Fitty's Angling Ramble 7.0

[Nainoa]

from the looks of all the pollen on the cars adn the road it seems like everything is pollinating lol

I think its some of the palms ...possibly the skinny FL pines too.... I have a date palm in my yard and its blooming pretty good right now

Yeah usually when you get stuff like that it's trees... Though an untamed corn field on a day with light breezes can also do that... And right about now the Spring Batch of FL corn has got to be getting close to tassling? (It usually is shipped all the way up here and on display by the first or second weekend of March)

[Hartski]

Scary. I need to be planning out the garden for this year already. Couple more weeks and I'll be starting some peppers!

[|ceman]

January 14th and my car is covered in plant jizz. The entire car is covered in thick yellow powder.
I guess with these 80 degree days the plants cant hold it in.

It's not plant pollen, it's burmese python musk.

[GREENFEATHER]

Oh God the things I did at unsupervised at 17!

Lol, I was doing some pretty serious chit at 17.

lol yeah I know me too. I think something's wrong with my 17 year old, that kid is actually really well behaved when it comes to stuff like that and responsible while oot and aboot somehow.

He's well behaved around YOU.

from the looks of all the pollen on the cars adn the road it seems like everything is pollinating lol

I think its some of the palms ...possibly the skinny FL pines too.... I have a date palm in my yard and its blooming pretty good right now

Pines do that. My Dragon's Eye pine is getting ready to let fly.

[Nainoa]

Scary. I need to be planning out the garden for this year already. Couple more weeks and I'll be starting some peppers!

My first 3 Aji Dulce (Tropical) peppers are already sprouted!

Parsley goes in the plugs in 11 days!

Rough plan for the 2013 garden is already mapped out!

[HairyScandinavian]

He's well behaved around YOU.

Hail no! He's got an attitude and is spoiled as hell, lazy sack of crap LOL. The feedback that I get from others is that his maturity level far surpasses his age. I always ask them if they're talking about the right kid LOL. The checks I've run on him have all come out clean, various neighbors spying and such and I've even got a neighbor who drives by one of his friend's houses in the evenings taking her kid to soccer practice so she'll report in if he's supposed to be there or not. I've checked on him at work, the schedule and such and it's always been straight forward. He has resisted obtaining a GF until just recently though, so we'll see how well all this good behavior stuff sticks. That's usually the beginning of the end of the good behavior. LOL

[Nainoa]

Hail no! He's got an attitude and is spoiled as hell, lazy sack of crap LOL. The feedback that I get from others is that his maturity level far surpasses his age. I always ask them if they're talking about the right kid LOL. The checks I've run on him have all come out clean, various neighbors spying and such and I've even got a neighbor who drives by one of his friend's houses in the evenings taking her kid to soccer practice so she'll report in if he's supposed to be there or not. I've checked on him at work, the schedule and such and it's always been straight forward. He has resisted obtaining a GF until just recently though, so we'll see how well all this good behavior stuff sticks. That's usually the beginning of the end of the good behavior. LOL

Oh yeah... I didn't start doing anything truly stupid until Women entered my life...

Then it's all been some strange schitzophrenic roller coaster of house fires and sea foam shirts since!

[Hartski]

I'm so ready for Spring, so in protest of winter, I'm wearing shorts and a golf shirt today.

[HairyScandinavian]

I'm so ready for Spring, so in protest of winter, I'm wearing shorts and a golf shirt today.

It's cheating if you tuck a hand warmer under your sack. Just fyi.

[Nainoa]

It's cheating if you tuck a hand warmer under your sack. Just fyi.

Actually if you keep something warm on your belly and the plexus nerve there it goes a long way to keeping you warm over all.

That and as long as your head, hands and feet are warm... So for all we know right now Hartski is at work in a polo shirt and shorts, wearing Choppers, Uggz and a seafoam colored stocking cap!

