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Vegetable Gardens: Tips, Advice, Questions, Tales, Pictures
- Thread starter FoolKiller
- 347 comments
- 45,837 views
opelgt1969
Premium
- 2,190
- Bristol,Va USA
- opelgt1969
Try pickling them with bread/butter pickling mix. It does take some of the hot out but adds a flavor that's strangely good.
FPV MIC
Premium
- 4,189
- Australia
- GT-MIC
We just use a mix of water, apple cider vinegar, sugar and salt. They're fine for using as poppers or roasted on the bbq within weeks but it takes 1-2 years for them to develop that really nice pickled flavour (we keep them refrigerated).
If you ever get the chance try this Sweet Jalapeños Mustard.
- 16,429
- United Kingdom
Okay, I'm quite tired at the moment, but I did have to read this twice, because the first time I thought you had a recipe using bread and butter
Holy cow, years? Hmmm.
I'd got something like this in mind...
Good channel, lots of ideas and info.
Can't get that brand, I've had something that sounds similar, and although my tolerance for heat isn't too shabby, I do remember it making my gums burn! ... might have to get some more if I can figure out which one it was
FPV MIC
Premium
- 4,189
- Australia
- GT-MIC
They were okay sooner but just not as good as they should have been. I think it was down to not being pierced quite deep enough.
👍. That's pretty much how we did it.
I like that brand in particular because it's not over the top hot... gotta keep those sheets clean.Can't get that brand, I've had something that sounds similar, and although my tolerance for heat isn't too shabby, I do remember it making my gums burn! ... might have to get some more if I can figure out which one it was
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- United Kingdom
Getting a Grow tent ready for when the crapotron is not enough...
If the home made propagator is the Crapotron... the actual properly made grow tent will be the Propertron...
Needs light and ventilation, but some of the plants in the Crapotron are already sick from out-growing their environment.
If the home made propagator is the Crapotron... the actual properly made grow tent will be the Propertron...
Needs light and ventilation, but some of the plants in the Crapotron are already sick from out-growing their environment.
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- United Kingdom
@kikie
First attempt with the Brocolli sproutings...
.. honestly, I didn't give them as much attention as I should have done.. but I'm still fairly happy with the result. What's grown is really dense, and intertwined, I think if I'd have perhaps swilled the sproutings more often they'd maybe not have gotten so entangled... I can literally grab one bit and pull most of the contents out in one go...
... but it's tasty. A handful on a ham sandwich is great
Will do again, got some ideas to improve my process.
As for the Chillis...
Disaster.
Something has beset half of them, at first I thought I'd overwatered, but I watered them in groups with a control set and it didn't seem to be the watering. All of the earliest sprouters wilted, and some died... didn't seem to matter how much I'd watered them (or not). Spent the day today rigging up the Propertron, and repotting some of the sick plants from the Crapotron...
This is the Propertron at the moment...
I'm fairly happy with the Propertron at the moment... still need to do a bit to the electrics - only the tent is store bought, the rest is DIY! I can adjust the height of all the bulbs as stuff grows underneath, and the bulbs are switchable in pairs,
The plants in the gray tray are what survived from last year, the other ones are the worst of the ones from the Crapotron. The root systems all looked good when repotting, and now they are all bottom watered, in bigger pots, hopefully they'll all pull through.
First attempt with the Brocolli sproutings...
.. honestly, I didn't give them as much attention as I should have done.. but I'm still fairly happy with the result. What's grown is really dense, and intertwined, I think if I'd have perhaps swilled the sproutings more often they'd maybe not have gotten so entangled... I can literally grab one bit and pull most of the contents out in one go...
... but it's tasty. A handful on a ham sandwich is great
Will do again, got some ideas to improve my process.
As for the Chillis...
Disaster.
Something has beset half of them, at first I thought I'd overwatered, but I watered them in groups with a control set and it didn't seem to be the watering. All of the earliest sprouters wilted, and some died... didn't seem to matter how much I'd watered them (or not). Spent the day today rigging up the Propertron, and repotting some of the sick plants from the Crapotron...
This is the Propertron at the moment...
I'm fairly happy with the Propertron at the moment... still need to do a bit to the electrics - only the tent is store bought, the rest is DIY! I can adjust the height of all the bulbs as stuff grows underneath, and the bulbs are switchable in pairs,
The plants in the gray tray are what survived from last year, the other ones are the worst of the ones from the Crapotron. The root systems all looked good when repotting, and now they are all bottom watered, in bigger pots, hopefully they'll all pull through.
