Mole Garden - Part 2

There was frost and a blizzard but culture must contest nature (except when cultivating plants because they're part of it).

The Mole Garden began 01 April.

I ordered my seeds throughout the last week of March and within days they began trickling in from all corners of the US. However, some didn't arrive until the 8th. Nevertheless, I had four types by 01 April--Serranos, Jalapeños, Pasillas, Tomatillos--and time was flying so I pulled the trigger.

Omaha is squarely within hardiness zone 5, although the Arbor Day Foundation puts us closer to the cusp of 6. The average last frost date is 21 April with a high confidence of no frost after 04 May. My seeds germinate between 1 and 2 weeks and can be transplanted at 6-8 weeks. The recommendation for these chiles is to plant them 2 weeks after the last frost or when there are 55 degree nights. They hate cold. Anyhow, my 8 varieties of plants produce fruit in 14-18 weeks and the growing season is about 174 days. So, as I say, time is flying. 

The Arbor Day Foundation's map is the most generous.

After reading many tips and watching many YouTube videos regarding raising chiles from seed, I found this one by Gary Pilarchik (The Rusted Gardener) to be the most helpful. Some tutorials were TMI and some barely graze the surface. Gary's is thorough but concise. 

Using pre-packaged starter mix is essential. Outside soil carries many stowaways--fungus, bugs, mold. The store bought stuff is cleaner. It's also dry. So, I moistened it with water until it was slightly damp and dark but not sticky. I packed it in the starter cells and impressed shallow pits for the seeds with a pencil eraser--about 1/2 inch. 

Setting up the cells with pre-packaged starter mix

After covering the seeds I bottom-watered them. Gary strongly recommends this. Top-watering could dislodge the soil and seeds. More detrimentally, this water-logged surface allows fungus to propagate. The moist subsoil is what matters to the seed. The starter cells have perforations in their bases, allowing them to absorb water from below. So, I set the cells in a plastic tray and add about 1/2 inch of water. The moistened soil wicks up the water in a few minutes.  

Nebraska's infamous, erratic weather

Heat and light also matter to the seeds. As I mentioned above, we still risk frost. In fact, Old Man Winter keeps rearing his ugly head with unusual tenacity this spring. The Midwestern weather is predictably unpredictable--always volatile. I was in Stuart 210 miles NW of Omaha for work on Monday. It was sunny and warm. On Thursday Stuart had a blizzard but in Omaha it was cool and overcast with a little rain. Tomorrow it will be 10 degrees warmer here than Stuart. Monday could be a 20 degree spread. All this is to say: my plants will begin their lives in my basement--a dark and cool place (~55-60 degrees) but more stable and controllable than outdoors. In a few weeks I will need to acclimate my seedlings to the weather. But I'll deal with that later.

Day 01 of basement life

I assembled my grow station--a true jalopy apparatus--from an old shoe rack and 2X4 scraps. A heat mat lays across the rack and the tray of starter cells sits atop the mat. The mat raises the soil temperature 15-20 degrees, thus putting the seeds in a 75-80 degree range--the median of the recommended ranges for the various sorts of plants (the recommendations ranged from 70-90 degree soil). For light, I suspended a grow light from wire cables hooked to a carabiner. It hangs from a dowel cross beam that is perched upon the 2X4s and stabilized by the sides of the shoe rack. For the first days--until germination--I kept the light only inches above the tray. 

I did not consistently cover the tray the first several days.

The Tomatillos peaked above the soil 05 April. This relieved me because they require the hottest soil for germination. Apparently, they were satisfied.

First signs of life--Tomatillos, 05 April

The Chilhuacle Negro and Poblano seeds had arrived by the 5th so I planted them and added them to the tray.

I gave the tray a thorough watering on the 5th. You can see how the water wicks up into the soil. Within 10 minutes it turns from light brown to a dark, moistened soil. 

Before and after watering (I did not use the Dasani)

The weather was warm over the weekend--70s. I got the idea to expose the trays to a little sun. I put their clear plastic covers on and set them on the porch in the sunlight for 15 minutes, moving them into warm shade for the remainder of the hour afterward. I did this for two days. Unfortunately, it shocked the tender Tomatillo seedlings and several withered within a couple hours. Half my Jalapeños suffered a similar fate.

The remainder of my seeds were here by Tuesday, so I planted them on 09 April--Mulatos, Guajillos, as well as more Chilhuacles and Tomatillos. My first tray reached capacity so I bought a second tray. This addition required a second heat mat as well. My shoe-rack stand can only accommodate 1 tray, arranged landscape style. However, if I turn the trays to a portrait orientation, 2 can fit side-by-side.  

New setup - 10 April

I kept the covers on both trays. Wow! They fogged up quickly and stay very warm--so warm, in fact, that the eager second batch of Tomatillos shot up in 3 days. Consequently, they are tall and leggy. I've curbed their enthusiasm by cutting their covered time and turning the light off for longer periods. 

Speaking of the light...

Its purple/pink color cast such a powerful aura that when the sun goes down it conspicuously backlit the side yard--which is very visible from a street. On the other side of the house, the light shines out and across the narrow canyon of the neighbor's driveway, projecting a discotheque aura onto his white house. I considered the optics of an attic grow station but the lack of good power source ultimately militated against that option. But my basement scenario wasn't looking much better. There are a variety of--how does one say?--"invested" figures in the neighborhood who go on many daily power walks to breath in the fresh air, note wayward shrubs, cars parked illegally, and so forth. They could get the wrong idea. Happily, duct tape, a box cutter, some cardboard boxes, and a few tacks solved this problem. 

1) "Is there a fire?" 2) "Ah, that's better!"

Back to the plants...

Some of the Tomatillos and Jalapeños clearly died from their solar trauma. Yet, some continued to limp along but they looked, well...limp. And a little pale. I realized yesterday that the surface moisture in the grow cells was probably condensation dripping from the covers. A quick investigation revealed that this was the case and, indeed, the subsoil had dried out completely. In my horror, I watered the parched plants last night. Within 5 minutes the tepid Tomatillo perked up. It was a relief. 

Their feedback lacks subtlety.

In summary: as of 12 April, the Tomatillos are recovering and 1 or 2 Jalapeños that were damaged seem to be rebounding as well. The Serranos are stable, as are the Pasillas. The Chilhaucles are progressing well--good color, stout, good germination rate. 

I don't wish to "tempt fate" but I must confess that the Chilhuacle Negros are my priority. They are extremely rare--native to La Cañada valley in Oaxaca--and an indispensable component of mole negro. Considering the popularity of the dish, it surprises me that fewer and fewer farmers grow this chile. 

Chilhuacles - 12 April

Serranos - 12 April (pardon the popsicle stick misspelling))

Pasillas - 12 April

Jalapeños - 12 April. The one at the bottom seems to be on a rebound, since getting water.