Pending pepper disaster

PaulF · February 4, 2017

In my basement seed starting laboratory, a dirt floor partial basement in the house that was built in the 1870s, the new fangled wires and pipes are all overhead in the seven foot ceiling floor joists. When we moved in and renovated twelve years ago, we put in a water softener. When this contraption does its thing in the middle of the night, the water used to regenerate the ion beads uses a strong brine solution to strip the hard minerals out of the contraption. All this hard mineral and brine is pumped to the wastewater piping through a quarter inch tube.

The tube popped out of the sanitary line a week ago or so and the salty water spilled into a tub of soilless mix. I noticed the mix was damp but I thought it was just still damp from the last time I used it.

The day came for me to start pepper seeds. The soilless mix was perfectly moistened and putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, I planted every pepper seed in my inventory into the six packs I use, put them all in a tray, labeled them appropriately, covered the tray with a dome, covered the whole thing with a plastic, turned on the heat mat and walked away expecting germination to begin.

After a couple of days I inspected the newly planted peppers...nothing yet. Inspected again today and nothing, except a whitish crust was on the soil. The floor was wet, the empty mixing tub had water in it. Looking around I noticed the drainage tube out of the wastewater pipe. I reinserted the tube caulked around it making the process water tight and yelled, "Oh crap!!!" Or something close to that.

Long story made short: My favorite pepper seed sellers have today received an order. At least it is still early enough to start over.

February 4, 2017	#1
PaulF Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Brownville, Ne Posts: 3,284	Pending pepper disaster In my basement seed starting laboratory, a dirt floor partial basement in the house that was built in the 1870s, the new fangled wires and pipes are all overhead in the seven foot ceiling floor joists. When we moved in and renovated twelve years ago, we put in a water softener. When this contraption does its thing in the middle of the night, the water used to regenerate the ion beads uses a strong brine solution to strip the hard minerals out of the contraption. All this hard mineral and brine is pumped to the wastewater piping through a quarter inch tube. The tube popped out of the sanitary line a week ago or so and the salty water spilled into a tub of soilless mix. I noticed the mix was damp but I thought it was just still damp from the last time I used it. The day came for me to start pepper seeds. The soilless mix was perfectly moistened and putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, I planted every pepper seed in my inventory into the six packs I use, put them all in a tray, labeled them appropriately, covered the tray with a dome, covered the whole thing with a plastic, turned on the heat mat and walked away expecting germination to begin. After a couple of days I inspected the newly planted peppers...nothing yet. Inspected again today and nothing, except a whitish crust was on the soil. The floor was wet, the empty mixing tub had water in it. Looking around I noticed the drainage tube out of the wastewater pipe. I reinserted the tube caulked around it making the process water tight and yelled, "Oh crap!!!" Or something close to that. Long story made short: My favorite pepper seed sellers have today received an order. At least it is still early enough to start over. __________________ there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes.