I admit it. Their John Deere is bigger than mine.
Bob
Bob
Deluxestogie Grow Log 2023
- Thread starter deluxestogie
- Start date
RoperLegacyWoods
Well-Known Member
Very nice looking!
Both the Olor and Vuelta Abajo plants are showing suckers that need removing, in addition to some on-my-knees weeding.
This Tofta bed is the same size as the Xanthi Yaka 18a bed shown above: 36 plants vs. 8 plants.
Bob
Can you show a close up of what a sucker looks like?
From Billings:
from Billings, 1875
Primary, new leaf emerges only from the stalk growth tip. Any new leaf growth that occurs below existing, larger leaf is a sucker. Any new leaf growth emerging from a leaf axil (crotch where a leaf attaches to the stalk) is a sucker. Any new leaf growth from the base of the stalk is a sucker. An ignored sucker will rapidly grow into a branch of the main stalk.
Tiny suckers can often be simply rubbed off the leaf axil, using your fingertip. Larger suckers are snapped off, which is most easily done in the early morning, or near sunset, when plant turgor makes them less floppy. A thick, woody sucker stalk may need to be removed with pruning shears.
Sucker leaf is generally not of as nice a quality as primary leaf. The main problem with suckers during the primary growth season is that you will exchange nicer, larger leaf for a higher count of roughly equal weight of lower grade, smaller leaves. No suckers: fewer, larger, nicer leaf. With suckers: more leaves, smaller leaves, lower quality leaf. And remember that labor is per leaf, rather than per pound.
After the main stalk has been stalk-harvested, or cut off after priming all the leaf, you can, if you wish, allow one single sucker to emerge and grow, for a "second" crop of lower quality leaf. Depending on your local climate, the ambient weather may not allow "second" crop leaf to mature, or may be unsuitable at the time of harvesting a "second" crop for curing properly.
Bob
from Billings, 1875
Primary, new leaf emerges only from the stalk growth tip. Any new leaf growth that occurs below existing, larger leaf is a sucker. Any new leaf growth emerging from a leaf axil (crotch where a leaf attaches to the stalk) is a sucker. Any new leaf growth from the base of the stalk is a sucker. An ignored sucker will rapidly grow into a branch of the main stalk.
Tiny suckers can often be simply rubbed off the leaf axil, using your fingertip. Larger suckers are snapped off, which is most easily done in the early morning, or near sunset, when plant turgor makes them less floppy. A thick, woody sucker stalk may need to be removed with pruning shears.
Sucker leaf is generally not of as nice a quality as primary leaf. The main problem with suckers during the primary growth season is that you will exchange nicer, larger leaf for a higher count of roughly equal weight of lower grade, smaller leaves. No suckers: fewer, larger, nicer leaf. With suckers: more leaves, smaller leaves, lower quality leaf. And remember that labor is per leaf, rather than per pound.
After the main stalk has been stalk-harvested, or cut off after priming all the leaf, you can, if you wish, allow one single sucker to emerge and grow, for a "second" crop of lower quality leaf. Depending on your local climate, the ambient weather may not allow "second" crop leaf to mature, or may be unsuitable at the time of harvesting a "second" crop for curing properly.
Bob
RoperLegacyWoods
Well-Known Member
Thank you for taking the time to explain and show the pictures, I appreciate it!From Billings:
from Billings, 1875
Primary, new leaf emerges only from the stalk growth tip. Any new leaf growth that occurs below existing, larger leaf is a sucker. Any new leaf growth emerging from a leaf axil (crotch where a leaf attaches to the stalk) is a sucker. Any new leaf growth from the base of the stalk is a sucker. An ignored sucker will rapidly grow into a branch of the main stalk.
Tiny suckers can often be simply rubbed off the leaf axil, using your fingertip. Larger suckers are snapped off, which is most easily done in the early morning, or near sunset, when plant turgor makes them less floppy. A thick, woody sucker stalk may need to be removed with pruning shears.
Sucker leaf is generally not of as nice a quality as primary leaf. The main problem with suckers during the primary growth season is that you will exchange nicer, larger leaf for a higher count of roughly equal weight of lower grade, smaller leaves. No suckers: fewer, larger, nicer leaf. With suckers: more leaves, smaller leaves, lower quality leaf. And remember that labor is per leaf, rather than per pound.
