Deluxestogie Grow Log 2021

[smallwanderings]

I have one variety of large wasp and another of a large hornet in the vicinity. They are nice wasps and hornets. They never ever bother me (whew! They are huge.), and I see them only when cicadas are out and about.

Some years ago, while showing my brother about my garden, we were transfixed by a 2½" long cicada loudly chirping on one of the steel posts at the corners of my blackberry bramble. We were watching it from about a foot away. As we watched, an entirely black wasp that was half again as long as the cicada swooped down, grabbed the cicada in its legs, and immediately flew away with it. The two of us stood speechless for a moment.

Since then, I have seen the same wasps and similarly sized, yellow and black banded hornets (not "murder" hornets. Gracious no!) capture and carry away cicadas. No doubt, they also eat other bugs of various sizes. But I only see them in cicada season. I suppose they range farther from their nests to find those one-bug feasts.

Bob

The Cicada Killer hornets dig burrows in the ground where they put the cicadas and lay their eggs on them, which as larva will feed on the cicada. But they will also eat other insects, even other smaller hornets. When I was young, elementary school age, I saw them catching and eating yellow jackets which were eating pears that had fallen from the tree. The very dark blue wasps, I don't know their name, do the same thing with spiders.

 

[deluxestogie]

It's a bug eat bug universe. Whatever you possess, something else wants it--to use or to eat.



Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

[explicitly linked image]

Bob

["insert image"]

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Blue mud dauber wasps will eat black widow spiders.

 

[Yug]

Please Bob, which tobacco do you prefer to taste between Trabzon, Samsun and krumovgrad? The yields compared?

 

[deluxestogie]

Home-grown: My preference for a Basma type is Prilep 66-9/7. My preference for Samsun type is Trabzon. Both are prolific, when grown closely-spaced. If you plant any Oriental at American-style, wide spacing, then the yield is dramatically greater, but they lose much of their expected Oriental character.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

=

 

[deluxestogie]

"Contact the Administrator."

 

[Brown Thumb]

A ounce is a lot of leaf, back in the day it was 25 bucks for mud lugs and 45 for the tips.

 

[deluxestogie]

I ate one ear fresh, so the ears in the photo are all the remaining, developed ears from my too tiny patch of corn. (Larger square or round patches will pollinate the ears better.) The lovely ear on the far right came from the center of my patch. I'm thinking that at least two, maybe three of these will make nice cob pipes. These are mostly dry.

I've just placed all of them into a paper sack (to entrap any frantic bugs), and placed it into my kiln. It will run at 128°F dry for at least 3 days. Some of the nice cobs of previous grows have revealed little weevil babies emerging months after the cobs were bone dry. Sorry, babies.

Once fully dried, I'll collect all the mature kernels, and store them for the apocalypse.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

These are the Olor suckers that I have allowed to grow--one sucker stalk per root system. They are an experiment to see if the sucker leaf can make useful Cavendish. The shortest of the three is about 4' tall, and the other two about 5' tall.

I topped them about two weeks ago. I remove all secondary suckers to prevent aphids from colonizing the plants. Despite no longer spraying BT for hornworms, there have been none. So this is likely too late in the season for them. Any holes seem to be from either flea beetles or crickets. The imidacloprid in the transplant water has long since been exhausted. But the bugs now are fairly minimal.

I'm beginning to see very slight yellowing of the leaf tips on from the bottom half of each stalk, but the top leaves appear to still need a couple of more weeks to mature sufficiently to promise adequate color-curing.

Weather during its curing is likely to be the greatest challenge. I may have to bring these three stalks in from the shed, and into a plastic bag tent hung in my enclosed back porch--to finish up their curing, without freezing.

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Suckerrrrrs! Love it lol

 

[deluxestogie]

What is it that seems to be amusing you?

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Turning little suckers into big suckers i guess.

 

[Oldfella]

Hi Bob, I've successfully grown suckers and have had good results. One that comes to mind is when I had a plant that was suffering from possible Frenching. I just lopped of the offending main stem and let a good sucker take over, in a month or so I couldn't remember which one it was as it caught up with the rest. So I see no reason why your experiment won't work. As you say curing at this time of year would be your main problem. After color-curing I often hang leaves in my house and they seem to be happy with that. Mind you I have no partner and live alone so I do as I please. Good luck with your project I'm sure you'll keep us posted.
Oldfella

 

[deluxestogie]

I have fussed with suckers over the years, and through assorted weather hardships. I even kept tobacco in 3-inch pots for several years, repeatedly lopping them short, prior to transplant to the garden. Although they can ultimately look okay, and smoke okay, my impression is that their quality is seldom sufficient to justify prolonging the labor of growing, or even the labor of color-curing, kilning, and storing.

Often, with a late-maturing crop, color-curing conditions (seasonal weather) in barns or sheds is the greatest hurdle. Although I have frequently hung tobacco in my back porch, it is usually already color-cured, for which drying isn't an issue. Maintaining suitable color-curing conditions in that enclosed, southern-facing porch is a major task. My question is seldom, "Is it possible?", but rather "Is it worth all the trouble?" My general answer is, no. Since I discovered that Olor makes a wonderful Cavendish, I have made them an exception to my blanket rule of not harvesting suckers.

During the early colonial days of Virginia, some areas forbade growers from attempting to sell a sucker crop, out of a fear that it would damage their regional reputation for excellent tobacco. Some communities sent out committees of good citizens with hoes and torches, to destroy sucker crops in the fields of the recalcitrant.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

This morning, gazing out my study window, I saw through the fog that the shortest of my three sucker stalks lay flat on the wet grass. I did not want the sun to come out, and wilt the fallen plant, so I trudged out there through the dewy lawn. On inspection, there were no nearby animal footprints. It appears to have just snapped off at the ground--all on its own. There was no rain or wind; only dark of night. So it's not really a "blowdown".

I removed the bottom trash leaves, lopped the stalk a bit shorter, then tagged and rigged it for hanging. It went to the breeziest spot in my shed, since its leaves were still damp. As you can see from the photo, the top leaves do have some 3D texture, though no other indication of maturity. We'll see what we get from it.

The remaining two sucker plants appear to still need a bit more time for maturation.

Bob

 

[Cray Squirrel]

Dang..

 

[deluxestogie]

Ticket to see the new Dune movie

I just purchased my ticket through Fandango, for the New River Valley Cinema:

Dune 3D (2021)
2h 35m
Thursday, October, 21, 2021
08:00PM

The last time I went to the theater (fall of 2018 2019), the sound levels were deafening (I may use ear plugs), the new, reclining, overstuffed seating was quite uncomfortable, too tall for my feet to rest on the floor, and repeatedly annoying with intentional vibrations and butt rumbling. Also, the community here still reports levels of new Covid-19 infections that are truly depressing. I will have to dehydrate myself all day, in order to sit for 2½ hours straight, without needing a trip to the men's room. And of course, the 8:00 pm start time is when 30 minutes of advertising begins, prior to the film. So it is with a bit of hesitation that I plan to go. [I also learned yesterday that this film will abruptly end, only part way through Frank Herbert's original volume of Dune--to be continued! It will be a two-movie rendition of just that first book.]

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob