Crazy timing! Perhaps I’m good luck. Ha ha ha. Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket! Pretty nuts it was under construction for so long.
FrostD’s 2024 Grow Blog
- Thread starter FrostD
- Start date
oldfellainspain
Well-Known Member
The speed of construction has really sped up over the last decade. 2026 will mark 100 years since Gaudi's death. I never expected to see it finished in my lifetime (it was estimated 2040, but no Spaniard believed that)). Hopefully I will get to Barcelona to see the finished project. FrostD, go buy that lottery ticket.
Day 46 from seed:
My lady and I fly out early tomorrow morning for our vacation to Jamaica. So, today is trimming some leaves and watering. Part of the instructions for our house sitters is to water the plants 1-2 times during the week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one. I’m anticipating I may get a few dried out plants when we return, but I’m hoping the luck with La Sagrada Familia is with me! Heat mat was also unplugged last weekend or early this past week. Slow down a little bit there buddies! Hoping by the time we get back by next weekend we can start doing some outside acclimation in preparation for transplant for final homes…eventually…still some cold & crazy temps up in Wisconsin.
Didn’t trim these leaves at all. Just going to let ‘em do their thing. They were the fastest growers out of the bunch:
The trimmed up bunch:
My lady and I fly out early tomorrow morning for our vacation to Jamaica. So, today is trimming some leaves and watering. Part of the instructions for our house sitters is to water the plants 1-2 times during the week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that one. I’m anticipating I may get a few dried out plants when we return, but I’m hoping the luck with La Sagrada Familia is with me! Heat mat was also unplugged last weekend or early this past week. Slow down a little bit there buddies! Hoping by the time we get back by next weekend we can start doing some outside acclimation in preparation for transplant for final homes…eventually…still some cold & crazy temps up in Wisconsin.
Didn’t trim these leaves at all. Just going to let ‘em do their thing. They were the fastest growers out of the bunch:
The trimmed up bunch:
Home sweet home! Granted, I would’ve loved to stay in Jamaica longer. The people, vibe, food, beaches, sunrises/sunsets, temps, etc. Outstanding! I think we liked Negril last year slightly more than Montego Bay, but both were great destinations. Little nuances between the two that are marginal at best. Hopefully another trip there next year. If you’re reading this and have never been to Jamaica, it should be added to your bucket list! Pictures & videos can’t do this place justice, as one could say for many places in the world.
Day 53 from seed…
Yep, plants this year (as I’ve mentioned before) we’re planted a little too early. I’m thinking I should’ve waited 1-2 weeks which would’ve been towards the end of February. Looking at the forecast we have a bit of cold temps today, some rain early this upcoming week. Outside of that it appears the temps are starting to warm up. I’m hoping to get these repotted into their final homes within the next couple weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed here.
Plants partially under the Aerogarden light has some of the biggest leaves currently. Adonis has some great growth! Need to do some plant rotating here still before the end of the weekend.
Shameless little shoutout to the little zucchini plant that could. Started flowering and may end up getting a little baby zucchini by the time of transplanting. Lol.
Day 53 from seed…
Yep, plants this year (as I’ve mentioned before) we’re planted a little too early. I’m thinking I should’ve waited 1-2 weeks which would’ve been towards the end of February. Looking at the forecast we have a bit of cold temps today, some rain early this upcoming week. Outside of that it appears the temps are starting to warm up. I’m hoping to get these repotted into their final homes within the next couple weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed here.
Plants partially under the Aerogarden light has some of the biggest leaves currently. Adonis has some great growth! Need to do some plant rotating here still before the end of the weekend.
Shameless little shoutout to the little zucchini plant that could. Started flowering and may end up getting a little baby zucchini by the time of transplanting. Lol.
Attachments
Day 57 from seed. Time to get these not so little babies acclimated for a bit outside. Get some wind on em to strengthen up and some indirect sun! Looking over the temps the next couple weeks there will be a 35F & 36F couple nights next week. Not too sure I want to put into final homes this weekend or wait until the following weekend. As the extended forecast says nights in the 40F range in 2 weeks. They are definitely not happy staying in solo cups. No fertilizer or amendments used as of yet. Just filtered water in starter soil.
The plants look great!
Man those look awesome! Those things shot up!
I’ve been a bit surprised myself on the growth in a solo cup myself. Last years solo cups were nowhere even close to the size of leaves I’m seeing. Definitely trying to keep it simple and not overthink it. Holes in the bottom of the cups so they and just wick up water. Haven’t top watered much so far. Filtered water is from an off brand Brita type pitcher. About 20-35% in an inexpensive grow light for some. Others just residual light from the Aerogarden. Soil mix was 1 part perlite to 2 parts Michigan Made Mediums starter mix (living soil). Perhaps the light? Perhaps the media. Perhaps quality of the seed? I’ll take it though!
Did you do any fertilizing other than the custom mixture you made? How did you do that, one bag of the michigan made medium and half a bag of perilite?
