Chillardbees 2021 first homestead grow

[chillardbee]

Better late than never eh?
I held off on starting the grow log as I wasn’t sure whether I was going to actually grow this year or not. I’m happy to say that I just started 288 baccy plants. It works out that I started 8 of 36 varieties.
this time I have fluorescent lights to start under which will help intensely for getting going strong and fast. That’s needed for the late start I have.My very first grow was started even later than this (2012) but also, this area does have a short grow season. June through September, 4 months to make it happen.
yes, this is my first grow on our new property and I still need to get an area ready to transplant. Our soil is excellent in ‘some places’ but mostly it’s shallow. However, there’s an 3500 square foot area that has a lot of top soil that’s plantable.
So I was going through the seeds to make my selections for this year. Talk about a trip down memory lane. It seems like 2013-2015 were the hay day times for a lot of us members with extensive seed trades. Many of the varieties had become a staple grow for me. However, as you can tell from the last few years of blogs, I haven’t grown much mostly because I’ve gotten so busy with the bees. However, last year I sold a lot of bees (but still have my equipment). Why is this important? Because I have a reduced number of hives to work (although we are going to build up again) but it allows my to do a grow again. It is reminiscent of the 2012-2014 seasons when I had all the time in the world to do grows. Anyway, here’s the list of the grows this year...
Tobacco 2021

1
A. African red
B. Red Russian
C. Lemon Bright
D. Bamboo shoot
E. White Mammoth
F. Yellow gold

G. VBL
H. Del Gold
I. Dehli 61
J. Yellow Special
K. Bright yellow
L. Big Gem

2
A. Harrow velvet
B.harrow 21
C. Golden burley
D. Golden harvest
E. Burley 21
F. Yellow Twist Bud

3
A. Prelip P66-9/7
B. Prilep 79-84
C. Izmir
D. Bafra
E. Samson maiden
F. Bursa

4
A. Maryland 609
B. Catterton
C. Maryland 21
D. Maryland 59
E. Maryland 40
F. Maryland 21

5
A. Chillardbees angle leaf.
B. Perique
C. Madole
D. Little wood
E. Greenwood
F. One Sucker

 

[GreenDragon]

Wow! That's a lot of varieties. Hope you have a good labeling system

Do the numbers correspond to different planting beds?

Best of luck!

 

[deluxestogie]

I wish you the best with your ambitious season. (I do not look back fondly on my seasons with so many varieties. 43 varieties in one season was the peak of my fever, but I've since recovered.)

Bob

 

[chillardbee]

Wow! That's a lot of varieties. Hope you have a good labeling system

Do the numbers correspond to different planting beds?

Best of luck!

Yes they do. I have the info in my phone. In fact, that was copied from my note pad.
It was just easier to give them a simple designation.
Notice the 1’s are fluecures, 2’s are burleys, 3’s are orientals, 4’s are Marylands, and 5’s are dark air/fire cured but a few other things in there. Chillardbees angle leaf being a unique white leaf variant.

 

[chillardbee]

I wish you the best with your ambitious season. (I do not look back fondly on my seasons with so many varieties. 43 varieties in one season was the peak of my fever, but I've since recovered.)

Bob

remember the great seed grow out I did? I think it was 2015 or 2016. I did 160 some odd varieties but some were double or triple, just they came from different folks during our great seed exchange. Thosewere fun years Bob, you were pivotal in the distribution of a lot of seeds.
I may yet either next year or the year after, do it all over again so as to have fresh seeds. And the good news is that I’ve got the space to do it now.

 

[deluxestogie]

I remember. Either you or @Knucklehead hold the record for max varieties in a single season. ["Hmmm. Should I fix myself a nice, quiet dinner? Or should I be head chef all summer in a chronically overbooked restaurant?"]

I think we settled on "Chillard's White Angel Leaf" for that unusually pale variety. I believe it is just an extreme example of a white-stem burley. But it's wild to look at, produces large leaves, cures like a charm (even the totally white ones) to a golden brown, and possesses a rich, burley aroma.

Bob

 

[Charly]

4
C. Maryland 21
F. Maryland 21

Nice list of strains, is the Maryland 21 in double ?
Good luck with the grow.

 

[chillardbee]

Nice list of strains, is the Maryland 21 in double ?
Good luck with the grow.

Yes it is. It wasn’t until after I sowed the seeds that I noticed that I did have another variety of Maryland setting on my desk up stairs... oh well.
Those two Maryland in the grow, one was from the original source seeds and the other seeds came from the seeds I save from a previous grow out from the original source seeds. I’m glad of it too because f did not sprout (original source seeds. God knows just how old those seeds are. I got them in 2014 during the great exchange so they’re already 7 years old at this point and who knows how old they were when I got them.

