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Photo of my tobacco - OldDinosaur

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OldDinosaurWesH

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Pickings from today. 92 from Harrow Velvet and 42 from Ternopolskii 14. Apologies for the low quality photo. I'm using the camera on my little flip phone. One of these days I'll have to break down & buy an actual digital camera. More photos as time allows - OldDinosaurWesH P.S. I spend an hour or two nearly every day fussing over my tobacco garden.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Message for deluxestogie: I've been studying the tutorial on how to post photos to the FTT grow blogs. When I go into the quick reply box, I don't get any of the buttons that are displayed in the tutorial. Any pointers? Thanks, Wes H
 

MarcL

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Message for deluxestogie: I've been studying the tutorial on how to post photos to the FTT grow blogs. When I go into the quick reply box, I don't get any of the buttons that are displayed in the tutorial. Any pointers? Thanks, Wes H

what type of device are you using to upload photos?
 

deluxestogie

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Wes,
Try going to your Settings | General Settings | Miscellaneous Options (down near the bottom). Select Standard Editor. That should display the toolbar of buttons in your quick reply edit window.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Reply to deluxestogie and MarcL: I did the reset as per your instructions and still no toolbar. I am using a PC with Windows 8.1 which comes with Windows Photo Viewer. I keep all my photos in a series of folders located on my machine's hard drive. I guess that I'm not sufficiently computer literate. When I attach a photo to an E-Mail I only have to use the paperclip button on my Outlook account w/ no problem. (Poor Quality photos and all!) If I can ever get this thing working, I have film photos from last year that I took with my Minox camera that have been digitized. These are much cleaner. I'd like to be able to share my tobacco photos. I have been taking periodic photos since I set them out. The growth progression is amazing! Thanks for your help. Wes H.
 

MarcL

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Reply to deluxestogie and MarcL: I did the reset as per your instructions and still no toolbar. I am using a PC with Windows 8.1 which comes with Windows Photo Viewer. I keep all my photos in a series of folders located on my machine's hard drive. I guess that I'm not sufficiently computer literate. When I attach a photo to an E-Mail I only have to use the paperclip button on my Outlook account w/ no problem. (Poor Quality photos and all!) If I can ever get this thing working, I have film photos from last year that I took with my Minox camera that have been digitized. These are much cleaner. I'd like to be able to share my tobacco photos. I have been taking periodic photos since I set them out. The growth progression is amazing! Thanks for your help. Wes H.
<br>
Try going to your Settings - General Settings - Miscellaneous Options - Message Editor Interface: Enhanced Interface chooes Full WYSIWYG Editing ..see if the toolbar shows up.
 

deluxestogie

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Yaha! I just logged into FTT using Internet Explorer (something an old dinosaur might do). I have no toolbar buttons in my quick Reply box.

Try Google Chrome. You should be able to export your IE bookmarks, then import them into Chrome.

[Since I am 69 years old, I am permitted to speak freely about old dinosaurs and their predilections.]

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Tobacco Seedlings 8-02-17-41.jpg
Hey! Google Chrome was the answer. This just proves that two brains working together, are a lot better than two brains working separately...Or something like that. Thanks guys! Wes H.

Yes...photo is today's pickings. 14 leaves- "common smoking tobacco" (left), 34 leaves - Golden Burley (center), 38 leaves - Burley 9 (right). And of course, my trusty Subaru. I have picked 1,049 leaves so far this year. I "String" them up on steel wires & hang them in my basement store room. Using steel wires is a trick I learned from my mentor. He is very knowledgeable about tobacco related matters. I have been picking a hundred or so leaves a day for over a week now. This heat (95 - 100) is making them grow & mature very rapidly. I don't know how much detail you can see in my poor quality photo, but these lower leaves are losing their chlorophyll rapidly & will now brown down nicely.
 

