Greenmonster714's Grow Log 2017

[indianjoe]

I've been working the soil a bit. The other day I reset the sod buster to the deepest setting i could get and spent about an hour digging down as far as I could get it. I let it sit for a day and then hit it with the disc. I plan on using the disc one more time and then start planting. Not sure if I want to use the small foot attatchment on the sod buster to make rows. Would that be a good idea? Or should I just get everything as flat as possible and just start planting.For gardening, I bottom plow first, disk til smooth and lay off rows, then transplant into a watered and fertilized hole. Red clover is ok and available at the local Coop this fall.

 

[greenmonster714]

I've been working the soil a bit. The other day I reset the sod buster to the deepest setting i could get and spent about an hour digging down as far as I could get it. I let it sit for a day and then hit it with the disc. I plan on using the disc one more time and then start planting. Not sure if I want to use the small foot attatchment on the sod buster to make rows. Would that be a good idea? Or should I just get everything as flat as possible and just start planting.For gardening, I bottom plow first, disk til smooth and lay off rows, then transplant into a watered and fertilized hole. Red clover is ok and available at the local Coop this fall.

Ahh, a Alabama guy. I'm about 70miles north of Tuscaloosa. Thanks for the input. I'm going to check out the local feed store. They sell a lot of bulk seed and probably have something I'm looking for. I did my veggie garden with rows and don't really like it. I may just go with what you described. It would be easier. I suck driving straight with that tractor.

 

[greenmonster714]

Today is a rainy day with storm passing through. At noon we headed for the storm shelter. A tornado was on the ground and heading right towards our town. Thankfully the thing broke up before it got here. It was only about 15minutes away from us rolling along at 40-50mph. April, May, and June are pretty hairy down here. Alabama averages over 250 tornadoes in the month of May alone.

So, to take advantage of down time in the house. I did a little project. After reading Bob's thread about labeling his corn. I came up with an idea. The past months I have been tearing down pallets, staining them, and using them to cover my walls in the living room. I have many scrap pieces so instead of throwing them on the burn pile I cut a V at the bottom and used some paint to brush on names. Didn't take long to do and I can just sand off the name at the end of the season and reuse them next year. They didn't turn out to bad but I did make a big mess on the table..lol.

 

[greenmonster714]

Due to the storms I had to bring my plants in again. Three days ago I trimmed them down and fed them a very weak mix of miracle grow. As I brought them in today I noticed just how well they have responded. Many of these are going into the garden as soon as the ground dries up enough to get in there. I'm planning on the 3rd cause I think more rain is coming on the 4th.



As if I don't have enough. Here are my late starts. Four of the five are showing green. The only took about 4 days tops. The last one is showing the white tails so they should be up in a day or so. The five late ones are Penn Red, Goose Creek Red, Hiltonia, Connecticut, and a Habana cross with a Va gold. I wanted to throw in some cigar varieties. I blame it on all those lovely cigars I see you guys rolling...lol. I think with these and a few of the other varieties I have I should be able to roll a decent cigar.


The others I sewed are small amounts of seed I had left over from my first germination. I don't expect much to come up because there weren't many seed in the little pouches. I just wanted to use them up. I do have many more seeds of other strains but maybe I'll save them for next year or just give'em away sometime. The extras planted are Silver River, Perique, L Dutch, Yellow Twist Bud, Frog Eye Orinoco, White Stem Orinoco, Shirley, Prilep 66 9/7, and Gold Dollar. It's certainly going to be a active summer this year. I am glad we are not planning a trip to the beach this year. I don't want to leave my crops unattended.

 

[Charly]

That's a good idea to write to name of the strains of some piece of wood, just make sure you use waterproof paint
I will have to prepare something like this too

It could be good to put an object on the side of the pictures to better know the scale But from what I see your seedlings seem to have a good size !

Soon in the ground !!!

 

[greenmonster714]

The paint I used was exterior paint so it should be good. Gav would be impressed with my reuse skills..lol. I hope this rain goes away for a week. It would be nice. It just rained for about 12hrs so I'm not going to get to excited. I guess it is hard to judge the plants size but I was surprised to see how fast they are recovering from the haircut and the lite fertilizer feeding. I'd love to get about 100 planted by the end of next week. Then when it rains I won't have to shuffle them all indoors when the heavy rains come.

 

[greenmonster714]

Today is 60 days since starting my first seed. Things are green and growing. I do love this new hobby. I got a new phone the other day and wanted to take some pictures. What better thing to snap shots at then some nice young tobacco plants..lol.


Got some rows put in the frontyard garden. After some heavy rains I see I will be having some standing water in upper end of the garden. So, I threw on my mud boots and made some drainage ditches. Seems to have worked but will still need to get in there when it dries up a bit. Its not supposed to rain for about 5 days so hopefully I can get some plants in the garden this week.

