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Deluxestogie Grow Log 2018

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Smokin Harley

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High of 36*F and rainy here today, good coffee and computer day. My son and I cut down an old tree yesterday and had it all burned up between 10 am and bed time. Woke up to pouring rain. I can see ice on the charcoal grill out on the pool deck. My wife and I bought ourselves a 8x8 Palram greenhouse kit for our Christmas gift to each other .Anyone happen to own one by Palram? I'll be putting that on our property where the old stone house used to stand. The tree was right about where the greenhouse is going ,north side of the planned garden plot . Son cut the trunks off at 3 ft and they were all hollow.Hard to believe they stood as long as they did. Lit the insides and it became a quad-rocket stove in no time. So hot we couldnt get within 10 ft of it.
 

deluxestogie

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Why I'm So Cold

My low temperature today: 8ºF

I just paid the highest electric bill ever, in the 19+ years I've lived in this house. (During that time, I've gone from incandescent lights to all LED. I light my house at night with a total of 36 watts! I've dramatically improved the weather stripping. I've lowered the thermostats by about 8 degrees in winter.)

It's mid January, so I expect the temperatures to be cold. But not this cold. And not this cold so frequently or for so long a duration. During this December and early January, we set records here for prolonged cold. And this after several consecutive "warmest years" on record globally.

In general, the profound winter cold of the Arctic acts as the condenser in a hemispheric heat pump, that seeks to draw the jet stream tightly to its bosom. As the Arctic gradually warms, year by year, its ability to function in this way is weakened. So, a warmer Arctic means that the jet stream becomes loose and sloppy. And deep dips into lower latitudes don't bounce back as quickly.

JetStream_US_20180115_600.JPG


Bob
 

greenmonster714

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It certainly has been a frigid winter this year. Even down here in the south we're getting some really cold nights in the teens and I believe last night dipped below 10. We heat with propane gas nonvented brick heaters. Nice heat source but no way to regulate the temps. It's either hot or cold. The natural gas folks laid line in last summer and we will be switching over to that. Hopefully the cost will go down. Propane gas always doubles in price in the winter months but at least the cold snaps don't last as long down here.
 

wooda2008

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There are some upsides. With sustained -15*F nights I was able to jack my cider to ~35%
 

deluxestogie

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Rabo de Gallo Negro ("Black Rooster Tail")

Here's the data available. GRIN: Pi 118533, Ti 934. Collected by Raymond Stadelman in Guama, Yaracuy, Venezuela during 1936. Its classification: Flue-cured!

GRIN page: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?1131666
Accession document: https://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/pi_books/scans/129/pi129_007.pdf
Observations: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/AccessionObservation.aspx?id=1131666

RaboDeGalloNegro_plant_PI_118533_GRIN_500.jpg


The variety is said to have very high sucro-ester levels (29.3 micrograms/cm[sup]2[/sup]). Most interesting is that it is classed as flue-cured. We'll see.

Bob

GuamaYaracuyVenezuela_MAP_600.jpg
 
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deluxestogie

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Garden20180127_3373_oakCotyledon_600.jpg


I discovered a sprouted acorn (just a 1/2" long root had popped out) in one of my tobacco beds about a month ago. I brought it inside to my back porch, and gave it a home in a 3-1/2" pot. I can't yet determine what kind of oak it is. When it is fully grown (~150 years), it probably won't remember being cared for in my orphanage.

Bob
 

deluxestogie

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STATE OF THE ONION ADDRESS

I planted 12 seeds for Sweet Candy Onion 11 days ago.

Garden20180131_3374_onion_germination_600.jpg


The state of the onion is 25% germination.

Bob
 

Charly

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Garden20180127_3373_oakCotyledon_600.jpg


I discovered a sprouted acorn (just a 1/2" long root had popped out) in one of my tobacco beds about a month ago. I brought it inside to my back porch, and gave it a home in a 3-1/2" pot. I can't yet determine what kind of oak it is. When it is fully grown (~150 years), it probably won't remember being cared for in my orphanage.

Bob

I love baby trees, but they tend to become so big that I end up not knowing what to do with once they are bigger than the pot I put them in :D .... My garden has enough trees, if I add more I will have no place left for my baccy ! :D
But I love being surrounded by trees, I feel like there is never enough of them. Forest are so quiet, peacefull and soothing places, there is simply not enough forests ! Too much concrete :(

When your baby oak will be bigger you can plant it in a meadow or in a forest :)

I am really happy I don't live in cities anymore, it's so much better in the country.
 

GreenDragon

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I am so jealous. I’ve been stuck in the ‘burbs now for 12 years on a 1/10 acre plot. Wife won’t let us move till the last kid is out of school. As soon as that happens I want to find 4+ acres in the country where I can do whatever the h*** I want to and not worry about neighbors and have as big a garden as I want.

As as it is, I’ve had to do the best I can. The first yeat we moved into our present house (new neighborhood) our yard was composed of a wood fence and grass. I planted 10 trees and 20 shrubs. Now I can’t see my neighbors at all through the field of green! Trees are great. Give them to fiends or turn them into bonsai :D
 

deluxestogie

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Sweat!

