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the Smokin Harley /Black Lion grow of 2016 is now under way

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Smokin Harley

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Got 12 varieties of seed in pots as of today. Starting out with 3 inch square pots for now to get them germinated then will thin to either the float tray or the Rapid RooTrainers . Hopefully plant out in the field by early June.

This years crop consists of -
Ct Shade 8212
Olor
Habano 2000
Criollo Ti1376
Havana 142
Jalapa
Amarillo Parado
Coroja
Colombian Garcia
Little Sweet Orinoko
Comstock Spanish
Perique

if any of you who live in the midwest or lets say equal or above me zone wise have grown any of these , which if any did well , which did not.
Thanks guys. Looking forward to another successful grow.
 

DGBAMA

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Nice list.

I've grown a couple of those for seed. I seem to remember olor to be late to the game, growth wise; late to mature.
 

Smokin Harley

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I see life !!! Peering through the condensation on the clear flat cover I see tiny green sprouts in the Jalapa pack ... I will take a closer look tomorrow.
 

Smokin Harley

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ok, so last week I sowed 12 varieties and again the only one that isn't is Ct Shade (8212) not growing. Not a single one sprouted. Anyone else have any good CT Shade 8212 seed I may have a pinch? Please and Thank you .

SH
 

Knucklehead

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ok, so last week I sowed 12 varieties and again the only one that isn't is Ct Shade (8212) not growing. Not a single one sprouted. Anyone else have any good CT Shade 8212 seed I may have a pinch? Please and Thank you .
SH

From what I've read, unless you build a proper shade structure (with 40% shade cloth) for the CT Shade, you are better off growing CT Broadleaf. Again, from what I've read, sun grown CT Shade is hardly worth the effort. Perhaps some the of the guys that have actually experience with it will weigh in.
 

Jitterbugdude

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I've grown CT Shade in the sun and in the shade (40% shade cloth). There is a world of difference. The shade grown leaf is much thinner and more stretchy. The burn characteristics seem to be the same though. A good sun grown wrapper leaf is Florida Sumatra.
 

Smokin Harley

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I'm only growing up to 9 plants of each this year again. I grew Fl Sumatra last year and I can definitely say that almost every leaf was indeed wrapper quality. But so was Machu Pichu Havana
 

deluxestogie

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I'm curious if your Machu Picchu Havana burns well. Mine has always produced beautiful, deep brown tobacco, much of it wrapper grade, but its burn quality has been consistently marginal. Having grown it for a number of years, and in different beds, I still find the burn the same.

Although I sometimes use it as a wrapper, beneath a good burning binder, I more frequently use even flawless leaves as a blender for filler.

Bob
 

Smokin Harley

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Bob, I will post results of it when I finally get to using it...its still aging . Beautiful leaf while growing and color on it when cured. I did notice some (other)leaves in my grow produced extremely thick leathery leaf . Ever experienced that before? Just wondering how those will burn. I figured they'd be nothing but binder . Maybe I'll pull a leaf out of the bag today and roll a quickie just for burn check. I'll get back to this. Starting to rain /thunder here , I guess my plans of turning the garden isn't happening today.
 

Smokin Harley

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Well its about time. The Ct Shade seeds finally sprouted. I wonder why they took almost twice the time the rest did. So anyway, I'm back up to my 12 varieties.
 

Smokin Harley

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Today is a rain day. Most rain days I sit here at the computer ,drink coffee and browse . I'm trying to get myself more motivated on days like this. Wife went off to work this morning. Yesterday (Mothers day)after my wife and I searched the woods for morels ,( found 2 ,one was a beauty at almost 8 inches tall) I got out and spread out my annual allotment of soil amendments (10 bags each composted manure and mushroom compost, and 4 bales of peat) over most of the 30 x 40 patch and ran the Horse through to churn it all in . Beautiful fertile blackish soil remains . Then it rained all night. So today is probably a garage day. It needs cleaning/straightening/reorganized badly. I tend to collect things . I'm definitely a sucker for yard sales where any kind of tools are advertised. Anyone in need of parts for a Tecumseh engine?
Might sit down at the rolling table and experiment with the Machu Picchu from last year . Bob mentioned its flammability problem and I have yet to touch my leaf since I bagged it last winter. I'm trying to age it as long as I can .
Waiting on 2 orders to arrive- one is about 10 square feet of leather to do projects. The other is an order from WLT - Mata Fina, Honduran and Flojo ...I'm hoping to broaden my flavor profiles and get to stocking up the empty boxes I pick up from Binny's .
Plus, my brother in law is now going feet first into his own enjoyment of fine cigars since we all vacationed together in Cancun. So I now have , as my wife calls her bro "my cigar buddy".
 

Smokin Harley

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Rained ALL night. Yesterday I transplanted/thinned my Amarillo Parado into a 9 cell pack. As had happened last year, I notice that the day after I do this , the tiny plants seem to have almost doubled in size overnight. And yet again - the Ct Shade seems to be the slowest growing of them all. Why is this? Same soil , same conditions.
 

Chicken

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That's a hell of a combination to be throwing in your spot..do u do that each year ?

If all goes according to plan I'll start planting this weekend.. I'm very curious as to how many plants will get planted this year..

I'm picking up 21 tons of bacca Fertilizer right now..and the expected farmer can have all of it...I got plenty in the shed stockpiled.
 

Smokin Harley

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well considering this is only my second grow , so far I'm hoping to go twofertwo. I tried Ct Shade last year and it all died before even going to the field. This seedling crop is only a couple weeks old and its looking much better and bigger than last years got after 3 tries of seed sowing. The other 11 varieties are all different from last year. I just limit myself to 12 varieties keeping mainly to cigar leaf. If I had like an acre to play with I'm sure I'd be planting every variety I have seed for and still be looking for more.
I just ordered some 40% shade cloth from Amazon. 12x20 sheet was only $37 ...at Menards they wanted over $60 for the same size . plus I got my wife a Harley shirt she had put in a cart and must have either forgot to pay for it or it was a "hint" for me to...got free shipping this way . Might even see it before the weekend.
Anyway , this cloth I'm getting I figured if I covered the Ct Shade and try planting some other variety in shade too,Ill have enough cloth to run 7 feet up east and west sides and 6 feet across a roof structure on a 12 foot row. I know the stalks only get about 4 feet tall ,5 with flower heads. I can move the cloth out some but I want to make sure I have room to walk in there without rubbing my head (Im 6 ft tall) on a hanging shade cloth. I can always put some heavy window screen across the south end for a "door" and shade out during the hot part of the day. North side I may leave open , I'll have to see what happens.
 

Smokin Harley

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I transplanted the Ct Shade this morning ,gave the 9 pack cell a foot soak in warm water ,Superthrive and miraclegrow cocktail and then I went out for my errand run...I swear when I got back 2 hours later the plants already perked up and look like they jumped up and grew...this is some great stuff.
 

deluxestogie

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You should be aware that CT Shade that is grown under 40% shade cloth can easily reach over 8 feet in height, and may require wire support from the shade framework above the plants.

Bob
 

Smokin Harley

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I wasn't aware of that Bob. Thanks for the heads up.
Hmm, wire support eh...Looks like I need to plan some sort of armature now...oh DARN I'll just have to back to Menards for that .
Got any ideas about how best to construct that? I know you've had some Pryor experience (catch that little play on words there at the end?)
 

Jitterbugdude

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I know the pros tie up their CT shade and many people recommend it but I've grown CT shade for 3 years and never once have I tied up the plants. Never had any fall over either. The worse that happens is they reach the ceiling of my shade cloth and gently bend downward. It's no big deal because I don't use the tips for anything.
 
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