Visited a Capsicum farm yesterday...

My wife and I stopped at a pepper farm and talked to the owner about soil and growing Capsicum in general. The farm was about 1 acre in size, possibly slightly more.
For fertilizer she (the owner) uses a 25-8-8 which surprised the heck out of me. I asked her if she uses any cow manure she said no, because it was too slow to start working.
The soil didn't look much different than mine and she said she didn't add anything more than fertilizer. While she and my wife chatted I walked around and inspected some plants. There was a white fungus on the underside of some of the leaves. Some of the plants didn't look too well with leaf spotting and some minor curl, but not much of that; far less than on my plant. She waters twice a day.
She did say something interesting; she said this years crop wasn't nearly as good as last years because of the ongoing heat wave (50 days of 37c - 39c). This confirmed for me that excessive heat does make a difference in overall plant health.
This farm is producing no less than 5 different varieties of peppers and nothing is done to stop cross pollination. On this farm the various varieties were side by side and in some cases intermingled. One patch had prik kee nuu and prik haum (hill tribe variety) mixed in together. My wife was given a handful of the prik haum, but growing the seeds won't produce a true cultivar; nuts!
I didn't learn as much as I was hoping, especially about soil, but it was an interesting visit.
Here's some pictures;

The farm house with a chili field in front;


The bigger field to the left of the house;


The left field from a different angle;

Soil map of Thailand...

Here's a soil map of the various soil types in Thailand;



Probably not very readable here so I'll supply the link to the website;

http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esdb_archive/EuDASM/Asia/lists/s1_cth.htm

Finding this answered many questions for me about what to do to the soil to make it more friendly to Habaneros.

One foot in Hydroponics and one foot in the dirt...

I went ahead and purchased the hydroponic system; Ajarn Phathra made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Next Sunday I'll take delivery of a Hydroponic Grow House. Once that is secure I'll start up the system.

In the meantime; I'm continuing dirt farming with 4 Costa Rica Red Habaneros doing very well and 3 Orange Habaneros not doing so well. I think 48 days of 37c with the last 3 being 38c, 39c, and 39c haven't helped.
I transplanted the mature Costa Rica into the ground 10 days ago. I tried to save the 25 peppers on it but it was just too much for the plant. I cut off all of the fruit and pruned back some of the branches.
There is new leaf growth and it looks normal. The plant is coming out of shock; it's taken a bit longer than I had hoped for.

I will include pictures on my next post later this week.

Almost there, hydroponically speaking...

I just received the foam sprouting/growing cubes along with a germinating tray. Also coming with those were the ever elusive PH strips.

The first picture shows the germinating tray, foam cubes, planting cup, and the PH strips.

This is a close-up showing a foam cube with a toothpick through the X cut where the seed goes in and the roots go out. The grow cup with a foam cube in it and the PH strips for checking the PH of the nutrient solution.

With the rainy season here the only thing I need now is a structure for a plastic sheet roof to keep the rain water out of the nutrient solution. It would dilute it and upset the balance. 

A few more details and pictures of the system

Here's the nutrient delivery tube from the tank;



This is the growing cup;



And the cup installed in the system;



The growing medium the sprout is in is coir; this is for demo only, because coir won't work well for this system. In reality the "planting medium" for this system is a small foam cube. I'll have more pictures in my next post. This should give you the idea of how it all works.

Entering a New World; Hydroponics...

...my new system.
Yes, with many thanks to Ajarn Pathara of Rachapat University in Chombung, Ratchaburi. "My" new system is on loan from the University via Ajarn Pathara who is a researcher in the Agricultural Department. We met with her last Wednesday to get information about setting up a hydroponic system for growing Capsicum chinense (Habaneros). She generously offered the loan of a simple system they weren't using at this time.
Here it is all assembled and ready to go;



My new sprouts aren't developed enough to go into the system quite yet; they need a root system that is more developed because they weren't sprouted with the system. Maybe they'll be ready the middle of next week.

Here we are 7 days in...

...To say I'm happy would be a gross understatement. ;)

Take a look at this;

A Truly Momentous Day; April the 5th...

...Four sprouts in the coir plugs! We've got 2 orange and 2 Costa Rica sprouts on this day; day 5. The first time in almost 5 months of trying and finally, sprouts. There have been 20 seeds planted in total; so I'm hopeful we'll see even more in the days ahead. Later today (it's morning here) I'll try and get some pictures and post them here.

Mini Greenhouse and Coir Plugs

Trying coir plugs for the first time. This is the morning of the 3rd day, so no action so far.
Here are a couple of shots of the newest germination attempt;





Coir is a product of coconut husks which is free of mold and fungi.

Hydroponics for capsicum...

...Today I came across an excellent scholarly primer for hydroponics. It’s done by a woman (Laura Perez Echeverria) from Costa Rica in 2008. Here’s the link; http://tinyurl.com/yeub3wc
And here's an updated picture of our only plant; also I might add a Costa Rican. It is now at 90cm high;