Manfisher’s Grow Blog 2024

[manfisher]

I live out in the PNW and have, what I would call, sandy loam with a little bit of clay (not sure if its actually clay but its a dark brownish orange dense soil, not really clay). I prepared a 48x32ft space to grow my tobacco and lightly raked the surface (about 2in deep) just to get the topsoil loose. I have no idea what my soil pH or other nutrients are like but the gentleman at NWTSeeds said they would love that kind of soil. My plants are about 4in tall and 8in in diameter (from tip to tip). I have a few questions before I actually put them in the ground:
1. Do I need to till the soil well or can I just auger out a wide hole and use that soil to plant my seedlings?
2. Do I need to add additional soil to my tobacco holes?
3. How much water should I give them and how often each week?
4. How else can I better prep the soil for transplant?
5. I am hardening off my seedlings this week but they are still very wobbly in the wind and often get blown over. How can I prop them up during transplant?

 

[Knucklehead]

I live out in the PNW and have, what I would call, sandy loam with a little bit of clay (not sure if its actually clay but its a dark brownish orange dense soil, not really clay). I prepared a 48x32ft space to grow my tobacco and lightly raked the surface (about 2in deep) just to get the topsoil loose. I have no idea what my soil pH or other nutrients are like but the gentleman at NWTSeeds said they would love that kind of soil. My plants are about 4in tall and 8in in diameter (from tip to tip). I have a few questions before I actually put them in the ground:
1. Do I need to till the soil well or can I just auger out a wide hole and use that soil to plant my seedlings?
2. Do I need to add additional soil to my tobacco holes?
3. How much water should I give them and how often each week?
4. How else can I better prep the soil for transplant?
5. I am hardening off my seedlings this week but they are still very wobbly in the wind and often get blown over. How can I prop them up during transplant?

1. I have grown in hard pots approx. 3 gal. size and the plants reached about 2/3 size compared to growing in tilled soil. I have grown in 3 gal. grow bags and the plants reached full size. I have not grown in augered soil but I don't see why you couldn't do that. What size auger?
2. I would recommend a soil test. I went to the local co-op to get their bag and instructions, filled soil from different spots in the garden and dropped the bag off at the co-op. They sent the samples off to a lab. State that you are growing tobacco. I not only received an analysis of what I had, but also recommendations for what amendments I needed to make for tobacco. Once I knew my starting point I winged it from then on but I at least had a starting point and knew my pH.
3. Depends on your weather. Tobacco can withstand quite a drought but they do not like wet feet. You may not have to water at all. It depends.
4. If you are in an area where you suspect aphids, I would add imidacloprid with your initial transplant water.

Imidacloprid: Bayer Fruit Citrus & Vegetable Insect Control for APHIDS

Imidacloprid: Bayer Fruit Citrus & Vegetable Insect Control Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide that can be added to water at transplant, to provide control of aphids (and some other insects) for most of the growing season. A common problem is that the most readily available...

fairtradetobacco.com

5. Clipping your leaves (haircut on the forum) will strengthen stems. The plant thinks it is under attack. Wind is also good for strengthening stems or turn on a fan and move the plants around.

 

[manfisher]

1. I have grown in hard pots approx. 3 gal. size and the plants reached about 2/3 size compared to growing in tilled soil. I have grown in 3 gal. grow bags and the plants reached full size. I have not grown in augered soil but I don't see why you couldn't do that. What size auger?
2. I would recommend a soil test. I went to the local co-op to get their bag and instructions, filled soil from different spots in the garden and dropped the bag off at the co-op. They sent the samples off to a lab. State that you are growing tobacco. I not only received an analysis of what I had, but also recommendations for what amendments I needed to make for tobacco. Once I knew my starting point I winged it from then on but I at least had a starting point and knew my pH.
3. Depends on your weather. Tobacco can withstand quite a drought but they do not like wet feet. You may not have to water at all. It depends.
4. If you are in an area where you suspect aphids, I would add imidacloprid with your initial transplant water.

