I'll go out on a limb (of an apple tree) and guess that this turns out to be a nothing.
Bob
Bob
Deluxestogie Grow Log 2023
- Thread starter deluxestogie
- Start date
On the evening of 30 Jan, I began a coffee filter germination test of my newly arrived Tofta seed. This evening (5 Feb) is exactly 6 days. The Tofta seed is just beginning to germinate. I should know within two or three more days how that batch of seed will perform. I've kept the sealed bag in my study, which remains over 70°F, rather than my usual germination location on the back porch. My outdoor temp fell to about 19°F last night, and the enclosed back porch temp dropped below 50°F. [That would not injure the seed, but it would certainly slow down the germination process.]
I'll get a photo the next time the sun shines through the window.
Bob
I'll get a photo the next time the sun shines through the window.
Bob
There are only 6 seeds of Tofta in this germination test. The yellow arrow indicates the single sprouted seed. The red arrow indicates a seed that appears to have not imbibed water (i.e. dead). The other seeds have swollen a bit.
Bob
I am currently in a cool-down cycle, sitting out on my front porch. I just tilled another bed today. Whoopti do! Three more to go. I may be able to finish those this week, if the weather holds. It's 50°F, with a stiff breeze.
Just prior to tilling, I was smoking a cigar out here, while wearing blizzard-suitable garments. As an old guy, just sitting in the shade, 11° above refrigerator temp is kind of chilly. Now, I'm enjoying the cool breeze, dressed in shirtsleeves and a light vest, no hat. Once my heart rate drops back down to normal, I'll bundle-up again, and suck down another stogie.
Bob
Just prior to tilling, I was smoking a cigar out here, while wearing blizzard-suitable garments. As an old guy, just sitting in the shade, 11° above refrigerator temp is kind of chilly. Now, I'm enjoying the cool breeze, dressed in shirtsleeves and a light vest, no hat. Once my heart rate drops back down to normal, I'll bundle-up again, and suck down another stogie.
Bob
I had completely forgotten this thread on Tofta tobacco variety, from 5+ years ago, started by @Hasse SWE:
fairtradetobacco.com
Bob
a tobacco variant named TOFTA
Does anyone know anything about a old variant named Tofta? I know that this tobacco have been growing in Sweden 1921-1953 so I think it's a old oriental tobacco variant.And know that the American variant that Compete it from the Swedish fields (variants that in turn were competed for by newer...
I have managed to till all of my garden beds, except the long one against the house. The two "no-till" beds were not fun, but are now "yes-till" beds. My weather will be crummy (i.e. normal February weather) for the next few days, then will return to its delightful, abnormal warmth.
I still have to haul the dead stalks and other debris out of the garden. [I should...should...should...also prune away the painfully vicious, sadistically spiked, 2 year canes from my blackberries, and prune the two grape vines.]
Bob
I still have to haul the dead stalks and other debris out of the garden. [I should...should...should...also prune away the painfully vicious, sadistically spiked, 2 year canes from my blackberries, and prune the two grape vines.]
Bob
skychaser
Well-Known Member
I just took a stroll out to the greenhouse and around my field to get some fresh air. The snow has melted down to 6-8 inches now on top of the rock hard frozen ground. Still a little early for any tilling here.
All my garden beds are now tilled. Rain/snow/sleet/freezing rain will begin in a few hours. And yes, the day is exactly the color shown in the photo. That rain and freezing and thawing will further break up the clods of dirt in the beds. Eventually, I need to clear away all the debris that I've removed from the garden beds.
For fun, I collected some of the fallen branches in my front yard, and added them to a brush pile.
Just for additional fun, I walked along both sides of the lovely, rural road that passes by my house, and picked up all the pieces discarded trash thrown out of pickup truck windows by a select segment of my lovely, rural neighbors.
Bob
My winter weather turned out to be cold rain, rain, rain and rain. My driveway and lower yard are lakes. I believe that my forecast of 1¼ inches of rain ended up being about 3" over 18 hours. Barely freezing later tonight, but up to 50°F tomorrow. The power outages down Interstate 81 to Bristol were about as bad as I've ever seen, but locally here, very minimal outages.
Bob
Bob
It's usually better to be on a part of the pizza that has the fewest toppings. I was able to spend half the day out on my front porch. I'll rate the day as a 3. (I smoked 3 cigars.) And in the mail, I received my copy of a book on the late Bronze Age collapse of civilization (1177 B.C.), by Eric Cline.
Bob
Amberbeth84
Well-Known Member
You're in for a good read. I enjoyed 1177 B.C. when I read it however many years ago.
It's what happens when highly complex societies depend on highly complex infrastructures and supply chains that easily fracture in the face of unanticipated change. No spy balloons required.
Bob
Bob
I've caught a mild mental case of Black Kow. I just decided to purchase Black Kow composted cow manure for each of my garden beds. In the past, when I've purchased Black Kow, I've applied two bags per 12-foot garden bed. That's a lot of labor. This spring, I plan to apply only one bag per 12-foot bed. So I'll purchase 8 bags (½ bag for each of my two ½ beds).
Stuff sold as "composted cow manure" is usually quite different from Black Kow. Black Kow NPK analysis is 0.5-0.5-0.5. The cheap stuff is (note the decimal place!) 0.05-0.05-0.05. So while the cheap "composted cow manure" will certainly improve the tilth of your garden soil, and be beneficial, the percentage of actual cow manure is one-tenth that of Black Kow.
[I'm writing this into my grow log so that I will be too embarrassed to not get around to purchasing the Black Kow this year.] Black Kow should sell for ~$6-$7 per bag.
Bob
EDIT: I've noticed some fudging on the bag size at different vendors. It used to be a 50 pound bag, which is about 1.25 cubic feet. Some are now sold merely as "1 cubic foot", which is 20% less composted cow manure in the bag.