mwaller

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Hey, a fellow Washington grower! Looks good!
What is the humidity like in your basement? Since you're east of the Cascades, I would assume it's pretty dry.
I'm in the 'wet' part of the state, and I have to run a big humidifier in my garage to keep the humidity in the high 60's...
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Tobacco Seedlings 6-17-17-1.jpgTobacco Seedlings 8-02-17-46.jpgTobacco Seedlings 6-17-17-3.jpgTobacco Seedlings 8-02-17-42.jpg

Comparative Photos. Photos 1 & 2 taken 6-17-17 (main garden, plots 1 & 2 ~ 150 plants). Photos 3 & 4 (side garden plots 4 & 5 ~ 65 plants) taken 8-2-17. Note fence plainly in view in photo 1 now mostly obscured in photo 2. Said fence is ~ 7 feet high. Planting dates vary from 5-21-17 to 6-9-17.
 
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OldDinosaurWesH

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Yes, I am about as far from the Cascades as you can get and still be in Washington State. Current temperature mid - 90's & humidity ~ 15% outside. The storage room in my basement is ~ 66 degrees & ~ 65% humidity. I use a temp. / humidity thermometer to keep an eye on it. I also give my strings the evil eye occasionally to check for rot. I have had good results in the past, except with Stolac 17, which likes to rot. Stolac produces large "Horse Blanket" leaves up to 26" long x 16 - 18" wide which are very thick with a very large moisture bearing stem. I had a bunch of these last year, & lost twenty % or so to rot. I'm not growing them this year.

I have lived in the Seattle area. Contrary to popular mythology, the Puget Sound area has beautiful summers with lots of warm sunny days. The gray drizzly winter is what Seattle is best know for. I sent 72 seedlings with a friend to Quincy Wa. last May. I'm curious how her tobacco is doing. They grow watermelons commercially in Quincy. That's how hot it gets!
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Tobacco Seedlings 8-02-17-47.jpgTobacco Seedlings 8-03-17-48.jpgTobacco Seedlings 8-03-17-49.jpg

More Photos. Photo 1, plot 3, containing 36 "Harrow Velvet." Most of these are about 5 feet tall. There are 4 that for whatever reason were exceptionally tall and fast growing. Those four are about 7' and have bloom heads on them. Photo 2, Today's pickings. One string of 27 leaves of "Ostrolist 6" (left) and one string of 58 leaves of "Kentucky 17 (right)." Photo 3, close up of today's pickings (hopefully) illustrating ripe golden color. Ky 17 is a fairly large leaf many in this string are over 24" in length and 14 - 16" wide. The seed literature says leaves up to 30", but I have yet to see any.

I have five rows in plot 4 (see previous post) including two rows of KY 17 alternating with two rows of "Bolivia Criollo Dark" These were planted on June 1st and have yet to show any bloom heads. BCD seed literature says leaves up to 36" in length. I haven't seen any of these yet either. Longest leaves (on a 5 or so footer) 27 - 28". I have a good month or more to grow these out so we'll see. Plot 4 is just about ready for its third and final fertilizing of the year. I have my own custom blend of fertilizer, and it's pretty hot. You can see results in just a few days.

Wes H.

With apologies for the low quality photos, and apologies to you metric measurement users out there. Lets see...If memory serves...there are 39.4 inches in a meter. Does that sound right? They taught us that stuff back in grade school, but I was a much younger dinosaur back then!
 

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The Harrow Velvet looks great. That's my favorite burley for a home garden. I can usually stalk-harvest it. Harrow Velvet doesn't make red tips (which I do love), like the much larger TN89/TN90 that BigBonner grows and sells, but I have a stash of his red tips to hold me.

My Bolivia Criollo Black was huge.

Garden20130816_899_BoliviaCriolloBlack_Bob_300.jpg

From 2013.

It seems to produce a terpene that gives it a kind of "pine" flavor that I'm not fond of. After about 4 years of storage, the terpene seems to have dissipated.