That's normal.
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I have been searching for those lids as well. I found them some time ago but lost the link to the website.
Can you give me the link, if you don't mind?
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- 16,429
- United Kingdom
I bought the set from Amazon, you can buy the lids separately, but these are the ones I bought
Plenty to choose from if you just whack "Sprouting Jar" into Amazon or Google.
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- United Kingdom
So the Chilli's are coming along with varying degrees of success...
The worst looking ones (the tallest towards the top right) are still the ones I was trying to salvage from last year... they seem super sensitive to when they're watered, and all need re-potting, but I think if I re-potted them as they are they'd just die. This years plants are doing alright. 6 didn't survive being potted up which is a shame, and some aren't very healthy, but the growth is nice and dense on most (compared to what the 'window ledge' plants did last year).
I'm just surprised that given how they're all under the same conditions, how differently some are responding.
The worst looking ones (the tallest towards the top right) are still the ones I was trying to salvage from last year... they seem super sensitive to when they're watered, and all need re-potting, but I think if I re-potted them as they are they'd just die. This years plants are doing alright. 6 didn't survive being potted up which is a shame, and some aren't very healthy, but the growth is nice and dense on most (compared to what the 'window ledge' plants did last year).
I'm just surprised that given how they're all under the same conditions, how differently some are responding.
- 20,681
- TenEightyOne
- TenEightyOne
We took on a new place at the end of last year, including some allotment space. I asked the Estate if we could take on the extra bits too as the neighbours weren't interested. They said yes, I paid a (literal) peppercorn, and today my friends popped round to turn a clay-baked moonscape into something else.
So now I need to know where to buy fruit trees, and which kinds of apples like East Yorkshire? There's so much conflicting advice online and the neighbours are no use because all they grow is cows, pigs, and increasingly drunk.
So now I need to know where to buy fruit trees, and which kinds of apples like East Yorkshire? There's so much conflicting advice online and the neighbours are no use because all they grow is cows, pigs, and increasingly drunk.
- 28,406
- Glasgow
- GTP_Mars
Congrats on the acquisition, that looks amazing... any room for chillis in there? There's an abandoned patch of land on a farm where I walked my sister's dog last year and a derelict plastic arched greenhouse (sure it has a more technical name), and I would have loved to be able to have a go at turning it into a chilli growing facility, but for the fact that I don't actually live there (was only there for lockdown), and don't have the wherewithal (or money) to actually bring it back to life...
Good luck with your endeavours, and I look forward to seeing the (literal) fruits of your labours.
- 20,681
- TenEightyOne
- TenEightyOne
Most of it will be grass/wildflower/fruit trees but there'll be some spuds "fer't gror't soil in" on the advice of all the old farm lads around. And there'll be a greenhouse and some cloche-type raised beds, chillis will be there. I hope. There's a lot to do between now and then and I'm an utter amateur. But I know people with tractors so that helps
EDIT: I should add that the allotment isn't in a large collective plot, it's at the end of our garden, that's why some will be grassed.
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- 16,429
- United Kingdom
Polytunnel, I believe.
My Chillis are coming along, some are flowering and some of this years crop have started fruiting (Hungarian Hot Wax). I've lost a few more plants though - and I still can't figure out why - same conditions, same watering cycle.
I need to give them a few hours attention to re-pot, and/or trim some of them, but I'm struggling to find the time, which is annoying.
I could really do with moving the grow tent to the garage, but I need to stick the Govee in their for a few days (and nights), to see what the temperatures going to be like first. Indoors the plants haven't dropped below 14° even at night when the bulbs are off, going outside is likely to be quite a shock for them.
edit: Further to the above. Spent a few hours last night giving each of the plants a quick once over - not least because I've no idea what's actually left out of the 98 seeds originally planted. The answer is 48... so near enough 50% which I'm fairly happy with. Less happy that this only includes one Trinidad Scorpion plant, and two Red Habanero plants.
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Quick check in...
Doing alright.
Edit:
I've added a bit more heat to the set up. Want to keep the temperature between 25 and 30, it's generally about 20 at the moment.
Doing alright.
Edit:
I've added a bit more heat to the set up. Want to keep the temperature between 25 and 30, it's generally about 20 at the moment.
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Chilli update:
Quite a bit of greenery now...
