Buck's first grow blog

[buck]

Okay here I go, taking a stab at growing my own tobacco and very first blog.
Feel free to comment on anything that I may be doing right or wrong , especially if I'm going down the wrong path.

I started germinating my seeds tonight with the hope of being able to transplant outside Mid to end of May which will give me a 75-90 day growing season and 30-45 days of good curing weather.

My plan is to grow 12 or so plants for cigar tobacco and grow them in 5G or bigger buckets.
I went through my seed a few days ago and was missing a bunch of seed packets and only had the Jalapa, Olor, Scantic seeds so those would have to do but then half way through spreading the Jalapa I noticed that I had some unnamed Havana seeds which I remember being told was good producer so I seeded some of those as well. I also later found the rest of my seeds which I thought I lost (PA Red, Swarr,Havan K1, Mass ck1, P.A Broadleaf) .. (I'm not very organized I guess). Anyway .. I just seeded the first 4 and on my way to growing 4 Jalapa, 2 Scantic, 3 Olor , 3 Havana plants. Now I'm wondering if I should toss some of my choices out since I didn't really do much reading about those.

Should I reconsider some of my choices or just go with what I just seeded ?

Used potting mix and small containers, watered them, sprinkled the seeds, sprayed them using a water bottle, covered them up in Saran wrap.





More pics, more details to come.

Thanks

 

[Knucklehead]

You may want more filler varieties like PA Broadleaf, Swarr, or PA Red. Jalapa is a filler from Nicaragua, Scantic is classed as a wrapper, Dominican Olor is classed as a wrapper, and the Havana might be classed as a binder. You will get filler, binder, and wrapper from all of the varieties based on the condition of the leaf. If it's very holey it's filler, slightly holey it's binder, very clean with no holes wrapper. But I think taste wise, for better blending options, you'll want another filler class or two. I'm mostly just guessing, I'm no cigar leaf expert.

 

[deluxestogie]

I think you'll be fine as it is. Dominican Olor is "classed" as a wrapper type, but that is a GRIN error. It is a filler type. After kilning, it is a wonderful, mild-to-medium strength cigar filler.

I would just do it, and have fun. Next year, you can try some of the others, and maybe find a spot in the ground to plant more.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

That's a cigar leaf expert. I recommend doing what he recommends.

 

[BarG]

I don't think you can have too many cigar or cigarette varietys to try. I like to try a few new ones each year. So far I haven't grown anything I haven't liked in one way or another so it doesn't hurt to grow plenty extra to leave room for new varietys next year. Good luck. The best way to find out about the plant charachteristics and smoke quality is to grow them at least once or twice.

As a side note I would start planning on a small crockpot kiln for your harvest to make the most of it. use the search for kilns and cigar rolling.

 

[Indianamac]

Welcome buck!

I am growing all cigar varieties and this is my first grow also. I can't contribute any knowledge yet but wish you good luck. These other guys are the guru's and are very knowledgable helpful.

 

[buck]

Thanks guys, I decided to germinate the other three strains and decide later which I will grow.

Crock pot kiln, I already plan to build one and have an old fridge.

 

[Chicken]

your soil looks course, i hope they germinate for u.

i like to sprinkle a layer of VERMICULITE... over my course soil, to keep the small seeds from falling in a crevice,,,

if they fall in a crevice, they wont germinate.

 

[Mad Oshea]

They may, but hard to transplant. I have had no problem with course soil other than working with the small plants. Dominican Olor is a very good filler in My cigar expose's as well. Good choice. It is one of My sons favorites.

 

[buck]

I'll wait a week and if I don't see any signs of sprouting I'll germinate another batch and sift the soil before hand. I still have some time to germinate another batch. I did sprinkle quite a few seeds so we'll see if any sprout. As for the transplant, I plan to remove all the smaller seedlings and keep two per container until they get a bit bigger then just 1 per. I plan to keep the soil intact with the roots to avoid transplant shock.

 

[buck]

One week into the process and I see a few seeds that started to sprout already. All but the Olor seeds have sprouted and the only difference was that I covered the Olor with a plastic lid and two days ago I saw white fluffy substance on top of the soil. I believe that is mold, so I sprayed a bit of water over it and kept the lid off. I haven't seen anymore mold but no seeds sprouting either. Not sure if the mold would have killed off the seeds or if the soil was too wet. About %60 of the soil was covered with white mold, is this common?

Anyone have any experience with Olor and it's germination time ? I may just germinate another batch in case.

I have the trays on top of the fridge which doesn't get that much light and I can't move them next to a window because I have very active and curious kids who may want to get their hands in the dirt or pull the seedlings out. Would it be safe for me to move them into the garage which is unheated once the seedlings get to about 1-2 inch tall ?
Temperature in Vancouver these days is around 11c day 7c night (52,45 F) and slightly warmer in the garage, once there I can put them under grow lights.

I don't have pics of the mold but will post pics of the seedlings.

 

[Boboro]

They need good lite to sprout.

 

[deluxestogie]

Any tobacco seed that happens to be photo-dormant (and that's fairly uncommon) can be exposed to a very bright light for 1 minute. Then it will germinate with or without additional light. They really do need light after the cotyledons are out.

I germinated 4 varieties of Olor over the past few weeks. Nothing special about them.

Mold indicated that the soil was too wet. Adding more water was probably not the best choice. Just start them again with fresh seed and fresh soil. For germination, it needs to be damp, never dry, not too wet.

Bob

 

[buck]

Pics of my seedlings .. I'm starting a new batch of Olor due to the mold issue mentioned. I did see some from the original batch starting to sprout so I'm keeping it as well and see how things turn out.

 

[chillardbee]

Hey Fellow canadian, Good to see you got your grow on. I'm not far behind you now and should have germination in a few days. all the best on your first grow, you'll be rolling cigars in no time.

 

[buck]

Week 2 update, well a bit passed week 2. Seedlings are coming along and I believe that it is time to start thinning them out. I'll be leaving about 4 per container for another couple of weeks then thin down again. I don't think that they have grown much and light conditions may be a factor, I'll really need to get my grow light set up.

 

[Knucklehead]

They are still putting down good roots so the growth at the top will be slow. They'll take off before you know it. They don't appear to be too "leggy" but more light wouldn't hurt, but like I say, the main thing with the growth now is that they are working on their roots. It is time to thin them some and that will also help with the growth.

 

[grgfinney]

As soon as you get them in single cells they will take off

 

[buck]

Hey Fellow canadian, Good to see you got your grow on. I'm not far behind you now and should have germination in a few days. all the best on your first grow, you'll be rolling cigars in no time.

Good luck on your grow to.

I'll visit your blog throughout the season to see how your doing..

 

[buck]

Week4 update.

I thinned them out to about 4 per cell last week, and moved them to a south facing window ledge but things are still moving very slowly. I know, root development stage, just surprised that my tomato plants are 5" tall already and planted 1 week later vs my 1/2" tobacco seedling. Forecast is sunny for the next week so lots more light, hope I see some progress.

I left a few more in this container as it is bigger but the others have about 4 seedlings. More thinning in a week or so.