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Field inspection day

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skychaser

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Every year I get my field inspected by our local USDA agent for viruses. I must be certified virus free in order to export seed to the EU. The virus they are mainly concerned with is PTSV, which is actually a potato virus. Although PTSV has never been observed in tobacco, it has been induced in the lab and shown that it could possibly infect tobacco. PTSV has never been seen on potatoes in this region and has not been seen in the US in over 20 years. It is considered to be eradicated here in the US by the USDA. Never the less, a filed inspection is required for it during the active growing season in order to export.

I got my inspection on Tuesday and passed with flying colors. No PTSV, (big surprise) and no viruses or bacterial infections of any kind on any of our plants, tobaccos, vegetables or flowers. He also found no signs of any insect damage of any kind. The only thing he did find was some abnormal looking leaves on a few of our Pinto Beans which he said was caused heat stress fallowed by a heavy watering. I forgot the term he used. I'll have to call him back and ask so I can read up on it, but he said it was due to the plants trying to uptake to much water too quickly after being heat stressed. Keeping things properly watered has been a challenge this year, partially due to one of our well pumps being down for a week, and due to this July now moving into the top 10 hottest and driest ever.

Last year he said we did an "excellent" job of weed control. This year he said we did a "fantastic" job of weed control and said our operation was "quite exceptional overall and the best he has ever seen". And not one drop of pesticide of any kind has been used here. No fertilizer either. We are 100% organic. Makes me feel pretty good knowing all our hard work has paid off. :)

He is pretty generous when it comes to the bill for his time and spends about twice the time here that he actually bills us for, at $50 per hour. Most of his time is spent inspecting wheat, hay, potatoes and straw for export. He also inspects many local nurseries and vegetable farms for the local markets, but we are the only farm he inspects that is focused solely on seed production. And we are definitely the only tobacco seed producer in the area. I really enjoy his annual visits and I know he does too. We've learned a lot from him over the past few years and he enjoys a break from seeing the same ole things over and over again. And we have taught him a lot about tobacco.

Here is a partial view of our main field taken about a week ago. It slopes away to the south and east and is impossible to get it all in one photo.
 

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FmGrowit

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Congratulations on your successful inspection...it sounds like you live in Utopia.

It's really pretty cool watching people grow over the years. You're doing a great job. keep it up.
 

deluxestogie

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Beautiful photo. Nice work on the inspection success. Although I'm sure you were confident about it, that "pass" must take a load off your mind (at least a little load).

Bob
 

marksctm

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Hell yeah Sky that's awesome! Congratulations!
I love what you both are doing up there with all! your seeds, and bet your chest is puffed out like a proud rooster.
Thank you again Sky...
 

skychaser

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it sounds like you live in Utopia.

Man, I really feel for some of you guys at times having to deal with horn worms, bud worms, fungus...etc. In a way it kind of is a utopia here. A great many of the vegetable and flower seed producers are located in the western US simply because we are so geographically isolated and separated by mountain ranges, deserts and vast distances from each other. Our extremes in weather also help a lot. Winters are very cold and summers are very hot and dry. That makes it difficult for many bugs and diseases to take hold here. And since no one has ever grown tobacco in this area, except on a very small scale, we don't have many of the pests and diseases that many of you have to battle with. We do get aphids on occasion. Not seen a one this year due to the dry heat. Potato bugs can be a real problem but we patrol the patch daily and pluck them and squish them like Bob does with horn worms. And grasshoppers get to be a problem, especially on really hot dry years. Little ones are starting to show up now. Could be a big problem next month. Time will tell.
 
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AmaxB

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If ya want we can do a trade! I love your kind of country Winter, Spring, Fallll, Oooops, and Summer. Bet fishing is good and hunting a tad better you can come South and have my place I'll go North an move into yours.
How ever I do believe you would be getting the short end of the stick so I'll throw a few hundred in the pot to sweeten it. What do ya say???:confused:
:cool: you got a piece of the gods country.
 

Boboro

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We have the best ppl. here on this site and you are one of them. The work to to keep true seed is appreciated.
 

Knucklehead

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Wow. How do you keep the grass out? Beautifully maintained field. I'm looking at a tremendous amount of hard work in that picture.
 

DonH

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Nice looking field! Congrats on the stellar inspection. I am curious about one thing. Since you grow for seed what do you do with all the tobacco. Do you grow more than you can (or want to) cure?
 

skychaser

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Wow. How do you keep the grass out?

Most of that field was planted in wheat, peas or sunflowers for a few years before, so grass wasn't a big problem. Things like wild mustard, pig weed, foxtail, perslane and a few others are another story. They got way out of hand, especially when it was in sunflowers. They left enough seed in the ground to haunt us for years. I really hate perslane. It just keeps coming up by the millions every year.

We expanded it some a couple years ago and had to take out the blue grass growing around it. And we had to take out orchard grass and alfalfa when we made our second plot on the other end of the property. We tilled it with our tractor and 50" tiller. Then we picked out all the clumps we could. Then tilled it again, picked, tilled, picked.... It was a real pain to get clean and took a couple seasons to kill out all the grass. Using Glyphosate (Round Up) would be much simpler, but if you ever want to become certified organic you can not have used any herbicides on the ground for at least 3 years. I used glyphosate and 2-4-D to spot spray noxious weeds around the property and kill weeds in the driveway for several years. But the more I read about glyphosate, the less I want to do with it, or anything made by Monsanto. This year I used none of either and went back to using nothing but my good old shovel and hoe.

I am curious about one thing. Since you grow for seed what do you do with all the tobacco. Do you grow more than you can (or want to) cure?

Yes, about 10 times more than we want or can cure. We pick all we can use, and then some. We have about 3 years worth stashed now. Then we give away as much as we can. So maybe 15 - 20% of the leaf gets picked. The rest of it gets tilled under in November along with a few tons of tree leaves, rotted hay, straw or what ever else we can get. We also add wood ash. Since we remove very little from the field and add more organics to it every year, we don't deplete the nutrients and don't need to add any fertilizers. I test the soil in the spring to be sure everything is up to par. I haven't added any fertilizers since I quite growing wheat there. The only fertilizer we used this year was on the seedlings when they were still in the greenhouse.
 

skychaser

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If ya want we can do a trade! I love your kind of country Winter, Spring, Fallll, Oooops, and Summer......
..... you got a piece of the gods country.

Actually, we call the 4 seasons here: winter, more winter, still winter and road construction season.

My grandpa used to call this "gods country". But he was Swedish so the 3 winters didn't bother him so much. :D
 

skychaser

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I got another inspection yesterday from this fellow. I think this pest is too big for even Bob to squish. He wandered through early yesterday morning and decided to snack on the Black Hawthorns at the bottom of the field. He came back yesterday evening for dinner and spent another hour eating those nasty thorn trees and some wild rose bushes. At some point during the night he came back again and made a journey across the field between tobacco rows, took a right turn at a walk way and headed out towards our house. He never touched a plant. They never eat them but he's the first moose who ever stuck to the walkways. Usually they just trample over what ever is in their way.
 

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AmaxB

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Actually, we call the 4 seasons here: winter, more winter, still winter and road construction season.

My grandpa used to call this "gods country". But he was Swedish so the 3 winters didn't bother him so much. :D
Just seen this LOL is it to late to withdraw my offer?:confused:
 

deluxestogie

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skychaser said:
I think this pest is too big for even Bob to squish. ...he's the first moose who ever stuck to the walkways.
I only squish the ones with horns on the other end. I believe his more civil behavior is the result of his improved socio-economic status, likely because of participation in early childhood education.

Bob
 
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