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deluxestogie Grow Log 2017

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greenmonster714

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I can't wait to see this thread evolve. I've been reading a lot of stuff here since I'm a noob and will be attempting my first tobacco crop this summer. Trying to avoid the noon errors of I can. Of course it's a learning curve but I guess of I can grow a tomato plant this should be kinda like that. Except of course the preserving of the product is a bit more involved. I enjoy reading your posts Bob. Thanks for sharing this. It's a ton of helpful knowhow for a noob to dive into.
 

deluxestogie

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You are welcome. If you look through all the Grow Blogs section of the forum, for past years as well as present, you'll find that dozens of members have shared both their successes and failures. I find all of it helpful. Different regions, different climates and different soils.

If you include your general location in your profile, other members may be better able to assist you in your efforts.

Bob
 

greenmonster714

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You are welcome. If you look through all the Grow Blogs section of the forum, for past years as well as present, you'll find that dozens of members have shared both their successes and failures. I find all of it helpful. Different regions, different climates and different soils.

If you include your general location in your profile, other members may be better able to assist you in your efforts.




Bob


Thanks Bob. I've added my location and fixed up my profile a bit. I've been reading all over the site trying to take it all in. I've got an old broken deep freezer I plan on using as a kiln. Also have plans for a smoker to fire cure and smoke some meat. Ordered about 10 different varieties of tobacco so I certainly have enough seed. I smoke a pipe now a days. Had to give up the cigarettes and the wife just hates the smell of cigars but likes the pipe aromas. I plan on starting a blog as soon as I get everything in line. Hope to get some good feedback from the members. Take care.
 

Bex

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Ah, very organized! I read all your grow blogs, and salivate at the nice garden you have, good weather conditions, etc. It's that time of year again....:)
 

deluxestogie

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To some extent, I use my planning as a motivational tool. Growing tobacco is a pain in the butt, at so many levels, and throughout the year. Once I put it on paper (printed out on real paper), then I feel a greater personal obligation to follow through. Looking over my printed expectations allows me to ponder my strategies, as the various deadlines approach.

Back several years ago, when I grew 43 different varieties in one season, my focus was so diffuse that I spent the year feeling muddled and dissatisfied. This year, I will be planting 11 varieties, of which only 3 are new. At my age of 68, I could grow 50 new varieties a year, with the hope of having grown most varieties by the time I reach 98 years old. Alas, that's a game I could never finish.

That having been said, there is certainly joy in succeeding at growing tobacco that I actually enjoy smoking. I consider it a great personal victory to have grown my own cigars, and that their smoking quality is better than that of most commercial cigars. (enter tobacco kiln) As for pipe tobacco, I've conquered Perique, Cavendish, flue-cured and fire-cured. My biggest failure is at making Latakia, a process that I've solved, but which lacks the correct wood for creating Latakia's distinctive character.

My planning has permitted me to tackle one challenge at a time. My goal in developing processes to yield particular products has been aimed at essential, categorical requirements.

What is the simplest contraption or method that can produce a desired tobacco character? What is the range of tobacco varieties that can use this process to advantage? How does the result compare to the traditional, commercially available product?

Traditional methods come about mostly due to expedience at the time of their origin. They are imbued with an aura of correctness, but I regard no particular tradition as the right way to achieve an end. If I see a better or simpler way to accomplish a task, I happily discard tradition. (My trash can Cozy chamber was a slap at both tradition and complexity.)

I do hope that my grow logs encourage others to explore and experiment. I have no doubt that they encourage me to persist.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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Seed Starting Mixes

Garden20170218_2442_Bob.jpg

Ultra-high speed camera captures tobacco grower at the age of 68.

What you use for a seed starting mix does make a difference in the seedlings that you will ultimately transplant into the ground.

In contrast to potting soil, a seed starting mix needs much less fertilizer, but does require some. The starting mix needs to be fine enough to prevent very tiny seedlings from being stranded high on a dried chunk of mix. Another function is that it must be capable of managing its moisture (that is be able to avoid soggy compaction) better than potting soil, so that roots can grow easily, and mold and fungi are kept to a minimum. In particularly arid regions, a fine potting soil may perform as well as a seed starting mix.