After the main stalk has been stalk-harvested, or cut off after priming all the leaf, you can, if you wish, allow one single sucker to emerge and grow, for a "second" crop of lower quality leaf. Depending on your local climate, the ambient weather may not allow "second" crop leaf to mature, or may be unsuitable at the time of harvesting a "second" crop for curing properly.
Bob
RoperLegacyWoods
Well-Known Member
Thank you for taking the time to show me!
This afternoon, I walked out to the garden, and sat in a chair, smoking a cigar. After a while, I noticed a persistent, episodic chirp coming from my bush beans. From my chair, two garden beds away, I watched the bush beans, and eventually spotted a mottled, gray and white fledgling sheltering from the bright sunlight beneath spreading bean leaves. Eventually, a Mockingbird, with a small floppy thing held in its beak, landed on my grape arbor, near the bean bed. The Mockingbird studied me for a minute, then descended to the beans, and stuffed its morsel into the gaping beak of the fledgling.
Shortly after that, its smaller sibling spluttered out of my Winesap apple tree, and crashed onto the grass. With obvious wonderment, it looked about, and slowly figured out how to hop through the 4-inch tall grass. It circled my Golden Delicious apple tree, and onward to join its larger sib, beneath the bush beans. Before I left them, both Mockingbird parents had shown up several more times, in the endless task of fulfilling the demands of the little ones.
Bob
Shortly after that, its smaller sibling spluttered out of my Winesap apple tree, and crashed onto the grass. With obvious wonderment, it looked about, and slowly figured out how to hop through the 4-inch tall grass. It circled my Golden Delicious apple tree, and onward to join its larger sib, beneath the bush beans. Before I left them, both Mockingbird parents had shown up several more times, in the endless task of fulfilling the demands of the little ones.
Bob
Deluxe trail-cam:
My house is in the upper left.
Bob
My house is in the upper left.
Bob
Yesterday afternoon, following a 40-50 mph wind gust, I discovered this one Tofta plant (below) laid down. On inspection, the very base of the stalk appeared to have been damaged prior to the the wind. I propped it back up, but don't have high expectations.
Bob
All of my Tofta have begun to bud.
None of the other 7 varieties show any sign of budding. All were treated identically, prior to transplant. I am assuming that this is a characteristic of Tofta. I expect them to grow taller, as the bud stalk elongates, perhaps to ~36" at the crowfoot.
The Tofta are now 6 weeks post transplant. Most are roughly 21 inches tall. (The ruler actually says 27", because I had the 48" ruler flipped to the wrong side.) Tofta (from Sweden) was selected by growers at a latitude with a much longer daylight period during the growing season, compared to here in Virginia.
Bob
None of the other 7 varieties show any sign of budding. All were treated identically, prior to transplant. I am assuming that this is a characteristic of Tofta. I expect them to grow taller, as the bud stalk elongates, perhaps to ~36" at the crowfoot.
The Tofta are now 6 weeks post transplant. Most are roughly 21 inches tall. (The ruler actually says 27", because I had the 48" ruler flipped to the wrong side.) Tofta (from Sweden) was selected by growers at a latitude with a much longer daylight period during the growing season, compared to here in Virginia.
Bob
Once again, it was time to crank up my 40 year old sewing machine, for making bud bags from Agribon-AG15. [Resting on the table, near the machine, is a clothing pattern pack for making toddler overalls (with snap-open inseam). I made some from worn-out corduroy slacks, for my grandson when he turned two years old. But he turns 16 in 3 weeks! For his upcoming birthday, he just wants cash, to purchase some "stuff" for his dirt bike.]
Sewing bud bags is a beginner's sewing dream: straight seams, errors allowed, size only needs to be approximate. I will wait until my chosen plant (good representative of the variety) has almost opened its first blossom, before covering it with a bag. Closely-spaced Orientals seldom need more space for the blossom head than my 15"x12" bags. Most other varieties, if you allow the bud stalk to fully develop, can easily fill the larger bag—sometimes to the bursting point. I usually turn the bag so the stitching is on the inside, since I think that may help protect the stitching, but I did the Xanthi-Yaka bag first, and forgot that the stitched-in tag has to extend inside, so it sticks out after the bag is turned.
