First timer from Vancouver BC

[Boboro]

When spring time comes thrall be ??? that wasn't covered in the Q an A. Writein stuff down just don't ever cover What happens when you put them in the ground. Can I get a Amen Bama boyzs.

 

[Knucklehead]

Amen!!

 

[buck]

Amen and that's why I'm not doing any more reading right now until it's time to put them in the ground Then I'll probably have to do more specific reading and ask more questions ..

 

[DGBAMA]

Amen.

 

[Boboro]

You mite read through some of the grow logs. To kinda get how things go.

 

[chillardbee]

Howdy neighbor, I'm not living to far from ya in the wack. Our climate is quite suitable to growing and in the not too distant pass, there was actually commercial plantations on the sumas flats (chilliwack to abbotsford area) back in the 30's and 40's.

I just finished my second year of growing (500 plants) and preping for the next season. I've collected seed and if your ever out this way and want to try some, just stop by. The 13 varieties I have are listed in my grow blog (they are mostly cigarette varieties). Scroll through the pics too for what can be expected for growth here.

By the way, welcome to the forum. There a lot of good people here and lots of info. I suggest starting a grow blog as well. It's like keeping a record of everything you've done through the season with everyone adding there 2 bits of info as well and that can be very helpful.

Good luck with next years gro. Hope it turns out for you.

 

[buck]

Hello Chillard,

I heard nice things about you and read some of your grow log already. 500 plants is quite an undertaking ..
Grow log is a good idea and I plan to start one when I start seedlings .. first I need to get my grow room ready so I can get an early start, summers as you know around hear are not predictable. I have a lot of prep work to do until March..


Thanks

 

[Mad Oshea]

NA! Chillard uses BEES to do his work. Good man and teacher. Just read and dont get Ascared. It will fall in. Plant inside early by the moon.(moon shade) clue. Good luck.And by all means talk to Chillard!!!!!!!!! Nice to meet You. Mad.

 

[chillardbee]

Actually, you'll find that growing baccy in this part of the world is one of the easiest plants to grow and will do better then in the commercial areas like virginia, maryland, kentucy, or ontario. We don't have near as many pests and it seems our weather is very favorable for it's growth. The only problems I've ever had are when the baccy is in the seedling stage (first 4-5 weeks of growing) where ear wigs, slugs, or caterpillers can make short work of them. But if you keep your patch clean and don't give the critters a place to hide, the damage is kept to non-existent levels. I am my own best pest control too. If I see damage I'll comb the area at night to kill the little bugger and I'm usually successfull at it too. I think I talk about it in my blog. sleepless nights are worth the good baccy.

 

[DGBAMA]

How about letting the whole patch go to flower and putting a beehive in the middle? Tobacco flower honey?

 

[Chicken]

You're in good shape. Lakota, who is also from Canada, told me he has a 90 day grow period. He could probably advise you on some short season varieties.

Start your seed indoors 4-6 weeks before your last expected frost so you can get a jump on them. Don has some great cigar varieties at www.wholeleaftobacco.com if you want to immediately start saving money on some great cigars. They are all good, but I'm partial to the Nicaraguan filler with Maduro wrapper. It's really close to a Padron cigar. He ships to Canada a good deal. He goes by FmGrowit on the forum.

i'd definatlly start them indoors, and possibly even more time than suggested,

depending how many lights you have, and if you got the room to move them to 4'' pots, and perhaps, vegg them even longer, before putting them in the ground,

i have 2 grow logs on here, and went into detail on a lot of '' little'' items that may help you or anyone doing a first grow,

feel free to look them over,

and good luck, we are here to help. you and make sure failure doesnt come your way.

 

[chillardbee]

Lakota is in saskatewan and they have harsh long winters but we are on the west coast and we probably have the mildest and longest grow season than anywhere else in canada. Rarely do we get frosts from april on and rarely do we get a frost in september, that adds up to about 180 frost free days to grow. In 2012 I started late (mid may) because I ordered the seeds late and the plants were exceptional. In 2013 I started at the begining of april under cold frames and they did good but not quite as well as in 2012. As it happens, our grow weather is better in the later half of the year and planting later is probably better then starting to early because the young plants seem to take off better when we have the better weather. It's even more important here because in the early part of the season we can have rains of biblical porportions that can thwart young plants and I think I had a bit of that problem this year.

The nice thing though is that if you do do a early planting, there is plenty of time for a sucker crop and this year I had a great sucker crop but the trade off of planting later is that you will probably have a better quality crop on the main harvest if you plant later but a smaller sucker crop. For some reason, the sucker crop is just not as good as the main crop and I think I would rather have a better main crop then a better sucker crop.

That being siad, even the 2012 crop being as late as it was still gave me a reasonable sucker crop. And there is one more thing to consider, our curing weather goes to crap in the later part of fall when you'd be curing the sucker crop where as a later main harvest puts the curing time at the best part of the year (end of july to first half of september), I've not had any probs curing under the pourch roof and sun curing is great here at that time of year.

 

[winston-smoker]

Milder than Newfoundland?

 

[chillardbee]

I believe so

 

[Lakota]

I think Chilliwack has one of the longest growing seasons in Canada. Here is Saskatchewan we have some harsh winters, right now it is minus 27 with an expected low of minus 32. Here is a link to Canada frost free dates, I live close to Prince Albert Sask. http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/canada.html

 

[deluxestogie]

...right now it is minus 27 with an expected low of minus 32.

Aaah! That's so cold that ice skates won't even glide over ice.

BC is the beneficiary of the Japan Current. In the same way that the Gulf Stream warms northern Europe, the Japan Current allows BC to support a temperate rain forest.

Bob

 

[Mad Oshea]

Two weeks ago was our first freeze. I dont think letting the whole crop go to seed from bees would profit.That would be far to many seeds. The price of the baccy would be punished for the honey. Glad You are on this site- Lots to learn from the masters here.

 

[buck]

The summers here are unpredictable and sometimes summer is off to a late start and if I remember correctly in 2012 summer didn't take off until mid July. In 2013 we had a couple of nice weeks in April, May not so good but then June until mid Sept was wonderful.

To be safe I'll just leave them in the grow room a bit longer and probably plant starting mid to end of May, this way they'll have grown indoors while I wait for the weather to get better. I'll have to play it by ear.

 

[DGBAMA]

Seedlings are easy. Start more than you need plant out the first half at first opportunity. Worst case you get a late freeze and have to replant with the"spare"seedlings. Best case you get an early spring And have enough time to get in a good sucker crop.

 

[buck]

Seedlings are easy. Start more than you need plant out the first half at first opportunity. Worst case you get a late freeze and have to replant with the"spare"seedlings. Best case you get an early spring And have enough time to get in a good sucker crop.

That's smart. I'll definitely do that. Now for gowing a sucker crop, do I just leave the stalk in the ground after I harvest the main leaves? Do I need to do anything else ?



Thanks.