have you... or are you soon going to start your seeds,???

[Chicken]

im gonna start mine near the end of january,,,,, under lights, and put them out at the beginning of april,,,

im thinking of doing 8 strains this year,,, but after the first batch is put out, i may re-start the seed trays with another 5-8 strains,,,???

last year i seen just how long the florida growing season is for baccy,,,

.. i will definatlly be letting my suckers grow,,, as i did this year,,,

I HAD A SECOND CROP IN SUCKER LEAVES ALONE,

 

[Daniel]

I will start mine in mid April for a mid may planting for our big borrowed lot 1651 plants. We will still be growing 132 plants in our back yard. I will start those the first of April for a mid may planting. Since we are almost an hour from the BBL the plant in our back yard will allow us to monitor to some degree what might be happening with the others. We can then call the land owner with changes in watering when the weather turns real hot in July and August and have some sort of forewarning on topping bagging harvesting etc.

 

[Tomahawk22]

I started mine on the winter equinox. I have them in tiny planters by the window. The light isn't great this time of year but the plants have to grow from the tiniest specs. The plants should be big enough to put outside by the end of March. I am hoping for some 6 ft. + plants this year!

 

[Jitterbugdude]

The plants should be big enough to put outside by the end of March.

Do you have a green house that you are putting them into in March?. Young tobacco plants subject to frosts/freezes will die. I'm about 60 miles north of you and I don't plant any tobacco outside until at least May 5th.
Randy B

 

[FmGrowit]

I don't plant any tobacco outside until at least May 5th.
Randy B

...and that's early. I can't remember where, but a farmer in Kentucky told me he didn't plant until June 5th. He swore you can see the difference in fields planted on June 4th and June 6th compared to a field planted on the 5th.

I did a test a few years ago and planted three or four blocks of different varieties on the 4th, two blocks on the 5th and a bunch (the rest of my plants) on the 6th. I planted the Silver River and Perique from seedman on the 5th. The Silver River grew to about 8 feet and the perique grew t about 5 feet and was spindly with small leaves.

After the plants were nearly full grown, I stood back and looked at them and I have to tell you...the plants planted on the 6th were smaller than those planted on the 5th. My biggest plants (by far) were planted on the 1st (Havana 142 was 10' tall to the top of the bag and TN 90 was almost all 8' and over). I planted YTB around May 20th and it was the shortest of all Burleys and matured the soonest of all 40 varieties.

I'd very strongly recommend allowing the soil to warm to 70F before plantin' baccer...and do it before the 6th of June.

It's way too early to start seeds unless your in Florida

 

[BigBonner]

I plant between the 10th to the 20th of June . The rain and drought has the most effects on my crops .Some farmers here plant earlier some latter . Some years the earlier planted tobacco grows better and some years the latter planted tobacco grows better .
Last year I set tobacco between the rains as soon as the fields were able to be worked without compacting the soil . I had just set out about 6 acres and the day was ending ,. finishing planting our last 4 rows to finish the field , we were ready to go home . On our last 6 to 10 rows we noticed the sky turning the dark blue at the top of the hills sournding the valley . Just after finishing the field it came a down pour of 4 inches plus of rain and hail .I took picture of it after the rain .

My neighbor within 1000 ft of my crop set his tobacco almost two weeks later than me and when the heavy rains had quit hitting us hard . His crop grew out WAY better than my crop did . My crop was water killed . water killed tobacco will not grow and spread like normal .But when tobacco plants are ready or getting too big for my transplanter they have to go into the ground as soon as possible .Farmers take their chances with the weather . For me there is no sure fire date to set , you just have to plant and hope that your crop grows .What I do know is some varietys set on that day took the flooding rain way better than others .

 

[FmGrowit]

Larry,


When will you start your seeds. I need some TN 90 seeds when you get time...and let me know what seeds you want too.

