DonH's 2016 Grow Blog

[DonH]

My 5th year. I got the seeds started yesterday. Six trays of 72 cells. I set two and a half trays with Turkish, but only three varieties: Izmir Osbas, Prilep, and Bursa. I'm aiming for a lot of Turkish production this year. I also planted a lot of Burley varieties. I need to stock up on Burley and I'm trying a couple of new varieties: Ergo and Gold Burley. I also started Kelly Burley, Harrow Velvet, TN 90 and Silver River. My only exotic variety this year is Mahorka rustica. I'm going to try to make Dokha. The rest are flue cured: Gold Leaf 939, Del Gold, Virginia 724 (I got that last year from GRIN and really liked it), Silk Leaf, Virginia Bright Leaf, and Bamboo Shoot.

 

[grgfinney]

Good luck this year

 

[DGBAMA]

Don't be afraid to cram a bunch of the Orientals in a tight space, I planted double rows last year, 18" between rows, 6" plant spacing, and they still grew full sized.

Gold Burley is great for me, grows similar to YTB, but less pest problems and stalk cured nicely needing minimal aging.

Give Silver River some room, in good conditions it can easily use up 36" between plants. Huge producer.

 

[Chicken]

Sounds like a good selection..I'm also going heavy on the Turkish strains this year..""jitterbug"" sent me many samples of different Turk varieties.. And I liked them as a stand alone smoke..I imagine they would be excellent with some mixing.

 

[Hasse SWE]

Interesting grow-list DonH.

 

[Knucklehead]

Are you going to move the pig pen before planting? How are your porkers doing?

 

[DonH]

Are you going to move the pig pen before planting? How are your porkers doing?

The tobacco plot is fenced in with hog panels so no need to move the pig pen besides the usual need to rotate paddocks. The pigs are doing well. We got our second batch of meat this month and in December we got a purebred breeding boar for the sows. But the last batch of meat pigs we got, which were mixed breed, we got from a farmer that doesn't believe in castrating, so of course both sows are now very pregnant. So we are anxiously awaiting the first litter.

 

[DonH]

Disaster struck. Something's eating my seedlings. I lost almost all of them. If anyone has extra seedlings, I'd be interested in buying some. I'm looking for flue cured, Orientals, and some Burley. I've contacted Larry and New Hope Seeds is selling seedlings, too, so I have some options. I'd almost have time to start new ones, but until I figure out what's eating them I don't want to waste the time.

 

[deluxestogie]

Snails (slugs) eat large divots in the small leaves. Earwigs tend to cause scattered holes. Cutworms will lop off small leaves, or the entire stalk of a seedling.

Go out at midnight, with a flashlight.

Bob

 

[DonH]

Snails (slugs) eat large divots in the small leaves. Earwigs tend to cause scattered holes. Cutworms will lop off small leaves, or the entire stalk of a seedling.Go out at midnight, with a flashlight.Bob

Here's the thing. They are still inside in my basement. I'd show some pictures but it's not letting me upload them.

 

[Brown Thumb]

That Sucks to hear. I never had anything eat my starts.
I have had every other problem tho.

 

[BigBonner]

Could be dampening off . If they all fell over at the bottom then I would bet dampening off . Basements wont allow air movement around the plants unless a fan is on .

 

[Alpine]

Or, a small mouse with a bad nicotine addiction... I had mice eating seed pods in my garage, difficult to get rid of them darn little critters!

 

[Gavroche]

 

[DonH]

Or, a small mouse with a bad nicotine addiction... I had mice eating seed pods in my garage, difficult to get rid of them darn little critters!

That's what I thought, too, but I haven't found any mouse poop anywhere.