[Hartski]

Actually, I was sweating like crazy in here yesterday, so shorts were a good idea today. It's cold outside, but I don't have to be out there very long.

[Nainoa]

Man I tell ya, I am ready for my wife to be done being pregnant...

Today is her day off, and it is AMAZING how someone who is just laying on the couch can completely obliterate the kitchen I just cleaned to perfection last night in just a few short hours!

/Vent

[HairyScandinavian]

Man I tell ya, I am ready for my wife to be done being pregnant...

Today is her day off, and it is AMAZING how someone who is just laying on the couch can completely obliterate the kitchen I just cleaned to perfection last night in just a few short hours!

/Vent

I see the problem here. YOU'RE cleaning the kitchen.

[lhprop1]

Actually if you keep something warm on your belly and the plexus nerve there it goes a long way to keeping you warm over all.

That and as long as your head, hands and feet are warm...

The first part, yes. The 2nd sentence is complete myth. As long as your core stays warm, your extremeties will stay warm as well. Quite a few manual dexterity tests have been done that demonstrate this.

On an unrelated note, when do I need to start my tomatoes and peppers so they'll be ready to go this spring?

[Nainoa]

I see the problem here. YOU'RE cleaning the kitchen.

I do 99.9% of ALL the house and yard work and cooking ATM... She does 100% of all the baby growing.

Really if we could just find a way to add 2 more hours into every day and if she could just rinse her dishes and stack them intelligently in the sink, I'd be perfectly fine with this arrangement as her nagging and pestering and general 3rd trimester uncomfortable grumbling and snippy comments for no reason are vastly reduced, when she's allowed to just work 40 hours a week and then sleep and watch TV.

[Nainoa]

The first part, yes. The 2nd sentence is complete myth. As long as your core stays warm, your extremeties will stay warm as well. Quite a few manual dexterity tests have been done that demonstrate this.

On an unrelated note, when do I need to start my tomatoes and peppers so they'll be ready to go this spring?

Oh yeah... Core is most important... But most of your heat loss happens at the extremities, so if they're warm and protected your core won't cool down as fast. That and once your dexterity is gone to the point where you can't touch pinky to thumb in the wild... You're screwed anyway.

Then you ultimately can't get your zipper down, causing you to piss your pants, which freezes and drains a ton of core heat directly out the head of your dick!




When it comes to peppers and tomatoes...

IN GENERAL... for Annum peppers, like Jalapeno, Poblano, Bell and Seasoning peppers like Cayenne (So long as it says it's under 90 days) I generally put them in the plugs in a heated seed starter tray a few days after Valentines day. Now if we have a cold spring and it comes to May and you can't plant, yes you will have some unruly F-ing big pepper plants to wrestle with. BUT at least you'll still have a good yield.

For Peppers that say they are longer than 90 days, I try to start them before January 24th.

For True Tropicals (Aji Dulce and Bhut Jolokia) I start them on New Years day!
-My Aji Dulce have 4 sprouted already!

For Tomatoes... It's really hard to get good production on a tomato that is 91 days or longer this far north... So assuming that, I tend to plant them between the 7th and 14th of March.

Again in a cold spring, you'll be dealing with some unruly bastards by late May, that you'll probably have to stake with Chop sticks and soft twine to be safe, BUT you'll get a good yield.


One really important thing to keep in mind, when they first sprout you need to get them off the heat, heat or distant light will cause them to get "Leggy" as they grow taller faster than their roots can support. Once they get their first true leaves you actually want to keep them cool in the soil, so that they'll grow thicker stocks and stronger root bases.

Short and Squat seedling is better than long, tall and gangly!



EDIT: With seedlings around, I would also get your hands on some "Bloom Plus" or any old plant food that is high in Phosphorus (And low on Nitrogen)... And then some Epsom Salts.

If you see Purple showing up on the underside of the leaves, it means they are low on Phosphorus so giving them a half strength dose will help stay strong in the root, when you see the first signs of it.
(When you're reading the label on a plant food you're essentially looking for a high middle number like 10-54-10) The numbers are always set up to read Nitrogren, Phosphorus, Soluable Potash.

