Florida Dave’s first attempt to grow

[Florida Dave]

I was out of town for a week - the growth was a nice welcome back. Going to have to make the mods to my shed to get ready for curing. The Criollo seems to be growing much faster then the Connecticut’s in the shade the wooden stakes are 4’ tall, the green ones 6’

 

[Florida Dave]

A couple of the Criollos look like they are starting to bud. One of the Connecticut Shades kind of collapsed on itself last week - I only had one tie on it about halfway up with all the new growth. I am going to add some more ties all the way up the supports. Next year I will set the poles first and add the plants second. It looks like I may end up with leaf from 2 Conneticut Shade, 2 Conneticut Broadleaf, 2 Havana long leaf, and 8 Criollo.

I also picked up a fridge to turn into a kiln so today was a good day.

 

[Florida Dave]

I’ve been invaded! Is this a horn worm? I picked them off just about every plant

 

[deluxestogie]

Is this a horn worm?

Yes. You can see its namesake "horn" protruding from its tail end. You can pick them off, one at a time, day by day, or spray all the leaves with BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) weekly until harvest. They tend to come in waves, about 3 weeks apart.

You can also inspect (usually) the underside of the leaves for a solitary, iridescent green, spherical egg, about the size of Lincoln's chin.

Bob

EDIT: Both the worms and the eggs removed from the leaves must be crushed and killed, rather than just flicked away. I usually smash a tiny hornworm with my thumb, right on the leaf. Larger ones get crushed between a couple of rocks. An egg is plucked off, and crushed between my thumb and finger, until it pops.

 

[Knucklehead]

Differences between tomato and tobacco hornworms. They both eat tobacco.

Insects - Tobacco and Tomato Hornworm

Biology Tobacco feeding hornworms include 2 species, the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquiemaculata). These species are biologically similar but easily distinguished from one another both as larvae and adults. Larval tobacco hornworms have 7 diagonal...

tobacco.ces.ncsu.edu

Identifying Hornworms

Two species of hornworm caterpillars feed on tobacco and other plants. Tobacco hornworms (Manduca sexta) and tomato hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata) are easy to confuse. They both have similar appearance, life cycles, and eat some of the same host plants. Mature caterpillars of either of...

entomology.ces.ncsu.edu

 

[wruk53]

Get some BT and spray the plants with it at the recommended rate ASAP, it's much easier than trying to visually inspect every leaf and it's very effective.

 

[Florida Dave]

Thanks guys. I will be picking up some BT in the morning. I have also read that ladybugs will take care of a number of pests.

 

[Florida Dave]

Well the BT turned a couple of the little green munchers into little gray danglers. I also called in reinforcements and released about 100 lady bugs around the plants this evening. I think I will be able to start priming in the next couple of weeks so I will release a hundred or so lady bugs every couple of days as needed. I will spray BT once a week as well - it does not affect the lady bugs.

 

[Florida Dave]

The second wave of lady bugs were released this evening and everything checked for suckers. Some of the plants are peeking over my 6’ fence and a Conneticut Shade has bloomed. <snip snip>

 

[Florida Dave]

Comparing some of the lower leaves on my Criollo to the Mature vs Ripe sticky, I will start priming this week. The Connecticut’s se to be late maturing and the two Havana Longleaf are still dark green so not yet. The insects perforated a lot of my leaves this year: lessons have been learned…

 

[Florida Dave]

It may not look like it but there are 56 seco leaves and 22 volado leaves here all Criollo. I partially opened the back window and put a fan in on low to circulate the air.

I also had one of the Connecticut shades blow over and the stalk split. I tied it to a new stake to see if there was any growth left in it over the next few days. I don’t think that is going to be a good variety for my climate and attention span.

 

[Florida Dave]

Some of the leaves are half the size of others. They were all showing maturity: yellowing tips and edges and a mottled alligator look. Since I am growing to roll my own should I expect the smaller leaves to be comparable to the big ones - are they worth the time fooling with or will I find out more in a couple or three months?

 

[deluxestogie]

Connecticut shade.... I don’t think that is going to be a good variety for my climate

Try Florida Sumatra for a wrapper variety.

Bob

 

[Florida Dave]

Try Florida Sumatra for a wrapper variety.

Bob

I am planning on welcoming 2024 by starting on Jan 1st and that is one of the varieties I am going to try.

 

[Florida Dave]

Today I got pretty much the rest of the leaves hung. When I opened the shed the sweet aroma was a welcome smell from the leaves already hanging. Planning on starting 2024’s grow Jan 1.

 

[Florida Dave]

2023 harvest is now in the kiln. I am going to rearrange it a bit to equalize the shelf load.

 

[Florida Dave]

So after running the kiln for 2 1/2 days I cracked the door for a glimpse of the water level - I am using an ultrasonic fog maker floating in about a quart of distilled water - I was not expecting the aroma that came out! I am really looking forward to the first week of June!

 

[Florida Dave]

The ultrasonic mist maker died when the water level got too low. I have another one coming but in the meantime I put a 6 quart plastic tray filled with distilled water with a couple of wash cloths draped over the sides. That is maintaining a high level of humidity pretty well. I may not put the new ultrasonic in when it comes. I like the passive humidity supply better.