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Charly's journey - 2017

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greenmonster714

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@ChinaVoodoo and Tutu : I agree with both of you, I don't think it's too cold, especially for this year we have unusual very hot weather (this week, we had about 35°C = 95°F... hard to stand... I even got some burnt leaves, I'll show some pics soon)
It might be that Besuki and Kasturi might love other conditions (right temperature and right humidity and right sun... and maybe right soil too).
They are growing, slower than the others, but we'll have to wait to see what size they can catch later this season.

@GreenMonster : If you want some seeds of Besuki I will send you some ;)

Thanks Charly. I will definitely get back to you on that this winter. Here I am trying to cull down my list for next year and POOF...I add another..lol.
 

Charly

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How is the Nostrano doing Charly? I'm curious because it seems very sensitive to different growing conditions...

Hello Pier :)
The Nostrano seeds you gave me are doing very well !
They are the first plants I put in the ground this year :)
The 6 plants below were germinated in early januar to make a test (I put them in the ground 5 weeks ago) :
crop1.jpg
The biggest leaf measures 41 x 29cm (16 x 11 inches) :)

And these were put in the ground the last (seeds germinated in march, put in the ground only 10 days ago) :
crop2.jpg

I am eager to see how they will smoke :)
Thanks for sharing these seeds ;)
 

Charly

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I think you will find Nostrano del Brenta to be completely unique and delightfully smooth and mild.

I am eager to see this !! :)
For now, the Nostrano plants are beautifull and they are beginning to smell a nice aroma (very different from some other strains)
 

Charly

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Some news of the garden

Recently, since the sun finally reduced in intensity (and the temperature dropped a little), bugs seem to want to eat my plants : I found some "Heteroptera" ("punaise" in french) laying eggs on my leaves (see bellow), then I found some aphids (more on that later), a few catterpillars...

crop1.jpg crop2.jpg
These Heteroptera criters do not eat tobacco, they suck it, like the aphids.

crop3.jpg
A small caterpillar already in chrysalis, after a good diner :)

About the aphids : they seem to be the principal insect that infect plants with a virus called PVY (Potatoe Virus Y), this virus is frequent in France, I already had a few plants infected last year...
This year, I noticed the first symptoms on a few plants : the veins of the leaves begin to yellow ("vein clearing"), then some brown spots can appear on the leaves, then the veins necroses.
"Infected leaves are sometimes small, crinkled and curled".

crop4.jpg
This picture was taken last year, the symptoms this year are the same...

More on this virus : http://ephytia.inra.fr/en/C/10814/Tobacco-Potato-virus-Y-PVY

I used some soapy water a few days back to try to kill as many aphids as I can, I just hope I won't have too many affected plants...
I am preparing some nettle manure right now (I will have to wait 2 weeks before it can be used), it's a strong fertilizer and a renowned bug repeller (I just don't know why I did not prepare some earlier this year...)

More on nettle manure : http://www.gardeningdata.co.uk/soil/nettle_manure.php

Next years I will have to be more foresighted... :(

I will see in the end of the season which strains are more tolerant to PVY (last year, only the "401 cherry red" were infected, the semois and the rustica did not show any symptom)

On the good news, my tobacco is growing well :)
Some plants are beginning to be big, with beautifull leaves. The biggest leave (from a Pennsylvania Red plant) is already 54x34cm = 21x13") :)
 

Leftynick

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I think only 401 cherry red affected because bug seems to attack flue cure variety first before other. I might be wrong though.
 

Charly

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I don't think so, because I had A LOT more aphids on my rustica than on my cherry red :)
Some strains are resistant to some diseases, some have been crossed to get resistance for some diseases.
In France, we used to grow some PVY resistant strains (like the "Paraguay" strain)

I have read somewhere that bright leaf strains are more sensitive to PVY.
 

