GusAvocado’s 2023 grow blog

[GusAvocado]

Thanks to great service from NWT Seeds, got them in some soil under the lights. 6 Cherry Red, 12 Criollo 98, and 18 each Prilep, Yellow Twist Bud, and Little Dutch.

Got the seeds in egg cartons with holes in the bottom sitting in pans so I can water from the bottom. Shed is not heated, so have seedling mats and shiny bubble wrap insulation tents. All stuff I had around. Let’s see how it goes.

 

[MadFarmer]

Do you have lights? My second year starting seed I used two clamp style shop lights with a warm and cool CFL. These days you can pick up LED grow lights at Ace.

 

[GusAvocado]

Had a 4’ from vegetable gardening and harbor freight had some two footers. I’m good on light. Wondering if I need to plastic wrap over them.

 

[deluxestogie]

It is helpful to cover the germination container until the seeds begin to show green. This prevents surface drying of the soil. Once you have green showing, then allow enough air circulation to prevent damping-off.

Bob

 

[GusAvocado]

Got condensation under the plastic from the heat from seed mats. Making daily checks for germination. Planning on taking them off first sign of green. Will keep the tent over them and bottom water until they will take misting.

 

[deluxestogie]

I don't ever mist seedlings, but continue with watering as usual. Misting tends to keep the cotyledons wet, while not sufficiently moistening the soil.

Bob

 

[loui loui]

I don't ever mist seedlings, but continue with watering as usual. Misting tends to keep the cotyledons wet, while not sufficiently moistening the soil.

Bob

I think it is ok to mist the cotyledons and the soil wet as long as the cotyledons dry up again.
It will simulate rain, it is ok once in a while.
I would mist in the morning or evening or indoor I would just dim the lights down a bit to not burn the cotyledons.
Sometimes water bubbles can work like magnify-glass and burn the leaves. In nature it is normally cloudy when it is raining so it is ok with low light.

 

[GusAvocado]

Maybe got a little fat fingered on the seed distribution, but nice to have some green! Criollo 98 looks to have really high germination rate.

 

[skychaser]

Mine often look like little chia pets when they first sprout. Very tiny seed combined with a shaky hand will do that. Just thin them out with some small surgical scissors or divide them at about 4 weeks if you want more plants. They are very easy to divide and re-pot.

 

[GusAvocado]

Wipeout! YTB and Little a Dutch wiped out overnight. I think the seedling mat got too hot or I misted and it cooked them. Plenty of time to recover the crop, so new seeds are in proper cells now. Moved the other varieties to cells, and they survived the move.

 

[GusAvocado]

Starting to get some green on the YTB and Little Dutch replant. Set me back a couple weeks, but should have plenty of growing season in TX. Also went full infanticide on the Criollo, Prilep, and Cherry red. Still have a lot of cells with multiple, but I did all of the damage I thought I needed to for a first cull. No freezes in the 14 day forecast, so just waiting on the seedlings to grow.

 

[GusAvocado]

Cherry red, criollo, and prilep doing well. Second planting of little Dutch 18/18 and ytb 15/18. Watching water more carefully and turning the seedling mats off during the day to keep from cooking them again. Down to 1 or2 in a cell, and have actually split some cherry red and criollo when it could be done without harm to the “keeper” plant. Should have 50-60 plants.

 

[GusAvocado]

Hardening them off. May be done with frost for the year. If so, it’ll be all about deciding when the Little Dutch and YTB are big enough to put in the ground. Prilep, criollo 98, and cherry red may be there already. Have extra, so don’t need 100% success.

 

[GusAvocado]

Plants really starting to pop. Looks like they will go in the ground next weekend. Didn’t have the mortality I expected, so have 80-90 plants. About 40%more than planned. Got an area where I just dropped a juniper tree that doesn’t have grass yet, so maybe I’ll till it and put the extras in the ground to see how they work.

Looks like 10x cherry red, 24x criollo 98, 20x prilep, 17x little Dutch, and 15x YTB.

Did get permission to put some in my wife’s flower garden as long as I leave the flowers on. Not collecting seeds anyway.

Plan is to space cherry red and criollo in staggered 4’ rows, prilep at 12-14” spacing, and LD and YTB at 30”. These are guesses, so any suggestions on spacing appreciated.

 

[deluxestogie]

All but the Prilep will work well with the following spacing:

I usually just guess the plant locations in each 3'-long quarter of my beds. There is no benefit to being precise. The length of the bed is arbitrary, but the 5' width allows me to reach into the middle while standing outside the bed. I usually plant Prilep at 12" (between plants) in the same staggered row pattern. Little Dutch is "little" only in its height, while its stalk is often more than 1½" thick at the base. So normal spacing is appropriate.

Most important of all, a closely space bed of Prilep in full bloom is a lovely sight.

Bob

 

[GusAvocado]

Awesome. Thanks Bob! Looks like I’m in the flower business!

 

[skychaser]

I plant everything is a precisely laid out grid pattern. It makes tilling easier and it just bugs me if anything is out of line. But I have a little OCD when it comes to my layout. The plants don't really care. 24 inch spacing is really good enough for all of them, especially if they are in offset rows 24 inches or more apart. I do 28 inches apart in my rows just because the tiller will fit between them for the first month. A little more spacing could be better if you have the room, but it won't increase the overall yield by much. That's how I plant 90% of what I grow.

I plant Prilep at 16 inches apart each way. I would put those with the flowers. They grow differently than most tobaccos. They have cool looking leaves wrapped spiraling up around the stalk and you get up to 50 in a four foot tall plant. And they produce lots of flowers. They are very ornamental looking for a tobacco. When ever we grew Prilep my wife wanted those in the first row where they could be seen the best. A happy wife = a happy life.

 

[GusAvocado]

Got some in the ground. 5 criollo 98 against the shed and a second row of 2x prilep and 2 x little Dutch. The shed runs north/south, so should get clear sun until early afternoon. Hopefully in Texas that’s enough. These plants were “extra”, so stuck them in in the interest of science.

Main property for planting is weekend property, so I also wanted some leaf I could monitor during the week here at the house. Especially for wrapper, which is why I focused on the Cuban seed and little Dutch

Any guesses as to whether this will be enough sun to get leaf? The full sun planting at the farm is next weekend.

 

[deluxestogie]

I have one narrow, 24-foot long bed located at the house foundation, facing west-southwest. The bed gets a little over a half-day of direct sunlight each day. Tobacco continues to grow well there, I believe, because the siding of the house is white, which provides extra light intensity to the plants.

From 2021:

Bob

 

[GusAvocado]

I have one narrow, 24-foot long bed located at the house foundation, facing west-southwest. The bed gets a little over a half-day of direct sunlight each day. Tobacco continues to grow well there, I believe, because the siding of the house is white, which provides extra light intensity to the plants.

From 2021:

Bob

If mine grows like that I will be extremely pleased. Excited to have some I can prime, and the attic here should be a poor man’s kiln about harvest time.

Regretting not planting corojo 99 this year. Those are nice looking plants.