Deluxestogie Grow Log 2023
- Thread starter deluxestogie
- Start date
Typical commercial topping is at about half the plants showing an open blossom (defined as plant maturation date). The difference between a) topping when the blossoms first begin to form, and b) topping after full elongation of the stalk is that the leaf nodes spread farther apart by waiting. I give no thought to the tiny difference in consumption of plant resources.
I know that the development of a full blossom head, and subsequent development of the seed pods is resource intensive. So, unless I need the ¼-million seeds that a single plant can produce, I don't usually wait much beyond the first open blossom to top.
I usually top my tobacco using a pair of garden pruning shears, though you can often just snap off the top of the stalk.
Bob
Whew! My (87°F) walk of the tobacco yielded 15 tiny, newly hatched hornworms. A few days of rain will start in two days, so I'll check again tonight and tomorrow, and decide about BT spraying following the rain (~5 days from now). When the temp is this high, even a fresh, tiny hole in a leaf will have a browned margin, suggesting that it's been there a few days. That makes the hornworm hunt more tedious. At least, in deference to my aging knees, the hornworms are thoughtfully hatching on leaves mid-way up the stalks. So far, never more than one hornworm per plant.
Bob
Bob
I surrendered, and went ahead with spraying BT this evening. (forearm cramps for the next 24 hours) It looks like my rain for Saturday has been canceled, and rain on Sunday will be hit or miss.
I am always careless and sloppy with my BT spraying. I try to direct a mist of BT at several angles on each plant, but I'm not thorough with it. I never bother to spray the underside of leaves, since hornworms always eat full-thickness lamina. But every bed got its BT mist over a significant percentage of all the leaves. At least now, I will rest easy while the hornworms eat their holes.
I do carefully avoid having BT mist blow back onto me, and thoroughly wash my hands afterwards. The Bacillus thuringiensis bacterium is "harmless" to humans, sort of, pretty much. I don't wear contact lenses, but BT would probably turn a contaminated contact into a festering eye destroyer.
Bob
I am always careless and sloppy with my BT spraying. I try to direct a mist of BT at several angles on each plant, but I'm not thorough with it. I never bother to spray the underside of leaves, since hornworms always eat full-thickness lamina. But every bed got its BT mist over a significant percentage of all the leaves. At least now, I will rest easy while the hornworms eat their holes.
I do carefully avoid having BT mist blow back onto me, and thoroughly wash my hands afterwards. The Bacillus thuringiensis bacterium is "harmless" to humans, sort of, pretty much. I don't wear contact lenses, but BT would probably turn a contaminated contact into a festering eye destroyer.
Bob
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
That’s how I do it.
This evening (24 hours after spraying BT), I found 5 or 6 new, very tiny hornworms. Most of them had ceased feeding, and moved a short distance from the bitten hole in the leaf. They appeared pale and moribund. I ignored them. One that had as yet eaten only a pinhole, and was still all smiles, I squished. Success.
Now, I will spray BT weekly for the remaining weeks of the growing season.
Bob
Now, I will spray BT weekly for the remaining weeks of the growing season.
Bob
Anders A
Well-Known Member
Hi. A few questions about your Tofta.
When did you sow them?
When did you plant them out?
When did they bloom?
When did you remove the flowers and top them?
When do you expect to harvest them?
Will you hang the leaves or the whole plant?
Sorry for so many questions
When did you sow them?
When did you plant them out?
When did they bloom?
When did you remove the flowers and top them?
When do you expect to harvest them?
Will you hang the leaves or the whole plant?
Sorry for so many questions
I topped the Tofta 28 JUN. I will wait for the upper leaf to show signs of maturity, then stalk-harvest, and hang the whole stalks in my shed. Since this is my first grow of Tofta, I'm just guessing about the best way to handle it.
Bob
Bob
Anders A
Well-Known Member
I topped the Tofta 28 JUN. I will wait for the upper leaf to show signs of maturity, then stalk-harvest, and hang the whole stalks in my shed. Since this is my first grow of Tofta, I'm just guessing about the best way to handle it.
Bob
Impressive order you have. Do you run the same statistics on all your plants? Every year?
I set up a spreadsheet containing each variety that I will be growing that season. I make certain to collect the statistics on each new variety, but I do not repeat the data for repeat varieties. I've been collecting the data for a little over a decade. I print the new spreadsheet, then hold it in a clipboard beside my favorite reading chair, so that I remember to keep it up to date. At the end of the season, I enter the hand-written data into the digital version. I now have similar data on each of the ~110 varieties that I've grown since 2010.
If you are interested, I can provide a link to download the empty spreadsheet form in open document (.ods) format.
