Fleaz'z Grow Blog: First Grow!

[johnny108]

I grow in a semi-soilless mix with full strength triple-20 fertilizer applied every 3rd watering.
A large portion of the mix is coco coir:
10 quarts coconut coir
5 quarts perlite
5 quarts vermiculite
5 quarts commercial bagged potting soil

I used to water full strength fertilizer every other watering, but this was wasteful.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Coconut coir and (sphagnum) peat moss both retain moisture. When using coir seed starting discs, I had seeds mold due to excessive water retention (I watered too much & too often). When I added enough water to saturate my peat based seedling mix, it grows white mold. With that said, they are good ingredients for a Potting mix; but beware over watering.

To manage the mold, I sprayed a 1:1 mix of peroxide and water. No harm to the plants, just water spot damage to the leaves.

 

[StoneCarver]

Mold can be an issue with any seed starting mix. I also use hydrogen peroxide; it also gives the added benefit of releasing oxygen into the soil mix when it breaks down. I also use Physan 20 to inhibit mold/fungal growth. After the seeds have sprouted and grown a bit, meaning I no longer feel they need their humidity tent and can take it off, I'll inoculate the soil with beneficial microorganisms such as Mycogold.

 

[Fleaz]

I appreciate all the feedback. I ended up getting some Fox Farms ocean forest mix for the 3 I plan to plant in pots, one bag should cover all 3. It seemed cheaper than buying all the "ingredients" and mixing my own. I am considering finding or buying some clay for the pots based on what PvtPublic mentioned. For the above ground planters, at least without plants they retain a ton of moisture for days. I got some Garden soil to top the planters off and some compost to mix into the existing soil to give it more nutrients, no clue when they were used last. We got some snow the last few days with lots of rain on the forecast, so ill be waiting another week or two to transplant. Great for the area, we have had a dry winter, snow pack is the lowest in recorded history and fires have already started, luckily only small fires locally. Although 125,000 acres burned in Nebraska (morrill fire) a few hours away and we got the smoke from that. This whole region is feeling it pretty bad.

 

[OrlandoJoe]

Hello, I'm new here!

I'm going to preface this with me being completely new to growing plants in general. I got my seeds in from victory seeds last Saturday and sowed them in that afternoon. I got 3 varieties: Virginia Gold, TN90, and Meechurinski.
I am in Colorado (5b) so it is a bit colder at night still but we had a warm week (93F as I'm writing this) so I set the dome in a south facing window during the day and the dome got really warm, they all seemed to germinate well, first sprouts showed on Tuesday with them filling in throughout the week. I had some basil and tomato seeds in the dome and I think I may have been spraying water at to much of an angle because some tobacco sprouted in those pots as well lol. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that because idk if my varieties got mixed. Kept the dome on until Friday morning. I'm not sure if it was overwatered, too humid or was too cold at night but they are kinda purple (photos look a bit greener), could also be from all the light, very sunny and not too much cloud coverage throughout the day. I got a grow light and now using that to hopefully expedite the process so they can be as large as possible before transplanting outside. If you guys have any tips or tricks for a first time grower, please let me know!

I'm trying my hand with tobacco for the first time as well. Got the seeds from a northern friend, and having good success this far. Hope all goes well for you!

 

[Fleaz]

Over the past few weeks I have transplanted my plants outside. It could be a combination of things but multiple plants are stunted. My working theories are: transplanting too early, weather, and root loss during transplant (i had multiple plants in the same cups).
I planted 3 TN90, 3 VA Gold and 6 Meech in planters and 1 of each in a 3 gallon pot with fox farms ocean forest. The first few plants I transplanted outside died due to a pretty severe rainstorm that wasn't on the forecast. We have been getting lots of sun and rain, as well as some high winds. All 3 in the pots are doing exceptionally well, it may be due to me moving them inside during the inclement weather. All plants have some holes in the leaves from grasshoppers; I found a few of them on the plants. The plants in the planter beds have not grown to the same size as the ones in the pots. probably about half the size, a few of them stunted as mentioned before. I have a few more in single pots that i will be replacing the stunted plants with. The Meech is starting to flower, even the small ones. I will post a few photos when I get home.

