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deluxestogie Grow Log 2017

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OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Amaryllis is a tropical plant. They only have two seasons in the tropics, wet and dry. That is the key to growing Amaryllis successfully. After they are done blooming, fertilize them and grow as much vegetation as they will put out in 5 months or so. Then let them dry down and cut the foliage off. Let them set in their dried out state in the pot for another 5 months or so. Then unpot them, clean off the excess roots, repot with fresh soil, and water. Fresh foliage will emerge within days and you will have blooms within 3 weeks or so. It is the resting phase that is critical to new bloom growth.

These are not Daffodils, and as I said before, I had to kill a few of these before I figured this out. Just like growing and curing tobacco, you have to be patient! A quality not found in substantial numbers of people.

Wes H.
 

deluxestogie

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After they are done blooming, fertilize them and grow as much vegetation as they will put out in 5 months or so. Then let them dry down and cut the foliage off. Let them set in their dried out state in the pot for another 5 months or so. Then unpot them, clean off the excess roots, repot with fresh soil, and water.
I assume that, unlike desert plants that seem to require the same cycle, Amaryllis doesn't tolerate freezing. But nonetheless, that's tough love.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Most days I'm a bit of a dullard. Every once in a while I have an epiphany, that's when it dawned on me that the wet-dry cycle was the key. Having no experience with tropical climates, it took me a while to put the threads together into a coherent string, but I finally got there. This is why I'm full of questions about tobacco growing and curing. Every once and a while, with help from folks like you, the light bulb comes on.

Thanks for your good info.

Wes H.
 

Youn

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The Joys of a Meteor Watch
(...)

Nice story! A man who is able to enjoy this kind of moment is rich for real!
Here I can see the sky very well by night, far enough from the city, in my village they switch off the street lights at 11 p.m and the neighbours don't let their lights shining (as well known, french people aren't civilised :p ) - There was no cloud and no moon (nor firefly, nor bat, nor car light) … and even so, I haven't seen a single meteor last night!
 

deluxestogie

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In the early 1980s, while on active duty with the USAF, I lived in Germany (Ramstein AB) for 3 years, and traveled quite a bit. I can recall stepping outdoors during the hours just before dawn, and seeing the belt of Orion lift above the eastern horizon for the first time in Europe. It was like unexpectedly meeting an old friend in a new place.

The locations where anyone, children especially, can even see any stars are becoming fewer and fewer. The night sky is dimmer. And the worlds population is becoming mostly urban.

One of the pleasures of growing tobacco (a generally dirty and arduous undertaking) is that it helps me to maintain a connection to the soil and seasons. It also serves as an anchor to a notion of my sometimes being a producer, rather than just a consumer.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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Climbing out of the time machine..........

Today I stalk-harvested most of the ones that will be stalk-harvested, leaving only the 3 Besuki plants with not-quite-ready bud heads, and the dozen Prancak N-1, which will be stalk-cut and sun-cured as soon as they look right. So, 15 more stalks to go--3 big ones and 12 shrimpy ones. All the bud bags, except the 3 Besuki and the 1 Prancak N-1 have been cut, and are hanging inverted in my enclosed back porch, to complete drying.

What's left, other than those 15 plants, is priming the Corojo 99 and Piloto Cubano. Both have been primed about to mid-stalk already, though the Corojo 99 is maturing noticeably faster than the Piloto Cubano. And the Piloto Cubano maturation is not consistent.

Bob
 

ChinaVoodoo

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..... Both have been primed about to mid-stalk already, though the Corojo 99 is maturing noticeably faster than the Piloto Cubano. And the Piloto Cubano maturation is not consistent.

Bob

I could conservatively do the first prime on about a third of my Piloto. The blow down I hung up whole two weeks ago cured green from about the 5th leaf to the tip. I've got mottling and or alligator on about 4 to 6 leaves on about a third of my plants, while the rest have nearly no evidence of either.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Would Costello Negro make a good cigar fill? I have a bunch of these (30) and they have made a lot of impressively large leaves for this type. (26 - 28" x 14 - 16") I planted them for cigarette blending, but I suspect I'll have plenty of leaves to experiment with this winter.

