Outdoor 6 x Mandala Safari Mix (Photo, Reg)

[Exotic Flower]

Maybe paranoia, but message that AN nutes ordered from Amazon are delayed at customs has me thinking.
Wondering if the customs people have specific items that they always chase up.
Thinking about it seems highly unlikely.... but.... paranoia. Security is always important....

Glad I got the three so-called Early Top Tao outside yesterday.
Wondering if I should tighten things up for a couple of days, just to be safe....?

 

[Exotic Flower]

Does anyone know -- buying / shipping Advanced Nutrients products through Amazon, is the packaging discrete? What is it like?

Apart from the Amazon brown box, are they just loose bottles, or also in AN box?

 

[trailanimal]

Maybe paranoia, but message that AN nutes ordered from Amazon are delayed at customs has me thinking.
Wondering if the customs people have specific items that they always chase up.
Thinking about it seems highly unlikely.... but.... paranoia. Security is always important....

Glad I got the three so-called Early Top Tao outside yesterday.
Wondering if I should tighten things up for a couple of days, just to be safe....?

nothing illegal about nutes, and your nation's security forces probably have more pressing issues. and you have a culinary herb grow that needs feeding

 

[Exotic Flower]

nothing illegal about nutes, and your nation's security forces probably have more pressing issues. and you have a culinary herb grow that needs feeding

In the cold light of the next day, everything seems pretty cool.
Actually, warm, coz the sun's finally out!!!!

I set my Amazon to give me email notifications of tracking,
which I didn't do before, so the notification just got me thinking too much.

 

[Exotic Flower]

Day 8 -- Mandala Safari Mix

Well, the first week has passed, and I must say I'm quite impressed.
Germination wasn't perfect, 5/6, but these are experimental crosses, so who knows.
But the vigor of these little babies is pretty awesome, they are really rocking it in this first week.
Some photos under the morning sun.

Group family photo:

Individual photos:

Interesting that this one (the last one up) was putting out a 2-pointer leaf as it's first true leaf!!
I've seen this a few times, or even with 3-pointers straight out to bat.
Hope it's a good sign of some powerful strength in these crosses.
Really hoping they'll have some good F1 hybrid vigor in all of them.

Compared to the other batch of (supposedly) Early Top Tao, they are well ahead in growth.
I hope that the mycorrhizal fungi are starting to kick on on the roots.
They will definitely need another re-pot into maybe 1L = 0.3 gal pots before they go outside.

Love and hugs,
MJS

 

[Exotic Flower]

Transplanted my big old sweet basils, thai basils and lemon mint to an outside garden.

3 big sweet basils in 8L = 2 gal pots
1 big thai basil in 8L = 2 gal pot
2 small sweet basils in 1L = 0.3 gal pots
1 monster lemon mint in 8L = 2 gal pot

They have been in the pots since about September and October, so 5-6 months,
including surviving left on a balcony without any attention for a month in Jan-Feb.

First tipped out the lemon mint to dry and make lemon mint tea.

And took four tips to root / clone.

Lugged all the plants to a friends outdoor garden, facing south, sheltered on the north.
Dug down thinking that the soil was actually quite nice here (brought in soil),
but discovered it was only 15cm = 6" deep, and my big pots were all maybe 25cm = 10" high.

So decided to cut around the plastic pots (very cheap thin plastic pots),
thus exposing the roots, and bury that in the ground, with the top of the pot still sticking out.
I knew they'd be root bound, but the situation was kind of cool to check out.

One on the right is the thai basil, all around quite a bit smaller than the sweet basils (1, 2, 3 from left).

The two smaller sweet basils.

Love and hugs,
MJS

 

[Ronin]

All your plants are looking great @Maria Sanchez
What kind of peppers are you running?
I'm still vegging my peppers in anticipation of planting out in a month or so.

 

[Exotic Flower]

All your plants are looking great @Maria Sanchez
What kind of peppers are you running?
I'm still vegging my peppers in anticipation of planting out in a month or so.

Thanks, @Ronin . They are looking really healthy, yes.
Think I'll re-pot into 1L = 0.3 gal pots very soon, as they still have a couple of weeks in the tent before going outside.

I'm growing some kind of bhut jolokia pepper, I think.
They are not doing that well.
Kind of grew a bit last fall, then spent winter outside for a month.
Didn't kill them, but they weren't great.
Then inside into the tent, where they flowered.
But the flowers don't seem to pollinate, and just die and drop off.
Maybe the fert is wrong? I'm going to use the AN Sensi Bloom A+B and GM CalMag on them, though.

But........... I just bought another 20 or so seeds - I think they are scorpions and bhut jolokias.
So, will get these started soon, and hope they do better being started in spring, rather than fall. Haha!

 

[G.Leave]

Looking good!! Not sure if I am going to grow ghost peppers again...only got a few off mine last season with the late flower trigger. Planning on trying to few odd varieties of how peppers this season in addition to jalepenos, habenaros. In fact...better get germing soon huh!

 

[Ronin]

Thanks, @Ronin . They are looking really healthy, yes.
Think I'll re-pot into 1L = 0.3 gal pots very soon, as they still have a couple of weeks in the tent before going outside.

I'm growing some kind of bhut jolokia pepper, I think.
They are not doing that well.
Kind of grew a bit last fall, then spent winter outside for a month.
Didn't kill them, but they weren't great.
Then inside into the tent, where they flowered.
But the flowers don't seem to pollinate, and just die and drop off.
Maybe the fert is wrong? I'm going to use the AN Sensi Bloom A+B and GM CalMag on them, though.

But........... I just bought another 20 or so seeds - I think they are scorpions and bhut jolokias.
So, will get these started soon, and hope they do better being started in spring, rather than fall. Haha!

Very nice.
All I run are the super hot varities, Bhut jolokia, 7 pot, scorpions...
Sounds like you were successful at over wintering them.
Most folks kill their peppers in the off season.
You can keep peppers going for years by overwintering them.
Make sure to keep the peppers fed with an even N-P-K.
They veg and flower all at the same time so they'll need a bit of everything.
As far as getting flowers to set into peppers...
Peppers self pollinate and if there are no bees present, you'll have to do their job.
As soon as you see the flowers open, flick them with your finger. This will pollinate them.
Part of my daily garden operations is to go through the peppers and either flick individual flowers or once large enough, I shake the entire plant.
My pepper production has quadrupled since taking these measures