Caretaker's Report from the Dixon MicroFarm Week 11

With Andy on vacation my goal is to keep everything alive! The problem of falling leaves seemed to briefly get better with application of nutrients. However, after a few days the pepper plants returned to a steady drop of leaves. My latest theory is bacterial spot. This is very common in Pepper plants and has two primary causes - bad seeds or a very moist and warm environment. Could we possibly have been overwatering? Unfortunately there is no cure. Of course, if this diagnosis is correct there is usually some sign of deformed or scarred peppers, and so far that is not the case. I have backed off on the amount of water, so that if this is the problem it hopefully won't get any worse.

The good news is that there are no less than 72 total peppers on Andy's three plants!

Pepper plants are looking a little leaner thanks to the dropping leaves. This doesn't seem to have affected the growth of the peppers.

Tons of peppers!

A close up of some of the larger peppers.

Tallest plant is a little over 20".

The entire garden along with jar full of leaf debris.

One of the largest peppers comes in at around 4" long.

Week 10 Good and Bad

First the bad...About a week and a half ago Andy started reporting leaves falling off his pepper plants. This process accelerated with time with 10, 15 or more leaves falling off in one day. Well, not long after this began with his plants one of mine also started to drop leaves. I also noticed some leaves turning yellow with spots and others drying up before falling off. At first this was just on my largest plant, but then it occurred on my smallest plant as well. The third plant has only lost one or two leaves and still looks fairly healthy.

So what is causing this? We were able to rule out environmental causes such as temperature and relative humidity. Andy's garage is warmer and drier while my grow room is cooler and moister - yet our plants are observing the same symptoms. Almost every other aspect of our grow conditions are the same - lighting, soil, containers, fertilizer, etc. A little online research (or a lot in Andy's case!) seems to indicate the most likely cause is a nutrient deficiency - possibly calcium, magnesium, and/or micronutrients - all of which would be more plentiful if planted in the soil outdoors.

It makes sense that this would pop up at the stage of fruit production. Andy and I both snipped the initial set of buds off to promote more plant growth and even more buds. The plant requires nutrients to produce the fruit and continue to grow. Andy purchased a series of water-soluble nutrients which we are now applying. After applying for less than a week Andy has seen improvement in his plants with just a few leaves falling off. I just applied the nutrients for the first time yesterday, so we'll have to see how the plants respond. Even without the nutrients I don't seem to be getting as many leaves falling as Andy was. Of course, my plants are not as big or quite as mature.

The good news for the week is that my herbs continue to make great progress. Everything from the latest planting on March 11th has germinated with the exception of Rosemary. One of Andy's Rosemary seeds took 4 weeks to germinate! It won't be long before I can start to harvest some of these, especially the Basil.

Peppers (10 weeks old) and Herbs (various ages). The pepper plant on the left has lost the most leaves while the one on the right has only lost a couple and still looks healthy.

Genovese Basil (small pot) and Sweet Basil (large pot).

Sage (front) and Oregano (back).

Spearmint (front), Thyme (back left), and Parsley (back right).

My tallest plant is up to around 11 1/2" and looking much thinner after losing a lot of leaves. This is only one inch  of growth since last week, likely due to the suspected nutrient deficiency.

Thanks to the smarts of Andy and Kendra who stopped by last Monday, this is the new and improved set-up. The shelf which was rubbing against the metal light fixture hanger has been removed. The hangers which connect to the fixture hangers have been reversed (with pulley section connected to light fixture) to allow me to easily raise and lower the light fixture.

Week 10...trouble right here in river city

**Edited April 18, to fill in commentary from last month**

OK, quick update before I leave for vacation. The pepper plants continue to be sick and lose green leaves...with many leaves also having brown or black spots on them. I honestly don't know what to expect when I return in 2 weeks...all the leaves may be gone by then. At first we thought it might be a deficiency of some of the less-common nutrients (called micronutrients). After consulting with a local organic gardening store, I purchased some CaMG+ - Calcium and Magnesium (CALMAG for short) to put on the plants, and also some "tomato food" fertilizer, to make sure the plants were getting what they needed. I thought that slowed down leaf drop for a few days, but then it seemed to pick right back up again. Thankfully, the peppers themselves still look great, with TONS of them hanging on the plants (literally dozens per plant).

The large lower leaves are getting thinned out pretty significantly...

The leaf graveyard.....this is every piece of material I have ever removed from any of the pepper plants.