Before

After

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Oh my, that's a lot of water. Is that normal? Your plants are looking good, buy the way.

 

[greenmonster714]

On second thought maybe I should have taken the rows the other direction. Oh well, I'll put it in the notes for next year. I'm not changing it now...lol. A good ditch splitting the rows should let heavy rains shed off.

And thanks for the plant comment. I know I take a lot of pics of them. I'm pretty happy with them do far. Just waiting for the next step.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Plants Look Duper, I would give them another hair cut, and plant in 2 weeks.
Nice Soccer Field. I wouldn't play soccer any other way

 

[greenmonster714]

Uhhhh man, do ya really think a few more weeks? �� I am so anxious to get these in the ground. But if you guys think they'd need a bit more time I will certainly wait it out. I've gotten this far copying what you guys do so I can't just disregard your suggestion..lol Okay, so I get the hedge clippers tomorrow and get busy one last time. Thanks for the input guys.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Gonna go against the grain here. I'm personally not convinced clipping is necessary more than once. The first clipping increases root growth and immunity, making it stronger when you transplant it. Does repeated clipping help more? How? Why not just spread them out into more trays so they can keep growing? Alternatively, just let them compete with each other. Where's the harm in a couple weeks of trying to become the dominant plant?

 

[greenmonster714]

After reading another thread earlier this week maybe I should just stroke'em for a few weeks.. lol

 

[mwaller]

Your plants look incredible! I just planted mine today, and most of mine weren't quite as big as yours. I'm a complete newbie, so don't mistake my comments for advice! However, with the family away on a brief trip, this weekend was the only time I could afford to give them the attention they deserve.

 

[greenmonster714]

Thanks for the comment. It's killing me but I'm going to wait a while longer. I understand your need to plant now. Sometimes ya gotta get stuff done while you have the opportunity. I love those raised beds you have. Initially when I started this I had planned on installing some raised beds but somehow everything blew up and POOF....I'm on the tractor plowing up the neighborhood. Oh well, like many things I jump in head first without a helmet. I'm facing a lot of garden labor this summer and fall but honestly I love gardening and can't think of any other way I'd like to spend the time.

 

[greenmonster714]

So, my brain is working ahead of itself again. I have been hashing around ideas in my head about shredding tobacco. I have no real need to shred a tobacco down to the fine shred one needs for cigarettes. I do own a beast of a paper shredder. I mean that thing will eat anything. Gotta keep your fingers clear operating that thing. I'm pretty sure it would do a good job but it can not be adjusted.

I came across these babies the other day. They are manual operated and it looks as though the blades can be adjusted in width. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here. Considering I only need a rough ribbon cut for pipe tobacco I'm thinking this may be a good idea down the road. What ya think?

 

[Leftynick]

I read that some people use that for tobacco shredding. Some issues I read is that the leaves need to be in proper case to shred well using this pasta cutter machine, and you can only shred a piece at a time to prevent clogging. For me, it is easier to roll the tobacco into big fat cigar and cut it with sharp knife or scissor.

 

[greenmonster714]

I read that some people use that for tobacco shredding. Some issues I read is that the leaves need to be in proper case to shred well using this pasta cutter machine, and you can only shred a piece at a time to prevent clogging. For me, it is easier to roll the tobacco into big fat cigar and cut it with sharp knife or scissor.

Old school methods are hard to beat. I totally agree. I watched a video where a guy did just like you described. I may have to experiment with the beastly paper shredder just to see how it works. Just gotta wait till I have something to feed into it.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

So, my brain is working ahead of itself again. I have been hashing around ideas in my head about shredding tobacco. I have no real need to shred a tobacco down to the fine shred one needs for cigarettes. I do own a beast of a paper shredder. I mean that thing will eat anything. Gotta keep your fingers clear operating that thing. I'm pretty sure it would do a good job but it can not be adjusted.

I came across these babies the other day. They are manual operated and it looks as though the blades can be adjusted in width. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here. Considering I only need a rough ribbon cut for pipe tobacco I'm thinking this may be a good idea down the road. What ya think?
View attachment 20636View attachment 20637

The pasta maker sucks for tobacco. I have that exact model. I use it for pasta. It's great for that. First, the cut width is not adjustable. If there's mention of adjustability in the advertisement, it's referring to the rollers that make the initial flat piece of dough/lasagna, or that it comes with a linguini and a spaghetti cutter. Second, it's smooth finish doesn't grab the tobacco, and it's a real bitch to actually feed tobacco into it. Third, I've heard you wear the gears out really quickly shredding tobacco with it.

 

[greenmonster714]

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Thanks for the input. I guess it's gonna be the beast shredder or a nice blade. I do plan on pressing some as well so it won't all be about shredding.

How do you store your leaf? Shredded or whole leaf? I'm trying to get an idea of what I'm going to need to store and process this stuff. Thanks