madhousebill growlog 2013

[madhouse]

This years growing season seems to have gone quite well in the UK the weather has been good and all the plants are growing really fast now, i put together a little slide show of the plants i have grown at home this year, i like to keep a eye on how they are doing while growing on a larger scale on my allotments, touch wood there seems to be very few insects and pests around at the moment which is good but im sure they will rear there heads when i least expect it, blossom bagging is taking up a lot of time at the moment but hay hoe that part of the fun of it, it wont be long before i start collecting seed, i think that's the biggest job of all but im sure i will cope, feel free to have a peek link below cheers.

http://s22.photobucket.com/user/madhousebill/slideshow/Tobacco 2013

 

[johnlee1933]

Looks a good crop. Nice pics. Well Done.

 

[Knucklehead]

I really enjoyed the slide show. You are growing some very interesting varieties. I hope you will entertain the thought of donating some seed to our seed bank and doing some swapping among the members.

 

[madhouse]

No problem i think swapping seed is what its all about, i have asked on i thread before about donating seed to the seed bank, i would love to put some seed in but im not sure how to go about this or if the seed i have is needed ?.

 

[Knucklehead]

Some varieties need refreshment due to age or low inventories. Some of your varieties will be new to the bank altogether. There will be much more discussion of it later as peoples seed dries. You will need a 400 micron and 600 micron screen to clean your seed. I got mine from USPlastics, you'll just have to read their shipping policy to see if they ship to the UK, or find a local supplier. This is the current list of seed in the bank: http://fairtradetobacco.com/showthread.php?1781-2013-Tobacco-seed-list. The bank is only open a couple months a year for distribution, but I think he accepts seed for donation year round. FmGrowit holds the main bank, with another member keeping a small amount of each as back up. 2000 seed to the main bank and 200 for the back ups would be wonderful. I'm going to try to grow out 60 new varieties for seed this year if the weather cooperates. I'll have some trading stock also. The more the seed is distributed, the greater the chance of that varieties' long term survival. Big tobacco only uses a limited number of varieties, preserving the others is left up to a few die hards. Several varieties are in danger of being lost forever, including the old heirloom varieties.

 

[madhouse]

That's great advice mate so do i need to chat to FmGrowit to see if the bank needs any of my seed ?.

 

[Knucklehead]

That's great advice mate so do i need to chat to FmGrowit to see if the bank needs any of my seed ?.

I think that would be the best way. Send him a PM with your seed list and he'll tell you what you need to do. And thank you, from the rest of us.