Crasch Grow Log 2024

[crasch]

This Spring I am growing Texas Cuban (left), Habano 2000 (middle), and Criollo 98 (right). I only seeded one single tiny seed per pod, and (as expected) germination rate was not 100%. I'll be pleased to end up with 5-6 plants of each variety, so all is well for now.



I don't have any special setup for seedlings. The seeds germinated on a window sill indoors during the recent cold spell with freezing temperatures outside. Now the seedlings have been sitting outside on the patio table. They are shaded by the house in the morning, in full sun from about 11 until 2:30, and then in sun filtered through the leafless branches of an oak tree for the rest of the afternoon.



I'm moving them to shelter when rain is in the forecast so they don't get beaten to death, but other than that they are braving the elements. It still gets pretty cold at night. The tradeoff is to either get fresh air and bright natural sunlight every day with some cold nights, or for me to constantly forget to set them out from the warm but much darker house before I leave for work in the morning. My choice is to be patient with their progress as they tough it out outside (as long as we don't get another frost of course). These babies are still tiny tiny, but the first set of true leaves do appear to be coming in nicely.

 

[crasch]

As expected, things are progressing slowly. I put eight seedlings from each of the three varieties into a Dixie cup some time ago. Since they got very little love, no artificial sunlight, no heating mat, etc. they are still quite small for being 6-ish weeks past germination. Habano 2000 is generally the smallest, and C98 and Texas Cuban are on par.

While the plants appear quite pale and progress above ground is slow, I can see that the roots are already starting to appear around the holes in the bottom of the Dixie cups. So I'm not concerned. With strong root development, I hope they'll take off whenever they're ready.

Like everything else outside at the moment, the plants are completely covered in tree pollen.

 

[crasch]

Time to get these guys out of their Solo cups.
Last year's plants were badly affected by root-knot nematodes, so I'm using grow bags this time.
I only managed to get a few done today. The rest will follow soon.

 

[crasch]

Today I finally finished with all transplants. There are 16 grow bags, all 10-gallon size. That's it, now I'm out of bags.

The price for bagged growing medium is too high. $9 for a 32 quart (8 gallons) bag of potting mix at my local big box. $10 for mix that is labelled "organic". Not happening. Insane. So I'm using the stuff in the picture below. $2.47/bag. It clearly states "do not set plants directly into this material". But the fine print also says "In Texas, derived from 80% compost, 20% manure". So yeah, I'm not letting a bag tell me what to do. We'll see what happens.

I wished I could just put them in the ground and be done with it. Dang nematodes. I'm going to seed some French marigolds this year, and try in the ground again next year.

 

[crasch]

Addendum: the manure part in the bagged material appears to be well rotted. Only one of the bags smelled like it was still a bit hot.

 

[ProZachJ]

I bet if you mixed that stuff with coco coir you'd have an inexpensive winner. Back several years ago when I was doing my tomatoes in buckets I found that cutting more expensive components with coir was a great way to bring the per-pot cost down.