 

[Fleaz]

I'm trying my hand with tobacco for the first time as well. Got the seeds from a northern friend, and having good success this far. Hope all goes well for you!

Likewise!

 

[OrlandoJoe]

Likewise!

Thank you sir!

 

[Fleaz]

I forgot to post the pictures... Here are the most recent ones. The Meech has been flowering for a long time, so i have been picking the suckers daily... I missed the one of the suckers on the potted plant and it got quite large. The potted Virginia and TN90 starting to bud, i ripped those out too. Virginia and TN90 varieties in the raised bed are getting a little bigger but still short compared to the potted. I noticed the leaves starting to curl over on the Virginia; possibly on the tn90 too (top right of IMG_2292). I was reading up on NCSU.edu via a link shared on here and it looks the closest to a calcium deficiency, they recommended just leaving it and topping it when the time comes will stimulate root growth and calcium uptake. I have a 16oz cup full of eggshells I was considering to pulverize and see if that helps. I'm not sure if the plants would even be able to use the calcium in it. Any tips/thoughts regarding the curling tips?

I'm starting to consider different curing methods. I want to try a few methods on all the varieties. Looking at the crock pot kiln threads and will probably build that for a weekend project.

 

[deluxestogie]

Have you checked the pH of your soil?

"Tobacco is able to adequately absorb required nutrients from the​

soil if the soil acidity has a pH in the range of 5.8 to 6.2 (max 6.5).​

Outside that range, the tobacco will show signs of various​

nutrient deficiencies even if they are present in adequate​

concentrations."​

Bob

 

[Fleaz]

Have you checked the pH of your soil?

"Tobacco is able to adequately absorb required nutrients from the​

soil if the soil acidity has a pH in the range of 5.8 to 6.2 (max 6.5).​

Outside that range, the tobacco will show signs of various​

nutrient deficiencies even if they are present in adequate​

concentrations."​

Bob

I have not, I’ll have to order a tester and check.

 

[StoneCarver]

pH papers are adequate and that's what I use; they're cheap and totally worth the expense. Sometimes all the nutrients your plants need is in the soil but due to soil chemistry the plants struggle to absorb them. The most important step to elucidating that soil chemistry is by testing the pH. It wouldn't surprise me if you have alkaline conditions considering your geographical location. Be sure to also test the pH of the water you are watering the plants with. If you find your soil is presenting alkaline pH, soil acidifier amendments, like for blueberries and rhododendrons from a nursery supplier, will do the job.

 

[Fleaz]

pH papers are adequate and that's what I use; they're cheap and totally worth the expense. Sometimes all the nutrients your plants need is in the soil but due to soil chemistry the plants struggle to absorb them. The most important step to elucidating that soil chemistry is by testing the pH. It wouldn't surprise me if you have alkaline conditions considering your geographical location. Be sure to also test the pH of the water you are watering the plants with. If you find your soil is presenting alkaline pH, soil acidifier amendments, like for blueberries and rhododendrons from a nursery supplier, will do the job.

Thanks, I ordered a probe tester online because it seemed more efficient than the chemical testers to test all my planter beds; they had different soil when I moved in but I amended all of it with the same stuff. Ill look to see if there are pH papers locally and compare it to the probe to see if the probe is even in the same ballpark. My local municipality had their water analysis available online too. pH of 7.78, alkalinity as CaCO3 of 34mg/L. Ill test the water with the paper test as well to see if that information is accurate to what i actually receive at my home. funnily enough I can see where the water treatment plant where they do the water analysis from my back yard. I can also smell it sometimes

 

[Fleaz]

So I used the probe tester on both a pot with only Ocean Forest potting soil and the planter bed with the weird leaves. Ocean Forest has an alleged pH range of 6.3 to 6.8 and the probe seems closer to the 6 mark than 7 on both probings If this cheap thing is accurate-ish then pH is not the problem.

