Wruk53 2024 Grow Log

[wruk53]

A few of the Bitlis might actually amount to something. It's probably destined for the medley bag. I've mentioned the Medley bag before, but I'll do it again because I can. Here's a list of tobaccos that I can remember putting in the bag at one time or another: SSBM, Shirazi, Bucak, Virginia red tips, Little Dutch, Harrow Velvet, Prilep 66-7 and Trabzon 2. It' all been ground into flour, and I generally add a fair amount of it to my snus batches. It makes a pretty darned good blending component.

 

[wruk53]

I made a mini greenhouse this morning out of a clear tote. I normally grow my seedlings in a cabinet inside the house, but it's been so damned hot that my AC barely keeps up and the cab light generates a fair amount of heat. This will keep the birds from plucking out the seedlings. I don't know why, but they love to pull up young seedlings and just drop them. As long as it doesn't get too hot, it should work okay. We'll see.

 

[FrostD]

I made a mini greenhouse this morning out of a clear tote. I normally grow my seedlings in a cabinet inside the house, but it's been so damned hot that my AC barely keeps up and the cab light generates a fair amount of heat. This will keep the birds from plucking out the seedlings. I don't know why, but they love to pull up young seedlings and just drop them. As long as it doesn't get too hot, it should work okay. We'll see.

This is an excellent idea for a mini greenhouse! It sounds way more convenient & less expensive overall than some of these store bought & designed seed starter greenhouses… who doesn’t have an extra (clear) tote laying around not being used.

 

[johnny108]

Mini greenhouse out of inverted clear tote…..
CO2 enrichment to speed seedling growth is now possible, more easily….

 

[wruk53]

I found a little bit of damage on one of the bitlis leaves and found a snail on the underside. This is a first for me, there are dozens of them crawling around on the walls of the house and everywhere else.

It's day 5 from planting little yellow seeds, no activity yet, so I decided to start some more seeds on a damp paper towel as a backup, just in case.

I've got a new phone that takes high resolution pics that are too large to upload, so I'm having to resize before posting. PIA.

 

[cavedane]

Cant you save your fotos in JPG format ? they are smaller

 

[wruk53]

I'm not very tech savvy, but there should be a way to change the settings on the phone's camera. I'll try to figure it out.

 

[wruk53]

Planted 50 cells of Little Yellow this morning for a Fall harvest.

It's been 7 days and not a single sprout. The same thing happened last spring. It's hard to say what's happening, but I suspect it's the miracle grow peat and perlite I'm using. Both these products contain slow-release fertilizer, and both the bags are almost empty. I think that maybe the fertilizer pellets have gravitated to the bottom of the bags and is causing toxicity. I have some Little Yellow and some Tofta seeds germinating on paper towels, but it will be a few days before I'll know if they sprout. It's still very early for me, so I'm not panicking yet.

 

[wruk53]

I scooped out a spoonful of seedling mix from each cell, leveled it off and topped with about 1/4 inch of vermiculite. I planted 5 to 8 Little Yellow seeds in each cell. I'm hopeful that this will solve my germination problem. Some of the seeds I put on the paper towels germinated on day 3, so my seeds are good. I started to transfer some of them to the tray, but I found it to be very aggravating and soon gave up on it. I would much rather thin than transplant. I should know if it worked in 4 or 5 days. BTW this was not an original idea of mine, a member named "chicken" posted this method, he states that he has 100% success. Also, I'm using my cabinet instead of the mini greenhouse, I think my tray might have got too hot a time or two when it was outside.

 

[wruk53]

Transplanted some Tofta sprouts from a coffee filter, this went much better than yesterday's attempt from a paper towel. The sprouts were just barely popped so they won't be visible yet. Another rainy afternoon. My last 3 surviving Bitlis. All the others just wilted down and didn't recover.

 

[wruk53]

A cautionary tale about misting tobacco seeds. 4 days ago, I direct seeded in my winstrip tray and misted them several times each day. Each time I misted; I noticed a little bit of the vermiculite would blow onto the cabinet wall. Long story short, I think I blew most of the seeds out of the tray because of spraying at a sideways angle. I only see 4 sprouts in the tray, and they are all in the corners of the cells. I looked carefully with a jeweler's loupe, and I couldn't find many seeds left in the cells. Anyway, I'm sprouting some backups on a coffee filter, they should be ready to transfer to the cells tomorrow or the next day.

The Tofta sprouts that I transplanted to the individual cups are doing well. I overplanted some of the cups for backups.

 

[WillQuantrill]

A cautionary tale about misting tobacco seeds. 4 days ago, I direct seeded in my winstrip tray and misted them several times each day. Each time I misted; I noticed a little bit of the vermiculite would blow onto the cabinet wall. Long story short, I think I blew most of the seeds out of the tray because of spraying at a sideways angle. I only see 4 sprouts in the tray, and they are all in the corners of the cells. I looked carefully with a jeweler's loupe, and I couldn't find many seeds left in the cells. Anyway, I'm sprouting some backups on a coffee filter, they should be ready to transfer to the cells tomorrow or the next day.

The Tofta sprouts that I transplanted to the individual cups are doing well. I overplanted some of the cups for backups.

Very useful tip.

 

[Havok]

I dust a fine layer of gardening soil mix on top of my vermiculite and give that a mist. It gives the seeds a nice little bed to start out on.

 

[wruk53]

Tofta seedlings in 24 small cups. About 40 or so cells of Little Yellow seedlings in the tray. They are currently receiving screened sunlight on the east side of the lanai; in the afternoon I'll move the table to the west side. My last 3 surviving Bitlis.

 

[johnny108]

What are the dimensions of those cups? And, where did you find them?
(The European market seems to be in love with space wasting round pots for small plants- makes for a crowded windowsill)

 

[wruk53]

What are the dimensions of those cups? And, where did you find them?
(The European market seems to be in love with space wasting round pots for small plants- makes for a crowded windowsill)

2"x2" and 2" tall. I believe they were intended for small cacti, if I remember correctly. I've had them for quite some time.

 

[wruk53]

24 cups of Tofta and 50 cells of Little Yellow. I hope to be able to plant these out at the end of August. It's more than I wanted to grow this fall, I over seeded because of germination issues at first.

My last 2 Bitlis, another one wilted over and died a few days ago. I started off with 11.

 

[johnny108]

Can’t wait to read your reviews of Tofta, and how it compares to One Sucker, etc.

 

[Anders A]

24 cups of Tofta and 50 cells of Little Yellow. I hope to be able to plant these out at the end of August. It's more than I wanted to grow this fall, I over seeded because of germination issues at first.

My last 2 Bitlis, another one wilted over and died a few days ago. I started off with 11.

This year I have 48 Tofta plants, and they now look very good (67 days after transplanting). All are beautiful and harvest is approaching. I had Tofta last year as well, and it didn't turn out well at all. Small plants that almost shriveled up with a lot of spots/dots on the leaves. The difference I made this year compared to last year is more water, more fertilizer and epsomsalt (magnesium sulfate), and no plants have spots or look sick.

Good luck, will follow you with excitement.

 

[wruk53]

Another rainy day due to tropical storm Debby. 2 inches yesterday and 1 inch so far today. My ixora is in full bloom. My seedlings are coming along nicely. I'm growing these on the lanai instead of my cabinet, so far so good.