Most seed starting mixes include a "wetting agent" to speed the absorbtion of water by the initially dry mix. This prevents the mix from simply floating on top of the water for hours after initial watering. For some brands, the wetting agent is likely a small amount of detergent; others use a more natural source of compounds that do the same thing as detergent. (One end of the molecule easily binds to plant material--the lipophilic end, and the other end of the detergent molecule easily binds to water--the hydrophilic end. This is the same detergent process that allows cooking grease to disolve in sudsy dish water.)

Most seed starting mixes contain:
  • peat (or coconut coir)
  • Perlite (a glass-like compound that has been heated until it "pops" like puffed rice cereal)
  • vermiculite (a form of the mineral mica, which has likewise been heated and "popped")
  • wetting agent
  • possibly other nutrient additives

Here is an interesting (though not comprehensive) article from Terroir Seeds on a comparison of several seed starting mixes commercially available: http://www.underwoodgardens.com/are-seed-starting-mixes-worth-your-money/

I mix my own seed starting mix in a 5 gallon bucket, using roughly the following recipe:
  • Miracle-Gro Peat [4 parts]
  • Pearlite [1 part]
  • vermiculite [1 part]
Several years ago, I directly compared seedling performance using two home-made starting mixes. The recipes were the same as that shown above, but one used Miracle-Gro Peat (which contains some fertilizer), while the other used Jiffy Organic Coconut Coir instead of the peat. I set a single 1020 tray with half of the cells using one mixture, the other half using the other mixture. Their proximity to the window (i.e. the sun) was rotated every few days.

Garden20120402_113_GrowthCoirVsMiracleGro_300.jpg

Jiffy Organic Coir mix on left; Miracle-Gro peat mix on right.

As you can plainly see, the mix makes a significant difference. Since neither the Pearlite nor the vermiculite differed, the base material (peat or coir) accounts for the difference in seedling growth. The Miracle-Gro contained visible spheres of slow-release fertilizer. So far as I could determine, the Jiffy coir mix had no supplementation of nutrients.

While the Jiffy product packaging displayed no nutrient analysis, the Miracle-Gro package claims an N:p:K of 0.19: 0.11: 0.15 (in the polymer coated beads). So seedlings don't need much fertilizer, but they do need some.

When I do my mixing, I don't weigh or measure. I fill the 5 gallon bucket about half-way with Miracle-Gro peat, then pour in some Pearlite and vermiculite. Since the latter two ingredients serve only to minimize soil compaction and retain some water, the exact proportion is not important.

My 1020 tray setup is a latice tray on the bottom (for strength and stability when moving the trays), followed by a 1020 tray without holes (so that it holds water), then a 1020 tray with holes (to allow excess water to drain into the tray below) and finally a 1020 cell insert. I currently use a 48-cell insert. After initially filling the 1020 cell inserts with my mix, I pour 1-1/2 quarts of water into the underlying tray (by removing one of the cell packs), then mist the top of the mix with water, to greatly accelerate the uptake of water from below into the mix.

Garden20170218_2443_1020traysAndInsert_300.jpg


My germination occurs within a jar of moistened starting mix, resting on a seedling heat mat. Germinated seeds are then transfered individually, using forceps, into a dimple in the center of each cell of the tray, and misted again. The lidded jars of germinating seeds are maintained until all of the seedlings in the trays have successfully begun to grow.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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Flip-Flop Alert!

My growing plans each year are final--until I change them.

I have recently received seed from Skychaser [http://www.northwoodseeds.com/Seed List2.htm] (who received it from Jessica at GRIN) for Prancak N-1 (TC 666). It is an Indonesian variety from the island of Madura. While one of Prancak N-1's parents is Prancak 95 (TC 665, "excellent for filler in clove cigarettes"--yawn!), its other parent is Turkish Izmir. Prancak N-1 is considered a dark sun-cured variety.

This information has finally been assembled from extensive searching by me and by Skychaser, and tremendously aided by Jessica's info (which has not yet been entered into the GRIN database, as of a few days ago).

So, here we have an Indonesian "sun-cured" cigarette variety, crossed with Izmir. Despite its ominous cultivar number (TC 666), I've decided to replace my Prilep 66-9/7 this year with Prancak N-1. This is not the legendary high-nicotine N1. Prancak N-1 nicotine is measured at 1.76%.

My plan (for now) is to grow it, and then cure it by two different methods: sun-cured and flue-cured. We'll see what happens. Maybe.

Bob
 

chillardbee

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Looking good Bob. I reckon that's what hammer and chisels were made for, who says that anything written in stone is permanent :D. will you be seeding out some of that Prancak N-1?

