Florida Dave’s 2024 spring grow log

[Florida Dave]

So I am starting Florida Sumatra, Corojo 99, Little Dutch, and Small Stalk Black Mammoth. I have to keep the doors cracked open to keep the temperature down. The grow light is a 19 watt LED will bring the temps higher than i want. The seeds went on the starter soil January 1st and I am shooting for 20 plants this time.

 

[Florida Dave]

Today apparently is Florida Sumatra birthday or at least germination day.

 

[Florida Dave]

When I looked at the tray after work today I heard the old Ch-Ch-Chia jingle in my head. Yeah, if you just heard it too, we’re officially old. It looks like all 4 varieties are germinated as of day 9. I am starting to turn the grow light off over night to simulate day/night cycles. The average temperature for the past week is 71.6*F according to the Govee.

 

[Florida Dave]

It looks like it is time to thin the sprouts. I will take them down to 3-4 per cell for now and cull them further in another week or two.

Can you tell where I sprinkled instead of placing seeds? LOL

 

[Florida Dave]

I thinned the sprouts last night - if I had to guess I plucked more than I kept to get them down to 3-4 per cell.

I was inspired by Bob’s garden planning to do better planning myself. Here is my layout: the 4 Little Dutch by themselves are going to be container grows on the patio.

 

[Florida Dave]

20 days post seed sowing and 3 days after thinning. The hardest lesson I think I learned last year was don’t fool with them and let them grow…

 

[deluxestogie]

The same two cells (far right corner and near right) as in the image 4 days ago appear dry. Seems curious.

Bob

 

[Florida Dave]

The same two cells (far right corner and near right) as in the image 4 days ago appear dry. Seems curious.

Bob

The tray is still going on the initial quart and half of water. I keep the humidity dome on them as well. I spray those two cells when I remove the dome. I did not check the inserts to make sure the holes were open before filling them with seed mix - I suspect those cells may not be as open. The seed mix is miracle grow seed starting mix so it should be pretty evenly blended. When I culled the sprouts the roots were consistently 50%+ longer than the green part.

 

[WillQuantrill]

Thats it! You've convinced me not to sprinkle. Somewhere deep in my soul it always hurts to cull out what could be a perfectly healthy and happy Lil seedling.

 

[Florida Dave]

At 31 days from seed sowing, I did the final thinning to one seedling per cell. I asked my wife to help to involve her a bit and she said “you’re not going to just kill them are you?” My answer was ‘not all of them’ and I ended up transferring 24 of them into a separate tray. I selected them based on amount of leaf growth and root growth. Some had barely any root while most had a tidy little root ball. When I start the next round I will be more judicious with the seeds

 

[Florida Dave]

Trimming day. I have also added Miracle Gro vegetable fertilizer and epsom salt to the water for the yellowing. They reacted nicely to the addition so I assume they depleted whatever nutrients there were in the starter soil.

 

[Florida Dave]

I topped my garden bed with 3 more bags of Black Kow and 3 more bags of organic topsoil after tilling last weekend. This weekend I spread vegetable fertilizer in preparation for transplant day next weekend. I trimmed the excessively large leaves and put both trays outside for some real sun, and fresh breeze both Saturday and Sunday.

My wife asked if I was taking them for a walk…

 

[deluxestogie]

Black Kow

Truly great compost, when you can find it at a store.

Bob

 

[Florida Dave]

Truly great compost, when you can find it at a store.

Bob

And they are getting proud of it too -$7 a bag.

 

[Florida Dave]

Transplant day. I also moved the spares into some plastic tubs with drain holes since they were getting too big for the cells.

 

[NewTobaccoGrower]

Transplant day. I also moved the spares into some plastic tubs with drain holes since they were getting too big for the cells.

How are your plants doing? Would you mind going over in a little more detail what you did to prepare your outdoor soil or area for planting? I'm in Florida too and thinking about planting maybe 2 or 3 plants outdoors, the rest going in containers.

 

[Florida Dave]

They are all vertical which I think is pretty good - they didn’t suffer transplant shock too much. I planted them in a corner of my back yard which I prepared by scalping the ground with a string trimmer then scorching with a propane weed burner. I turned that over with a small tiller but it could have been down by hand with a shovel as well. I added a bale of peat moss and several bags of black kow composted cow manure the first year. This year I added some organic top soil and more black kow before tilling it all up. A week before transplant I spread a granular 10-10-10 vegetable garden fertilizer so it would start dispersing into the soil. I am planting basil and marigolds along with zucchini and green beans along the edges and in the open areas of my garden patch.

I figure with all the bugs we have here I can use all the natural help I can get with the basil and marigolds.

 

[NewTobaccoGrower]

They are all vertical which I think is pretty good - they didn’t suffer transplant shock too much. I planted them in a corner of my back yard which I prepared by scalping the ground with a string trimmer then scorching with a propane weed burner. I turned that over with a small tiller but it could have been down by hand with a shovel as well. I added a bale of peat moss and several bags of black kow composted cow manure the first year. This year I added some organic top soil and more black kow before tilling it all up. A week before transplant I spread a granular 10-10-10 vegetable garden fertilizer so it would start dispersing into the soil. I am planting basil and marigolds along with zucchini and green beans along the edges and in the open areas of my garden patch.

I figure with all the bugs we have here I can use all the natural help I can get with the basil and marigolds.

Very cool. I was going to ask how soon before transplanting do you start all this but it sounds like at least a week if not much more. I am at Day 33 with my plants but they don't look like they're anywhere near ready to transplant, and I still need to start outdoor/sun hardening them.
What kinds of green beans are you planting? I've heard that regular ones don't grow well in Florida. Am in Lake County by the way.

 

[Florida Dave]

Very cool. I was going to ask how soon before transplanting do you start all this but it sounds like at least a week if not much more. I am at Day 33 with my plants but they don't look like they're anywhere near ready to transplant, and I still need to start outdoor/sun hardening them.
What kinds of green beans are you planting? I've heard that regular ones don't grow well in Florida. Am in Lake County by the way.

I sowed my seeds Jan 1st this year and transplanted them March 2nd. I used a 60 day plan based on my notes from last year and making notes from other grow logs posted here.

I am planning on starting a second crop in May to transplant in July. This will allow me 3 months to grow and a month to harvest the spring grow.

 

[Florida Dave]

Work has been super busy the last couple of weeks, but everything looks like it is growing nicely.