Major Changes

Lots of picture in this post, and lots of excitement!! (no one reads this, do they....??)

First things first, I felt like both the Jalapenos and the Big Boy Tomatoes were ready for the next pot size this week. Rather than go for an interim pot size, and then another final pot size increase later on, I decided to just go for the big one. These are #7 pots...which are about the size of a 5 gallon bucket, even though their name would suggest a 7 gallon? I don't know. Either way, they are big, and bigger than the pots that the Cayenne's did very good in . At the end of this post, you will see the new pots in the garden. But before we get to that...some incremental photos of the installation of a more permanent and established Mylar configuration. The Mylar relfects a high percentage of light back to the plant, so that as little light as possible is "lost"...especially helpful in 100% artificial environments where you are supplying EVERYTHING for these plants. If you recall, at the other house I had taped the Mylar sheeting to the light fixture itself, but this was never an idea I was in love with, and am happy to now own a home and be able to make some more long-term plans.

First thing was to raise the brackets to the highest possible height, for max flexibility in growing options in the future.

I hatched a plan to use some scrap wood....

I cut some 2x4's the width of the grow space...and installed 2 of them in parallel on the back wall.

I used my new impact driver to put 3" screws into the studs with EASE

To install some wooden arms extending out from the wall, I used my new nail gun!!

The mylar will be stapled to this wood piece.

The other side...

After cutting the Mylar sheets, I installed it onto the first arm.

TADA!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

And here's the garden

3 pepper flowers now

TOMATO FLOWERS...WHAAAAT?!?!?

Tomato VINE

A new long-term addition to the garden, ALOE!!!!

Note the flag ;)

Tada!!!

Looky looky!! Time for an interim update. Look what I found when I got home today :) :)

The very first Jalapeno flower!

This and many other buds soon to follow into the flowering stage

I transplanted into final #7 pots....substantially larger than the Cayenne pots, so I wonder if the plants will get bigger?

Dec 28 - 6 1/2 week old peppers

Well another week has passed. Not much to report...getting ready to transplant for the 2nd time (probably this coming week). The peppers are about 7 inches tall, which is about 1 inch taller than last week at this time. I attribute the "slow" growth to the fact that I'm letting both plants develop all the buds they want. No flowers yet, but likely in the coming week (judge for yourself in the pictures below).

Meanwhile, the tomatoes continue to take over. What a wild plant. The smell of tomato leaves reminds me of my childhood.

 

Solstice post

Well here we are on the shortest day of the year, in the middle of the long Alaskan winter, growing warm weather crops :) Nothing like it... the satisfaction just keeps on coming with this nearly 1 year old experiment!!

This week, the tomatoes have continued to erupt. I am starting to see why they are considered a vine, as they grow FAST. They are now over the edges of the pot on 3 sides, and I need to think about when I am going to transplant them into their final pots.

The biggest development of the week is definitely the fact that the peppers are forming buds! If you recall, I pinched off the first wave of buds on the Cayenne's near this stage, so that the plant would grow bigger and more productive. I kind of wonder if that "wound" perhaps contributed to the bacterial spot, so I'm still undecided whether or not to do that this time. I may just let them AU NATURAL and see what happens.

Saturday December 14 Jalapeño Roundup

Not a tremendous amount to report here. After a slow start after transplanting, the tomatoes are really taking off now. Meanwhile, the Jalapenos are happy and healthy, and looking very "bushy" the same way the Cayenne's did at this stage.

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Sat Dec 7 - A date that will live in infamy

...obviously that is a reference to Pearl Harbor day (today!). On the garden front, things are going well. Halfway through the week I transplanted the tomatoes into the medium pots, because it seemed like their growth stalled in the peat pods. Well, they've continued to grow SLOOOOWLY, and just today have started popping out this first set of "true" leaves. Perhaps growth will take off now? Or, Shaun says tomatoes grow slow, so maybe it'll be the pace of Rosemary all through this. Guess I'll find out!

The pepper are doing marvelous. I have been thinking a lot about that bacterial fungus that plagued the Cayennes, and although I'm still not sure where it originally came from, I am almost positive that through hundreds of repetitions of careless watering I probably spread it to every plant in the garden. Thus, this time, I am being VERY careful to never touch the watering can to the soil, or splash water onto the leaves, etc. Even though it might all be for nothing, the scientist in me wants to control as many variables as possible to try to isolate the issue (if there happens to be one!). To that end, the leaves on the shorter of the two Jalapeno's are nearly touching the ground sometimes. So I placed these small strips of wood on the sides to prevent the leaves from touching soil (one of the big ways bacteria can move up to the foliar portion of the plant.

As you can see, they are doing very well, and have popped 3 new sets of leaves over the last week. Hurray!!!

Tomatoes growing fast

Wow, the tomatoes were supposed to be 7-10 days to even sprout, but instead they came up after 4, and here they are after only 24 hours above ground. They must be faster growing than the peppers, I think! I must say, it is kind of neat to have a "main" crop to think about that is of a different variety than peppers! (gasp)

And here are the Jalapeños....its hard to say but the 2nd set of true leaves is already quick on the heels of the first.