FrostD’s 2024 Grow Blog

[FrostD]

Day 116 from seed:

Snapped these pics yesterday as it was a nice day out. Lots of growth it appears over the week. Quite a bit of rain here in Wisconsin the last few weeks, as well as today. Need to get out there and do a little bit of clean up. Staking up some plants, keeping an eye on flower development as more are starting to get ready to show signs they are coming, perhaps too the existing flowers on the Bahia, and am considering on just pulling the runt plant out.

 

[FrostD]

Happy Fathers Day!

Day 124 from seed. Enjoying a homeroll that I rolled up 2 years ago. It is a blend my son chose the leaf for. Corona size.



Also, tidying up the plants a bit. Topped one Little Cuba plant yesterday. Picked up some 5 gal paint bags a week or so and going to try those this year. Bulk buy on them came out to about $.50 to $.60 cents per bag. Going to try to bag up a few flower heads today. If I can find the dang twine laying around the house somewhere.

Trimming and pulling out “mud lugs”, Swiss cheese leaf and just outright leaf I don’t think could be of much use. Adonis, Little Dutch, and Wisconsin 901 has been producing the best results so far. About 75%ish of the plants have bud sights up, coming up, or forming. Not too surprised, since I started seeds too early this year.

Plant pics:

 

[FrostD]

Day 131 from seed. Bagged up a 2nd Adonis variety today. Have the following beads bagged:

2x Adonis

0x Bahia (Waiting for best looking one to start showing signs of flowers to come)

1x Comstock Spanish

2x Little Dutch

1x Little Cuba

1x Wisconsin 901

I know, I know… I only need 1x head bagged per variety really. However, I couldn’t help myself that the 2x Adonis & Little Dutch were producing great qualities in plant & leaf growth. In addition to amount of flower sites being shown. Little to no suckering on them either.

Staked up a good amount of the plants today as well. Yesterday there were some storms that rolled through. Some looked horizontal in their pots. So, they looked like they needed a little help from the strong winds. Seems like everything is coming along nicely this year. Shorter more bushier varieties are doing just that. This year I took a more hands off approach and have only had to hose water them probably enough times that I can count on 1 hand. Plucked a few suckers & tossed out some tore up leaf that wouldn’t cut it for cigars in my opinion. Should still be ok with what’s growing to have enough for my expectations this year.

 

[FrostD]

Finally able to post up some pics! It’s been a busy last couple months. Messed up my left shoulder/arm that I’ve been dealing with since the end of May. It is just about back to 100%. Also, prepping for the home move has been keeping me running around every day/evening in preparation. So, needless to say, I’ve greatly neglected this years plants. Which is ok. My expectations is to have a decent seed harvest on all of the varieties I planted… with the exception of Bahia. My Bahia’s stretched so much before and upon transplant that we will see what ends up coming due for them.

Today I’m doing clean up! Clipping bagged heads and starting to prime mud lugs & some Seco-ish leaves. Need to tidy them up for sure.

Here are some before pics. Will post the “after” pics once I complete my “farming” tasks. Lol!

Day 166 from seed:

 

[FrostD]

7 bagged heads.

-Adonis x2= Both seed heads have about 50%-75% brown pods. The green or greenish brown ones I’m thinking May produce some viable seed. I’ll let my sifters make that final decision. 1 bagged head had a couple earwigs and it also had some seed pods that opened. So some seed is held in the bag.

-Bahia 0= No seed pods collected

-Comstock Spanish x1= Smallest amount of pods most brown

-Litta Cuba x1 = Almost all if not all pods are brown. Probably 2-3 dozen pods.

-Little Dutch x2 = ~75% brown pods. Again, found some earwigs in a bag and some open pods with seeds falling out.

-Wisconsin 901 x 1= ~75% brown pods. Some new pods forming. Will still get some viable seed.

Thoughts: May take each brown pod off of each variety and put in brown paper bags & label each bag. Thinking this may be easier for the move in a couple weeks.

