Fungus gnats have been a major pest on my indoor seedlings for the past couple of years. I saw one flying today and destroyed it (sorry, no pic of that!). For every one I see, there may be 100 I don’t. I took action: a layer of vermiculite on the soil of all the pepper and tomato starts.
Germination rate is 100% for the Naga Viper seeds, 5 of 6 for the Trinidad Scorpion.
Naga Viper and Trinidad Scorpion "Butch T", 17 days from seed
Giant tomato seeds produced 100% germination, eventually. One (Brutus Magnum 6.15 Meisner 2011) has died (the top just shriveled up), but it was a backup. A couple of days ago I transplanted the seedlings into 6″ “gallon” pots.
Giant Tomatoes, 18 days from seed
Big Zac (2.660 DT 2011), 18 days from seed
Update on compost piles –
Major leaf-based pile is still maintaining 160-166° temperatures in the hottest spots and is starting to take on the appearance of compost.
Manure based pile, despite adding several bags of dry leaves, 2/3 yd^3 from the larger compost pile, and being wetted down, still has only risen to 94° in the hottest spot, most is in the 70° range. I think I’ve made an erroneous assumption that fresh horse manure is good for making “hot” compost.
Both piles turned on 1-04-2012.
I completed a draft lesson about basic tomato genetics which includes a hypothetical tetrahybrid cross of two heirloom tomato varieties. The lesson is posted at my Growing Tomatoes page.
Delectation of Tomatoes, etc. 