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BarG

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It looks like your second grow kicked your first grows ass! Imagine what [third times a charm] will be like. Great looking plants.
 

Fisherman

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What do you fertilize with and how often?
Rick

Basically I use miraclegro . The one for tomatoes and a little bit of professional tomatoe food from walmart. One application of it and maybe every 2 weeks on the miracle gro. I stop it when the plants are topped or just before. I think they could have used more nitrogen as some of the yellowing isnt really maturity of leaf actually but was worried about using to much.

The mix doesnt seem to important to this grow as it did to the one earlier in the year. I had more problems than I could shake a stick at. I always had one posted looking for help :)

But once the weather went into the 90's , anything I threw in any ground seemed to grow. That is after it gott established.

My 2nd main planting is in partial shade now for month and will move to full sun now and hope they get some seeds started. It is taking a long time it seems for seeds to even brown now :(
 

Fisherman

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gOT UNIT UP AND RUNNING. iT WONT GO BUT TO 145 deg F AND HUMIDITY IS A LIL LOW BUT IT CURED IN 5 DAYS WITH STEMS BRITTLE DRY. gOT IT LOADED WITH BETTER STUFF THIS TIME. aND WILL ADD MORE HUMIDITY AND HEAT.

aLSO GOT A BRICK MAKER SO i .................... Dam. cap button..............

I got a brick maker also to help storage later in year.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/281121787870?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
brickmaker.JPG

Got these for extra heat to see what I really need in single unit. I will keep adding them until they are right and then get that size single unit for heat:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121111590790?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
heater rod.jpg

Also got a new fan for humidity so I can put the other ones back in lil kiln:
Is high temp fan also.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/230766778981?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
fan.jpg
 

Fisherman

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Thanks for heads up. They are in all steel box so I hope they will not start the fire.
I did see they get hot but havent ran in unit to see how much they will help/ I think my best bet is just to get bigger coiul spring heating element. I have 1500 watt in her now.
 

chillardbee

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By the time a burley is ready for stalk harvesting, the lowest leaves have become brown and tattered. I have primed the bottom leaves when they yellowed.

Bob

I had to prime 3 times before stalk harvesting. not only were the leaves yellow but they were starting to cure on the plant so I thought that they might as well cure on a stick out of the weather. They cured super fast too.
 

Fisherman

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Well finally we are cooling off and temps are dropping as well as days growing shorter. We are to get around 38 deg F this week and am planning on taking in rest of crop.

This means adding another heater to curing chamber as well as another set of holders for the stringing sticks. I should easy be able to fill unit one last time. The unit did good but I am thinking I will have to add 500 watts more as outside temps have fallen 30+ degrees here at night from last month. Will also add another mister and container to unit to keep humididty more closer to 90+ degrees.

Have lots of seeds that will be available for anyone wanting them but they will not have been bagged. I will sort according to plant type but other parent could be anything from shiriki to Lil Dutch and back again.
AM gonna keep the few xanthia ones I have tho. Naturally I didnt get many of them bagged and they produced small seed heads as well.
Have loads of Virginia bright seeds tho of pure quality but unknown fertility. Have been busy with boat project and have been neglecting the crop but they have slowed down growing also. Mainly waiting for seeds to ripen.

I guess I will just harvest it all and try to keep seperate in the curing chamber as best as possible. Mite be able to hold the Lil Dutch and One Sucker and air dry them or start them that way anyway.

Once everything is cured , I will kiln the whole bunch for a month or so and call it a year. :) It was a good year for me as I accomplished what I set out for and that was to stop paying for smokes. It evolved from a learning process to a more complete understanding of producing one's own smoke and was really fun. Next year I will have another hurdle to go thru and that is how to grow in the ground instead of the containers but knowing myself I will grow a few in the buckets as well just in case ........ heh heh...

I did learn a few things that I think will help others:
1st , The gutter system I used is really not needed IMO>if ever allowed to go dry , the buckets are hard to re-hydrate as your container mix contains a lot of peat even tho I cut that amount later in season
2nd , grow bags dry to fast and if used get the ones with no holes and cut your own on the side not the bottom.
3rd , You can get a few crops in a season with the same soil and I am hoping to get next year from it tho will also add fresh manure to help.
4th , Using the paint strainer bags seem to be the way to go. I have washed a few 2-3 times in hot water and showing no signs of brittleness or decomposition from sun or heat so far. The cost now can be divided by 2 as I fully expect to use same ones again at least next year.
5th , Plant enough of any one variety so that you can run a full load in your chamber at a time instead of a few leaves at a time per strain. Makes storing and catalogging much easier.
6th , So far the buckets I bought and the amount of time they actually were subjected to UV from sun, seems to indicate I will get another year from the buckets as well. thus reducing the cost of this years smoke another 40% or so :) Of course I will have to store them over winter under the trees and time will tell if this will have worked.

My last batch of containers were simply a 1" hole drilled about 4 " from bottom on side of 5 gallon bucket in hopes of holding water and having a wicking container sorta built in.
Maybe to be really prepared , one could possibly drill a few holes for instance one higher fro when the plant is smaller and roots are not all the way to bottom yet and plug the lower holes with plug or dowel until wetter times prevail etc. Not using the gutter system is lots cheaper and allows more moving of the containers to both utilize space AND to shade the containers with the plants to conserve water and break wind even.

Will post pics of the crop remnants later this week here and on other project topic.

It will soon be Christmas and I hope you all have a good holiday season coming up and are prepared for the winter. To those of you from warmer places..... I envy you and am sorta glad our season has wound down and hope yall a great season in the sun as well.
 

Old Putt Cigars

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Will definitely be interested in hearing more about this one. From what I have read, the "white stemmed" varieties are easier to color cure/dry and it sounds like a high yielder too.

DGBAMA FYI: I was just reading Fisherman's Blog (great one too) & saw your interest in "African Red". I'm trying a Phoenix Bucket Grow and can tell you (from my very limited experience) that this variety is one of the best in my desert environment. The other being ""Black Sea Samsun" Turkish. That's good for me in Phoenix because I think it will make a good Cig. blend and thrives here.

7-6-14 A Small.jpg7-6-14 B Small.jpg
 
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