IOLA tobacco Garden

[USHOG]

I have grown 3 tobacco crops in one year but the curing on the last grow is a big pain because of the low humidity and temps and the yield off of the 3rd crop is half of the second crop and I think it is because of the lower sun light and less attention. My problem with 2 crops is I have the space to grow as many plants as I can handle and I do but for some reason I always plant the second crop mainly because several of my friends who love my tobacco always ask me to. It is a crazy cycle. I am rebuilding my curing room to handle the extra leaf I have grown this year today and then I get to start hanging all of the piles of leaf.

 

[Chicken]

well were in the same boat..

im spinning the idea of building me a curing shed, lined with metal roofing material.

and possiblly making the heat source using a pot belly stove,

ive got a wicked idea of how i want it to function. it would mainlly be a spin off of how the old timers did it.

 

[USHOG]

My curing arrangement is in a 1200 square foot room that is foam insulated and 100% climate controlled and separated into 2 sections one section is for higher humidity and one with as little humidity as I can get it. I can control the humidity, temps, and pressure inside the room and have had great luck with this set up. My problem this year is I have more leaves to hang than I had organized. So I went from 8 x 25 foot runners to 15 x 35 foot runners inside the curing room plus I have the smoker ready and the barn ready to hang leaf. I am again out of stuff to do for a week as I actually had several friends help out yesterday to get me caught up. Just the sand lugs from the silver river turned out to be 1250 leaves.
So I have a question for you all. Even if you knew you had enough leaf to last 5+ years why do I want to make a bigger garden next year. I just don't understand this. It seems to be borderline insanity to want more work

 

[DGBAMA]

Growing can be more addictive than smoking. A sickness for which there is no known cure.

 

[Brown Thumb]

I'm not Growing Next Yr.

 

[Chicken]

i have the fever also... im tryng to go bigger with each crop...

my starting area is starting to clear out.. about 100 more plants in the ground and ill be all planted out for this year.

then i can count them to see just how many i got going..

im doing a lot of seed refurbishing this year,,i.e. my bursa.. i planted a lot, but only got about 5 living. so ill definatlly be collecting that seed... among about 5 other strains.

 

[ProfessorPangloss]

My curing arrangement is in a 1200 square foot room that is foam insulated and 100% climate controlled and separated into 2 sections one section is for higher humidity and one with as little humidity as I can get it. I can control the humidity, temps, and pressure inside the room and have had great luck with this set up. My problem this year is I have more leaves to hang than I had organized. So I went from 8 x 25 foot runners to 15 x 35 foot runners inside the curing room plus I have the smoker ready and the barn ready to hang leaf. I am again out of stuff to do for a week as I actually had several friends help out yesterday to get me caught up. Just the sand lugs from the silver river turned out to be 1250 leaves.
So I have a question for you all. Even if you knew you had enough leaf to last 5+ years why do I want to make a bigger garden next year. I just don't understand this. It seems to be borderline insanity to want more work

I can't speak to the exact tobacco situation, but I'm kind of like this with vegetables. I have 26 tomatoes in, representing 10 varieties. If it were me, I'd probably keep growing but do different varieties, trying to rescue and explore really obscure types, like Johnny Appleseed.

 

[leverhead]

I'm not Growing Next Yr.

I wasn't going to grow anything this year. I've got a volunteer that came up out back, I can't kill it.

 

[Chicken]

You could allways grow and sell it locally as whole leaf...make a little side money..and save some people a lot of money...

 

[USHOG]

No interest in making my gardening into work but I do understand what you are saying.

Update on the garden. I took a video this morning of the garden so that I would not have to type so much and post so many pictures. As soon as I figure out how to get the video off of the camera and onto YouTube I will link it here.

The sun is out and the garden is huge. It is crazy no rain today. 3 feet in the month of May. 13 inches in 1 night was the most we had it was getting to the point that a 3 inch rain was nothing more than a sprinkle. I have not swam this much in my life. Lately it seems every hog we bay up is a half a mile into the river as the river has been several miles wide at parts and the hogs just think they are safe in the river they just do not know me. And then there are the snakes I have killed more than 50 moccasins this last week and countless copperhead and rattle snakes. I was on the way to a bay behind Lilly Lake and while crossing the creek that the banks where 3 foot under water a huge and I mean huge splash and wave happened right by me knocking me over into the deep water of the creek. I don't know what it was but I am guessing from the size of the movement it was a massive alligator or a scuba diving bull either way my heart stopped for a few moments and the hair on my neck was at full attention even underwater. I just wonder how many more scares like that I have in me but the sun keeps rising and I keep going.

 

[USHOG]

Hopefully this works as it was a lot of fun getting the video uploaded. I tried embedding the video here but not much luck. If anyone knows how to embed the video here I would like to learn

heres the link

https://youtu.be/dxjddlaBWGg

 

[DGBAMA]

To the right of the photo icon is a "film strip" icon, click on it for "insert video" then paste the address for your youtube video into the box.

 

[USHOG]

I tried several things and for some reason they didn't work when I tested it, but either way thank you for embedding the video for me

 

[Knucklehead]

That's a great looking operation. There is a lot going on there.

 

[Chicken]

you should '' tag '' each plant you named. in case someone in the future is looking up a strain... you did a good job of showing each strain. individually,

i swear you got the award for this years grow as far as kicking a** goes,,, damn thats a good setup... redneckyy but hey it works,

im thinking of getting me a 1 hp pump. and using a water holding tank. and running lines. next year,

id like to p.m. you my # and talk to you about that. because i have no clue what im gonna get into.

id also like to see a pic of your drying barn. inside and out.. im thinking of building something like what you got,, a all metal structure. and using a pot belly stove for my extreme heat cycle.

 

[USHOG]

Any time chicken my number is on my website and you are welcome to call or come by anytime. I am going to put another video together covering the other end of our passion the drying, fermenting, seed starting, and processing areas.

I do not have the equipment to edit video or add anything to it at this time so I named them as I walked through.

 

[Chicken]

well its been the late 70's since i was last in texas....lol

i just want to talk to you about pumps.. sizes.. and thier flow rate,,

all that other stuff you got going on is way over my pay grade.

im out of data on my phone.. so no posting from the side of a farm field today..

 

[deluxestogie]

I do not have the equipment to edit video or add anything to it at this time...

Corel VideoStudio (the previous version, not the newest) is available for about $40: e.g.http://www.amazon.com/Corel-VideoStudio-Pro-Old-Version/dp/B00IIL0SCS

Bob

 

[USHOG]

Its not that deluxstogie I have the software but no computer at this time to run it on. Lightening dosen't mix well with computers. So until I have time to replace the power supply I have very little computer power to edit anything. I will try and write a bio on each strain with pictures after the harvest is finished

 

[Chicken]

Dont feel like the only one who sucks at videos and computers..

I made a couple videos of me at work..coming into some of the massive fields i visit...

But i cant seem to be able to log in on my you tube account...?????

Just watch for that thread.if i ever get them uploaded.