Imidacloprid: Bayer Fruit Citrus & Vegetable Insect Control for APHIDS

Imidacloprid: Bayer Fruit Citrus & Vegetable Insect Control Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide that can be added to water at transplant, to provide control of aphids (and some other insects) for most of the growing season. A common problem is that the most readily available...

fairtradetobacco.com

5. Clipping your leaves (haircut on the forum) will strengthen stems. The plant thinks it is under attack. Wind is also good for strengthening stems or turn on a fan and move the plants around.

Helpful as always. Thank you! I have also seen some people cut foot long portions of drainage pipes and put those in the ground, fill them with good soil, and plant their tobacco in them. Do you think that is viable? I could see that being nice since you don't really have to worry about your own soil's pH, nutrients, etc. and you can just ammend the soil in the drainage pipe and let the roots grow into the native soil if they're happy.

 

[ProZachJ]

Similar theory to my approach. Cover dirt with cardboard, put piles of biocompost on top and plant in that. Cardboard will degrade and plants can root through it if they want. My biocompost arrives with 6.0ph vs my native sands 7.0 and typically has enough nutrition for one season of growing (veggies at least) before I need to start fertigation or amendment.

 

[manfisher]

Similar theory to my approach. Cover dirt with cardboard, put piles of biocompost on top and plant in that. Cardboard will degrade and plants can root through it if they want. My biocompost arrives with 6.0ph vs my native sands 7.0 and typically has enough nutrition for one season of growing (veggies at least) before I need to start fertigation or amendment.

That is interesting, so does the carboard limit root growth?

 

[ProZachJ]

Not in my experience. Once it gets wet and starts to break down, roots can go right through. At the end of a season, when I've dug down in the rows I can hardly find the cardboard.

 

[manfisher]

Was looking over some of my seedlings for my second batch that will go in the ground probably some time around late April to Early May for general health. All seem to be a bit stunted in size except for a handful. I have been adding fish emulsion 5-4-4 for root development at 2/3 strength. Strangely though, among my larger seedlings I noticed some yellow discoloration on the outside of the leaves and for the new leaves starting up from the middle, they are green at the top but a lime greenish-yellow as if approaches the stalk of the plant. I’m not sure if I am over watering, or if they are nitrogen deficient. I’m going to wait about two more days before watering again with some great urea free orchid fert @Knucklehead suggested and see if that helps. If it doesn’t, I’ll back off water and fert for a week and see what goes down. Happy to get some suggestions on what you think is going on.

 

[Knucklehead]

I would add 1 tablespoon per gallon of epsom salts. Think of it as horse liniment, wd40, or duct tape. It can't hurt but it could make a difference.

 

[manfisher]

Will do, Im thinking of adding some urea free 20-10-20 orchid mix too

 

[manfisher]

Sorry, I feel like I’ve been the forum pest lately with all my posting. We have a very short growing season here and want to make sure I get it right. So background: These seeds were in single cell hexagon trays. Moved them into solo cups a week and a half ago and they gained easily an inch in leaf size within that time frame. I have them under white, red and blue light spectrum grow lights and they’ve begun to get some wind in their hair outside today. I added about a 1/4 teaspoon of Osmocote to the plants about two weeks ago 14-14-14x They were doing fine until about two or three days ago. Some of the existing leaves are curling upwards, as if the seam of the leaf is too tight. Some of the leaves are bending on the edges, bending downwards. Some of the leaves including the new growth are yellowing, other leaves are firm 1/2 up and then floppy and wilty at the tips. I gave them about 4 cups of water with fish emulsion 5-4-4 about four days ago so I don’t think they’re ready to water yet since a couple of their soils are still moist. My concerns are with the yellowing and the curving/cupping of the leave and, as weird as this sound, how rapidly they’re growing (almost seems strange how fast they’ve sprung up). Can anyone help me troubleshoot what’s going on and steps to take? Happy to answer questions that will help assess.

