deluxestogie Grow Log 2014

[deluxestogie]

JBD,
The analysis, regardless of its shortcomings, is reassuring in that all the trace minerals seem to be adequate. Like your tobacco, mine has generally done well, despite any soil analysis to the contrary.

It was a big step for me to put soil into two little boxes, and carry it to the Extension office, rather than to just go with Mother Nature and my observation of results. It's like reviewing a set of blood chemistries. What does it mean that my HCO[sub]3[/sub] is on the low end of normal? I feel fine.

Bob

 

[istanbulin]

About 3 feet below the surface, my entire growing area--I believe--is lined with a crumbly limestone/shale layer. So attempting to lower the pH may be a fool's errand. I'm considering just going with the soil as is.

I guess the pH of your soil is not bad, as far as I know the best interval is around pH 5.8 to 6.5, so pH 6.9 is not very high. I saw more higher levels than yours here (up to 8.5) where they grow really good tobacco.

 

[Mad Oshea]

It means Your ph level is off. But that won't help Your baccy. I hope Your Extension office gives You the results that are good or inexpencive to correct.

 

[deluxestogie]

An upper pH limit of 6.8 is most frequently cited. You and I know more about how to adjust the soil nutrients for tobacco than the Ag folks at Virginia Tech (where the analysis was run). Their explicit recommendations for fertilizer appear to me to be incorrect.

I'll avoid any lime, not add composted manure this season, and just go with the flow.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Fall Weeding vs Springtime Weeding: a stitch in time saves nine

Last fall, I cleared and weeded most of my planting beds (most are 5'x 12'). When I got to the bed that had grown beans during 2013, I pulled all the bean stalks, but decided it would be an interesting experiment to not remove the weeds that had sprung up in the bed's final few weeks before the first freeze. [Okay, I was just sick and tired of pulling weeds by then, but "experiment" sounds like I was being less of a slouch.]

Maintaining the experimental stance, the questions was this: If I weed in late fall, will the work in the fall plus the inevitable work of weeding again in the spring be less, the same or greater than if I just let the fall weeds remain, and do all the weeding in the spring?

Unweeded bean bed (left) and fall-weeded tobacco bed (right), both photographed April 13, 2014.

Here's what the nasty mess in the bean bed looks like up close:

So, there you have it. In southwest Virginia, weeding the beds in late fall is much less work than waiting until spring. [Here, I'll confess that the corn bed, the squash bed and one of the tobacco beds were left unweeded. Very lazy; very dumb. They all look as bad as the bean bed.]

Bob

 

[Mad Oshea]

An upper pH limit of 6.8 is most frequently cited. You and I know more about how to adjust the soil nutrients for tobacco than the Ag folks at Virginia Tech (where the analysis was run). Their explicit recommendations for fertilizer appear to me to be incorrect.

I'll avoid any lime, not add composted manure this season, and just go with the flow.

Bob

Some times I will add NICKEL in the mix with the nitrogen. On tomatoes it will make larger fruit and sweeter as well. But on tobacco I wouldn't know- May be a thought. To Me if it's brown and wet- It will grow baccy if the nitrogen is up.

 

[DGBAMA]

Nice observation on weeding.

 

[deluxestogie]

View from the window above my kitchen sink (late afternoon).

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

Wow, Bob, it's a good thing you cut back this year.

 

[Mad Oshea]

You have as many sticks as I have. Great spot to set up for the sun.

 

[deluxestogie]

deluxestogie's Little Dutch Maduro Deluxe Stogie

Each year, the number of plants of Little Dutch that go into my grow increases. Even a single leaf of upper-stalk Little Dutch will noticeably alter the flavor and aroma of a cigar blend.

Although Little Dutch can be smoked in a cigar without kilning, the leaf is at its most remarkable after kilning. The lower leaf kilns to a medium brown, while the upper leans toward an oily maduro. Its one disadvantage is that even its largest leaves (which can easily exceed 30" long) are usually quite narrow. So it seldom makes a useful binder (can't seal the air leaks with so little overlap), and can be used as a wrapper only on a fairly narrow gauge cigar.

Little Dutch quasi-puro Deluxe Stogie

Needless to say, there exists a warm spot in my heart for the Marsh Wheeling Deluxe Stogie. But I was forced to make some compromises. Being short on floor sweepings, I had to settle for all Little Dutch long filler. I was all out of reconstituted tobacco sheet, so the bunch is bound with a double Besuki binder. [Using a double binder makes rolling a long, thin stogie much easier.] The wrapper is Little Dutch maduro as Mother Nature (and my kiln) made it.

Little Dutch upper leaf burns surprisingly well. The cherry of a stogie is never as hot as, say, a Torro, yet it still manages to give me a white ash. As you can see, the integrity of the Little Dutch wrapper ash is a bit flaky. What I'm tasting is an unsweetened, floral black coffee flavor, like Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. The aroma is a deep saddle leather (in hot sunlight), with occasional glimpses of roasting chestnuts.

There is something about a Little Dutch puro that evokes visions of shelved, leather-bound books, rising to ladder heights. By contrast, a Marsh Wheeling Deluxe Stogie brings to mind the raw freedom and adventure of a dusty trail as viewed over the ass ends of the two harnessed nags pulling your wagon.

I do love this stuff.

Bob

EDIT: I should add that the actual Marsh Wheeling Deluxe Stogie is one of the very few "drug store" cigar brands that I would recommend without hesitation. It's a nice little smoke.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I couldn't agree with you more Bob. This will be my 3rd year for Little Dutch. It makes a nice (to me) almost puro. I like Little Dutch filler with various binders and a Glessnor wrapper. It is also pretty nice in a pipe.

 

[ArizonaDave]

Question:
1) Do you sell the leaf? (I wish WLT would carry this on a regular basis Badly!!!)

Not sure I have enough room to grow enough here, but I've read they make great 5 gallon container plants (Little Dutch).

 

[Planter]

Now you make me regret that I didn´t get seeds although it was initially on this season´s list... I remember darkly something in the lines of Little Dutch doing well in a little bit of shade, did you try that or do you grow it in full sun?

 

[deluxestogie]

Question:
1) Do you sell the leaf?

No. I'm not sure that anyone still grows Little Dutch commercially.

...do you grow it in full sun?

Yes.

Bob

 

[ArizonaDave]

Drew Estate's Liga Pravada has little dutch tobaccos, but they go for more per stick than I can buy a pound of leaf.........I think it might be beneficial if someone grew it for WLT, at least a limited supply?

 

[ArizonaDave]

I guess it's because of the size that it's not commercially viable? Charge double (or whatever) at WLT just so I can buy some???

 

[deluxestogie]

Some folks have reported success in growing Little Dutch in large pots or 5 gallon buckets. Just grow some.

Bob

 

[ArizonaDave]

Some folks have reported success in growing Little Dutch in large pots or 5 gallon buckets. Just grow some.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I will. Is it too late? I have a lot of 6 gallon buckets, just need to buy some starter trays. We're in a sunny season that should last until the end of October. It rarely frosts here. If it did, then it would be the end of December through February.

 

[Knucklehead]

Thanks Bob, I will. Is it too late? I have a lot of 6 gallon buckets, just need to buy some starter trays. We're in a sunny season that should last until the end of October. It rarely frosts here. If it did, then it would be the end of December through February.

Skychaser sells the seed. It's not too late but there sure isn't much time to lose. Start a grow blog and we'll help you out as needed.