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China Voodoo 2018 Air-cured and Rajangan

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ChinaVoodoo

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That looks great. Do you have a way to vent it, for when it gets way too hot in there?

Bob

Not yet. There's a hardware store that sells these pistons that extend when they reach a certain temperature. They're meant for greenhouses. A friend says they work great, and require no electricity. I plan on cutting a window in the side and connecting it, or I could connect it to the roof, or one of the doors.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/Garden/page.aspx?cat=2,43224&p=10543

If it gets too hot in the greenhouse while I'm still heating the house, I could easily have the temperature controller blow the hot air into the house
 

deluxestogie

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Those are good for greenhouses, chicken coops, and similar structures. You just have to rig a top-hinged window that doesn't weigh too much.

Bob
 

Levi Gross

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Best wishes to you and your grow.
Oh golly! I have so many seeds. I need to stock up on burley though as I'm pretty much out. I need to grow a cigar type that I received from ARS-GRIN last year. I also really want to make legit rajangan. Friends in the forum have supplied me with so many things I want to grow, but they will have to wait until 2019. I'm envisioning a year of growing a dozen types. I only have room for 70-90 plants.

This year's short list:

L'Assomption - cigar filler (6)
Kasturi - sun cured (18)
TN-90 - burley (12)
KY-17 - burley (12)
Moldovan 456 - burley (12)
Goose Creek Red - dark Virginia (12)
Isleta Pueblo - rustica (6)

I might cut back the burley to 9 each, and grow more Kasturi.
Wish me luck.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Best wishes to you and your grow.

Thanks Levi,
Also, thanks Bar G,

I've mapped out my growing space and have decided on simplifying a bit.
Front yard where it's windy
Nostrano x13
KY17 x7

Back yard
L'Assomption 201 x5
Goose Creek Red x17
TN90LC x15
Kasturi Jepun x24

Back alley
Isleta Pueblo x12

Is a spot prone to wind a bad choice for the KY17?
 

Levi Gross

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I do not know much about KY 17. however, I do live on a major wind corridor it seems... And it really gets me down when a heavy wind comes through and starts snapping midribs on my precious and beautiful leaves. I would be cautious and think about how important or needed is this variety in my grow when placing it out to set down roots for the season.
Thanks Levi,
Also, thanks Bar G,

I've mapped out my growing space and have decided on simplifying a bit.
Front yard where it's windy
Nostrano x13
KY17 x7

Back yard
L'Assomption 201 x5
Goose Creek Red x17
TN90LC x15
Kasturi Jepun x24

Back alley
Isleta Pueblo x12

Is a spot prone to wind a bad choice for the KY17?
 

ChinaVoodoo

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When the baseline is Edmonton, what could little bit of wind add?

Bob

Last year I lost 6 out of 12 plants that were in the front yard. Two were eaten by hares and 4 were blown down. It was unusually windy though, but who can predict the weather, right? The plan is to plant them closer together in response. Last year, Piloto being columnar, I think was the big issue. The burley looks more resilient to me.
 

deluxestogie

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Since you put in a relatively small number of plants in the windy front yard, it might we worth the effort to add a tall tomato stake beside each one.

Bob
 

ChinaVoodoo

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Planted tobacco seeds yesterday. I made a new rig for growing, which is very enclosed with super reflective material. It should counteract the inverse square law, and let me keep my lights further away than what I'm used to.

IMG_20180312_002652562~2.jpg

My seedling heat mat was always too hot, so I put some upside down 1020 baskets on top of it, then the tobacco trays. The trays are the ones that fit 18 pots per. That might seem big, but I've learned that with my later outside planting date, up north, that the more room, the better.

I decided to keep it clean in regards to nice even numbers of plants, so multiples of 6.

12 Isleta Pueblo
12 Kasturi
12 Samporis
18 Goose Creek Red
12 TN90LC
12 KY17
12 Nostrano
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I'm going to play around with having moving lights this year. I don't know if it will really accomplish anything, but why not.

So I have four t5 strip lights, and I've programmed them so the times they come on will be staggered and will mimic a moving sun as it starts at one side and moves to the other. So for the first and last hour of the day, one light is on; for the second and second last hours of the day, there are two lights on; and so on. The middle 8 hours will have all four lights on.

I'm guessing I can move them to my greenhouse May 1, and the sun is up from 6am to 9pm that day, so I've programmed it thus:

Light 1 is on from 6 to 6
Light 2 is on from 7 to 7
Light 3 is on from 8 to 8
Light 4 is on from 9 to 9

As for germination after 6 days, I'm seeing some signs of life from most of the varieties. Isleta Pueblo and Kasturi were the first to show up. Germination has only just begun though.
 

deluxestogie

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Sounds elaborate. My understanding is that leaves respond significantly to the color spectrum shift between dawn and dusk, though I can't remember exactly what that triggers--maybe the transition from primarily anabolic to primarily catabolic. I'm sure they'll be happy with the intensity swings, and perhaps be more tolerant of being thrown out of the greenhouse.

Bob
 

GreenDragon

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Bob, I believe you are thinking of the Red / Far-Red ratio to photomorphogenesis in respect to long vs short day plants for flowering response. The spectral output of the T5 light strips are constant, so no shift in red/far red is present. A good summary is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photomorphogenesis

China - Long story short, staggering the lights to mimic sun motion won't have a large effect on the plants. Especially at the seedling stage, just keep them on for about 12 hours a day for optimum growth. If they were mature plants you could manipulate the photo-period to induce or retard flowering, but only if no natural sunlight could reach the plants.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I had in mind that having them follow the sun might have an impact on strengthening them. Kind of like how fans blowing air strengthens them.

But, what matters is that I misinterpreted the fact my controller has multiple sockets and the ability to program multiple schedules as meaning you could run the lights independently. It turns out every program runs every socket simultaneously (but at different times). So I can't do what I planned anyways.
 

GreenDragon

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The best thing you can do to ensure strong plants is to provide sufficient light. Sub-optimum light will promote leggy plants and weak stems. Strong light will promote low compact growth and thick stems.
 

Levi Gross

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Sounds interesting. I used to see in the old high times magazines rotating light systems but never fully looked into it. To my own possible shame I am doing what my grandmother does two double 4 ft. lights both with 1 growlux buld and 1 flourescent. Seems to be working. 24 hrs on right now.
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I had one light on 24hrs up until today. I'm switching to 4 lights on 15 hours a day. 15 hours is based on the length of day when I plan on putting them in the greenhouse.
 
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