My sweat glands have been in deep hibernation since November. Today, I was sweating! I considered taking a photo to document the event, but decided better.

I was performing truly minimal labor--using a pair of pruners to prune the branches of my smallest dwarf apple tree. Each year, the relative inactivity of winter saps away more endurance than the previous winter, and it takes me longer to return to easily performing normal garden tasks.

One small sweat for man....

Bob
 

Charly

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... but an ocean for mankind :D

We didn't do much in the garden yet, the temperatures are getting lower... but soon... soon the garden work will begin.
 

deluxestogie

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Seed Shock for Difficult Seed

Don sent me two interesting seed varieties. I'm hoping to grow both of them. But I worry that one or both may not easily germinate.

Rabo de Gallo Negro (Pi 118533) is listed by GRIN as a flue-cure variety, but the leaf seems to make excellent (strong) cigar filler. Don's seed for this (in its original GRIN envelope) is, I'm guessing, about a decade old. It has a fairly good chance of germinating by ordinary techniques. Just in case, I'm treating some of the seed as though it is difficult seed.

Sweet Oronoko (725) is in a brown seed packet from Wm. Henry Maule Seedmen (Philadelphia). Although the packet states boldly, "Always Fresh and Genuine", I'll go with the "genuine", and not the "fresh".

In 1947, the Maule Company merged with the W.A. Burpee Company, with whom they had already been collaborating for about a decade.

https://hiddencityphila.org/2013/10/a-multi-use-history-sown-from-maules-seeds/
If wouldn't surprise me if this little packet of seed was discovered in an old desk at an auction. So, we're dealing with seed that is at least 70 years old, and certainly not stored in optimal conditions for most of its existence.

Upon receiving the packets of these two varieties, I placed them into my freezer for a month, then moved them to my seed refrigerator.

Garden20180223_3393_seedShock_imbibe_600.jpg


Today, cutting a coffee filter into two halves, I sprinkled a small amount of seed onto the filter paper, and saturated it with water. The two varieties will be allowed to soak up water for a day or two (depending on their appearance), and will then be frozen solid in the freezer for a few more days.

Garden20180223_3394_seedShock_imbibe_closeup_600.jpg


At that point, I will allow them to thaw, then place the sealed bags onto a seedling heat mat. My expectation is that the Rabo de Gallo Negro will germinate, and the Sweet Oronoko will not. Any that germinate will be transferred to cells in a 1020 tray for growth.

Bob
 

DistillingJim

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Interesting technique - Is this a method you've used before? Are you able to elaborate on the science behind it?
 

deluxestogie

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This is a form of stratification that aims at partially damaging the seed coat (scarification), and can be thought of as a simulation of the freeze/thaw cycles that occur in nature.

Scarification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarification_(botany)
Cold Stratification: https://www.thespruce.com/stratification-seeds-into-thinking-its-winter-1403100
Seed dormancy and the control of germination: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2006.01787.x/full
General discussion of seed treatments: https://www.theseedcollection.com.a...eatments-Soaking-Scarification-Stratification

Having been unimpressed with my results in the past, with simple freezing, standard cold stratification, and gibberellin, I decided to be more aggressive with this 70+ year old seed. The germ itself may be long dead. If not, the seed coat is probably impermeable at this point. Mechanical scarification with a file seems impractical.

Bob
 

Hasse SWE

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Bob very interesting but I most ask some questions here:Is OronoKo the same as Orinoco?And is it possible that your ORONOKO #725 is the same as Little Sweet Orinoco PI 552376? https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?1447348 Or better up "Sweet Orinoco" PI22123:https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail.aspx?1583628 I hope you get them to life but if not do you have any seed left of them? Perhaps the company how put Tofta back to life also can put Sweet Orinoco back on the market..
 

deluxestogie

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"Sweet Oronoko (725)" is an Orinoco variety marketed by that specific (extinct) company. There is no way (other than sequencing its genome) to identify it more specifically. I assume the "725" is simply that seed company's catalog number, so it is not likely to be helpful. Just as Ebay tobacco seed vendors invent unique and sometimes confusing names for their quite ordinary seed, most commercial seed companies, for all sorts of vegetable and flower seeds, invented marketable names in the effort to make them seem exclusive. (That's the same reason that most commercial seed companies today heavily market their own hybrid varieties, which are in fact unique and not usable for seed saving, but not necessarily better than some of the similar heirloom varieties (from which seed can be saved).

So, with the Sweet Oronoko (725), I have no idea if it is a desirable variety. But it is certainly a challenge, and would be fun to resurrect after 70 years of neglect.

I made sure to reserve plenty of the seed of both those varieties to make another, less radical effort at germination.

Bob

EDIT: See this 2012 thread on the subject of germination attempts with Sweet Oronoko (725): http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/585-Sweet-Oronoko
 

Hasse SWE

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Thanks for the information Bob. I was also thinking that the number was/is like example seedmans TA number.. It would absolutely be interesting to see those variants grow. I don't believe they are better than other variants but it's always interesting to see variants that normally doesn't grow anymore..
 
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