If you see yellow in the leaves, it means you are probably over watering and/or they are low on Magnesium, so mixing up a half strength dose of Epsom salts and watering with it will help fix that.

[lhprop1]

But most of your heat loss happens at the extremities, so if they're warm and protected your core won't cool down as fast.

That's a big myth. Heat loss is about exposed surface area, plain and simple. There isn't nearly the surface area on the head and hands as there is in your chest, waist, or legs. The reason people believe this myth is because it's common to go outside in the winter without a hat or gloves, but it's not very common to go outside in the winter without a shirt or pants.

Bottom line is if you have exposed skin, you lose heat whether that exposed skin is your head, your toes, your chest, or your weiner.

http://www.wintercampers.com/2011/02...ugh-your-head/

When it comes to peppers and tomatoes...

IN GENERAL... for Annum peppers, like Jalapeno, Poblano, Bell and Seasoning peppers like Cayenne (So long as it says it's under 90 days) I generally put them in the plugs in a heated seed starter tray a few days after Valentines day. Now if we have a cold spring and it comes to May and you can't plant, yes you will have some unruly F-ing big pepper plants to wrestle with. BUT at least you'll still have a good yield.

For Peppers that say they are longer than 90 days, I try to start them before January 24th.

For True Tropicals (Aji Dulce and Bhut Jolokia) I start them on New Years day!
-My Aji Dulce have 4 sprouted already!

For Tomatoes... It's really hard to get good production on a tomato that is 91 days or longer this far north... So assuming that, I tend to plant them between the 7th and 14th of March.

Again in a cold spring, you'll be dealing with some unruly bastards by late May, that you'll probably have to stake with Chop sticks and soft twine to be safe, BUT you'll get a good yield.


One really important thing to keep in mind, when they first sprout you need to get them off the heat, heat or distant light will cause them to get "Leggy" as they grow taller faster than their roots can support. Once they get their first true leaves you actually want to keep them cool in the soil, so that they'll grow thicker stocks and stronger root bases.

Short and Squat seedling is better than long, tall and gangly!

Thanks. I'm only going to do t'maters, some bell peppers, and maybe 1 jalapeno. I've got a 24" light and some of the plastic trays from last years crop. What else do I need? What is a seed starter tray? What is a good temp for the seeds to start? I was planning on starting them in the laundry room, which maintains 65 degrees. Is that enough?

[HairyScandinavian]

Not exactly, it's also about blood flow. There's a new rapid recovery hypothermia system I've seen emergency workers use on a TV program, used some sort of a glove you'd grip with your hands and warms your body super fast. Also there's some sort of weight lifting cooling vacuum glove, supposed to cool your body between sets and peeps are actually reporting noticeable results from it (I'm not making it up, lol, there's a thread in the ov35 forum).

[Nainoa]

Thanks. I'm only going to do t'maters, some bell peppers, and maybe 1 jalapeno. I've got a 24" light and some of the plastic trays from last years crop. What else do I need? What is a seed starter tray? What is a good temp for the seeds to start? I was planning on starting them in the laundry room, which maintains 65 degrees. Is that enough?

You can essentially start seeds at any temp above 54 degrees... However they will germinate much slower and at a lower percentage than if they are in a seed starter tray.

You can improvise a tray with an electric heating pad inside a plastic bag under a tote bin of peat moss plugs and just slide some tiny oak lats under it so the weight of the tray doesn't crush the electric elements in the heating pad.

I've done this... Costs about $10, and is half as effective as if you spent $20 on the good tray at Wal Mart. And then you're not at work wondering if everything is okay with that improvised heating pad.