Hey manfisher! I didn’t add any additional fertilizer. I used a mixing bowl and added 1 solo cup worth of perlite to 2 solo cups worth of soil. I’d say roughly what you mentioned. Depends on the size bag of perlite. Mixed that all up and filled up solo cups before adding seedlings. Then any time they were watered was with filtered water. I also made sure to let the soil in the cups dry up a bit before another water feeding.
Day 74 from seed. Last fear of frost APPEARS to be at bay. Fingers crossed. All solo cups are root bound and some have been stretching more than others. Was able to get 13 plants repotted into 5 gal containers or large pots. Used soil saved from last year and added roughly 1/4 cup of Down to Earth “All Purpose” fertilizer in each pot for now. A bit windy today and rain storms are forecasted for this night into tomorrow. Repotted plants really don’t look happy (as expected). Thinking I am going to hold off on watering for now or a very light watering, since rain will be here in about 7ish hours.
Final homes (13 plants)
Adonis=2
Bahia= 0 (plants are very stretchy. Worried about the winds today)
Comstock Spanish=1
Little Cuba= 3
Little Dutch= 3
Wisconsin 901= 5
The rest of the solo cup plants that will most likely go into slightly smaller pots than the ones in above pic. May transplant the less stretchy ones today/this afternoon or hopefully tomorrow.
Still kicking myself a little for sowing seeds too early this year.
Stay tuned….
Final homes (13 plants)
Adonis=2
Bahia= 0 (plants are very stretchy. Worried about the winds today)
Comstock Spanish=1
Little Cuba= 3
Little Dutch= 3
Wisconsin 901= 5
The rest of the solo cup plants that will most likely go into slightly smaller pots than the ones in above pic. May transplant the less stretchy ones today/this afternoon or hopefully tomorrow.
Still kicking myself a little for sowing seeds too early this year.
Stay tuned….
A bit of a neglected follow up here. Finished repotting all solo cup plants yesterday. Had a couple casualties, but no worries. A few had their stalks snap after transplant, so filled in with a new plant. Had a couple decide to jump away from their root structure while pulling out of a solo cup. Also, tore off some trashed looking leads to avoid energy going to them. Still have 31 plants in pots.
Adonis- 6
Bahia- 6
Comstock Spanish- 6
Little Cuba- 3
Little Dutch- 5
Wisconsin 901- 5
Today marks day 83 from seed. All transplants into pots within the last week or two. The first transplants are now showing some new growth and am hoping the rest will bounce back a bit within the next week or two. Some transplant shock I’m expecting. As you will be able to tell, some of the plants are not happy at all….yet!
Adonis- 6
Bahia- 6
Comstock Spanish- 6
Little Cuba- 3
Little Dutch- 5
Wisconsin 901- 5
Today marks day 83 from seed. All transplants into pots within the last week or two. The first transplants are now showing some new growth and am hoping the rest will bounce back a bit within the next week or two. Some transplant shock I’m expecting. As you will be able to tell, some of the plants are not happy at all….yet!
Day 98 from Seed!
We’ve been getting some rain the last few weeks which has been great! However, some of the leaves of a section of plants have been getting bombarded by the helicopter seeds that one of our Oak (I believe it’s oak) trees. I this year I’ve only broke out the hose with RV filter attached to add some supplemental water. The stretchiness of the Bahia & early start of seeds this year has claimed another casualty and snapped the top growth of the plant. Wisconsin 901 has the best most consistent growth here. Comstock Spanish & Adonis are the next contenders out of the 6 varieties planted.
Bahia casualty
This little runt I’m just waiting for it to hit its stride. May be one that is a late bloomer or just doesn’t want to get any bigger.
One of the Bahia’s (I believe) are starting to get some flowers ready
3 Good Wisconsin 901’s coming along
Comstock Spanish plant with the best growth so far out of all of this variety planted
And… the best looking Adonis so far
We’ve been getting some rain the last few weeks which has been great! However, some of the leaves of a section of plants have been getting bombarded by the helicopter seeds that one of our Oak (I believe it’s oak) trees. I this year I’ve only broke out the hose with RV filter attached to add some supplemental water. The stretchiness of the Bahia & early start of seeds this year has claimed another casualty and snapped the top growth of the plant. Wisconsin 901 has the best most consistent growth here. Comstock Spanish & Adonis are the next contenders out of the 6 varieties planted.
Bahia casualty
This little runt I’m just waiting for it to hit its stride. May be one that is a late bloomer or just doesn’t want to get any bigger.
One of the Bahia’s (I believe) are starting to get some flowers ready
3 Good Wisconsin 901’s coming along
Comstock Spanish plant with the best growth so far out of all of this variety planted
And… the best looking Adonis so far
Maple seeds.
Bob
Bob
Ahhh yes! Maple seeds! Thank you for the clarification @deluxestogie . Some of these little buggers have done a dive bomb right into the leaf and I’ve had to pull out about a dozen or so in leaf they have damaged.