Progress at the Baines Farm

Here is just a quick post due to sickness and tiredness. Heat has been applied and does seem to be making a difference. Picked off pepper buds a few days ago to allow plant to develop more (and produce even more buds). The breakdown per plant was 46 (!), 35, and 17 for a total of 98 snipped buds. I left one flower on the tallest plant, so I should have a pepper forming very soon. 

The transplanted herbs have taken well to their new environment and the newly planted herbs (with the exception of Rosemary) are all coming up quickly. Apparently the peat-pods were not a favorable environment for herb germination. 

Pepper plants at 9 weeks old. Herbs of various ages. Herbs finally taking off in soil (as opposed to peat) and warmer environment.

My tallest pepper plant at around 10.5 inches. That's about 3 inches of growth since last week.

Week 9

Time for the Week 9 update. I think the peppers got angry when I pinched off those buds, because they are absolutely churning out new buds now, and this time I'm letting them all form peppers. At the moment, I probably have 8-12 peppers between 1 and 3 inches long (still green of course), and 50-70 that are somewhere between flowering and small pepper phase. The longest peppers seem to be growing about 1/2 inch per day, so at this rate they will be what I expect will be full-size before we go on vacation next week! Of note, despite the massive push toward flowering/fruiting, the plants are STILL growing about 3 inches vertically per week. I just don't know where they are getting all this energy!

The herbs are starting to really take off....especially the Sage and Cilantro. Basil is, of course, still growing aggressively, and we had the 3rd and largest harvest so far this week (see picture below). In addition, shortly after this picture was taken, I added two new residents to the garden....I am going to try to grow a single Onion, and a single Garlic plant...each in one of the small black pots. I think that should be enough room.

So much green. The peppers are still the most aromatic...and now you can even smell peppers by simply walking into the garage...you don't even have to get down near the plants anymore!

A little hard to see, but here is one of the longer peppers...almost 2 inches long. It's hard to see it in this picture...it looks just like a branch.

Rosemary does seem to be accelerating growth. I read online that sometimes they like to be "neglected" and not watered so carefully...so I'm trying to give it less water, and I think it is responding!

Becoming one of my favorite herbs to grow....the leaves are soft and velvety and smell wonderful and growing steadily!

Thyme...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Cilantro --- gangbusters.

Parsley....slow and steady, but underwhelming growth.

Basil plants, right after picking off all the leaves pictured below.

Experiment to try to dry the leaves out, and add wonderful smells to the kitchen. So far, just drying, not much in the good smells department.

Moving Day and Herbs 2.0

I moved the whole grow operation today. Okay - it was only moved about 4 feet to the right. I added the top half of the utility shelf, which would have blocked the picture hanging on the wall.  Definitely better to move the shelf! :) Anyway, in order to add the top half of the shelf I had to remove the plants and light fixture. The whole reason for this was to make more use of the long cords from which the light fixture hangs. It is better now, but I still need to find a way to keep the metal wires from the light fixture from rubbing on the shelves.

I also finally transplanted my root-bound herbs. I do think they will eventually take to the new pots as the pepper plants did after they became root-bound. I don't think the peat-pods are the best way to start the herbs, so I planted new seeds along side each of the transplants.

Finally, I placed my space heater next the shelf to add a little heat to the operation.

Added on the top half of the shelf along with a space heater.

Transplanted herbs. Also planted new herb seeds in each of the pots.

Pepper Progress and Herb Failure

My pepper plants have continued steady growth over the past week with signs that they are about to take off. In fact, I'll need to add the top half of the utility shelf so that I am able to raise the lights high enough. My herbs on the other hand have grown very little because I have not yet transplanted them and the roots are hanging out the bottom of the peat-pods. I plan to start future herbs right in the pot.

Pepper plants at 8 weeks old. The one on the left was initially the slowest to take to the transplant. It is healthy and growing well now. 

There has been about 2 1/2 inches of growth in the past week with this plant standing at around 7 1/2 inches.

Buds!

First pepper!

Can you see the baby cayenne???

Week 8 update from The Dixon micro-farm

Just about 8 weeks in, and things continue to grow dramatically. So far this growing experiment is exceeding my expectations, especially the peppers. I pinched off 65 buds this week...and there were still about 25 that I wasn't able to reach so they are still on there. After the pinching off, it sure does seem like growth accelerated. I even burned some leaves because the plant literally grew over an inch overnight! Also had the first two herb harvests...Basil, yummm! The growing area is really starting to smell very fragrant these days.