Charly

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Some pictures of my growing tobacco

I love watching tobacco growing... here are some pictures of their current size.

crop1.jpg crop2.jpg crop3.jpg crop4.jpg crop5.jpg crop6.jpg

The bigger were transplanted 45 days ago, the smaller (in the next message since I cannot put more than 10 pictures) were transplanted only 20 days ago.
 

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Charly

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Some more pictures

The lasts :

crop7.jpgcrop8.jpgcrop9.jpgcrop10.jpgcrop11.jpg

I checked all the plants, I counted about 10% of plants infected by PVY :(
Some are only showing small symptoms while others show clear evidences.

In the last picture, there is a "death corner" : in this spot the plant was eaten, then replaced and eaten again, I transplanted a third plant (not visible in the picture) and I am waiting for it to be eaten again :D
 

clemdu76

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It's too bad that your plants are infected , remove the infected plants to avoid the poliferation . :(

Have you put of manure not wall ?
 

greenmonster714

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I'm glad you cleared up that death corner thing...lol. That was going to be my first question. Charly those plants look great. Your garden looks so neat and tidy. I'm already looking ahead to next year with all the mistakes of this year fresh in my head and written down. It seems like you have a ton of strains going and not a lot of space. What would the total square footage be if all your plants were in one spot. I think you did a great job planning the layout.

My American aphids are trying to get a foot hold again. So, yesterday I sprayed the whole garden with the soapy water. It's a pain in the ass to get under all those leaves. Took me a few hours but I gottem all. I'm afraid the next hard rain will cause my gardens to look like dishsoap in a washing machine....suds everywhere..lol. Well, at least they smell clean. I checked them today and see many dead aphids. So, maybe I'll only need to spray a few more times. I will use the systemic stuff next year for sure. Aphids are a bothersome bug once they get established. Plus, like you said. They can carry other issues along with them...bastards. :mad:

Keep posting them pics. Love seeing your progress.
 

greenmonster714

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Another thing I forgot to add. I've got a question about that potato virus. Can that be passed on via seed? Or is that usually introduced by insects?
 

Charly

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It's too bad that your plants are infected , remove the infected plants to avoid the poliferation . :(

Have you put of manure not wall ?

Yes it's sad... but I expected some infected plants since I already had some last year. It's not a problem if the number of infected plants remains stable (10% loss is not that much).

I have prepared some nettle manure, but it's not ready yet. I used soapy water a few times the last days and it removed a lot of aphids, so I will continue until the nettle manure is ready (I don't want to use chemical pesticides).
 

Charly

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I'm glad you cleared up that death corner thing...lol.

In fact I am waiting to see how many plants will die at this spot :D

Charly those plants look great. Your garden looks so neat and tidy. I'm already looking ahead to next year with all the mistakes of this year fresh in my head and written down. It seems like you have a ton of strains going and not a lot of space. What would the total square footage be if all your plants were in one spot. I think you did a great job planning the layout.

Thank you GreenMonster ;)
My garden is not as neat and tidy as you think (I have a lot of work to be done) but I am happy I managed to put all these plants in the ground :)
I made mistakes last year and this year too, the first is that I should have prepared some nettle manure sooner, maybe put some repellants plants near my tobacco, etc...
I am waiting to see how the leaves will look like by the end of the season to see if the choices I made were good or not : it will help me doing better next year.

I think my tobacco takes about 150m2 of space (I should measure it precisely).
Thank you, I tried to follow the plans I imagined, but I had to adapt a few things. At least I know how much I can grow next year :)

My American aphids are trying to get a foot hold again. So, yesterday I sprayed the whole garden with the soapy water. It's a pain in the ass to get under all those leaves. Took me a few hours but I gottem all. I'm afraid the next hard rain will cause my gardens to look like dishsoap in a washing machine....suds everywhere..lol. Well, at least they smell clean. I checked them today and see many dead aphids. So, maybe I'll only need to spray a few more times. I will use the systemic stuff next year for sure. Aphids are a bothersome bug once they get established. Plus, like you said. They can carry other issues along with them...bastards. :mad:

Keep posting them pics. Love seeing your progress.

