RednekF350's 2022 Grow Blog

[Rednekf350]

I started my chewing tobacco grow last Sunday March 6, 2022. My safe, last frost date around here is May 15 so I am hoping to have some hearty plants by then. My first two years of growing started later for various reasons, mostly my mistakes, but I still had successful growing seasons both years, just with later harvests. I had 57 plants in the ground last year which was a little much but a lot of fun to watch.

After experimenting with Virginia Bright, Burley, Stag Horn and Little Yellow, I am doing 100% Burley this year. All of these varieties air cured nicely but the Burley had the best tobacco taste. I started making the chew only a few months after harvest, which was as long as I was willing to wait. All of the other three had a grassy taste.

On Sunday I planted two pouches of Golden Burley seed over two 10/20 trays after filling the trays with well-moistened Miracle Grow Seed Starter Mix. The trays are wrapped in plastic which I will remove as a soon as I see a green haze across the surface. It usually only takes a week. They are not in a sunny window yet but they will be as soon as I remove the plastic.

Good luck with you season everyone !

 

[Rednekf350]

Day 14 after sowing the seeds. Took the plastic wrap off after 8 days and kept them in indirect sunlight. Moved to a full sun window starting this past weekend.
I tried to plant at a lesser density this year to make it easier to separate seedlings for transplant.

 

[Rednekf350]

Stage 2 tonight. Transplanting to 72 individual cells.
Exactly one month since sowing. They had two sets of leaves and they were balled up pretty good in the seed starter trays, so I wanted to get it done. I gently flicked the plants out of the starter mix with an ice pick and then set them into the cells filled with wetted Miracle Gro Planting mix. I swear that stuff is ground up pallets and railroad ties but it worked well for me last year.

I set 72 seedlings into their own homes and kept the other 2,973 seedlings as backup for replacing any casualties. Last year I just let the seedling trays go most of the summer and they formed a thick green mat of plants that was just cool to look at.

Stage 3 in 6 weeks +/- Getting them into the ground. With any luck it won't be snowing.

 

[Knucklehead]

They look good. Best of luck with your season!

 

[Rednekf350]

Tried two days outside in full sun to start hardening the Burley plants off and they look a little pale and a little weak. I think I need to get them into some real dirt this weekend.
Got one of my vegetable gardens done tonight with 32 tomato plants, 36 pepper plants and 5 hills of cucumbers. One more vegetable garden to do tomorrow night with zucchini hills and bush bean seeds.

 

[Rednekf350]

Most of the plants went in yesterday. I was able to fit 32 Golden Burley in my dedicated tobacco garden and started finding sunny places in the front yard to "decorate". I had 9 oaks that were arching over the house taken out last winter and it really changed the sunlight character. I am going to plant some more out front today.
Pics are the trays yesterday morning and my tobacco garden.

Two things I have learned in my season No. 3 of growing:

1. No matter how lame your seedlings may look on a window sill in the house in April, a few weeks in full sun on a table outside in early May makes them really come to life. They quickly filled up their cells and looked very healthy in no time.

2. I need to start watering the seedlings from the bottom next year. After breaking some of my transplants out of their cells yesterday, it was obvious that I had a lot of shallow rooting going on. I was watering every day with a spray bottle and that made everything look pretty wet but it is apparent that it wasn't sufficient.
Enjoy this Memorial Day with your families and remember it's not about the barbecue.

 

[Rednekf350]

Progress photos from this morning. Plants are kicking and have hit the 3' mark. One has started pushing up flower buds as of yesterday.

I don't want to jinx myself but I am not having any insect pest issues, yet. My vegetable gardens, on the other hand, got hammered several times by a rogue doe. I increased fence height to 6' last week and so far, so good.
I hope she doesn't take up chewing tobacco.

 

[Knucklehead]

Progress photos from this morning. Plants are kicking and have hit the 3' mark. One has started pushing up flower buds as of yesterday.

I don't want to jinx myself but I am not having any insect pest issues, yet. My vegetable gardens, on the other hand, got hammered several times by a rogue doe. I increased fence height to 6' last week and so far, so good.
I hope she doesn't take up chewing tobacco.
View attachment 42819View attachment 42818

Lovely plants.

 

[Rednekf350]

I haven't kept up with posting my progress as much as I wanted to, it's been a crazy summer. I hope everyone had a good summer with their grows. I never had to water my vegetables and tobacco as much as I did this year.

I did a second priming on August 13 and hung in the garage to cure. It's looking very good right now. Some of the leaves were curing on the stalk and I wasn't sure if I should hang them but I did. The first priming picked on July 26 cured extremely quickly due to the ridiculous heat here this summer.

This year continues to be the most pest-free I have had. No aphids and only a little chewing here and there. Last year, the aphids were thick on every plant.

Pic of the August 13 pull.