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China Voodoo 2017 Grow Blog

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deluxestogie

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I usually buy trays and inserts from Growerssupply.com, in Iowa: http://www.growerssupply.com/farm/supplies/cat1a;gs_pots_trays_containers.html The cost per tray is higher, but the shipping seems to be lower.

Bob
Sometimes Bob is stupid. I just received an email from Greenhousemegastore.com (Danville, Illinois) asking me to write a review of the 1020 cell inserts that I recently purchased from them. Duh.

So, I guess I didn't buy them from growerssupply.com this year.

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/traditional-inserts-hobby-pack/seed-starting

They offer 10 different insert configurations, any of them for $8 per set of 10.

Bob
 

greenmonster714

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Sometimes Bob is stupid. I just received an email from Greenhousemegastore.com (Danville, Illinois) asking me to write a review of the 1020 cell inserts that I recently purchased from them. Duh.

So, I guess I didn't buy them from growerssupply.com this year.

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/traditional-inserts-hobby-pack/seed-starting

They offer 10 different insert configurations, any of them for $8 per set of 10.

Bob

I found that site late last night and was poking around in there. Tons of great stuff and the prices aren't bad at all. I filled a cart and shipping was only $8.99. That I can live with but that other site...whoa.
 

SmokesAhoy

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How do these mail order trays compare to the trays from places like home depot, Walmart, tractor supply etc? Is it more rigid or something?
 

deluxestogie

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They're all probably manufactured by the same company(ies). Also, the big box stores seem to offer a smaller number of choices (usually with way too many cells, or silly, expanding peat pellets).

Bob
 

ChinaVoodoo

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The ones I get from the independent hydroponic shop have more variety, are thicker and more sturdy than the home depot stuff.The online ones look like the ones from the independent store.
 

ProfessorPangloss

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I buy mine from a local farm that does commercial growing and supplies other growers. They get them by the truckload. The downside is that in commercial volume, you're buying 100 web trays at a time and a box of 100 inserts. I think I paid like $60 for 100 web trays and $55 for a box of 100 1801 inserts.

Regarding sizes: a 1020 tray is about 10 by 20 inches. The trays are named for how many inserts they have and how many cells are in each insert. So last year I bought 1801 and 1204 for my market stuff. 1801 is 18 inserts of one cell apiece, (a little over 3" square). My 1204 go into the same tray - 12x 4-pack inserts. The tobacco did well in 1204 but I also kept some in 1206 (72 cells per flat - the standard overpriced Jiffy greenhouse tray) which grew out just fine.

not to hijack ChinaVoodoo's thread, but I'm planning to put my tobacco in 1204 to keep in greenhouse when they're ready, which won't be for at least a month if not longer. I found that they were well rooted in that size after being trimmed in the flats and brought outside.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I buy mine from a local farm that does commercial growing and supplies other growers. They get them by the truckload. The downside is that in commercial volume, you're buying 100 web trays at a time and a box of 100 inserts. I think I paid like $60 for 100 web trays and $55 for a box of 100 1801 inserts.

Regarding sizes: a 1020 tray is about 10 by 20 inches. The trays are named for how many inserts they have and how many cells are in each insert. So last year I bought 1801 and 1204 for my market stuff. 1801 is 18 inserts of one cell apiece, (a little over 3" square). My 1204 go into the same tray - 12x 4-pack inserts. The tobacco did well in 1204 but I also kept some in 1206 (72 cells per flat - the standard overpriced Jiffy greenhouse tray) which grew out just fine.

not to hijack ChinaVoodoo's thread, but I'm planning to put my tobacco in 1204 to keep in greenhouse when they're ready, which won't be for at least a month if not longer. I found that they were well rooted in that size after being trimmed in the flats and brought outside.

Then I must currently own 0606. I just don't have the weather to go smaller. The ground is so cold well after our last frost that our reasonably long growing season is a bit deceiving. No frost maybe, but no love from the dirt. I'm planting late, and I only have so much time to grow. I want good sized plants without binding the roots, without the need for a greenhouse. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with my tobacco last year, but I think I still have room to get bigger and thicker without going to extremes. Just a bit taller and a lot more roots.
 

SmokesAhoy

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This may be against your ideology, but I've been getting huge healthy plants with miracle gro and frequent feedings. I've seen pictures of people growing massive tobacco and other plants in general even in tiny <1gal pots with it. I've been using it for a few years now and the thin leaf I was originally able to produce has been replaced with larger thicker leaf. So much so fancy wrappers are absolutely out of the picture. So there are some possible cons if a thin leaf is wanted, but I'm a mg convert. You're probably colder than me by a bit but it shouldn't ultimately matter by a few degrees.