Wes H.
 

deluxestogie

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You will be the first to know, Wes. I've never grown Costello Negro. I recall that Knucklehead pronounced it an excellent cigarette filler, even without flue-curing.

Bob
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Bob:

Would Costello Negro make a good cigar fill? I have a bunch of these (30) and they have made a lot of impressively large leaves for this type. (26 - 28" x 14 - 16") I planted them for cigarette blending, but I suspect I'll have plenty of leaves to experiment with this winter.

Wes H.

If you flue cure it, definitely not. I made a lancero(ish) cigar with San Andreas wrapper and the air cured upper leaves of Costello, and it was enjoyable, but probably not strictly cigar flavor.
 

deluxestogie

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Flue-cured Virginias and the more aromatic Orientals add unexpected sweetness, acidity and a "cigarette" flavor to a cigar filler blend. Other than those, most leaf varieties can contribute to an interesting cigar. With air-cured Virginias, for example, you need to balance it with some heavier cigar leaf to make a cigar that I would enjoy.

Of course, there are many different cigar preferences. Some folks enjoy "pipe tobacco" cigars, which usually means a cased tobacco blend. I've even rolled a flue-cured Virginia Bright Leaf puro, but to me, it just smelled and tasted like a very fancy, very fat cigarette--and it was a bright yellow color!

Garden20140822_1468_cigar_VABright_FC_wrapper_600.jpg

Flue-cured Virginia Bright Leaf puro, from 2014.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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That's an interesting pattern of chlorosis--loss of chlorophyll. It's distribution does not suggest an infection or infestation. Weather fleck tends to be more generalized.

Wes_enviro_leafDamage.JPG


In the close-up image, note that the white spots seem to be common in areas of the lamina that are shaped (either bulging downward or upward) by the terminal loop of secondary veins. So, I'll suggest that this could be a physical effect of some sort.

Possibilities:
  • sunscald from lensing by trapped water (if downward bulge)
  • physical trauma from brushing against clothing (if upward bulge, and plants are space too closely to avoid contact with the passing grower)
  • normal yellowing of maturation, starting at the most terminal areas with respect to the secondary veins
  • bad luck [I don't know what it is.]
Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

I thought that one might stump you. It's pretty hard to stump the tobacco guru. You are right about the physical effect. This is caused by the neighbor's tree dropping it's very small leaves (Honey Locust) on my tobacco causing loss of chlorophyll on the shaded areas. Couple the shading with the normal maturation of the leaf, and you get this unusual speckling effect.

Good job!

Wes H.

Trapped water isn't an issue in this area. I live in a very dry area. Within one hour of irrigating, the plants are dried out. Typically, between June 15, and Sept. 15 around here we get less than 1" of rain. This year we have gotten just a "Trace" during this same period of time. Our normal total rainfall is only 20" per year. That is why we only have trees in the river valleys and at elevation in the mountains (Above 4,000'.)
 
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OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Thanks for having a sense of humor!

In re: growing tobacco. I'm lucky in that I live in an area where we get good sunshine and don't have a lot of the pests and diseases that you would find in the wetter climates of the world. It gets cold here in the winter which keeps the bugs at bay, and fortunately leaf rust disease hasn't figured out a way to feed on tobacco!

Wes H.
 

deluxestogie

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Garden20170820_2981_PrancakN1_stalkTops_sunCuring_500.jpg


Each of these 7 plants (which have been primed twice already) had mature, though green, seed pods--which I removed when I hung them. The remaining 5 plants still need a little more maturity.

I remove the bud heads for two reasons. First, they tend to attract aphids and budworms to the hanging stalks. Secondly, I don't want tobacco seed dumped in that area.

We'll see how Prancak N-1 sun-cures. I expect it to do well. The low primings were both flue-cured.

Bob
 

Charly

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I was planning on doing some sun curing with my oriental strains this year... but the weather does not want to help me : cold and humid, only rain... nearly no sun at all...
I wish you will continue to have better weather than me ;)

P.S. And I wish that the weather will soon become more friendly with me too ! :D
 

deluxestogie

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Persistent clouds that do not cause rain seem to assist in sun-curing. I call it cloud curing. It is slower than sun-curing, but with less risk of flash-drying green.

Bob
 
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