2015 Knucklehead Grow Blog

[mountbaldy]

Nice looking bud bags! I'm going to do that next year! Looks like you've got a good system.

I think you'll be very pleased with tillage radishes. Smokingharley is right... Just be careful not to get the horseradish type. You'll never get rid of them. You can till them in all you want and the cold weather doesn't even bother them. They keep coming back. The tillage type should really help your red clay out a lot and I don't think you'll have many worries about them coming back.

Cheers,

Joe

 

[Knucklehead]

Nice looking bud bags! I'm going to do that next year! Looks like you've got a good system.

I think you'll be very pleased with tillage radishes. Smokingharley is right... Just be careful not to get the horseradish type. You'll never get rid of them. You can till them in all you want and the cold weather doesn't even bother them. They keep coming back. The tillage type should really help your red clay out a lot and I don't think you'll have many worries about them coming back.

Cheers,

Joe

Thanks. The bud bags are five gallon paint strainer bags.
http://www.amazon.com/Trimaco-11313...GS9M8EW2&dpSrc=sims&dpST=_AC_UL320_SR312,320_

I ordered a pound of the Tillage Radish seed and will use the same perennial clover I use in my wildlife food plots. They sound like just what I was looking for. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

 

[deluxestogie]

I ordered a pound of the Tillage Radish seed...

If you pull them early, can they go into a salad?

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

My little grow is winding down..
The last of this years crop has been tied into hands and is awaiting it's turn in the kiln.
11 hands of VA 355 dark air and 10 hands of MD 609 Maryland. The Maryland is hanging past the edge of a 3' metal door, the dark air is just a few inches shorter.

 

[Knucklehead]

I still have to extract the seed from 32 seed heads, kiln and package my tobacco, and plant a cover crop of clover and Tillage Radish in my patch.
And then....

 

[kullas]

That is some fine loking tobacco.

 

[Hasse SWE]

Wallace: Was the link : "Attachment 16687" meaning to tell some things?
-If it was it doesn't work..

 

[deluxestogie]

That attachment link said it was invalid, and to contact the administrator. So, I asked myself, "what the hell does that mean?" I could offer no response.

But, the tobacco in the previous post looks impressive. It's a warehouse-like quantity of beauty.

Bob

EDIT: I guess those 10" x 30" poly-nylon bags are just too shrimpy.

 

[Knucklehead]

Wallace: Was the link : "Attachment 16687" meaning to tell some things?
-If it was it doesn't work..

Hopefully the picture is up again. It's a selfie.

But, the tobacco in the previous post looks impressive. It's a warehouse-like quantity of beauty.

Bob

EDIT: I guess those 10" x 30" poly-nylon bags are just too shrimpy.

I'll use Don's ten pound bags. The dark air just looks small, those leaves are about 1/4" thick.

 

[deluxestogie]

View attachment 16688

Worth the wait.

 

[Hasse SWE]

Hopefully the picture is up again.

Yes it is..

 

[Gmac]

That's what I've been trying to find out too.

Gmac

 

[bonehead]

I'll use Don's ten pound bags. The dark air just looks small, those leaves are about 1/4" thick.

i never saw a leaf even close to that thick. do you think it will burn being that thick? you might need a saw to shred that dark air tobacco. how does the va 355 compare to shirey if you ever grew that because that is the only dark air cured i ever grew? i am already missing my tobacco garden.

 

[Knucklehead]

i never saw a leaf even close to that thick. do you think it will burn being that thick? you might need a saw to shred that dark air tobacco. how does the va 355 compare to shirey if you ever grew that because that is the only dark air cured i ever grew? i am already missing my tobacco garden.

In 2014 I grew 17 varieties of dark tobaccos. VA 355 is the one I settled on as my staple for cigarettes. It's not really a 1/4" thick, it's about as thick as Don's dark air.

DT 518 dark air
DT 592 dark air
M&N dark air
Vincent Harris Madole 552773 dark air
Hastings 552375 dark air
Little Sweet Orinoco 552376 dark air
Lizard Tail Orinoco dark air
Shirey dark air
Small Stalk Black Mammoth dark air
Walker's Broadleaf 552374 dark air
VA 355 604198 dark air
Narrow Leaf Madole 552710 dark fire/air
Little Crittenden dark fire/air
TND 950 dark fire
TR Madole (Tom Rosson) 552764 dark fire
VA 409 552508 dark sun
VA 407 557005 dark sun

 

[Knucklehead]

The first kiln load has been taken out and bagged. The last load is kilning now.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

What temp are you running your kiln? and for how long?

 

[Knucklehead]

What temp are you running your kiln? and for how long?

120-125F. The controller turns the crock pot on at 120 and shuts it off at 125. It runs for about a month. The last run was started on the 19th of August and ended 19th of September. This run started 19th of September and will end 19th of October. It's easier than counting the days. I put a piece of painters tape on the side of the kiln with the start date written on it. Humidity is between 64-70%.

 

[kullas]

How did you like the black mammoth? Its listed as a dark air. Does it go in the kiln or just air cure?

 

[Hasse SWE]

How did you like the black mammoth? Its listed as a dark air. Does it go in the kiln or just air cure?

Both "Black Mammoth" and "Small Stalk Black Mammoth" can be kiln with good results (so even"Shirey"). Those is some of my favorite in oral-snuff..

 

[Knucklehead]

First kiln load bagged up. The big bags on the left are Don's "5 lb. bags": ( http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/418-Vapor-Proof-Bags ). Most of them are loosely packed so I doubt there's five lbs. per bag in mine. Smaller bags on the right are the poly nylon bags from Uline, 10x30".



Second kiln load. 21 nice hands of Maryland 609 and VA 355 dark air.