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Chillardbees 2017 Size Matters Grow Take Two and Action "Click"

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chillardbee

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My second attempt at growing for size rather than numbers of plants. I'm thinking that fewer plants (By fewer I mean 100 or 120) rather than the 360 or 500, means a couple of things.

First, I'll be able to pay more attention to each plant. Second, I won't spent as much time in the care and harvesting of the plants. And third, more sun light for the plants and for me to move around in. Also, I will only be growing only a few varieties that have yet to be determined. My thinking is 3 fluecured, 2 burley, 2 dark air, and 3 oriental varieties.

This winter may not of been the coldest but it has been the longest duration of cold spells we've had in my recollection of the past 30 years with the most snow as well. during one break in the weather, I started a massive compost pile consisting if 18 bales of timothy, 6 bails of alfalfa, and 400 pounds of chicken shite. The pile at one point was covered by snow except for areas on the top that was steaming giving it a vesuvius look about it. I haven't turned it yet but soon.

I haven't done much else out in the garden. Last years stalks are still out there standing like shadowy husks of the stark reminder of last years glories. I'm still planning about an idea for growing a few plants out in my bee yards but I'm not committing to that just yet and will depend on my time available.

I posted in my former grow log about last years harvest and my rolling cigs. I've already rolled about 14000 as in fourteen thousand cigarettes in a 3 week time span and I'm considering getting a small filtered pipe for next year. The other option would be to buy an out right automatic rolling machine.

Anyway, Thats that. Here's to a good year, good health and good company. Cheers.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Good idea to go with less plants. Quite a few studies have been released that concluded less plants topped to a decent size leaf and allowed to mature outweighs more plants topped higher. I guess it depends on what you're planting these were dark and burley studies. Also with good spacing each individual leaf is higher quality. Less processing, easier to get in and maintain etc. Lot of reasons not to plant too densely.
 

deluxestogie

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Will,
Order this bag of seconds from Missouri Meerschaum: http://corncobpipe.com/10-pipe-grab-bag-of-smokable-seconds.html Many of them have removable filters (if that's what you like), and you're sure to get several pipes that you really like (out of the 10 random pipes in the bag).

Growing fewer plants will absolutely improve your state of mind. You'll see them with a clearer eye, and enjoy them more.

Bob
 

greenmonster714

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400lbs of chicken shite. Damn that's a lot of shite. I use rabbit shite in my gardern. Its so mild you can use it straight outta the bunnies arse if ya want to. I even make some old stinky tea sometimes. I see this is another thread I will have to subscribe to. I seem to learn something everyday on this site.

Bob, thanks for that link to the corn cob pipes. I still only have three pipes I rotate with and a grab bag would be a welcome addition. It's unbelievable how expensive a pipe can be. A simple hunk of wood with a hole and stem. I've seen pipes in the $1000's of dollar range. Not for me..lol. I'm not really into the filtered pipes. I have one 6mm that I use without the filter and it works great.
 

chillardbee

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Will,
Order this bag of seconds from Missouri Meerschaum: http://corncobpipe.com/10-pipe-grab-bag-of-smokable-seconds.html Many of them have removable filters (if that's what you like), and you're sure to get several pipes that you really like (out of the 10 random pipes in the bag).

Growing fewer plants will absolutely improve your state of mind. You'll see them with a clearer eye, and enjoy them more.

Bob

Will look at getting some kind of bulk pipes. I might even make my own by buying the briar wood and stems online. I need pipes that are light comfy to hold in the mouth while working and driving. I wouldn't mind having at least 5 or 6 pipes that I can prefill for the road. I don't think I need to have as wide of diameter for a bowl but i'll experiment with sizes or depth for that matter if i keep the diameter the same. i don't need a pipe lasting 30 minutes but a nice 10 minute pipe with a filter and with some of my cig type blend should do me the same as what my cigs do now, this is my goal.

I cleared My Mind, I ain't growing this yr.

Sorry to hear your not growing this year. I can only say that as much fun and rewarding it is to grow, it is also a time consuming and stressful especially if you have a thriving business to take care of. crossing my fingers this year.

400lbs of chicken shite. Damn that's a lot of shite. I use rabbit shite in my gardern. Its so mild you can use it straight outta the bunnies arse if ya want to. I even make some old stinky tea sometimes. I see this is another thread I will have to subscribe to. I seem to learn something everyday on this site.

yeah it seems like a lot but once piled it looks like too little for the area it will cover. that I added it hay to compost will help tame it down.
 

chillardbee

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I finally got to turning over my compost pile. A lot of hay was not wet enough and about 1/2 is still as fresh as it was as i made the pile. So I was soaking everything as I was turning it over and i'm going to shove some re-bar in to make hole in which i will run the hose into. it might help aerate the pile.

I got all the old root balls pulled and piled. i'll have to take them to my friends burn pit. the old stalks are now under the compost pile.

I still haven't compiled my grow list but I have been thinking that the oriental row could have closer spacing (although more than i have in previous years) because they are more of column type plant, maybe even double rowed.

we just had another little dump of snow but melting fast. I haven't even had a chance to put pollen sub on the bees. i'm about a month late on that but hopefully I can get on it tomorrow.
 

chillardbee

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I turned the pile of compost over on the weekend and on Tuesday it was back to steaming massively. I gave it more and poked it with the rebar and it's hot in there. the ammonia from the rotting chicken crap is pretty strong. It shouldn't take long now to get it completely rotted.

have done much else with the garden and i still have to move the root balls. I think i'll get my seeds out and start selecting some varieties to grow. Something I'm going to do this year that I have done before is do a test germination on the seeds. I didn't do that last year and the one batch of African red that happen to be a late seed pull of extra (i should of used the good ones) but the seeds weren't too great. three germinated out of 200+,not good at all.