 

[FrostD]

Post clean up pics. Took bottom leaves & suckers and just tossed em. Probably could’ve saved some leaf, but with timing on everything going on, have to be somewhat selective.

 

[FrostD]

Definitely not doing the best keeping up with this years grow. Pluck suckers when I can. Found a couple pots in the back with suckers as long as the main stem. Some plants also what looks like 3-4 plants growing out of the same stalk. However, will be an interesting experiment to see if the lack of attention does a good thing with the final leaf.

Day 180 (from seed) :
Harvested completely 8-9 plants. (Lost count as pots were being repurposed or put away for the big move.

Primed or fully harvested leaf on:
2x Bahia
2x Little Dutch
2x Little Cuba
2x Adonis
2x Comstock Spanish
1x Wisconsin 901

Hanging in garage. Will they color cure? Hope so, if not, no worries. Less to move & find a spot for.



Hanging spot in garage:


Remaining plants to go and close on our house next Friday! Lots to do!

 

[WillQuantrill]

Definitely not doing the best keeping up with this years grow. Pluck suckers when I can. Found a couple pots in the back with suckers as long as the main stem. Some plants also what looks like 3-4 plants growing out of the same stalk. However, will be an interesting experiment to see if the lack of attention does a good thing with the final leaf.

Day 180 (from seed) :
Harvested completely 8-9 plants. (Lost count as pots were being repurposed or put away for the big move.

Primed or fully harvested leaf on:
2x Bahia
2x Little Dutch
2x Little Cuba
2x Adonis
2x Comstock Spanish
1x Wisconsin 901

Hanging in garage. Will they color cure? Hope so, if not, no worries. Less to move & find a spot for.
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View attachment 52672

Hanging spot in garage:
View attachment 52674

Remaining plants to go and close on our house next Friday! Lots to do!
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I feel ya on garden maintenance with a busy schedule. Looks like you got some nice leaf to work with though!

 

[FrostD]

I feel ya on garden maintenance with a busy schedule. Looks like you got some nice leaf to work with though!

Thanks brother ! I always get a little worried with color curing. Should be ok though. Everything seems mature enough currently. Next weekend into the following week the rest of the plants will be harvested and prepped for the move!

 

[FrostD]

Day 191 (as of 8/22/24):

Chopped all remaining plants and moved everything over to the new house. Come to find out, the old owners left hooks up in garage. Did some leaf priming, in addition to whole stalk cutting and hanging up. Not much spacing between leaf & stalks. I’m thinking it should still be ok for color curing. We will see!

Notes for next year:
-leaf hanging spaces are plentiful in various places w/ various temps & relative humidities
-placement of plants next year. Will need to chart out to see where I can put some plants next year.





Bagged heads & 1 seed bag (so far):

 

[deluxestogie]

I’m thinking it should still be ok for color curing.

As a temporary measure, I would suggest running a rope between those rafter hooks, and spreading out the stalks/leaves for color-curing.

Bob

 

[FrostD]

As a temporary measure, I would suggest running a rope between those rafter hooks, and spreading out the stalks/leaves for color-curing.

Bob

Good call Bob! I was thinking that too. I have some rope I can use and spacing them out that way seems way better for airflow. Appreciate the feedback!

 

[FrostD]

Finally was able to get a better solution to help with airflow for the drying primed leaf & whole stalks.

Before:



Found some nylon rope and attached it through almost all of the hooks in this section of the garage. Had a couple of “hands” casualties.

After:




Causalities of mold. On any prior year, I would try to sort and try to clean up. This year I don’t have the luxury of time so chucking 3x “hands” of primed leaf:

Little Dutch


Comstock Spanish


Adonis



My own fault on the moldy leaf. It was hot and humid the last couple weeks and with 2x work trips + moving. Special shoutout to @deluxestogie to point out I should space these babies out! At least not a full harvest loss and lessons learned again. “If you’re not failing & moving ahead, you’re not learning”!

Seed pods still looking plentiful, so in the following years, can always grow the varieties that had mold form again.