If I were you I would upgrade from a 24 inch light to a 48"... Hardware stores tend to put 48" fixtures and Bulbs on sale this time of year... Cost you around $25 for a set up. (I of course have multiple ones) and while I killed set #2 and #3 by getting a little water on the back side of the fixture, #1 is currently lighting up it's 5th season and no sign of the fixtures or the bulbs dieing.

The really nice thing about a 48" set up (Especially 2 settings) is that you can start the seedlings on one half and as they come up, you can pull the plugs out, put them in their first pots and set them under the other half, essentially create 2 zones, one for sprouting, one for nurturing. This is especially handy with peppers that can generate in anywhere from 2-4 weeks.

I've literally had the same type of pepper seeds germinate the first seed on day 10 and the last on Day 28!

Once you get to mid April you'll want to start giving them some time to get used to the outside and the harsh evils of the sun.

Literally if you put them out and you don't have some kind of sun shade (Like an old white sheet) the first day they will sun burn and die back... I've even had true tropicals eat it on a 72 degree afternoon. They need some time in and out to get used to the sun and they need some time in and out to get used to the cold.

OR you can build (or buy) a Hoop House.

If it wasn't for the fact that I have so much scrap lumber, that I can build a plastic sheeting cold frame house for this period of the spring, I would build a small Hoop House out of PVC pipe and thick mill plastic sheeting.

A little googling for Hoop House should yield a ton of plans that could work perfectly for you. Or just drop the $120 on a cheap pre-fab kit at Menards etc...

Remember LOW Nitrogen and high Phosphorus, until they are in the garden soil (Usually some time between Walleye Opener and Memorial weekend up here)

Planting time for Tomatoes and Peppers is when Lilacs first develop the first flower buds. (Happens at the same soil temp that's why all the old Germans used to plant them all over the place as an indicator species.)

Once they go in the ground, high nitrogen until the 4th of July... Then Sucker them and turn over to high Soluable pot ash.

Questions?

[lhprop1]

Also there's some sort of weight lifting cooling vacuum glove, supposed to cool your body between sets and peeps are actually reporting noticeable results from it (I'm not making it up, lol, there's a thread in the ov35 forum).

Pure bro science, just like that stupid training mask thing you see idiots wear (which actually decreases VO2 Max). I had a "trainer" try to sell me and a few other people who know a lot about how the body works. We instantly debunked his bro science and not-so-politely laughed him out of the room. The reason everyone's hands always get cold first is because there is so little blood flow there. Applying cold to the area of the body with the least blood flow and expecting it to cool down your core is like expecting your olympic-sized pool to get filled by rainwater the next time it sprinkles. If you want to cool down, you need to put an ice pack on the neck, getting the carotid and/or jugular or on the chest, or hop into an ice bath.

Again, it's about surface area. Cool the area with the greatest surface area and greatest amount of blood flow and you'll cool down quicker.

[lhprop1]

Remember LOW Nitrogen and high Phosphorus, until they are in the garden soil (Usually some time between Walleye Opener and Memorial weekend up here)

Planting time for Tomatoes and Peppers is when Lilacs first develop the first flower buds. (Happens at the same soil temp that's why all the old Germans used to plant them all over the place as an indicator species.)

Once they go in the ground, high nitrogen until the 4th of July... Then Sucker them and turn over to high Soluable pot ash.

Questions?

Thanks. How the hell do you measure and regulate/manipulate N and P levels?

[Hartski]

Pure bro science, just like that stupid training mask thing you see idiots wear (which actually decreases VO2 Max). I had a "trainer" try to sell me and a few other people who know a lot about how the body works. We instantly debunked his bro science and not-so-politely laughed him out of the room. The reason everyone's hands always get cold first is because there is so little blood flow there. Applying cold to the area of the body with the least blood flow and expecting it to cool down your core is like expecting your olympic-sized pool to get filled by rainwater the next time it sprinkles. If you want to cool down, you need to put an ice pack on the neck, getting the carotid and/or jugular or on the chest, or hop into an ice bath.

