Just a foreword: this is not meant to undermine the contributions of any members. Not is this a bible for how to grow tobacco. As a matter of fact, don’t waste your time intentionally doing any of this, because I already am doing it for you.
Recently a member commented on the hardiness of our precious plants pointing out their frailty. Yes, crap things can happen, crap things do happen, and we’re all prone to being, justifiably, disappointed when things go wrong.
So are they hardy? Are they fragile? (…I’m speaking about our plants, not our feelings.) Or is there an abundance of caution with this cumulative knowledge to reduce the heartache? Let’s find out!
There’s more boredom and madness than there is science and methodology herein (at least on my part), so if you want more science… well you know where to go (other threads. What did you think I meant by that?)
Last Saturday I did my final thinning. A bit late, I know. I took a small load (about 44 seedlings of mixed varieties) of the thinned out seedlings to my garden, haphazardly mushed them into the ground and dumped water on them.
These little puppies have leaf-spans up to about 1” (L) by 0.5” (W). They’ve never seen sunlight or real wind before and were germinated in a basement and spent a good portion of their life under a dome. They were barely “hardened off” to my cozy basement conditions.
Since putting them out on Saturday in the 15C sun and windy conditions, I watered them a second time the next day by tossing water from a jug in their general direction. It reached about 10C that day (being generous).
That night and every day since they have received love and care from only Mother Nature… in the form of snow, wet snow, sleet, freezing rain, mini hail-like pellets of ice, brief moments of not as frozen precipitation, and maybe 3 hours of sunlight. This morning a lovely blanket of frost.
From what I can see, from my deck (because I’m pretty and I don’t want to get my shoes dirty), they kind of look like they’re alive.
If they are, I’ll keep you updated on their short existence. Maybe this thread will get moved to a “discussions” forum and other people can add some “what not to do’s”.
Recently a member commented on the hardiness of our precious plants pointing out their frailty. Yes, crap things can happen, crap things do happen, and we’re all prone to being, justifiably, disappointed when things go wrong.
So are they hardy? Are they fragile? (…I’m speaking about our plants, not our feelings.) Or is there an abundance of caution with this cumulative knowledge to reduce the heartache? Let’s find out!
There’s more boredom and madness than there is science and methodology herein (at least on my part), so if you want more science… well you know where to go (other threads. What did you think I meant by that?)
Last Saturday I did my final thinning. A bit late, I know. I took a small load (about 44 seedlings of mixed varieties) of the thinned out seedlings to my garden, haphazardly mushed them into the ground and dumped water on them.
These little puppies have leaf-spans up to about 1” (L) by 0.5” (W). They’ve never seen sunlight or real wind before and were germinated in a basement and spent a good portion of their life under a dome. They were barely “hardened off” to my cozy basement conditions.
Since putting them out on Saturday in the 15C sun and windy conditions, I watered them a second time the next day by tossing water from a jug in their general direction. It reached about 10C that day (being generous).
That night and every day since they have received love and care from only Mother Nature… in the form of snow, wet snow, sleet, freezing rain, mini hail-like pellets of ice, brief moments of not as frozen precipitation, and maybe 3 hours of sunlight. This morning a lovely blanket of frost.
From what I can see, from my deck (because I’m pretty and I don’t want to get my shoes dirty), they kind of look like they’re alive.
If they are, I’ll keep you updated on their short existence. Maybe this thread will get moved to a “discussions” forum and other people can add some “what not to do’s”.
