The Knucklehead way to Grow a Blog

[Knucklehead]

Next time you are coming to Jville let me know. Lunch at Romas.

Sounds good. I love the food at Romas. Did you ever meet Nick when he was still alive? Really good guy. The whole family is nice.

Will give ya a bell on the way past Kuckles place.

Webby, you can hitch a ride on Seanz's boat, he wanted me to send him a ticket. lol

 

[Knucklehead]

I got my plots raked yesterday, pulling out the rocks and grass clumps. It was just a little too dry and I pulled out more dirt clods than I wanted, but I piled everything on the bank above the plot so the rain will break down the clods and eventually wash the dirt back down to the plot. It's going to rain today and I plan to run over the plot one more time with the rock rake before I lay down my landscape cloth. There will be plenty of rocks to help hold it down lol. I may spend this evening out in the shop installing the emitters on the drip line two feet apart and I will use the emitters to space my plants in the rows. I ordered two more 100ft drip lines and 100 emitters for my second plot. The first plot is my cigarette and oriental varieties and the second plot is my test, sample and seed plot. I'll grow about 3 - 5 plants of several varieties there. I know of four varieties I'll grow that aren't in the seed bank, I'll grow them out for FTT: VA Gold K326, VA Gold 116, Habano 2000 and Cuban Criollo 98. For test and sample, I have CT Shade, CT Broadleaf, Glessnor, Little Dutch, Comstock Spanish and Vuelta Abajo.

 

[AmaxB]

To steal from ya - Your cookin with peanut oil now - very interesting I'll be fallowing your blog an try to eack out your secrets. The drip lines sound like a no brainer if ya got one and I don't want to know about them. How deep are you running the lines, what is cost like, where are you getting the emitters, what size are the lines- diameter?

 

[Knucklehead]

I just placed another order for (2) 100 ft , 1/2" diameter drip lines, (100) 1/2 gph emitters, (2) end plugs, (2) 1/2" barbed to female hose ends, and (100) drip line hold down stakes. Cost incl. shipping was $85.50. Overwatering your plants is a bad thing, so I plan to use it to get the plants off to a good start, and in case of drought. This will get me two complete 100ft set ups at 2ft plant spacing (100 plants). I'll use a splitter to two short garden hoses to the two drip lines. You can cut the main line and add tees, ells and additional end plugs to fit your garden size. I get the stuff here: http://www.dripworks.com/ The part numbers are: 12100, BFHDURA, BP, SBHD-100, DOV12. The lines run on top of the ground. I'm putting mine on top of the landscape fabric to help hold down the fabric, help prevent emitter clogging and so I can visually make sure all emitters are working. I'll install the emitters first, and space my plants by the 2ft emitter spacing, one plant under each emitter. It can be reused year after year.

 

[DGBAMA]

Sounding good. That is more affordable than I figured for the drip system.

 

[Knucklehead]

If you figure in the fact that the cost can be spread out over several years, it's cheap insurance. We've been in a drought cycle the past 6 or 7 years. We cut down a 110 year old hickory tree clearing out for my pond, and looking at the growth rings, you could see how the weather came in cycles. There would be 5-10 years of rings really close together where the tree barely grew, then 5-10 years far apart. There were very few that alternated like good year, bad year, good year. The vast majority of them were in groups of good years and then groups of bad years. This weather isn't new. It's just new to some people. That $85.00 worth of stuff will do 100 plants at 85 cents per plant for one year. 5 years, cost per plant is 17 cents.

 

[Knucklehead]

A photo of the plot after raking. It's going to rain this evening and tonight. Once it dries out enough, I'll rake it again, and pick up any stragglers by hand. I'll need several rocks to help hold down the landscape cloth.

 

[squeezyjohn]

Wow that looks epic!

You guys in the states really do just churn up a bit of grass and go don't you? Do you find any problem with roots re-growing that have been tilled in? Here in the UK the bad weeds just need half an inch of root left in the ground and there will be a new weed for every bit left in springing up before my plants have had a chance! Also - do you get any trouble from the grass at the edge trying to encroach on your growing space?

Even with landscape fabric - the weeds find the holes for the plants and the edges for me.

 

[AmaxB]

Sweat looking set up that drip works watched all the vids. Am sold I'll be looking into some thing like this. I was going to just water every day but a system would be better could just turn it on an come back in an hour to shut her off.

 

[Boboro]

What kinda rocks yall got thir? pic. I love big rocks. We dont have any rocks here. you have to buy them and they cost a lot.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

What kinda rocks yall got thir? pic. I love big rocks. We dont have any rocks here. you have to buy them and they cost a lot.

Boboro, I'll trade you some rocks for tobacco, on a pound for pound basis of course...

 

[Boboro]

Good lookin dirt. It may be better to run across the slope. If you put the rows up and down the slope You will lose a lot of the dirt to erosion. If you know someone with a leaf pile till that in in the fall. That sandy red dirt kicks ass with some organic matertial.

 

[Boboro]

Boboro, I'll trade you some rocks for tobacco, on a pound for pound basis of course...

The problem with big rocks is movein them. But 75 to 1 mite work for some realy nice rocks.

 

[squeezyjohn]

I think any soil benefits from a nice high organic matter content.

 

[Boboro]

If I dont use it here its like tryin to grow on the side of a clay pot.

 

[Knucklehead]

I will probably have some grass on each side of the fabric this first grow, but I'll plow again in the fall and plant clover. Then I'll plow again in the spring before the weeds put on seed. Catching the weeds before they seed and plowing in the clover will eventually give me fairly weed free ground with alot of organic matter mixed in. Plus the turning twice a year. The clover will fix nitrogen in the soil, cutting down on fertilizer costs, since nitrogen is the most costly ingredient. For example, 5-10-10 fertilizer is much less expensive than 10-10-10. The plots shown in my first three pictures of this blog will be rotated every couple of years with this one to rest the soil. Those plots have been turned twice a year for several years and are looking really nice, but the paper co. is cutting the trees this year and I know the loggers would make a mess of my tobacco.

 

[Knucklehead]

What kinda rocks yall got thir? pic. I love big rocks. We dont have any rocks here. you have to buy them and they cost a lot.

I'll get you a picture of the rocks. They are the real pretty "mountain rock". I drug up enough to do one heck of a nice BBQ pit. The slope isn't as steep as it looks, it's pretty flat, I had the 4 wheeler parked on a 5 ft. tall bank looking down on the plot.

 

[Boboro]

I will probably have some grass on each side of the fabric this first grow, but I'll plow again in the fall and plant clover. Then I'll plow again in the spring before the weeds put on seed. Catching the weeds before they seed and plowing in the clover will eventually give me fairly weed free ground with alot of organic matter mixed in. Plus the turning twice a year. The clover will fix nitrogen in the soil, cutting down on fertilizer costs, since nitrogen is the most costly ingredient. For example, 5-10-10 fertilizer is much less expensive than 10-10-10. The plots shown in my first three pictures of this blog will be rotated every couple of years with this one to rest the soil. Those plots have been turned twice a year for several years and are looking really nice, but the paper co. is cutting the trees this year and I know the loggers would make a mess of my tobacco.

Rope it off. And talk to Im I bet they will work around it. The few of that I know are realy nice ppl.

 

[Boboro]

I wish I could have tilled this week but yhe truck broke down an I couldnt move the tractor. We got a lot of trusses and some very nice low E windows at auction this week. But it was hard on the truck.

 

[Michibacy]

Looking good and very nice grow area Knucks!