Bob
Anders A
Well-Known Member
Yes please, thst would be great.
Download Plant Variety Data form as open document spreadsheet (.ods), in .zip folder. After downloading, you will need to unzip it.
This empty form contains my Tofta data from 2023 as an example of the form's use. You can delete that data. Add new columns if needed, if you grow more varieties in a single season than the form will fit. (My wildest year, 2014, the form contained 43 columns.)
After unzipping, change the file name from "Tobacco_PlantVarietyData_EMPTY" to "Tobacco_PlantVarietyData_2024" etc. Within the form, set the displayed year manually. The form automatically saves the current date and time each time you save the file.
Bob
EDIT: I also use the form in early winter to plan how many cells in how many trays I will need to set up for the upcoming season.
This empty form contains my Tofta data from 2023 as an example of the form's use. You can delete that data. Add new columns if needed, if you grow more varieties in a single season than the form will fit. (My wildest year, 2014, the form contained 43 columns.)
After unzipping, change the file name from "Tobacco_PlantVarietyData_EMPTY" to "Tobacco_PlantVarietyData_2024" etc. Within the form, set the displayed year manually. The form automatically saves the current date and time each time you save the file.
Bob
EDIT: I also use the form in early winter to plan how many cells in how many trays I will need to set up for the upcoming season.
No hornworms today. I had a moderate rain this morning, so the BT is officially gone. Hornworm eggs, once laid, require about 96 hours to hatch. BT has no effect on the moth or its eggs—only on the caterpillar. So I will spray BT again in a couple of days.
I squished a few flea beetles alongside their characteristic pinholes. That tells me that the imidacloprid that I added to the transplant water is no longer in the plant. That is usually true by the time a plant blossoms. All my varieties have either blossomed or are about to do so. From this point of the season onward, I will be watching for aphids, flea beetles and "other." They will be confronted with physical violence, if they become an issue. I also remove even tiny suckers, since they are more inviting to aphids than the high-nicotine, maturing leaf.
Bob
I squished a few flea beetles alongside their characteristic pinholes. That tells me that the imidacloprid that I added to the transplant water is no longer in the plant. That is usually true by the time a plant blossoms. All my varieties have either blossomed or are about to do so. From this point of the season onward, I will be watching for aphids, flea beetles and "other." They will be confronted with physical violence, if they become an issue. I also remove even tiny suckers, since they are more inviting to aphids than the high-nicotine, maturing leaf.
Bob
Anders A
Well-Known Member
Thanks Bob. Will use this next year, have too bad order this year to be able to fill it right now. I use excel when I plan my season and different varieties. Next year I have planned a maximum of three varieties and keep a careful diary of the season. A maximum of three varieties? Think I've heard myself say that before
Anders A
Well-Known Member
I topped the Tofta 28 JUN. I will wait for the upper leaf to show signs of maturity, then stalk-harvest, and hang the whole stalks in my shed. Since this is my first grow of Tofta, I'm just guessing about the best way to handle it.
Bob
I look forward to you posting pictures of when you think the Tofta plants are showing enough signs of maturity for you to harvest them. I myself have about 24 plants of them, of which 12 are probably ready for harvesting, but I will wait until you start harvesting
Returning home from a drive to the store, I noticed that, from the road, I could see the maturation of lower leaf in the NB-11 burley as well as the Little Yellow.
The Vuelta Abajo (below) shows increasing texture, leaf thickness and rugosity—all signs of maturation.
I will wait to harvest all of these. The leaves of Tofta, not shown, display the least indication of maturation among the 8 varieties I'm growing.
Bob
After dinner, since the day had cooled down to about 80°F, I topped all the Corojo 99, and suckered all the varieties (except Xanthi-Yaka 18a). The MD 609 will likely get topped in the next day or two. That will be it for topping this year.
Bob
Bob
MD 609 all fully topped this evening. About half of them were in blooming splendor, with 15-18 inch tall blossom stalks, while many in the other half had barely begun to form bud buttons. The fully extended ones were considerably easier to top than the more compact, sluggish ones. At least now, they will all mature their leaf at roughly the same time.
Days at Maturity—Half the plants with at least 1 open blossom (in days from transplant)
Bob
Days at Maturity—Half the plants with at least 1 open blossom (in days from transplant)
- Tofta (54)
- Little Yellow (56)
- NB-11 burley (57)
- Vuelta Abajo (58)
- Olor (58)
- Xanthi-Yaka 18a (63)
- Corojo 99 (64)
- MD 609 (68)
Bob
Tofta is showing early signs of leaf maturation. It could probably be stalk-cut and stalk-cured now, but I will wait for more advanced leaf maturation.
Bob
