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An Unexpected Grow Blog

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istanbulin

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Although I had no intention to grow anything this season, an interesting sutiation forced me in one way.

A numeric year ago, in December 2014, I received a leaf sample from jojjas. It travelled around Europe and landed on my hands. While examining the leaves I noticed that there were seeds stuck to the leaves.

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A considerable part of the sample.



After brushing down all the leaves one by one, I found 35 seeds in total.

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Tiny seeds that are hard to handle.



Samples belonged to mostly upper leaves of an Oriental variety, a Basma type. As very well known topping is not a common practice for Oriental tobaccos so the seeds spread to upper leaves, probably while priming when stalks were shaked while leaves were picked, and thanks to sticky leaf surface seeds stuck to leaves.

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A leaf from the sample.



Even the sample belongs to a new crop; seeds were most probably suncured with leaves where temperatures may rise up to 140 [SUP]o[/SUP]F and after drying they were rehumidified with leaves to a proper case that allows handling without damage. All these conditions are unfavorable for a proper seed storage so I was expecting low germination rate.

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Seeds in the petri dish, on Jan 15.


Filter paper was used for germination for an easy observation. After few days first seeds were "hatched" and others followed them, germination rate was approximately 60% which is quite good for these seeds which had really hard time for months.


Due to winter conditions and lack of sunlight they grew slowly. Actually, they were ready to transplant in the second week of April but due to compelling reasons they had to wait few weeks more.

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Seedlings on April 25.



Now they are transplanted to their final place. I'll try to make more observations on these plants, I hope. Stay tuned.

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Seedlings in the "field" on April 29.
 

ArizonaDave

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Very, very nice story, and you took great care in preserving the seeds. It will be interesting to see the progress as well. I really like the color of your soil.
 

DGBAMA

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I take that you enjoyed the sample, otherwise you would not have bothered with growing the seed?
 

deluxestogie

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Ah! The famed Swedish Basma finally to be introduced into Anatolia. Your petri dish reveals an insatiable scientific proclivity. Cheers to you, istanbulin. Good luck with the grow.

Now, to find stray seed on some Cuban leaf.

Bob
 

Chicken

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Good observation...to have even noticed the seed on the leaf..

I'd have passed it by as honeydew.....aphid droppings
 

istanbulin

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Thanks guys, I hope it turns out well.

I take that you enjoyed the sample, otherwise you would not have bothered with growing the seed?

In the first sight the sample smelled unaged to me but it was also promising so the aim of this experiment was determining the age of the sample. If it was two years old and commercially aged, seeds would germinate poorly. Germination rate was above 60% and the sample tasted unaged to me so I can say this is new crop, from 2014. The rest of the sample is aging naturally and it already started to smell better. May be I should smoke it again to see how it's going.

Good observation...to have even noticed the seed on the leaf..

I'd have passed it by as honeydew.....aphid droppings

A basic magnifier really helped me. Actually I was looking for something else but suddenly I saw seeds. I really recommend you guys to get a magnifier it works pretty good.

I mostly use an 1" Thread Counter (below) which also helps for measuring what I found. It's in my pocket most of the time.

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zQdav7.jpg
 
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deluxestogie

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Great idea. A quick Google search of "thread counter magnifier" turned up many sites selling them for as low as $2.

Bob
 

Chicken

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I have a jewelers loupe at home...it comes in handy at times..it has a built in light....
 

rainmax

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Hi istanbulin.
Interesting story and how is your Basma doing?
 
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istanbulin

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Hi Max, I'm glad you asked otherwise it would take some more time to post a photo about the progress. I think they're doing very well but somewhat over irrigated, it also rained a lot. Here is a photo from the patch, it needs hoeing.

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istanbulin

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The date of the picture in the previous post above is May 19. After hoeing, plants grew rapidly in 11 days, this is how they look in May 30.

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Brown Thumb

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There Looking Super.
Taking off now. The fun begins. Sit back and wait for suckers.
 

istanbulin

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This place is a community garden, those growing next to my plants are lettuce. My neighbour planted them quite close to my patch but it's ok for me. I hope he doesn't add a tobacco leaf to his salad.
 
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