Yes, spraying all the leaves with soapy water is a pain... and I will have to do it a few more time :D
When the rain comes, it removes the soap, but does not make bubbles... that could have been funny :D

I don't know if I want to use systemic products next year... I would prefer to stay with as natural products as I can... but I will see if it is manageable.
 

Charly

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Another thing I forgot to add. I've got a question about that potato virus. Can that be passed on via seed? Or is that usually introduced by insects?

The main source of contamination is the aphids (for this virus), they take this virus from tomatoes, potatoes and others solanaceae species and put it on tobacco.

From what I read on different sources, the seeds should not carry the PVY virus, but the dusts with the seeds might.
I think I should find a solution to wash/clean the seeds to remove risks.

The other thing is : I will try to save only seeds from plants that are "clean" (not showing any sign of disease).
But the bad thing with all these viruses is that the plant can have it without expressing visible signs...

If anyone has an idea on how to wash the seeds without damaging them, I am really interested.
 

deluxestogie

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Death Corners are supposed to be a well kept secret. Now the cat is out of the bag.

catOutOfBag.jpg


One of the reasons that tobacco seeds are so tiny (~500 microns each) is that there is nearly no seed coat. It's maybe 5 cells thick, total. Inside this thin, dry seed coat is a small nest of germ cells that will become the tobacco plant. As a result of this minimal seed mass, tobacco seed seems not to carry any tobacco viruses. BUT...if there is chaff in the seed, the chaff may carry viruses. So seed that looks like pure, ground coffee is safe. If there is chaff in the seed, remove all the chaff by winnowing, sifting through a 600 micron sieve and trapping the seed in a 400 micron sieve, or picking the chaff out with forceps, prior to starting germination.

I really like the clearly drawn white lines on your photos. What application are you using to draw them?

Bob
 

Charly

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One of the reasons that tobacco seeds are so tiny (~500 microns each) is that there is nearly no seed coat. It's maybe 5 cells thick, total. Inside this thin, dry seed coat is a small nest of germ cells that will become the tobacco plant. As a result of this minimal seed mass, tobacco seed seems not to carry any tobacco viruses. BUT...if there is chaff in the seed, the chaff may carry viruses. So seed that looks like pure, ground coffee is safe. If there is chaff in the seed, remove all the chaff by winnowing, sifting through a 600 micron sieve and trapping the seed in a 400 micron sieve, or picking the chaff out with forceps, prior to starting germination.

So I think I just have to clean my seeds to have nothing but seeds in my storage bags :) I hope it will be enough.
Anyway, I will have to play with PVY regularly since it's a very common virus in France...

I really like the clearly drawn white lines on your photos. What application are you using to draw them?

I use a old version of Photoshop (version 7, if i remember well, you have a version 6 :) ), I never updated it :D :D
 

deluxestogie

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I use a old version of Photoshop (version 7, if i remember well, you have a version 6 :) ), I never updated it :D :D
Yes my Photoshop version 6 displays copyright 2000. It's a mere teenager.

What is amazing is that many of my newer (and quite expensive) applications no longer function in Windows 10. My 3DS Max software died just going from Windows XP to Windows Vista, and they only wanted ~$2000 for a compatible version. And with Microsoft products, I spent a fortune on the full suite of Microsoft Office in 2007, but it died in Windows 10. But Photoshop 6 keeps on going.

Bob
 

Charly

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I know this kind of problems...
That's the magic side of computers ;) Big companies want to make money...

For 3D software, I use Blender (blender.org) for a few years now, and I am very happy with it, it's the best 3D freeware I've seen.
It does not have some of the most advanced features like the one you can find in 3D Studio or Maya... but it has more than enough features.
The downside with Blender is that it's not very user friendly, so it takes time to master it.
 
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