I'm going to do a basic seed scattering over a tray of dirt this year for starting my seeds, thin them out and then transplant them when they are bigger. Who knows, I might get away with throwing them right into the garden and skip the extra step of putting them in pots. that would save a lot of time.
 

chillardbee

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Aright, I have preliminary selection.

Dark Aircured - One Sucker and Greenwood.

Orientals - Izmir, Bursa, Prilep P66-9/7, And a *secret variety.

Burley - Golden Burley, Harrow Velvet, Barnett Special, Yellow twist bud.

Maryland - *Maryland 21, *Maryland 59, *Maryland 40, and *MD64

Fluecured - Lemon Bright, African Red, Virginia Bright leaf, Del Gold, White Gold, Yellow Mammoth, Bright yellow, Banana Leaf, Bamboo Shoot, and White Mammoth.

Extras - Perique, *Golden leaf Orinoco, Haronova, and *Red Cherry.

Cigar varieties - Yet to be determined if any at all. It will likely be 4 varieties of one wrapper, one binder, and two fillers.

The varieties above that have an asterisk in front of their name are going to have a few bagged for seed. 28 varieties selected for this years grow means that only 4-6 plants of each will be grown when considering the spacing this year. I am hoping that I'll be able to grow 1-2 of each variety in each of my bee yards as well (something I wanted to do last year but never happened) this would give me an extra 112 - 224 plants. I still have to plan my garden space but at least I've started cleaning up the garden. The compost is rotting very good, still steaming.

I'm going to do a germination test this week. I don't see myself actually starting these seeds until around the end of April for the actual crop. Our weather has been down right unpredictable in a sucky way.

PS: the secret Oriental will be made known at the end of the season and seeds will be offered to anyone who wants some. Please don't PM me for requests now because i'll likely forget.
 

greenmonster714

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Sounds like a good plan. How long is your growing season up there in Canada? Down here where I'm at I should have about 180 plus days of frost free weather. After living in the northern regions of the US for most of my adult life I have to say I love the Alabama weather the most. I do not miss the snow and cold weather. Yeah, it gets cold here. Even down into the single digits sometimes but it rarely lasts long and warms up quickly. I look forward to seeing your progress.
 

Charly

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28+ varieties ! Howww that's a lot ! :)
10 different flue cured varieties !!
And a secret oriental ??!

It sounds very interesting ! Do you plan on doing a in-depth comparision between every strain (in each category) ?

Good luck with your crop.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Sounds like a good plan. How long is your growing season up there in Canada? Down here where I'm at I should have about 180 plus days of frost free weather. After living in the northern regions of the US for most of my adult life I have to say I love the Alabama weather the most. I do not miss the snow and cold weather. Yeah, it gets cold here. Even down into the single digits sometimes but it rarely lasts long and warms up quickly. I look forward to seeing your progress.

The farmer's almanac says he gets 204 frost free days in Chilliwack this year. It's one of the best places in Canada to grow tobacco. In fact, they grew it commercially there back in the thirties. http://www.yarrowbc.ca/settlers/tobaccoindustry.html
 

deluxestogie

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The Sumas Prairie article sounds like many FTT forum members. Little knowledge of tobacco growing, but a desire to give it a try--but commercially. Too bad they didn't have access to all the info on the forum back then. It likely would have made a big difference.

Bob
 

chillardbee

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2017-03-31 08.50.38.jpg

Started my germination test about a week ago and did the checks last night. They all were good to go so that's good. I Need to sanitize the containers before I start the actual round of seeds for planting. I also need to get my supplies #4 Sunshine mix potting soil, 15 trays with inserts (type of inserts to be determined), and also pick a date to start the seeds. I also have to mark the spots for planting in the garden but I'll do that after the compost has been finally spred.

We are having a very late spring with cold temps and rain. It'll be well worth while to wait for the warmer weather and I'm thinking end of April or into may even. This would give me a good 5-6 months of growing. The concern is for curing weather for the last part of the harvest, particularly if we have a repeat of last years damp, rainy, soggy, moisture laden days that never saw a break in the weather.

I've since turned the compost pile (a while ago actually) and I'm about ready to turn it for it's final time. You can't beat this, what the compost is doing to the soil, making it rich, black, and fertile.

The above photo is the bursa seed test. It reminds me of chia pet.
 

chillardbee

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Well, it's easter weekend. I'm going to get my sunshine #4 potting mix and the starter trays this weekend. I don't think I'll start my plants just yet. I'm probably going to wait until I have nucs made and queen cells placed before I start (sometime between April 29 to May 3).

I still have to work the soil in thae garden too and turn the compost one last time, I've got plenty of time for both. I think i'll put on some quick lime soon to balance the acids from the compost.

I'll be surprised if I get the plants into the ground by June but that's alright because the good weather makes up for the late start, it seems that those later planted plants do the best.

Side note: For the starting of the seeds - I've often used a paper towel to germinate the seeds, however, it often happens that the young roots will sometimes grow into the towel and the root can be damaged when trying to free it. So rather than using paper towel in my containers, I'll try using some soil instead. Maybe a 1/4" at the bottom, heavily moistened and the seeds sprinkled on top. this should allow for easy transferring.

Another note: the trays I'll be getting this year will have the larger inserts in them (3X6 cells of 3"x3" if I'm not mistakened) so that's 18 cells per tray and I'm getting 30 trays for the grand total of 540 plants to start. Only 120 or so will be planted here while the rest will be distributed through my bee yards.
 
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