This doesn't directly answer your question, but in Cuba's Vuelta Abajo, not that far from southern Florida, the annual tobacco crop is first set out in the field some time after mid-September.
Bob
Wruk53 2024 Grow Log
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Bob
wruk53
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At my latitude, the longest day of the year is 13.46 hours, and the shortest day of the year is 10.50 hours. Once, for the fun of it I looked up the longest day of the year in Vara, Sweden. It was 20 hours at that latitude. Day length doesn't matter as much if you are close to the equator, further North, yes because of the much greater variance.
wruk53
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Tofta is at 22 days from transplant. Little yellow is at 17 days.
I had 11 extra LY that I transplanted this morning. This brings me up to a total of 74 plants. (50 LY and 24 Tofta.) I used red mulch for these, simply because that's all the local hardware store had in stock. It consists of forest products and red coloring. After I filled the buckets, I flushed out most of the coloring with fresh water before planting. We'll see how well they do.
I had 11 extra LY that I transplanted this morning. This brings me up to a total of 74 plants. (50 LY and 24 Tofta.) I used red mulch for these, simply because that's all the local hardware store had in stock. It consists of forest products and red coloring. After I filled the buckets, I flushed out most of the coloring with fresh water before planting. We'll see how well they do.
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Anders A
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Hope it will be successful with your Tofta this year. This weekend I will probably grind my 48 Tofta plants into flour, then I will know what yield they have given me this year, I am already very satisfied with them.
wruk53
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So far, I'm pretty impressed with the rapid and uniform growth of the Tofta.
wruk53
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This morning, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few prescriptions and food items. As I was checking out and the bag boy (150-year-old man) was bagging my purchases, the cashier began scanning the next persons (Man) items before mine were bagged and pushed them down close to mine. After I got home, my wife asked me why I bought fried chicken, and I told her that I had not bought fried chicken. I checked my receipt and sure enough, I had not paid for fried chicken. I can just about see the reaction of this guy's wife when he returned home without the chicken. She says, where's the chicken? He says, well I put it in the cart, I don't know what happened to it after that. Then all hell breaks loose, a flood of abusive comments is directed at him, questioning his sanity and dependability. I feel bad for the guy, but that was some of the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life!
wruk53
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Tofta is starting to bud at 28 days from transplant. I think the yield will still be kind of okay, the leaf count will be 10 to 12 leaves, and the leaf should still fill out over the next several weeks.
Little yellow is 3 weeks from transplant and looks normal so far. The LY transplants from last Tuesday are doing well.
Little yellow is 3 weeks from transplant and looks normal so far. The LY transplants from last Tuesday are doing well.
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Anders A
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Looks great.
Anders A
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Free and unexpected is always good
Florida Dave
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I hope it was Publix - they have the best fried chicken around here.
Florida Dave
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Are you far enough south that this one should miss you?
wruk53
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It was.
wruk53
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Yes, we are predicted to get 1-2 inches of rain and 40mph wind gusts.
Florida Dave
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We should see 30-35 mph wind and up to 6” of rain. My Little Dutch are fully grown and topped - I hope they are stout enough to deal with the wind.
wruk53
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I just went to your site to refresh my memory on your setup. The raised beds are a very good idea, and the board fence gives you protection on 2 sides as long as you don't get a strong swirling effect from the high winds. Hopefully you'll be okay.
wruk53
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After the storm, I had to prop up about half of the Tofta and a few of the Little Yellow. Several lower leaves were damaged or completely broken off on a lot of the plants. Overall, not too bad, it could have been much worse. The sustained winds yesterday were about 50 mph with higher gusts. My rainfall total was just over 2 inches.
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wruk53
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I'm trying a sun curing experiment. I pruned from 2 to 4 leaves from the bottom of all of the plants and rather than just throw them away, I thought I would try to sun cure them. Some of them I wilted overnight and some I strung up straight from the plant to the wire. The humidity is very high and will remain so for the next 10 days or so. If it doesn't work out, no big deal.
It's 5 weeks from transplant for Tofta and 4 weeks for Little Yellow. LY has a low leaf count, but the leaves are broad and thick.
It's 5 weeks from transplant for Tofta and 4 weeks for Little Yellow. LY has a low leaf count, but the leaves are broad and thick.
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wruk53
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I topped the Tofta down to an 8–10-inch leaf. The leaf count will probably average about 10 per plant. It won't be a great yield, but it should be acceptable.
Little Yellow is looking better by the day, no sign of budding yet. The LY in the red mulch is just over 2 weeks from transplant, they look okay, I guess.
The sun curing leaves are gradually changing color, they were very immature when picked.
The last few crops I've grown, I've practiced "pruning high and topping low". In theory, this should give a more consistent leaf size and quality. I borrowed this idea from,
Little Yellow is looking better by the day, no sign of budding yet. The LY in the red mulch is just over 2 weeks from transplant, they look okay, I guess.
The sun curing leaves are gradually changing color, they were very immature when picked.
The last few crops I've grown, I've practiced "pruning high and topping low". In theory, this should give a more consistent leaf size and quality. I borrowed this idea from,
Tobacco: Growing, Curing, & Manufacturing by Charles G. Warnford Lock.
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wruk53
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Today is 5 weeks from transplant for LY. almost six for Tofta. There is a light rain falling at the moment, so I took a zoomed photo from the Lanai. So far, Naples is at the bottom edge of the spaghetti models for the approaching storm. I thought I'd best post a pic in case it all gets blown away later this week. I suckered the Tofta yesterday and I'll stop feeding them in about a week. I'll probably move my best-looking LY to the lanai or garage for protection and try to produce seeds from it.
Went to town yesterday and filled up my gas cans and propane tanks. I had a hell of a time getting my generator to start, but I finally got it running. The ignition switch has to be in the on position even when using the pull cord and I believe the switch is bad, so sometimes it's not on even when it's in the on position. That's my theory at least. I am not a mechanic.
I wish you well with the storm.
Bob
Bob