Also this year I was thinking of using tires in a test plot, I will improve 2 shovels deep below the tire and within it. The tire should keep weeds down and let me use the weed eater safely and the black should warm the soil.

Probably won't fly if you have an hoa or some such. The previous owner to the land dumped about 40 tires in the woods so my test plot will be about that big.
 

ProfessorPangloss

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Then I must currently own 0606. I just don't have the weather to go smaller. The ground is so cold well after our last frost that our reasonably long growing season is a bit deceiving. No frost maybe, but no love from the dirt. I'm planting late, and I only have so much time to grow. I want good sized plants without binding the roots, without the need for a greenhouse. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with my tobacco last year, but I think I still have room to get bigger and thicker without going to extremes. Just a bit taller and a lot more roots.

if I lived where you do, I would do the same thing. You're aiming in a more precise way for a shorter window of good time. You may be able to find a similar cell in a deeper size so you can get deeper roots before transplant.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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This may be against your ideology, but I've been getting huge healthy plants with miracle gro and frequent feedings. I've seen pictures of people growing massive tobacco and other plants in general even in tiny <1gal pots with it. I've been using it for a few years now and the thin leaf I was originally able to produce has been replaced with larger thicker leaf. So much so fancy wrappers are absolutely out of the picture. So there are some possible cons if a thin leaf is wanted, but I'm a mg convert. You're probably colder than me by a bit but it shouldn't ultimately matter by a few degrees.

Also this year I was thinking of using tires in a test plot, I will improve 2 shovels deep below the tire and within it. The tire should keep weeds down and let me use the weed eater safely and the black should warm the soil.

Probably won't fly if you have an hoa or some such. The previous owner to the land dumped about 40 tires in the woods so my test plot will be about that big.

I have seen this woman on Facebook growing 11' tall tobacco in 5 gallon pails, so I know what you mean. I would like to do this organically though. It'll be a challenge for sure. This will be my second year in this house, so the soil needs lots of improvement. That should be easy as although we live in the middle of the city, we're a couple blocks from the University of Alberta research farm. They give away compost and manure like crazy in the spring.

I believe you're onto something with the tires, and heating up the soil. I tried black mulch last year part way through, and although I used small quantities, the plants seemed to respond well. I will use much more this time.
 

deluxestogie

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There are two broad concerns about toxic compounds leaching from car tires. With all tires, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are leached, though this seems to decrease over time. With used tires, the primary concern is all the crap that they are exposed to on roadways. In particular, heavy metals seem to be a significant issue for used tires.

Below is a tiny sample of the many studies that have been published on the subject.

Whole tires were immersed in 300 L of water (natural groundwater) and subsamples (40 L) of water were removed at 5, 10, 20 and 40 d for use in acute static lethality tests. Overlying water from both new and used tires was lethal to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) but leachate from used tires was more toxic...than leachate from new tires...

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/004565359390100J
The respective mean concentrations of cadmium, lead, and zinc in soil at the base of the dump were 22, 1160, and 1235 ppm, indicating contamination by each metal.

https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/reveh.1996.11.4/reveh.1996.11.4.175/reveh.1996.11.4.175.xml
Emissions of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of particular concern.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004565350400760X
When the old tires are ground into a mulch, for use on playgrounds and sports fields, the substantially increased surface area rapidly leaches aromatics and heavy metals. With intact tires, the leaching of toxins is a more gradual and chronic process.

Bob
 

DerAlbertaner

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Then I must currently own 0606. I just don't have the weather to go smaller. The ground is so cold well after our last frost that our reasonably long growing season is a bit deceiving. No frost maybe, but no love from the dirt. I'm planting late, and I only have so much time to grow. I want good sized plants without binding the roots, without the need for a greenhouse. Don't get me wrong, I was happy with my tobacco last year, but I think I still have room to get bigger and thicker without going to extremes. Just a bit taller and a lot more roots.

I'm just a couple of hours north of you so I feel your pain. Going to experiment with a raised bed this year. Looking forward to seeing your progress!
 

SmokesAhoy

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Bob they are somewhere between 15 and 30 years old just dumped in the woods, that should be pretty safe right?
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I'm just a couple of hours north of you so I feel your pain. Going to experiment with a raised bed this year. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

The black mulch I used is wood mulch treated with some sort of carbon. It only lasts so long and gradually greys out, but I imagine it's safer than tires.

DerAlbertaner, I think I've got it much better off than you. Have you seen this map?
17021678_1511647908879770_1032412943889672081_n.jpg
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I worked pipeline one winter up in the 1a zone. I'll never be the same. I bet you could grow tobacco really well in a greenhouse though. I think summer is alright up there. Very long days.
 
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