Garden20130719_807_BoliviaCriolloBlack_leafSize_300.jpg


I believe it is closely related to the well aged Paraguay Flojo that Don sells at WLT

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

Wow! those are some tall ones. Maybe nine feet or so? I think mine are more compact, with the leaves closer together on the stem. There are bound to be significant differences based on geography alone. I am pleased with my Harrow Velvets. They are very consistent in height and growth, with individual differences mainly attributable to varying sunlight conditions. As I have said in my previous posts, Harrow Velvet, Gold Leaf 939, and Costello Negro were the varieties recommended to my by my mentor. The attached photo 1 shows plot 4 on 7-16-17. From right to left, 1 row of mixed varieties, 1 row of KY 17, 1 Row of BCD, 1 row of KY 17, and one row of BCD. Photo 2 shows my Harrow Velvets on 6-17-17 after about three weeks in the ground. (5 gallon bucket can give scale.) My Raspberry bushes take up most of the rest of the available sunshine. While I like growing tobacco, I like eating my Raspberries too!

I plant my rows and individuals on 2' centers, so this time of year it can get a little congested in there. You have to move slowly and carefully to keep from breaking leaves. I have limited space (Not enough sunshine) so I plant as close together as I can get away with. Being only in my second year, and with limited experience, I varied my plantings to see what kind of results I would get. I planted most of my BCD's in plot 4. I also planted most of my KY 17's in plot 4. But I also planted some of both types in plot two across the driveway just to see what would happen. This has been a worthwhile experiment, as the plants in plot two are not as big or well developed as plot 4. Again, available sunlight is my main limiting factor. Also, the plants near the back of the rows in plot 2 are the ones that are experiencing the "Frenching" effect.

I also have plots 6 and 7 in a different part of my yard. These areas are too shady, even for Connecticut Shade, and they will never make it. Again, live and learn.

Tobacco Seedlings 7-6-17-14 (2).jpgTobacco Seedlings 6-17-17-5.jpg
 

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Garden20130722_821_BoliviaCriolloBlack_entirePlant_400.jpg

July 22, 2013.

The photo with me in the frame is the same plot, taken on August 16, 2013. They did a heap of growing in that 25 days.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

I was out back checking, and my Bolivia Criollo plants are definitely more compact than the photos you have attached. My tallest is about 5 1/2 feet, and has produced (including primings) 24 or 25 leaves. They are still growing and have yet to produce a bloom head. The leaves are also very thick. I fertilize the heck out of mine, and believe that high doses of fertilizer will contribute to a denser more compact plant. Something I learned during my rookie year was to use more fertilizer. I produced plants successfully last year, but the yields were disappointingly low. Plants that should be producing four or more ounces were producing more like 2 or 2 1/2 oz.

In my younger days, I worked in the agricultural chemical industry. I acquired a high degree of expertise in dry fertilizer blending and application. The literature I have been reading on line from, I believe it was University of Kentucky, recommended: 60 - 90 #'s of N, 15 #'s of P, 15#'s of K, and 15#'s of S per acre for a tobacco crop. I'm hitting mine in the 90-10-10-15 range over the course of the growing season. (I have calculated this down to a gnats eyebrow.) Our local farmers never use K and rarely use P, as the soils are fairly abundant in both of these. I spread my fertilizer out over three applications at planting and twice more at approx. 30 day intervals. Last year I only fertilized twice. Also at planting time, I put a smidge of Miracid (a more acidic version of Miracle grow) in the holes to give some micro nutrients. It seems to work. We used to do a lot grass for seed fertilizing, and the fertilizer would look like a small snow storm passed through after the spreader passed. Grass for seed uses 150 - 200 #'s of N per acre. These spreaders were serious industrial machines that were 45' wide and required a pretty substantial tractor to pull them. Where I live, we farm on steep hillsides. Our modern tractors weigh 60,000 #'s and have 600 H.P. diesel engines. And they still slide down the hills!

Wes H.

P.S. I miss my Ammonium Nitrate. Those guys that blew up that building ruined that one for the rest of us. Now a days I use Calcium Nitrate, an acceptable but expensive substitute.
 
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