They went through a phase of drying out at very different rates so some suffered quite badly from underwatering and look very ropey at the moment, about half have been potted up to their final pot sizes with a proper soil mix (Compost, Vermiculite, Perlite and Fish, blood and bone in a 20:2:2:1 mix) and they're looking much better for it - the larger amount of better soil should help keep the moisture levels more stable. I'm using "rose pots" since they're quite deep, but not very big diameter, so I can theoretically fit 64 of them in the tent... I guess it's just a waiting game to see if the pot sizes constrain the plant sizes before the plants out grow the tent... which I'm kind of banking on if I'm going to continue growing these things indoors.
The Hungarian hot wax plants continue to fruit, but so far I've not been harvesting what they put out, I need to get better at judging when things are suitably ripe though, never seem to get it right yet! To be honest the HHW plants are too small at the moment, I should be removing the flowers and fruits as they come out so the plant can fill out properly first. The only other plant that's put out a properly developed fruit is a Bhut Jolokia, a couple of the other super-hots have fruited but the pods don't grow properly before ripening - I'm assuming this is because of the poor state those specific plants have been in during my watering woes.
I need to build a watering device of some sort to enable me to bottom water them quickly since it's going to get crowded in their, and I'd rather not top water them. The new soil mix and pot saucers seems to help the plants draw water up really well. I'd noticed on some of the other ones I was using that the plants didn't seem able to draw water up even when the soil was really dry. I've no proper evidence for this, but I suspect the smaller pots (disposable cups) I've been using are quite high surface tension - meaning they repel the water underneath, and the saucers in which the water sat were the opposite - low surface tension - meaning the water had a preferential attraction to the saucer, and wasn't absorbed properly by the soil.
Quite a bit of greenery now...
They went through a phase of drying out at very different rates so some suffered quite badly from underwatering and look very ropey at the moment, about half have been potted up to their final pot sizes with a proper soil mix (Compost, Vermiculite, Perlite and Fish, blood and bone in a 20:2:2:1 mix) and they're looking much better for it - the larger amount of better soil should help keep the moisture levels more stable. I'm using "rose pots" since they're quite deep, but not very big diameter, so I can theoretically fit 64 of them in the tent... I guess it's just a waiting game to see if the pot sizes constrain the plant sizes before the plants out grow the tent... which I'm kind of banking on if I'm going to continue growing these things indoors.
The Hungarian hot wax plants continue to fruit, but so far I've not been harvesting what they put out, I need to get better at judging when things are suitably ripe though, never seem to get it right yet! To be honest the HHW plants are too small at the moment, I should be removing the flowers and fruits as they come out so the plant can fill out properly first. The only other plant that's put out a properly developed fruit is a Bhut Jolokia, a couple of the other super-hots have fruited but the pods don't grow properly before ripening - I'm assuming this is because of the poor state those specific plants have been in during my watering woes.
I need to build a watering device of some sort to enable me to bottom water them quickly since it's going to get crowded in their, and I'd rather not top water them. The new soil mix and pot saucers seems to help the plants draw water up really well. I'd noticed on some of the other ones I was using that the plants didn't seem able to draw water up even when the soil was really dry. I've no proper evidence for this, but I suspect the smaller pots (disposable cups) I've been using are quite high surface tension - meaning they repel the water underneath, and the saucers in which the water sat were the opposite - low surface tension - meaning the water had a preferential attraction to the saucer, and wasn't absorbed properly by the soil.
- 16,429
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So, I'm classing this as my first homegrown chilli pepper...
A Bhut Jolokia/Ghost Pepper...
This is the first pepper I've picked to use, previous picked peppers have been picked primarily to figure out how the ripening process is going, and that's ended up with under ripe or over ripe chilli's.. I sampled a tiny slice of this yesterday and it's good to go, so it's going in a curry later...
A Bhut Jolokia/Ghost Pepper...
This is the first pepper I've picked to use, previous picked peppers have been picked primarily to figure out how the ripening process is going, and that's ended up with under ripe or over ripe chilli's.. I sampled a tiny slice of this yesterday and it's good to go, so it's going in a curry later...
- 16,429
- United Kingdom
So 2021's Chilli harvest wasn't great, mostly because I'm a terrible person and failed to look after my plants properly.
Having learned from last year, I know I need to up my grow tent game... I've got a lot of wasted height, and not enough footprint, so I'll be installing a platform with additional lights so it's two tier, and I have to automate my watering.
I planted some seeds back in early January and most have germinated...
They're in the Crapotron at the moment...
The bigger ones on the left are Bangalore Whippets tails, they seem to love the environment early on, but they suffered last year with the conditions in the grow tent. The plants with the darker leaves are Filius Blue's, should mix things up a bit colour wise. Most of my Fatali's haven't germinated, they're now in the airing cupboard to see if the environment in there is better.