I will mist the blossom head with permethrin, immediately prior to applying the bud bag. I probably have several more weeks before the first bag is needed.
Bob
EDIT: The measurements are for the cut fabric, so they are a bit smaller after sewing.
Sewing bud bags is a beginner's sewing dream: straight seams, errors allowed, size only needs to be approximate. I will wait until my chosen plant (good representative of the variety) has almost opened its first blossom, before covering it with a bag. Closely-spaced Orientals seldom need more space for the blossom head than my 15"x12" bags. Most other varieties, if you allow the bud stalk to fully develop, can easily fill the larger bag—sometimes to the bursting point. I usually turn the bag so the stitching is on the inside, since I think that may help protect the stitching, but I did the Xanthi-Yaka bag first, and forgot that the stitched-in tag has to extend inside, so it sticks out after the bag is turned.
I will mist the blossom head with permethrin, immediately prior to applying the bud bag. I probably have several more weeks before the first bag is needed.
Bob
EDIT: The measurements are for the cut fabric, so they are a bit smaller after sewing.
Last edited:
Tobacco at Sunset
Most of the tobacco is about knee-high.
Bob
Most of the tobacco is about knee-high.
Bob
Up and dressed at 6 am today. The wind speed is zero this morning, and a week of heavy rain begins tomorrow. I lugged my 1¼-gallon jug of Roundup to the most distant corners of the yard, to spritz poison ivy and poison oak. It is 7:49 am now, and the grass and tree leaves are already beginning to stir in a light breeze.
June 20 is my average date of 1st hornworm attestation. Still none this year—yet. I have one Tofta plant with some viral disease, probably TMV. A number of widely scattered plants of multiple varieties are displaying early signs of various mineral deficiencies, which I attribute to the lack of rain. We'll see how they do after the deluge.
Bob
June 20 is my average date of 1st hornworm attestation. Still none this year—yet. I have one Tofta plant with some viral disease, probably TMV. A number of widely scattered plants of multiple varieties are displaying early signs of various mineral deficiencies, which I attribute to the lack of rain. We'll see how they do after the deluge.
Bob
My 10-day weather forecast:
Bob
Bob
Nice! Lucky you have some rain on your forecast! None here in the northern suburbs of Madison, WI. Last year the rain barrel was plentiful. This year been busting out the hose in the morning or evening. Hopefully that forecast is right and you have plentiful rain there Bob!My 10-day weather forecast:
Bob
I may be scurrying in and out of my shed, to bring in the hanging tobacco, before it molds from 10+ days of persistently high humidity. This kind of a stretch is not normal here.
Bob
I hear ya. I still have some tobacco hanging in the basement from last year. Need to build myself a kiln still. It’s odd here also with the lack of rain overall for this time of year. Keeping an eye on your grow log though brother! Wishing you the best success!
The MD-609 is a bit behind the other varieties. It is a later maturing plant than most of my other varieties. In this particular bed, some of them have been chewed by snails and crickets, but I expect that to be less of an issue for upper leaves. This season, I used no snail bait, and despite applying glyphosate several weeks prior to planting, the soil was apparently heavily seeded with grass. I find it difficult to hoe or cut grass that grows behind the tobacco here. So I will make an effort to prevent any of that against-the-bricks grass from going to seed this summer.
Bob
GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
My MD is also being pokey (right foreground).
This is the single tobacco plant that I have at my front porch this year—in the ground, rather than in a pot. It has been pillaged by slugs since it was transplanted. Three days ago, I decided to try a ring of pennies at the base. So far as I can tell at this early point, the newest leaves are growing without slug damage. The theory is that since slugs and snails have no skin (electrical insulation) covering their external muscle tissue, and they move along a secreted layer of wonderfully conductive slime, the copper causes the muscle's electrical surface waves to short circuit. So they avoid crossing it.
This approach is non-toxic, and costs mere pennies per plant. (But then you end up with a bunch of dirty pennies.)
Bob
