What you can learnStrong pest-management and canopy-lighting case across eight pepper varieties, showing both the resilience and limitations of indoor production under sustained thrips pressure.
One of the Sugar Rush Reds are getting close! Also got to try out a lemon spice jalapeno!! Super small due to bug activity, but a very fun and sunny yellow. Sweet, with a slight citrusy taste. Just like the Orange Spice, it wasn't hot at all at the tip, but then I hit the spicy part and it was waaaay hotter than the Orange Spice. Spicier, I would say, than a regular jalapeno. Very yummy with a fun pop of color!!
Remember to put your review on the thread in the Peppers Board (I still have to do the last one you posted. I will get that done now that I can type again
Picked and tasted the Sugar Rush Red this morning! I'll add my review to the pepper board too, but it was quite tasty! Sweet, and spicy right off the bat. I'd say on the level of a jalapeno heat-wise. And a very lovely, deep shade of red!!And with that, now that the cold snap is also over and all my machines are saying it's time to add nutrients, I'm going to start ending projects. I have to work the next 2 nights so going to be slow going until I hit my days off, but even reduced in number the bugs are finally bothering me enough that I'm not going to wait for everything to come fully ripe. I'm just going to pick it all and dry it for the "hot stuff" mix, toss the plants and sanitize the machines. Same for the tomatoes, there are a couple that I'm waiting on because they're maybe a couple days away, but not going to wait on all the green ones.I'm the saddest about the strawberries. BUT, they've done fantastically well even with thrips feeding on them right from the start, so I comfort myself with thoughts of how much BETTER they'll be in a bug-free room!!I'm also gleefully planning my next gardens, once I've waited out the thrips life-cycle. Right now the plan is:Sprout: 1 Oregano, 1 thymeHarvest: 2 Basil, 1 parsleyHarvest 360: 1 Rosemary, 1 sageFarm 24 XL: Left - 1 Cucumber, 1 Eggplant (which I'll probably regret due to crowding, but they're supposed to be fairly compact "patio" versions) Right - 1 Orange Spice Jalapeno, 1 Lemon Spice Jalapeno, 1 Sweet Bonnet, 1 GhostFarm 24: all strawberriesBounty Elite: 1 Komodo dragon, 1 Dragon's BreatheBounty Basic: 2 Red Velvet tomatoesI'm already looking forward to all these new adventures, and to re-arranging the plant room!!
Oh, my gosh!!! That sounds like a wonderful plan for the new gardens!! I'm sorry for the reason to do it, but can't wait to see it too! FYI: I'm saving your plan for inspiration for my re-do too! Hope you don't mind! Although, my take down will be later and my new start-up will likely be much later...maybe September or October? Gotta get thru the summer's chores and chances for camping, then decide.
I bought them off Amazon from Hand Picked Nursery! They shipped very quickly, actually showing up a few days before I was ready for them, I had gotten used to delayed shipping with COVID. So make sure you're really ready when you order lol! They were at my house 5 days after ordering, may have gotten them sooner if I hadn't ordered on a Friday night. I stuck them in the refrigerator for 3 days while I went on a work trip, got back and planted them on day 4 of having them. Every single one started growing within 3 days, just like they said would happen! There was quite a bit of soil left on the roots, but I wanted to wash the plants anyways to make sure there were no pests. All the plants were bug-free and cleaned up well. I'll be ordering from them again for sure!
Thanks for the info! I thought of another question: Did you use a sponge or just the pod cage? And, did you feed the straight away, when planting? Thanks!!!
I just used cages without the sponge, with the bottom tip cut off so the cage was open at the bottom. There was no easy way to get the crown in there with the bottom of the cage all connected. I used the green labels to hold the crowns up when I first set them up, they didn't have enough foliage to stay in place at the top of the cage without the labels. The easiest way was to pull the roots in from the top of the cage and then put the label around the crown by breaking it on one side, that way it's propped up on top of the label. I'm not sure if that makes any sense lol, if not I can take photos when I get home from work in the morning! I did feed them straight away, but I can't remember if I did 10 or 15 mL and didn't write it down. :| I'll probably start with 10mL just to be safe when I re-start the project.
You're welcome! I'm actually looking forward to re-starting so I can take photos and document everything this time around too, I was in such a rush to get it done the first time that it totally slipped my mind until several days later that it'd be helpful to have photos of the process lol
Everything in my room is looking rather nibbled-upon and sad, as I'm still battling thrips. I released several lady bugs in the room a few weeks ago, and they seem to have brought the population down quite a lot, though I can still see bugs crawling around. Today I also got my weakest vacuum out and put the hose with brush attachment on it, and vacuumed the leaves of all the plants in the room, hopefully not sucking up too many ladybugs while I sucked up all the thrips I could see. I very carefully tested it on the tougher potted plants before starting on my AeroGarden plants, to make sure the suction wasn't enough to damage the plants. It actually worked really well! Sucked all the dead leaves off in addition to bugs, which was nice. This vacuum is going to live in that room now to clean up plants!The sugar rush reds haven't started changing colors yet, but they're still doing well!A couple of the orange spice jalapenos are close, and I got to harvest one today! They are a very pretty shade of orange. I'll cut it up and try it later tonight
I am sending good vibes your way to end the thrips... I would love to hear your assessment of the pepper. Post it on the Pepper Review thread and I can add it to the list
They've certainly made me look forward to trying my other two jalapeno types. The pumpkin spice is supposed to be a lighter shade of orange, and the lemon spice looks like a really fun shade of yellow in the vendor photos! The colors are half the fun for me lol
Poppers for sure with the jalapenos!! I also like to freeze peppers for later, since it looks like there might be too many to JUST make poppers, much as I love them and would eat them for every meal. Maybe I'll even try making a BIG batch of poppers and freezing some for quick snacks! I've never tried that before, and I LOVE freezer cooking, it makes it so easy to stash ready-made meals for later. The sugar rush reds I'm not sure yet, I've never had them before. Depending on the flavor I may just eat them alone as snacks, if they're as sweet as the name implies. Otherwise, I put peppers in pretty much everything I cook, can't go wrong dicing up a pepper and throwing it in the pan with whatever's cooking!
Don't forget to try the Jalapeno Bites - they are yummy! Popular at potluck's too, if you have one coming up. I'm with you on chopping up some peppers and throwing them in pretty much anything! From salads to stir fries, eggs, meatloaf and so on.
Oh!! I had forgotten about those (I always say if we’re relying on my memory we’re in trouble, too easily distracted - phone alerts are a life-saver)! They sound delicious, I gotta try those. They’re in my bookmarks now! p:
Timers, lists & spreadsheets are my saviors! I keep ongoing lists for the grocery store, Costco, the restaurant supply store...and now, for seeds to order! Then, of course, there are the online "wish lists"...LOL
Used getting the first round of COVID vaccine (and they're right when they say it's like getting a tetanus shot, the day after I couldn't lift my arm past my shoulder lol) as an excuse to go visit Mom and Dad for a few days - just got back home this morning to a very pleasant surprise!! My Sugar Rush Red has PEPPERS!!! Several of these guys:Very excited to see them ripen up and taste them! I've never had this variety before
The short pepper farm has officially been terminated. After a little break I'll be giving its decks and reservoirs a good scrubbing, and then they'll be quarantined in the guest room for a couple weeks. Also took the Farm XL peppers into the the bathroom and hosed them down in the tub. Before putting them back I wiped both machines and the table down with Clorox wipes, and after re-installing them sprayed them down with insecticide again. Fingers crossed on the effort paying off!! The Buena Mulata didn't survive being washed, but all the other plants handled it like champs. Most of them hardly lost any blooms, and all three jalapeno plants actually have peppers forming!!
Did some trimming in here, still fighting with bugs. After I gave everything a cut I sprayed it all down with insecticide again. May take it out and spray it down in the shower tomorrow, see if it helps any.