Again, it's about surface area. Cool the area with the greatest surface area and greatest amount of blood flow and you'll cool down quicker.

Thought the best place to warm or cool the body is under the arms and the groin area, to use the brachial and femoral arteries.

[Nainoa]

Thanks. How the hell do you measure and regulate/manipulate N and P levels?

I'm assuming you're not looking for the whole Organic Dictionary answer and you're just happy to use some miracle grow type of plant foods... So we can skip over the whole Fermented Fishmeal and Grass clippings and charcoal and newspaper stuff.

Basically a tomato plant is just like a human being...

When it's really young it's tender and weak and needs to be nurtured and taught how to be stronger in incremental lessons.

So a high Phosphorus fertilizer like Bloom plus, is the Babyfood... And just how a baby tells you that it's hungry, a seedling will tell you that it needs more Phosphorus by getting a twinge of purple under the leaves.
The Baby seedling tells you it needs more magnesium or you are over watering it (Ultimately washing some key minerals out) by turning yellow on the leaves in between the veins.

The seedling tells you what it needs and wants and the closer you pay attention the faster you are at understanding what it's trying to tell you.

Taking the seedlings out with sunshades and bringing them in at night is just like potty training... If you do it all at once it ****s all over the floor and never gets better... But in small doses it gets ready for the task at hand.


Once it goes into the soil it wants Nitrogen for as long as the days are getting longer.

Tomatoes are Short Day plants... Once we pass the summer solstice it triggers their reproductive mechanics to produce fruit for winter.

So in Mid May, till the end of June is basically the tomato plant's adolescence, it wants nitrogen like how a teenage boy wants pizza.

If we lived farther south (In Zone 5 or higher) I would say stop the high nitrogen by June 21st... But up here we have such a short adolescent season I use the 4th of July as my rule of thumb.


Once it reaches adulthood, the tomato's main focus is on producing fruit, the shorter the days are the faster it will flower and fill out fruit. (Technically needs good soil temps to ripen the fruit)

So this is where you switch over to Soluable Potash, which is basically the structure of the tomato. If you are low on Calcium in the soil (More on this below) or low on Soluable Potash the tomato will develop blossom end rot. A Dark Section at the base of the tomato that makes it no good, develops as it ripens... If you notice it with the very first tomatoes that ripen you can adjust.

Blossom end Rot is the tomato equivalent of your kid dropping out of college because he does drugs. If you redirect him right away with lime and soluable pot ash he's more likely to have a good productive life to come, the longer you let him live the bad life, the worse he'll do in the end.



When it comes to the soil, while there are of course a lot of factors in trace minerals, loam content, sand vs clay etc... The biggest three are Carbon, Calcium and Potash.

A cheap soil testing kit will tell you PH, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash for $5

The soil you put your tomatoes in is just like the school you put your kid in, if the books are from the 1950's and all they serve in the lunch room is Nacho's and Cheeseburgers the kid isn't going to do as good as if he goes to a quality school with a sound nutrition plan.

Calcium being low will lead to blossom end rot... However Tomatoes like a mildly acidic soil, and Calcium moves the soil PH towards the Base.
Nitrogen is Acidic by nature... And is in high supply in common grass clippings... So I will till the garden and apply Calcium rich Garden Lime to the soil... Then place mats of grass clippings in the spots where the tomatoes will be planted (Per the garden layout plan) And when I plant the tomatoes I fertilize with high nitrogen, and then cover the base with grass clippings for weed block and water retention.


Carbon... It's pretty hard to be low on Carbon... Hell my soil is a sandbox and I still have modest carbon. However most newspapers these days use soy ink and pulp wood... (Things you can confirm in the credits page or by calling the newspaper) Shredding them up in an office paper shredder and applying as a weed block is another handy trick I use as we get deeper into the season.



When it comes to the actual planting...

Tomatoes if you plant them deeper on the stalk, they will form new roots and growing stronger and faster, so I will plant them deep enough to the bottom of the first true leaves!