PS: I haven't even started by grow log and your log is already 3 pages deep. looking forward to seeing your grows this year.
 

greenmonster714

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Great information on the starter soil. I'm going to have to pick up those ingredients before I get started. Tobacco seems to be so delicate in its early stages. Amazing how you can get such a large plant from such a small bean. TC666...lol. So ya might say your growin satans daughter this year. Maybe she'll be hot n spicy. Thanks for the info Bob.
 

Bex

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Wow, I really do have to change my 'settings' so that I see these posts when they're written, rather than days and days later. In any event, your info on the starting soil is really interesting. The soil that I've used to start my seeds is normally just 'crappy' potting soil, with bits of stick or something in it. There are hard clumps, but I either squish them up with my hands, or else just discard them. I'm of two minds with this - on the one hand, I wonder if 'babying' your seed starter, soil, etc., doesn't just encourage 'prima donna' plants that are not particularly hearty, need a lot of extra care, particularly as my growing conditions are anything but gentle. On the other hand, you do get great plants.....although Miracle Gro (which I've used for decades) is not considered 'organic'. I rather like Fukuoka's 'One Straw' gardening method, which basically states 'doing nothing is the best method of farming'.
 

deluxestogie

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Wow, I really do have to change my 'settings' so that I see these posts when they're written, rather than days and days later.
Each time that I come to FTT, I click the menu item "View Active Topics." In the results list, if you click on the little blue circle icon, it will take you to the 1st new post that you have not yet read. Also, at the top of every page is a count of how many posts you have not yet read. (This can be cleared to zero in your settings, for a fresh start.)

About babying seedlings: well-grown, sturdy seedlings are more likely to produce a sturdy plant (or even to simply survive the transplant) than poorly-grown seedlings. I've had ample opportunities to compare them over the years. I baby my babies.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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Today, I cleaned 12 germination jars and lids (8 oz. Ball "freezer" jars, which are plastic, with plastic lids). I mixed up some germination mix, and filled each of the jars.

With scissors and a Sharpie, I created duplicate Tyvek tags for each jar (one for the jar and one for the lid).

What required far more time was going through my various moisture-tight boxes in which I store my seed (in a tiny refrigerator). These initially made sense. One latched box represented seed gathered from one growing season. [e.g. Looking for Comstock Spanish? Look in the 2011 box.] Over the years, seed has arrived from many other sources (GRIN, Nicotiana Project, members, seed bank refresh grow-outs). Some special contributions are sealed in separate, double-bags, and not even in a box. The little fridge is chock full. Plus...here's the big plus, what varieties I grew in which years is no longer so crisp in my memory. So, today, I ended up going through every box and bag, in order to locate the 12 varieties that I will grow this season.

Sneaky. My 11 variety grow became a 12 variety grow today, when I located the Besuki from Tutu, and discovered that there was Besuki from Kesilir as well as a different Besuki from Ambulu. (Maybe there was a 3rd one that I didn't find today.)

This evening, I will tape the Tyvek tags to the jars, but await actual seeding of the jar, prior to labeling the lid. I set the tray of jars on one side of the kitchen, then carry a single jar at a time to the counter for seed sprinkling. (Electrostatic charges may easily cause a tiny tobacco seed to jump from one jar to a nearby one, so long as it's perfectly dry.) I have set up a seedling heat mat on which to place the metal cookie sheet that will hold the 12 jars during their germination period.

Maybe tomorrow I will do the seeding.

Bob
 

greenmonster714

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Sounds cool. Got any pics of this proceedure? I don't recall ever seeing a ball jar which was not glass. Plus id like to see your seed starting steps....is there a page I missed?
 

deluxestogie

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Photographs for my preceding (boring and all text) post.

Garden20170226_2454_germinationJars_400.jpg


Garden20170226_2453_trayOfGerminationJars_400.jpg


Garden20170226_2450_seedFridge_400.jpg


The water-proof boxes are sold in the camping section at Walmart, and are intended for use during boating, canoeing and kayaking. My fridge doesn't qualify for any of these.

Garden20170226_2451_seedBox_400.jpg


Garden20170226_2455_seedPackets_400.jpg


About the freezer jars, the ones I have are from probably 6 years ago. They were pretty crappy for food use. They've redesigned them.

BallPlasticJars400.jpg


Bob
 
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