 

[chillardbee]

Here we are, the baccy under the cold frame. A little thinning is going to be needed. That’s what happens when you throw caution to the wind because you just want to get the job done.
So something I’ve been considering, particularly for grow outs, is container gardening using 3, 4, or 5 gallon pots. The reason for that is because of unpredictable weather we have of possibly having hard frosts by the end of September. Yes, we can still have good harvest of leaf up here but developing seed pods might not have the time to mature. The reason for the containers on grow outs is having the ability to move them into the green house to finish. But also important is that they can grow in containers while sitting on uncultivable ground (we’ve got lots of rocky ground) and that means the other places where we’re growing can be used for vegetables and such.
Anyway, I feel time pressure. Not just with the baccy but with the bees as well. It’s our first year and I’m learning a lot on the different timing for up here.

 

[deluxestogie]

It’s our first year and I’m learning a lot on the different timing for up here.

Generally where is "up here"?

Bob

 

[chillardbee]

From the mild temperate Fraser valley (Chilliwack to be precise) we moved to the cariboo. We are a 19 minute drive south of 100 mile house but we are a whole lot higher. Than that town. In chilliwack, we were at sea level. In 100 mile house it is 3000 feet above sea level and we are at 4000 feet above sea level.
we’re only a 5 minute drive away from begbie summit. If you google that (begbie summit BC) that’s where we are.

 

[chillardbee]

Hello folks,
Well, I’m finally here. Sorry sorry sorry for not updating the catastrophe that befell us.
Short version, all the young plants I had ended up roasting in the baking sun and the trays weren’t watered for several weeks let alone days. So, how and why did this happen?

Well, we’re living up in the rural cariboo where there’s dense forest and from April to June, we have intense lighting storms. Just shortly before July, we had a storm come through that sparked a fire about 40km (25 miles) away from us to the south west. Shortly after it grew out of control and after a couple days the evacuation orders came down. By this point it was 20 km away. We loaded all our sentiments and my wife went to stay at her dads. However, it turned out that I was able to stay with the warning from officials that I’m on my own and don’t expect to be rescued if the crap hits the fan… so I stayed (mostly for the bees.
In the following days, I was getting water sources available in buckets and making as good a fire breaks as I could while also getting on with some critical bee work (queen rearing and splitting). It was during these days that I completely forgot about my tobacco and when I finally looked at them they were crispy sun cured seedlings, dang it.
The evacuation lasted for 3 1/2 weeks and the fire got to just over a mile from our house (2km). It was intense to say the least.
Anyway, 1/2 of our summer was spent under threat of that fire which eventually took out 75,000 hectares of forest. The silver lining in this is that I should have great fireweed for the bees in the next couple of years.

 

[chillardbee]

 

[deluxestogie]

I read quite a lot about those fires, but had not connected an actual person to them. I'm glad you and your home (as well as your bees) are safe. Do you have tobacco seed for 2022?

Bob

 

[chillardbee]

I read quite a lot about those fires, but had not connected an actual person to them. I'm glad you and your home (as well as your bees) are safe. Do you have tobacco seed for 2022?

Bob

We were dealing with the flat lake fire but there were so many fires surrounding us and through out southern BC that eventually all highways leading to the lower mainland and coast were blocked off. Lytton burned to the ground also which is about a 1 1/2 hour drive to the south of us.
But then in November we had the floods. That happened in our old neighborhood but Merritt and Princeton also flooded. But to make matters worse was that all the main highways that were closed for the fires just months before were now washed out or covered in land slides. Just now, highway 1 is about to open. But on highway (connector between Spences bridge and Merritt, suffered the worst wash out in history, they’re basically going to make a new highway through there.
BC really hasn’t had a good year last year.

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Well praise God. Things could have been worse! At least you and yours are safe.

 

[93rdCanadian]

Well praise God. Things could have been worse! At least you and yours are safe.

Here here! Its been an adverse year for BC for sure, hopefully the seasons bring good fortune this year.

 

[chillardbee]

Here here! Its been an adverse year for BC for sure, hopefully the seasons bring good fortune this year.

Me too, I can’t see it being any worse lol. Crap, did I say that out loud?

 

[93rdCanadian]

Me too, I can’t see it being any worse lol. Crap, did I say that out loud?

As Ive said before there is always something to be greatful for, Im sure there will be more ups and downs, just have to focus on the ups more than the downs.

Unfortunately to say it but we live in interesting times, Im curious what the history books will have to say about the years in my lifetime.

At least we can relax with a good pipe/cigar/cigarette/chew/snuff and enjoy the moment. I think thats what makes tobacco special, it gives you the chance to slow down and live in the moment if you let it.