give most away to friends and at work once I harden them off.

The roots on some of these ghost peppers are crazy

I only grew so many to make sure I had at least one healthy one of each variety I wanted, but all of them are super-mutants.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2024 01:32

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Yeah, I already cut the openings larger after taking that picture and added a few more pebbles to give more reservoir space in the crowded ones. It's a learning process lol
Luckily with solo cups you just need to snip an edge of the existing hole and lean it away to cut a nice "V" opening without hurting the roots.
It's not nearly as crowded inside the cup as the roots make it look, they're just getting fed every day below the bottom of the cup and reaching for the 'bottomless' nutrient supply below. I think the dirt in the cup is filled with primarily 'air' roots on most of these.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2024 02:23

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Maybe a few trays of different microgreens? They only take like a week and look kinda like fancy grass to graze on.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2024 22:32

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Is it possible at all to grow peppers indoors without edema? Lol

I've tried watering less, pointing fans at them, reducing light, but it seems like every year they just start looking more and more awful until they go outside. The temps and humidity in here are all within pepper tolerances and never really fluctuate.

I was hoping to grow some hydroponically in a grow tent this year but I feel like I'm doing something wrong or my apt has an edema curse.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 00:28

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Last year I assumed it was stagnant air so I got fans. This year I think it may just be that they're insanely overcrowded in the tent until I can move them out in a few weeks. There's like 14 of them in a 3x2 area in a drat near perfect canopy haha

They're growing like mad and look happy but the bottom of some of the larger leaves look really rough.

Dr_0ctag0n fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Mar 29, 2024

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 00:49

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Jhet posted:

When you put them outside make sure to tear up the root balls to make them work on new systems or they'll just stick with what they have.

Thanks for the heads up

# ¿ Mar 29, 2024 21:04

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Every time I check the ten day forecast for the past few weeks it's perfect for 8 of the ten days and says it'll drop down into the 30s or 40s :negative:

# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 16:49

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Alterian posted:

One of my fig trees is starting to fruit. Ideas on keeping squirrels away from it this year without having to tether my dogs to it like one of Hercules' trials?

My great grandmother used to go out with a roll of tin foil and wrap each fig loosely to keep the wasps/bugs out while they ripened on the tree. No idea if it'll keep squirrels away but I know birds hate tinfoil or can't see the figs and leave them alone.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 13:50

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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Lmao yeah nevermind those are the squirrels' now. The fig tree we had in the family must have been heavily pruned or a dwarf variety.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 14:11

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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goals: Im crossing two peppers in a grow tent inside to try and get f1 plants for next year. I'm also recording a janky time lapse video of all my peppers growing since I started them back in mid January.

Harvest goals: I'm growing 8 superhots on my balcony along with the two inside to hopefully make enough fermented sauce to sate my addiction until next year... 3 didn't cut it last time because I gave a lot of it away.

# ¿ May 3, 2024 17:52

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 00:59

Dr_0ctag0n: Apr 25, 2015; The whole human race
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mischief posted:

The heat is making everything run too fast and we have way too many freakin' bugs this year. I've seen more ticks just this year than I have in the last twenty years.

Thanks Al Gore.

The cicadas are so drat loud that it's basically unsafe to go out without earplugs. My ears were ringing yesterday as if I was around power tools after being outside for like 10 minutes

# ¿ May 10, 2024 16:53

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