Cigar Weather Ahead!
Bob
Bob
Deluxestogie Grow Log 2023
- Thread starter deluxestogie
- Start date
GrowleyMonster
Creator of the Imperfecto
Gotcha beat. I already got sprouts out on the patio stretching their widdle baby arms up to the sunny sunshine! But yeah I think I'll have a nice smoke this evening, too.
I spent about ½ hour going back through my records to identify when I last grew each of my chosen tobacco varieties for growing in 2023. Although I last grew Xanthi-Yaka 18A in 2013, the last time I collected seed from it was during my 2011 grow. The others are much more recent. I've chosen my 2021 Corojo 99 seed, rather than my 2022 seed, expecting its germination rate to be more consistent after a year of rest.
Easy enough to pinpoint the year. Not so easy to locate the seed among my vast collection. Finding the actual seed required another hour.
Whew!
Bob
Easy enough to pinpoint the year. Not so easy to locate the seed among my vast collection. Finding the actual seed required another hour.
Whew!
Bob
Germination Testing my 2011 Xanthi-Yaka 18A
I start with a quart Ziploc freezer bag, labeled with variety and start date. I cut the two seams off of a #4 coffee cone filter, allowing it to open flat.
I spray water onto half of the filter (so the seeds won't jostle away), then lightly sprinkle a couple of dozen seeds onto that half. The filter is folded, and sprayed again. This is inserted into the Ziploc bag, and closed, trapping some air inside.
I will keep it in my perpetually warm study, and check it daily by holding it up to the light. Germination is easy to spot through the wet paper.
Bob
I start with a quart Ziploc freezer bag, labeled with variety and start date. I cut the two seams off of a #4 coffee cone filter, allowing it to open flat.
I spray water onto half of the filter (so the seeds won't jostle away), then lightly sprinkle a couple of dozen seeds onto that half. The filter is folded, and sprayed again. This is inserted into the Ziploc bag, and closed, trapping some air inside.
I will keep it in my perpetually warm study, and check it daily by holding it up to the light. Germination is easy to spot through the wet paper.
Bob
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GrowleyMonster
Creator of the Imperfecto
Nice. I bet that would work great for tomaters and peppers, too. I'll give that a try next year.Germination Testing my 2011 Xanthi-Yaka 18A
I start with a quart Ziploc freezer bag, labeled with variety and start date. I cut the two seams off of a #4 coffee cone filter, allowing it to open flat.
I spray water onto half of the filter (so the seeds won't jostle away), then lightly sprinkle a couple of dozen seeds onto that half. The filter is folded, and sprayed again. This is inserted into the Ziploc bag, and closed, trapping some air inside.
I will keep it in my perpetually warm study, and check it daily by holding it up to the light. Germination is easy to spot through the wet paper.
Bob
Since tomato, eggplant and pepper seeds are much larger, it is best to soak them overnight in the fridge—allowing them to fully imbibe, prior to placing them into the wet filter paper. I've used this approach to test other out of date veggie seeds as well.
With seeds that germinate on the filter paper, especially if the germination rate is particularly poor, I cut a circle in the filter paper around the germinated seed, then transfer the seed (on the paper circle) into a 1020 insert cell or small pot of starting mix, so as not to waste them. Plucking the germinated seed from the surface of the filter paper invariably damages the tiny root hairs that have penetrated into it.
Bob
With seeds that germinate on the filter paper, especially if the germination rate is particularly poor, I cut a circle in the filter paper around the germinated seed, then transfer the seed (on the paper circle) into a 1020 insert cell or small pot of starting mix, so as not to waste them. Plucking the germinated seed from the surface of the filter paper invariably damages the tiny root hairs that have penetrated into it.
Bob
I am still watching for germination of my Xanthi Yaka 18A, now at 3 days. Tic...tic...tic...
Routinely, I start extra seedlings of each variety I plan to grow. These are to replace any transplant mortality. My math is simple. Each separable 4-pack in my 1020 tray inserts contains 4 cells. Since I do not grow fewer than 4 plants of even a test variety, I typically end up starting my desired number of seedlings plus 4 more. For a full 5'x12' bed of 16 plants, I'll start 20 seedling cells. Only on rare occasions has my transplant mortality exceeded my available extras of a specific variety. Sometimes the extras end up in a pot, or in my front porch corner garden bed. Otherwise they are heartlessly thrown away, and not crowded into unplanned garden space.
So, for my planned bed of 16 Little Yellow (a dark air-cured variety) plants, as an example, I will start 20 seedlings. Each 4-pack of the 1020 tray insert will get a labeled Popsicle stick to serve as its identity, as well as its soil moisture gauge. I use a Sharpie ultra-fine permanent marker, and write on both sides of each stick. (I write on both sides, because Murphy says that the side of the stick facing me will invariably be the blank side.) I tend to avoid abbreviations on the sticks. Having grown over 100 varieties of tobacco, I am aware that there is more than one 'B' word.
After I've counted up the number of 1020 insert cells I will need, I can figure out the number of 48-cell trays, and also the number of Popsicle stick labels for each variety. The small sticks go into the 1020 trays, and the large sticks will serve as garden tags. All the stick labeling required about 20 minutes.
The most common frustration expressed in grow logs each year [year after year after year] is confused labeling, mixed-up labeling, lost "color-code" keys, uncertain plant identity.
