John's Journal

Today is the last rain day of a series so I was able to plant the peppers. For the soil mix I have several containers of various materials sitting around that I would like to get rid of. My first batch will be; 2 parts(plastic shoe box) composted horse bedding, 1 part(plastic shoe box) coco coir, 1 part(plastic shoe box) medium vermiculite. To this I will add ¼ cup Osmocote and 2 tbs Epson Salts. Just prior to making my soil blocks I will saturate the concoctions with Ferti-Lome 5-59-8. When I use up the coco coir and vermiculite, I will be using just composted horse bedding with the Osmocote, Epson salts and Ferti-Lome. The soil blocks were easily picked up and moved around. In the container on the left are 12 Red Bell peppers, in the container in the center are 12 Big Dipper peppers and the first 6 soil blocks in the right container are Picante peppers the next 3 are Sweet Banana peppers and the next 3 are Poblano peppers. The air temperature in the chamber is about 60 deg and the sand bed is 75 deg the temperature in the domes will be somewhere in between the two. The lights are on 24/7 until the chamber is shut down. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer with lots of sunshine so I will be back on the apple trees. The next rain day I will be planting the tomatoes and eggplant. John