 

[BigBonner]

Don
I start my seed around the last week of March to first week in April . I step my seedings to keep them all from being ready to plant at the same time .
Its hard to plant 20 acres at one setting , especially when I raised 50+ acres .It could rain and keep me out of the field for a full week or more sometimes .

How many TN 90 will you need ? I have pelleted in my refrigerator now .


I may start some seeds way earlier this year for my plant sales . Planting will be a month earlier in the south than here in KY ,KY You know the place with the "BEST" basketball team in the country . Sorry .

 

[Tomahawk22]

Hmm...Maybe the end of March is too early.
I'll be watching the weather.

 

[Daniel]

Last year the cold weather was slow in giving up. We probably woudl have been better off not planting until late June or even early July. The cold got some of our first plants but most of them came back. we completely replanted the Monte Calm Yellow and it grew the best and matured the earliest. I have about a week of wiggle room but not a lot more so figuring out when the best start date for the seed is is tricky. I want to start seed and then 4 no more than 5 weeks later be planting it. I am nto goign to be able to do the 6 inch pots indoors this year. I have way to many plants to start.

 

[BigBonner]

Daniel

I use 200 cell float trays , float plants , If my plants start getting too big I cut the ferilizer out from under them by letting out the fertilized water and putting in plain tap water . If the weather is wet or cold I cut the water out completely . This slows down plant growth and also tuffen up the plants . My plants will become yellow and look like they are dieing but when they are transplanted they take off and grow the best .

I have float trays I may be listing soon . They are the 72 cell float trays . They are good for any kind of plant you might want to grow .
I am trying to figure out how I can ship these trays . They are 26.5" long and 13.5 wide by 2.5" deep . A cardboard box to put them in will cost $3 to $4.50 each and makes the cost high per tray .

I may try and use plastic wrap and wrap the trays and ship them in the plain plastic wrapper .
I will have to ship the soil in a different box .

 

[DrBob]

I shipped out a couple of trays I just wrapped em in paper. they shipped fine
bob

 

[dkh2]

I'd be interested in a 72 cell float tray.

 

[Chicken]

i'd like to see a picture of these float trays,, i have no ideas what they look like,?

 

[dkh2]

i'd like to see a picture of these float trays,, i have no ideas what they look like,?

I would also...... I've looked them up on the internet but can't find any close up pictures.
It's a drag to get old and blind

 

[dkh2]

I was thinking of using one of those Turkey aluminum foil type cooking
things for the water and put the tray in it.
If they could survive roasting a turkey for 4 or 5 hours at 375 degrees with out
springing a leak they ought too work for float trays

 

[indianjoe]

I used several of those aluminum foil trays last year to hold styro cups filled with potting soil and plants. It actually worked out good for me. I would fill the tray with around one quarter full of fertilized water and the plants seemed to wick up what they needed. The only problem I encountered was moving the trays, unstable. I finally filled up a lawnmower trailer with the trays and used it to move them in and out as needed.

 

[dkh2]

I used several of those aluminum foil trays last year to hold styro cups filled with potting soil and plants. It actually worked out good for me. I would fill the tray with around one quarter full of fertilized water and the plants seemed to wick up what they needed.

What size of a hole did you put in the cups do you remember ?

 

[BarG]

You guys are lucky with such tried and trued dates and methods. were breaking new ground here in th south and need more input and interest from new growers. heres a call to any southern tobacco growers in the southern climes to give us greenies your input, this region at one time was surveyed to be able to compete with cubas crop."search willis tx. tobacco." Yea thats all bullshit and ancient history. The problem is when you mention tobacco its store bought comes to mind. Meat- store bought comes to mind. Vegetables storebought comes to mind. People with the most minimal of recources can provide with a minimal of effort and people have been trained [or indoctrinated to not provide for them selves.} The american farmer is suffering not only from shipping jobs and materials overseas but a core fundamental american value of being able to provide for you and yours.I believe that value is still alive and well regardless . Now Thats more thn I've said in a month.

 

[BigBonner]

Here you go

i'd like to see a picture of these float trays,, i have no ideas what they look like,?