Saw a couple teeny jalapenos starting to form in there!! Also watching the Buena Mulata pretty close, from what I've read the pods are supposed to go through some fun color changes as they ripen. The purple is already fun though!
The light has stayed put over the past couple days, and the plants are looking happy with the extra light! The others all either have open flowers or little buds starting to form.AND!! The Buena Mulata has peppers!!!! They're purple like the flowers
The lights arrived and I set them up before going to work! They're pretty light-weight, which is nice. They have a clamp as the base, which wasn't what I was expecting but was a pleasant surprise!The clamp is very stiff, so it should hold good and tight, and there's non-slip padding on the inside:Best of all, the necks of the lights are very flexible, so it was easy to position them just where I needed them! The lights can be put on a 3hr, 6hr, or 12hr timer, or just left turned onWe'll see in the morning if the lights stayed in place!
The Buena Mulata flowers are a little less purple now, but they still have purple tips, which is new to me. And the jalapeno plants are blooming!! The Sweet Bonnet and the Bhut Jolokia in the back row of the right side are having a little trouble, the other plants are so much taller they're not getting the light they need. I've got a couple of those desktop grow lights being delivered in a couple days to help supplement them.
Finally decided to reclaim my towels and made covers for my reservoirs! I'm a sucker for space patterns lolStill waiting for the rest of the supplies for the other reservoirs, but I've got covers ready for them!
Added nutrients. The Jalapenos are getting tall!The Buena Mulata is also trying to set flowers! I'm thinking about pinching them off to let the plant get a little more growth, but left it alone this morning because I had to come in to work :|
Everyone has officially sprouted!! And have some water port covers on order from a 3D printer place because I got tired of waiting on customer support. It's time to add nutrients, but I'm holding off a day to get it synched with the other farm.
I know that AG CS is slow in responding. I can tell you that they are working remotely and are down some staff at the moment because of the Pandemic. They are working hard to get to everyone and will get to you. Remember you can also Tweet and FB Message them as well.
Oh yeah, I don't blame them at all for being slow, the pandemic has been rough!! I'm actually very jealous of the people in my company who are in jobs that can be done from home, I'd be all over that, but I work a field position sadly. I'm glad that AG is still getting plenty of business and have people working! I'm just impatient and $20 to get it sooner was worth it for me.
Jalapenos are all going strong, and starting to see sprouts in all the other pods!! Had to put foil over the water-add area, anyone know if Aerogarden will sell covers for those? My new farm came with the covers, which was nice, but I'm not seeing the covers for sale on their website :|
Why are you not using the original water port covers? If only for the black hose, then why not put that in one of the tiny holes (they are plugged) along the back or use a pod hole which is much smaller? Just curious.
I didn't receive water port covers with this farm :( Which is why I was really pleasantly surprised when I got port covers with my new farm, I thought maybe it was a recent addition.
I have no clue if they were included with the original farm. Write to AG and ask them. Maybe they will send you a set. You may be able to find them on ebay from someone who had a 3d printer.
I've poked around google a bit, and while it's not clear when they started making port hole covers for the farm, it was enough of a problem that there are several options for 3D printing, although everything that came up was from 2018. I'll send AG an email first asking if they'd be willing to send/sell me some first, but at least I'll have something to fall back on if they say no!
Day 1
UPDATE#1
Grower update
Update #1
🔧Actions taken
🌱PlantingPlanted eight pepper varieties in the Farm XL.
Planted 5 days ago, and already showing some life! That's honestly the fastest I've ever seen a pepper sprout lol, the jalapenos are eager!Left Side: Lemon Spice Jalapeno, Orange Spice Jalapeno, Pumpkin Spice Jalapeno, Sugar Rush RedRight Side: Sweet Bonnet, Bhut Jolokia, Carolina Reaper, Buena MulataAll links go to product page for the seed, got them all from Bakers CreekLeft side, all three Jalapenos sprouted but can't really see them in the photo yet, except for the Pumpkin Spice at the bottom!Right side, no one's poked their head up yet, though I'd honestly be more surprised if they had lol:Looking forward to sharing the pepper garden as it grows!