This is what I've got so far...
I'm using ChilliChump's Seedsio.com site to keep track of things this time, much easier than messing around with my Google sheet.
Having learned from last year, I know I need to up my grow tent game... I've got a lot of wasted height, and not enough footprint, so I'll be installing a platform with additional lights so it's two tier, and I have to automate my watering.
I planted some seeds back in early January and most have germinated...
They're in the Crapotron at the moment...
The bigger ones on the left are Bangalore Whippets tails, they seem to love the environment early on, but they suffered last year with the conditions in the grow tent. The plants with the darker leaves are Filius Blue's, should mix things up a bit colour wise. Most of my Fatali's haven't germinated, they're now in the airing cupboard to see if the environment in there is better.
This is what I've got so far...
I'm using ChilliChump's Seedsio.com site to keep track of things this time, much easier than messing around with my Google sheet.
- 324
- Sydney
I just discovered this thread and subsequently your chilli adventures. Have you tried watering with a seaweed solution after you repot? It helps with root shock and might solve a few of your issues.
Not sure if they have this in your part of the world, but if not I imagine there would be something similar.
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- 16,429
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Yeah seaweed seems to be widely recommended, I tend to alternate between two plant foods, Chilli Focus, and Tomorite, both of which are 'enriched' with sea weed, I also only use rain water for watering since I gather that's better for them than tap water. I am going to use a better soil mix when I pot up this time though, I used straight compost last time, this time it'll will be a combo of compost, perlite, vermiculite and fish meal, which should help with nutrients, drainage and aeration.
As I alluded to above, my biggest problem is not watering enough. It ended up taking hours as I'd have to take most of the plants out in order to get to them all properly, which meant I often didn't do it regularly enough.
Hopefully I'll stay on top of it this year. 👍
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Small progress update.
Chocolate Habs and the Fatalii's are still pretty desperate, but the rest are pretty healthy. I will start potting up the Bangalore whippets tails and the Big Bombs next week, pretty much all 16 are about ready.
Need to work on a couple of things though...
The temperature in the grow tent needs to stabilise a bit...
... You can see the two distinct levels that indicate when the heating in the house is off or on, and then the heater in the grow tent provides the 'teeth' on the graph... I want to smooth out those teeth, so I think I'll try to insulate the grow tent a little, and perhaps change from a fan heater to something else. I was thinking about an electric oil filled radiator, but what I really need is the equivalent of underfloor heating fitted to (what will be) the two levels in there.
I've been looking into light levels as well, I'd majorly underestimated the difference a few inches can make to the lux falling on the plants leaves, and there's a fair chance that some of the poor health of the plants last year was because of this. I installed the lights so I could adjust the height of all the bulbs individually, but then didn't bother... This year I will!
I'm using a lux meter app for the phone. It's not calibrated so I can't trust the absolute level, but it will allow me to make sure I'm keeping things at constant levels, and can adjust if a particular type of plant seems to be suffering.
55 lux is the brightness of the pub I'm currently sat in... The chilli's are under about 18,000 lux at the moment. A bright sunny day is about 100,000 lux, so I'm going to drop the bulbs closer to the plants to increase that gradually... Problem is, the closer the bulbs, the less even the distribution of the light is.. it's easy to get 30,000 lux directly under the bulb, but one plant over, and it's dropped to 10,000. I'll have to experiment.
I'm also going to be less stringent about using rain water this year... But I'll probably put a fishtank heater in the container I water from, so the soil temp doesn't drop as much as it probably was last year, when I water...
.. I'm aiming for consistent air temperature, and consistent soil temperature, consistent light levels, and then I'll worry about consistent humidity, which will likely be impossible... But should help prevent flower/fruit drop, which was higher than I'd have liked last year.
- 324
- Sydney
If you want a cheap underfloor type setup have a look at the heat mats that go under reptile enclosures. They are cheap and maintain consistent temps pretty well.
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- United Kingdom
I've had a look at the standard electric types (I have a small one from one of my first propagators), and it certainly seems like the most obvious solution, but for the size and control type I want, it's £150-£200 and I'm not sure if it's very efficient energy wise. Might still be my best option though since they're off the shelf - if I try and design or build anything myself, I'm just not going to get around to it!
- 324
- Sydney
The ones I've used were pretty efficient. At one stage we had 8 of them running under different enclosures and the difference in the electricity bill was negligible. To be fair though they wouldnt have been working as hard to maintain a temp in Sydney compared to the icy hell that you live in.
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