Peppers do not do this, if you plant them more than say a half to a quarter inch deeper than the were in the pot they will start "Damping off" the stem will rot and they will die.

[Procta]

3rd day in a row with temps above 80. Im not gonna lie....I like it

I heard there was snow fall in Texas

[Nainoa]

Oh... I should probably also talk about Suckering.

A tomato plant is technically a Vine that we've manipulated into growing upright. As such it will form new branches in the crotch of old branches as it bushes out.

When the Tomato is in the Adolescent phase (Before the 4th of July) I let it sucker out as much as it wants to, more leaves mean it has more ability to make sugar that will store in the fruit etc...

However after the 4th of July I will pinch the suckers off, because I want the plant to focus it's energy on making and filling out the fruit instead of making new vines that may or may not have enough time to flower and produce fruit before the first fall frost.

[Nainoa]

So yesterday I processed the last of the fall sugar pumpkins out of the root cellar last night.

One of them was a strange pumpkin I bought at the farmers market... Very thick walls, few seeds and lots of low moisture content flesh. Looked funky... Like a pumpkin with genital warts... Farmer said it was a strange cross breed in his field and sold it to me for 50 cents. But it's traits are perfect for a pie pumpkin.

So I'm going to try growing the seeds and see if it breeds true.

So far my track record on crosses that breed true is pretty much 50/50.

[Nainoa]

Something else to consider in the garden is Herbs... Not only are they awesome additions to sauces, salads and dishes, but they often help keep pests away from other fruiting plants.

For Zone 4 I try to plant most herbs on March 1st... However when it comes to Flat Leaf Parsley, I plant that before Valentines day. Sometimes parsley can take up to 12 weeks to germinate and it can take it a while to really come in full. Then once you start adding fresh parsley to the things you make, whether in a sauce or as a garnish, you just keep finding more and more things you want to use it for. Chief amongst them: Bone Marrow Salad and Chimichurri sauce!

[GREENFEATHER]

Scary. I need to be planning out the garden for this year already. Couple more weeks and I'll be starting some peppers!

You're a week to late brah. I already have 6 trays running under the LED light system. And I'm running a few mater plants under the cover on one of the catfish ponds. They ain't great, but they're better than 99.999% of the crap they sell in the supermarket.

[lhprop1]

You're a week to late brah. I already have 6 trays running under the LED light system. And I'm running a few mater plants under the cover on one of the catfish ponds. They ain't great, but they're better than 99.999% of the crap they sell in the supermarket.

You can use LED lights for starting plants? I thought they needed special UV grow lights or something.

[Nainoa]

You can use LED lights for starting plants? I thought they needed special UV grow lights or something.

Yep, you can use high powered LED grow lights, but they are an investment Twice the price for half the square footage of flourescent and half the electical usage.

It kind of shakes out to being half a dozen of one, six of the other type of situation.

The reason I chose to not go LED is that when something goes out on a fancy LED system, you are ordering special parts from some guy in the people's republic of Uzbekistan and you get to wait 3-6 weeks for shipping. Also LED systems tend to be out of stock more.

One advantage of LED is that it can be further away, versus Flourescent, you kind of want the top of the plant to be 4-6 inches away from the light source.

Versus the Flourescent systems...

You use any old 48" flourescent shop light fixture from any old Hardware store and the Full Spectrum Daylight bulbs are available at about half of the box hardware stores.

Things rarely go wrong with both systems as they are both long life systems... However when it does (Like the time the water seal on the second shelf of the old green house broke and let a couple of drips of water down onto the lower level lights... I like the fact that I can get in the truck and drive straight to the store to replace it, because those plants need light the next day... Not when Ivan manages to ship them to me. for 12 time zones away.


Something else you can do... Plants will grow under the light of a Daylight CFL bulb... However you'll need to get a higher effective wattage and the range will really only be enough to grow 4-6 plants depending on how you arrange them around the light.