KoceFF first grow blog 2021

[koceff]

It was well watered the day before. The ground is tilled several times and i've added fertiliser. Mulch would have been helpufull. It was around 120f for almost a week. The weather got colder yesterday so i hope the rest 300 plants or so will be ok. All about timing.

 

[Oldfella]

View attachment 37082

This is what i was talking about. For next year PLANT THEM IN MAY ! Luckily we'll have a few colder days ahead so hopefully the others will be ok.

Give it a drink of water. It might surprise you, I can see some green there and tobacco is a fairly hardy weed. I'd be interested in seeing what happens with it just out of curiosity.
Oldfella

 

[koceff]

Guess the pest. These three are the only ones with this kind of damage and few dozen more with sun damage thanks to this everlasting heatwave. It hasn't dropped bellow 110 for almost a mont now.

 

[Rednekf350]

Eating the leaf right to the stem looks like hornworm damage to me. We have them in South Jersey but they seem to prefer tomato plants. It's the same worm that attacks both.

 

[Alpine]

@koceff is from Macedonia, we don’t have hornworms here. My guess is (darn) grasshoppers and/or slugs.

pier

Edit: 99% sure about grasshopper damage, the heatwave we had in the last month is the most probable cause of the ‘hoppers boom we’re having

 

[deluxestogie]

I agree that it is likely grasshoppers. As a note about hornworms, they anchor themselves with their rear legs, like a compass foot. Then the front half of the hornworm swivels about in an arc. So the margins of their leaf damage tend to result in arcs of smooth edges, though they do avoid heavier stems.

Bob

 

[koceff]

I've noticed quite a few small grasshoppers jumping around, Damn heatwave. What kind of dessert should i give them?

 

[deluxestogie]

What kind of dessert should i give them?

They are fairly resistant to many insecticides. I usually wait for my plants to outgrow their risk of significant damage from grasshoppers.

Bob

 

[koceff]

It's coming to Rome, congrats @Alpine on Italy wining the euro. Someone here said garlic, dish soap and some cooking oil helped him with grasshoppers, maybe I'll give that a try.

 

[Oldfella]

Not sure about the cooking oil. It may coat the leaves and kill the plant. Do more damage than grass hoppers. A water soluble oil would be better, you can get it from a plant shop as I know it's used on ornamental for scale bugs.
Oldfella

 

[Alpine]

@koceff thank you!
Regarding grasshoppers, the only insecticide that I tried and had some effects (not much, to be honest) is “Centurio” but the best thing you can do to keep those darned pests under control is:
-keep the grass around the tobacco garden as low as possible, and I don’t mean 50 centimeters of perimeter, I mean no less than 3 to 5 meters
- till the soil in autumn and let it freeze all winter long, than in spring till again
- if possible, let a few chickens wander around the baccy plants, or try to attract wild birds: they are the best insecticide for grasshoppers

Adoption of this precautions in my garden (over a period of three years) gave very good results, but you have to be patient.
Note: Guinea fowls are even more efficient than chickens in pest control, but require much more attention and labor.

pier
(proud grasshopper slayer since 2015)

 

[koceff]

The whole plant is Corojo, don't know the strain. The pile is composed of Corojo, PA Red and CT Broadleaf all mixed up. The thing in the last photo is one if many on the plants and they seem to be always hungry. This is from my test crop planted in may. Now the pile sits wrapped up a towel under the sun.

 

[koceff]

Flower buds are starting on the CT Broadleaf. Planted in the field last days of June. The highest plant is 2,5 ft. I don't see amy yellowing on the leaves but the texture kinda looks like aligator skin (at least to me). I was wondering when should i top them and how should i leave some for seeds 'coz i have 5 other varieties.

 

[PressuredLeaf]

Flower buds are starting on the CT Broadleaf. Planted in the field last days of June. The highest plant is 2,5 ft. I don't see amy yellowing on the leaves but the texture kinda looks like aligator skin (at least to me). I was wondering when should i top them and how should i leave some for seeds 'coz i have 5 other varieties.

For me, the CT broadleaf got much thicker after topping and took a few weeks to start showing evidence of yellowing. In my dry climate, I’m inclined to harvest the leaf too late over too early, so that it can color cure properly.

 

[koceff]

Is this CT Broadleaf ready to be picked?

 

[GIL]

You will probably use it as a binder, I would wait a while to see "a yellow tip" -says Bob-. I picked mine with clear yellow "hints" (tip and / or edges)

 

[Knucklehead]

Is this CT Broadleaf ready to be picked?

You could nab one or two of the lowest leaves before they get more tattered. This post has some nice photos and the post after that talks of stalk harvesting:

Deluxestogie Grow Log 2021

collect the dead or dying caterpillars Interesting idea. But when I use BT, my total caterpillar detections wouldn't amount to more than a few hundredths of a gram for the entire season. Dead hornworms and BT residue in my blender? Bob

fairtradetobacco.com

Another:

When to harvest?

Grew a few plants this year and I think I may have harvested late. Harvested most a few weeks ago and just got the last little bit out of the ground. Problem will be color curing and drying the plants. Fall is wet and nights are in the 30's now. So how do you know the best time to harvest...

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[roman1967]

My grandfather was working his garden for about 30 years, the same garden I am going to plant my tobacco in, and when I asked him about pests, he said the most damage he had was from as we say it "konyoshtip", it literally means "horse pinch" or scientificly Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa. It goes and cuts the young stems of seedlings. Maybe a cousin of cutworm. Have you guys had problems with this? Here is a picture of the ugly little horsy.

We call this "beast" Medvedka.
They take a 1.5 or 2-liter plastic bottle, cut off the bottom and top, a pipe is obtained, before planting, when you moisten the ground, this pipe is pressed into the ground so that 5 centimeters sticking out of the ground - 10-15 underground, and seedlings are planted inside the pipe

View: https://youtu.be/8T9bRyYR81w?t=155

 

[deluxestogie]

If you plan 300 plants, who drinks 600 liters of beverage?

Bob

 

[roman1967]

If you plan 300 plants, who drinks 600 liters of beverage?

Bob

600 liters of beer, but that's not a problem at all