Bob
Routinely, I start extra seedlings of each variety I plan to grow. These are to replace any transplant mortality. My math is simple. Each separable 4-pack in my 1020 tray inserts contains 4 cells. Since I do not grow fewer than 4 plants of even a test variety, I typically end up starting my desired number of seedlings plus 4 more. For a full 5'x12' bed of 16 plants, I'll start 20 seedling cells. Only on rare occasions has my transplant mortality exceeded my available extras of a specific variety. Sometimes the extras end up in a pot, or in my front porch corner garden bed. Otherwise they are heartlessly thrown away, and not crowded into unplanned garden space.
So, for my planned bed of 16 Little Yellow (a dark air-cured variety) plants, as an example, I will start 20 seedlings. Each 4-pack of the 1020 tray insert will get a labeled Popsicle stick to serve as its identity, as well as its soil moisture gauge. I use a Sharpie ultra-fine permanent marker, and write on both sides of each stick. (I write on both sides, because Murphy says that the side of the stick facing me will invariably be the blank side.) I tend to avoid abbreviations on the sticks. Having grown over 100 varieties of tobacco, I am aware that there is more than one 'B' word.
After I've counted up the number of 1020 insert cells I will need, I can figure out the number of 48-cell trays, and also the number of Popsicle stick labels for each variety. The small sticks go into the 1020 trays, and the large sticks will serve as garden tags. All the stick labeling required about 20 minutes.
The most common frustration expressed in grow logs each year [year after year after year] is confused labeling, mixed-up labeling, lost "color-code" keys, uncertain plant identity.
Bob
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I agree that plant labeling is important. I have had many years that I thought I knew what variety my tomatoes were until the first transplanting. Up front diligence is a practice I need to embrace. Thank you for the reminder.
I have to actually label everything, since I don't have a cat. I can't say, "the cat did it."
Bob
Bob
I have two cats. Now i realize they are actually scape "goats"! I am eagerly anticipating starting tomato and my first tobacco seeds in 3 weeks. I suppose all gardeners are getting the itch to start something.
Joe
GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
I had a horrible time while I was in Texas keeping my plants labeled. I found that the popsicle sticks would rot away completely by mid summer, so I switched to the plastic ones. Those, the marker would fade away to the point where they were unreadable. So now, I still use the plastic garden labels, but after I write the variety name I cover it with some black electrical tape. If I need to check the name, I just lift up the tape and take a peek. I also make a map of what is planted where as a backup.
The beauty of the wooden sticks is that they eventually just rot into the soil. That's not an issue in the seedling trays. Out in the garden beds, I need the tags for the first few weeks of walking around, talking to my transplants on a daily basis. After that, I know them all personally. With my large craft sticks labeled on both sides, I tip them so one side leans downward toward the North. This prevents that lettering from fading in the sun. If they break off at the ground, I shove them a little deeper. The seedling tray sticks also follow the transplants to the garden beds, so there is a backup. My varieties are nearly always separated by garden bed or a clear portion of a garden bed.
I still till up an ancient, broken, plastic garden label or two every spring. I don't put plastic tags out there any more.
Bob
I still till up an ancient, broken, plastic garden label or two every spring. I don't put plastic tags out there any more.
Bob
We Have Lift-off!
Not too shabby for 12 year old seed.
Bob
Not too shabby for 12 year old seed.
Bob
That's a great feeling to see that happen. Seeds are amazing in that they hold the information for the full plant within them. Germination of 12 year old seed is an admirable thing.We Have Lift-off!
Not too shabby for 12 year old seed.
Bob
Joe
Dry, dry, dry.
- Seed Ziploc bag
- Ziploc inside quart-size freezer Ziploc
- Quart-size freezer Ziploc inside larger dry box (e.g. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-...t-Case-Dry-Box-Orange-8-x-6-75-x-3-5/36547548)
- Pack of desiccant included inside dry box
- Dry boxes stored in small, "dormitory-size" refrigerator
Bob
EDIT: It is important, when removing seed from the cold environment, to set the outer container into room-temperature for a few hours, to prevent water vapor condensation from zooming into the container when opened.
ARS-GRIN's tobacco seedbank, held at UNC, typically undertakes a "refresh" grow of each seed accession every 10 years.
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Thank you for the details. I will make make a screen shot of it for future reference. I had read an article about viable lotus seeds that were discovered in a dry lake bed in China that were almost 1300 years old. We don't give organisms enough credit for their ability to perpetuate themselves. I find it to be incredible.
Keep in mind that the bagged seed head must fully mature, prior to cutting from the plant, then the cut, still-bagged seed head should hang (usually inverted) in a warm, dry place, until the seed pods are totally dry. Using obsessive care to avoid contamination by other seed varieties, the pods are then broken and cleaned. This is most easily done with a pair of sieves (600 micron, nested into a 400µ sieve) nested onto the top of a 5 gallon bucket. This traps nearly all the pod debris in the upper, 600µ sieve, while allowing the (~500µ Nicotiana tabacum) seed to trap in the 400µ sieve below it. The 400µ sieve allows dust and tinier, immature seed to fall through to the bucket. These sieves will not work for the larger, N. rustica seed.
fairtradetobacco.com
Bob
Best Practices: seed saving
I thought I was following good seed saving practices, but clearly was not. I germinated 12 varieties some of which sprouted most did not. Mine. Can we get a discussion from harvesting to storage? I hang the stalk to dry, crush the pods and sift the seeds, bag and store in the basement...
Bob
Unless I encounter a catastrophe in germination and transplanting, this will be my final garden layout for 2023:
Bob
Bob
MadFarmer
Well-Known Member
Bob, which variety is the new variety this year?