 

[Fleaz]

I'm starting to think this is weather related rather than soil related. I have found very similar photos and this article relating to calcium deficiency. Temps have been in the 90s for the last 2 weeks with zero cloud coverage and humidity staying around 10-25% throughout the day. Very different from May; cloudy with light rain every evening. Other than the downward curve to the leaves the plants look healthy, they grew quite quickly ever since it has been warming up. A good friend once told me "crooked still gets the job done”… original context aside, let’s hope these funky leaves continue to grow and will cure properly.

 

[Fleaz]

I built China Voodoo's Invertebrate Kiln to crockpot "flue cure" and try fermenting later. I messed with the dimensions (photo below) and was able to make it so the entire sheet of 2" foam was utilized with zero waste. foil tape on the inside to make airtight and structural duck around the outside.

My edges weren't super straight and I could not get the humidity to stay above 50%. Its essentially a jar and my leakage was from the lid not sealing. My solution was chamfering the edges outward on the top so the inside edge was the highest and doing a ~1/2" incut on the lid. With the weights on top it retains the humidity way better now, still some leakage but It is acceptable now. I am currently doing the first test run, In the chamber now is Golden Virginia and Meechurinski. I will post pictures when finished.

To run the crockpot I got a govee branded smart plug and bluetooth hygrometer. The app sucks but the auto run features seems to be working well. If I were to buy the govee stuff again id get both devices that are wifi enabled. I also have some Virginia and Burley air curing. I'm shocked at how sweet the Virginia smells. My goal was to be under $100, Ive spent about $80 so far.

 

[Fleaz]

Golden Virginia on the top/left and Meech on the bottom. Both turned out pretty well; a few Virginia leaves are have a green hue but not terrible for first try. The different varieties yellowed at a different rate so going forward i will only put one variety in the chamber at a time. I found 2 horn worms on my tomato plant, they demolished a quarter of the plant in a matter of days. I chucked them into the HOA trees lol

 

[deluxestogie]

horn worms.... I chucked them into the HOA trees lol

I once carried a large hornworm out to the middle of the blacktop road during a scorching July afternoon. The road is about 30 yards from my garden. I expected a car to eventually squish the roasting hornworm. When I looked for the smudge, a half-hour later, what I discovered was that the hornworm had crawled off the road, and had traveled about 20 yards through the lawn, headed directly to my tobacco bed.

Bob

 

[johnny108]

With hornworms, cutworms, and slugs, I have a simple rule….

 

[Fleaz]

Its been a month since I last posted an update. Life happened.... my fiancée's water broke at 26 weeks. She is still recovering from her emergency C-section and baby is in a NICU in Denver, about an hour from where I live. I've been in Denver hanging at the hospital most of the day. My daughter is doing exceptionally well, still we will probably be down here until October. With my limited time at home I have been tending to the yard and my tobacco plants, priming the TN90 and Meech leaves and air drying them in my garage, its been hot here in CO so that has been working out quite well. The meech suckered a crazy amount, I basically have 6 entire extra plants. Today I chopped 2 of the 3 TN90s to stalk cure. I'm not sure what to do with the Virginia now as I was planning to flue it all. They are still a dark green so I'm going to wait for them to yellow a bit more and try air drying the rest as I don't have the time to do the flue curing. Should I try stalk curing one in my garage?? I've debated towel cure at the hotel then bring them back to my house but logistically seems annoying haha. Anyways, I have a decent amount of cured leaves at this point and I have enjoyed my first grow, even if it ends early. I also let some go to seed with bags over them so hopefully I have some good seeds to try again next spring. Ill continue to post updates when I have the time if anything new occurs. Oh by the way, the horn worms enjoyed the trees lol, haven't seen them since.