What a difference 24 hours can make. Last night we had thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings come through. Wind speeds up to 80-90 mph. Will have to get out and try to fix up some of the plants. Many have been uprooted. No blow overs though 
! It doesn’t look like a total loss, but a good amount may be done. Will update on how many were able to “potentially” be saved. Kind of a bummer as I was hoping to collect seeds again this year on varieties. Keeping my fingers crossed!
! It doesn’t look like a total loss, but a good amount may be done. Will update on how many were able to “potentially” be saved. Kind of a bummer as I was hoping to collect seeds again this year on varieties. Keeping my fingers crossed!Day 102 from seed!
So, I may have been a little bit over dramatic…. 1 lost Bahia. Which by the way has been the most finicky variety grown this year. However, it was the most stretchy & I planted seeds too early this year. 1 Bahia in the yard is starting to flower & personally I don’t it! It’s been through a lot.
I decided to clean up maple leaf seeds and any additional growth coming out of the top soil in each plant pot. I decided to add more amended soil, Even though I was doing a side by side soil test of a couple different kinds and variations. Whatever though, I preferred to have more nutrients & stability at the stalk base. I also did a blood meal, bone meal, worm castings, and chicken poop on the veggies in the raised beds. Just top dressed the veggies & then tobacco plants (amendments mixed with soil on the tobacco side).
Top dress amendments for the tobacco plants were a 5 gallon bucket filled with this soil:
Then 2x large spoonful scoops of Down to Earth All purpose:
Then mixed 2x Large spoonfuls of Earthworm castings:
My lady found this guy roaming around. He wasn’t left on the leaf long and tossed over the fence:
Wisconsin 901 runt is still… well a runt:
Best looking plant this year so far is another Wisconsin 901. Bahia is suckering like crazy and 1 is flowering. Comstock Spanish & Adonis a couple of each is doing better than expected. Little Dutch & Little Cuba there is a couple of each progressing.
Best Wisconsin 901:
Rest:
Some very tattered leaf on the right. Fingers crossed it’s not bugs, but I think it’s from the last round of storms
So, I may have been a little bit over dramatic…. 1 lost Bahia. Which by the way has been the most finicky variety grown this year. However, it was the most stretchy & I planted seeds too early this year. 1 Bahia in the yard is starting to flower & personally I don’t it! It’s been through a lot.
I decided to clean up maple leaf seeds and any additional growth coming out of the top soil in each plant pot. I decided to add more amended soil, Even though I was doing a side by side soil test of a couple different kinds and variations. Whatever though, I preferred to have more nutrients & stability at the stalk base. I also did a blood meal, bone meal, worm castings, and chicken poop on the veggies in the raised beds. Just top dressed the veggies & then tobacco plants (amendments mixed with soil on the tobacco side).
Top dress amendments for the tobacco plants were a 5 gallon bucket filled with this soil:
Then 2x large spoonful scoops of Down to Earth All purpose:
Then mixed 2x Large spoonfuls of Earthworm castings:
My lady found this guy roaming around. He wasn’t left on the leaf long and tossed over the fence:
Wisconsin 901 runt is still… well a runt:
Best looking plant this year so far is another Wisconsin 901. Bahia is suckering like crazy and 1 is flowering. Comstock Spanish & Adonis a couple of each is doing better than expected. Little Dutch & Little Cuba there is a couple of each progressing.
Best Wisconsin 901:
Rest:
Some very tattered leaf on the right. Fingers crossed it’s not bugs, but I think it’s from the last round of storms
Day 110 from seed update:
Most plants have bounced back from the storms we’ve been having the last couple weeks. Haven’t watered any of the plants since. I’ve been keeping an eye on the pots to see if they get a bit lighter or need some more water, but mother nature has been fairly generous. Since top dressing the plants, some nice growth has been coming.
1 Bahia is flowering and it looks like a Little Dutch is just starting to show signs that it’s wanting to start to flower as well. Seeing some nice strong stalks on some varieties. A couple plants got beat up pretty bad from the rain, hail, & t-storms but are showing some new growth. My 1 little runt, is well… still a runt. Will give it a couple more weeks to see if just needed extra time to develop. It hasn’t died yet though which is a little odd.
I will say, that this year I haven’t “over loved” the plants like the last couple of years. More rain this year compared to last has definitely helped!
Most plants have bounced back from the storms we’ve been having the last couple weeks. Haven’t watered any of the plants since. I’ve been keeping an eye on the pots to see if they get a bit lighter or need some more water, but mother nature has been fairly generous. Since top dressing the plants, some nice growth has been coming.
1 Bahia is flowering and it looks like a Little Dutch is just starting to show signs that it’s wanting to start to flower as well. Seeing some nice strong stalks on some varieties. A couple plants got beat up pretty bad from the rain, hail, & t-storms but are showing some new growth. My 1 little runt, is well… still a runt. Will give it a couple more weeks to see if just needed extra time to develop. It hasn’t died yet though which is a little odd.
I will say, that this year I haven’t “over loved” the plants like the last couple of years. More rain this year compared to last has definitely helped!