Stuff sold as "composted cow manure" is usually quite different from Black Kow. Black Kow NPK analysis is 0.5-0.5-0.5. The cheap stuff is (note the decimal place!) 0.05-0.05-0.05. So while the cheap "composted cow manure" will certainly improve the tilth of your garden soil, and be beneficial, the percentage of actual cow manure is one-tenth that of Black Kow.
[I'm writing this into my grow log so that I will be too embarrassed to not get around to purchasing the Black Kow this year.] Black Kow should sell for ~$6-$7 per bag.
Bob
EDIT: I've noticed some fudging on the bag size at different vendors. It used to be a 50 pound bag, which is about 1.25 cubic feet. Some are now sold merely as "1 cubic foot", which is 20% less composted cow manure in the bag.
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GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
It's great for growing tomatoes in too! I lay down a bag, cut a few drainage slits in the bottom, and punch two holes in the top of the bag and plant a seedling in each hole.
Since most tomato plants eventually require a cage for support, then I would expect that approach to work well (if you don't mind the cost). Doing the same for tobacco would require at least some serious staking.
My "container" growing is usually limited to a few plants that I want to look at from my front porch, since the garden beds are on the other side of the house. (If this old farm house crumbles much more, then I may have a direct view of the garden beds from the porch, before too long. Maybe one more earth quake like the one we had here in 2011.)
Bob
My "container" growing is usually limited to a few plants that I want to look at from my front porch, since the garden beds are on the other side of the house. (If this old farm house crumbles much more, then I may have a direct view of the garden beds from the porch, before too long. Maybe one more earth quake like the one we had here in 2011.)
Bob
Using a 5 gallon bucket, I mixed a new batch of my usual seedling mix:
I filled my 8 germination cups, as well as a single 3" pot insert. The jars and their lids will be labeled, one by one, as each has a varietal seed sprinkled into it—which I will do the first week of March. The 3" pot is resting inside a 4" plastic lid from a large canister of peanuts.
It has been over 3 weeks since I began a germination test of the Tofta seed I received. During that time, only a single seed out of 6 has germinated. I've placed the received bag of seed into the freezer now, with the hope of stimulating better germination in a germination cup.
But, just one germinated Tofta seed. This tiny seedling is likely the only Tofta plant currently growing in the Western Hemisphere. So I used scissors to cut out a square surrounding that seedling from the germination filter paper. Although sometimes a germinated seed will have intertwined itself into the paper fiber, this little seedling just fell out onto the counter. I licked the tip of my little finger, and transferred the seedling into a divot in the pre-moistened mix in the pot. There, I misted the adjacent seedling mix, to help settle the seedling into place.
The filter paper with the germination test was again moistened, and returned to its bag, to see if further patience will produce more germination.
I saved a cute little dome that came from a package of mini-pie crusts. It neatly snaps into place in the rim of the 3" pot, to help minimize evaporation.
The 3" pot, resting in its plastic lid "coaster" was placed beside a window in my warm study, so I won't have to run a seedling heat mat just for that.
Bob
- 2/3 Miracle Gro Sphagnum Peat Moss
- 1/6 Miracle Gro Perlite
- 1/6 Vermiculite
I filled my 8 germination cups, as well as a single 3" pot insert. The jars and their lids will be labeled, one by one, as each has a varietal seed sprinkled into it—which I will do the first week of March. The 3" pot is resting inside a 4" plastic lid from a large canister of peanuts.
It has been over 3 weeks since I began a germination test of the Tofta seed I received. During that time, only a single seed out of 6 has germinated. I've placed the received bag of seed into the freezer now, with the hope of stimulating better germination in a germination cup.
But, just one germinated Tofta seed. This tiny seedling is likely the only Tofta plant currently growing in the Western Hemisphere. So I used scissors to cut out a square surrounding that seedling from the germination filter paper. Although sometimes a germinated seed will have intertwined itself into the paper fiber, this little seedling just fell out onto the counter. I licked the tip of my little finger, and transferred the seedling into a divot in the pre-moistened mix in the pot. There, I misted the adjacent seedling mix, to help settle the seedling into place.
The filter paper with the germination test was again moistened, and returned to its bag, to see if further patience will produce more germination.
I saved a cute little dome that came from a package of mini-pie crusts. It neatly snaps into place in the rim of the 3" pot, to help minimize evaporation.
The 3" pot, resting in its plastic lid "coaster" was placed beside a window in my warm study, so I won't have to run a seedling heat mat just for that.
Bob
but I only need 6 so I am ok.
...or soft music.
It is possible that the Tofta seed simply has a poor germination rate. It is also possible that sprinkling the first 6 seeds that came out of the original bag tended to select for seed that had "floated" to the top of the little bag by the "Brazil nut" effect. That is caused by agitation that allows particles of different density, but similar size to separate by their density (or in the case of actual mixed nuts, particles of similar density separate by surface area per weight). Since dead seed weighs less than viable seed, the dead seed could float (by agitation) to the uppermost position in the bag.
One occasionally useful method for removing dead tobacco seed, prior to germination, is to dump the seed in a cup of water. The dead seed will float to the top, and the viable seed will sink to the bottom. But then you have a bunch of wet seed that has to be promptly dispersed onto germination media.
I'll see when I do a standard germination in one of my germination cups.
Bob
One occasionally useful method for removing dead tobacco seed, prior to germination, is to dump the seed in a cup of water. The dead seed will float to the top, and the viable seed will sink to the bottom. But then you have a bunch of wet seed that has to be promptly dispersed onto germination media.
I'll see when I do a standard germination in one of my germination cups.
Bob
GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
TLOTR soundtrack - works every time!