 

[manfisher]

I should also mention that @Knucklehead recommended to use epsom salt. I’m going to try that but can’t add it just yet since there’s still water in the cups. Looking for some other recommendations if that doesn’t work

 

[Knucklehead]

The upward cupping could be environmental. How long are they staying outside? Are they showing any stress as you harden the plants?

 

[manfisher]

The upward cupping could be environmental. How long are they staying outside? Are they showing any stress as you harden the plants?

They’ve been inside in my den, usually my lights are off except for a lamp next to my computer I use working from home. They have their own grown light they are under about 2” under. It can get quite stale in that room with little air flow. Today is the first day I’ve put them outside. They’ve been out there for probably 1.5hrs and aim to leave them out for 3. They’ve also been getting 24/7 light cycles too, maybe they just need a break

 

[Knucklehead]

Downward cupping could be calcium deficiency but yours is upward cupping

calcium deficiency

Low temps could cause upward cupping but inside the house I don't know

cold injury (low temperature)

 

[manfisher]

Downward cupping could be calcium deficiency but yours is upward cupping

calcium deficiency

Low temps could cause upward cupping but inside the house I don't know

cold injury (low temperature)

I have a couple that are downwards cupping but most are upwards cupping... Might just have to let it play out. I have noticed that probably 40% of my crop is doing that with their new leaves

 

[manfisher]

Downward cupping could be calcium deficiency but yours is upward cupping

calcium deficiency

Low temps could cause upward cupping but inside the house I don't know

cold injury (low temperature)

The weird part is that the new leaves are growing in cupped. I suppose I can just see how it plays out. I suppose they're still harvestable

 

[deluxestogie]

Do the cups have drain holes in the bottom?
Are they being watered from the bottom?
Is the artificial lighting time adjusted to the current daylight period?

For planting, I would suggest tilling your soil to at least 6-9" deep, and tilling-in a balanced, low chloride fertilizer at the recommended rate for tomatoes.

Bob

 

[manfisher]

Do the cups have drain holes in the bottom?
Are they being watered from the bottom?
Is the artificial lighting time adjusted to the current daylight period?

For planting, I would suggest tilling your soil to at least 6-9" deep, and tilling-in a balanced, low chloride fertilizer at the recommended rate for tomatoes.

Bob

The cups have holes in the bottom to drain and absorb. I was top watering for a while buy am now bottom watering. The light is a constant blue, red, white spectrum on 24/7. I will take your advice for the fertilizer. I have another batch I am putting in at the end of the week. This batch I am growing now still has probably 2 more weeks till its ready to go in.9

 

[manfisher]

So I went and spoke to one of the horticulturalists at my local nursery and he said the mottled yellowing of my leaves and the bumpy and cupped cells looks to him like fertilizer burn. He asked me my routine and told him I watered once every 4-5 days and would add fish emulsion 5-4-4 and rotate to orchid 20-10-20 every water. He told me that was way too much and should only be adding nutrients once every 3-4 waters which made him certain that fert burn was the issue. I believe I agree with him as I have one tray of decent sized seedlings that were not given nearly as much fert and they are unfazed though are still quite small and growing very slowly. What I have done today is replanted a sample of my plants, mainly the effected ones. I will leave these guys for a week in their pots to allow their roots to redevelop and see how they react to new soil. They did have roots that were quite developed and a little worried that they might die from the violent transplant but I feel that two week should give them enough time to harden and be ready to go in the ground! I'll compare them side by side with those that I have not potted and let you know how they progress.

 

[Old Gasman]

I'm far from expert but in my humble opinion if you sow your seeds in reputable seed compost and then pot them up into cells or little pots filled with good quality compost I've found no need at all to use any fertilizers of any kind. Once planted outside it's a different matter, I give them the same feed as I give my tomato plants but only once a week.