Deans grow log 2013

[Dean]

02/02/14

ok guys time for the pictorial update

I am going to use this post to name off the strains in case something happens to my paper copy.

FL Sumatra Sun


FL Sumatra shade


Bafra


Bursa


PA Red


RSE or Rose?


Work from top to bottom
Each var are in 2 rows of four plants
Black Mammoth
zimmer Spanish
B21
Kelly burley
MA 609
Little Dutch
Havana as a single row in the picky.


From bottom to top at 2 rows of four plants a variety
Havanah
6 rows of four plants
VG gold
Four rows of four plants TN Red leaf, anyone got ant smoking info on this one?



you can see in the large bed the cocoanut fibre, it is working well.

knucks, when I say mist I mean a micro sprayer on for a few minutes either before wilt or just after mid day. The wilt is as extreme as drying th eleaves green in only 2 hours or so. with humidity below 20% the misting not only moistens the leaf but raises rh close to the seedlings to a point they can continue to grow. I am not watering, the penetration would be less than 1/4 in but is enough to create a humid enough environment for them to continue growth.

cheers guys.

 

[Dean]

There will be piccies coming of the YTB and VA Bright but they are 2 weeks behind these so are not really established yet.

 

[Knucklehead]

The land of Oz is looking pretty good to us winter bound folks. Your baccy is coming along nicely.

 

[Dean]

I seem to be getting a lot better growth on this late crop. Now they are punching along I will update weekly till harvest.

i have already started sorting out the drying shed, barn.. for you northerners. With 180 or so in I'm not looking forward to harvest. The burleys will all be stalked to save a bit of room and time and I have a section out of the way for the shade leaf to minimise damage. The shades have surprised me 3x the size of the sun grown Sumatra. How big will these guys get under 50% cloth? I will need to get them staked within the week a bit of bad weather tonight has had them moving around quite a bit. I can drop some bamboo stakes in tomorow to firm them up for the time being.

The Bafra are suckering already? They are small for suckers I would have thaught. Or is it just that sort of strain?

cheers guys.

 

[Dean]

I am still suffering a lot of transpirational heat shock, wilting. The days are hot and humidity is at 20% or less. I have not lost any but some, most of the smaller transplants are under a lot of stress. I am still wilting to the point of flash cured leaf on the plants but it is sporatic around the garden. I have tried to plant with afternoon protection as much as I can to reduce the effects of the excess heat we have here and the low RH. Some beds are faring better than others, some rows in the large bed, even individual plants fare better as the sun comes off them earlier. This will be evident later as their growth will be slowed. The majority have found a happy medium of wilting and rejuvenation in the afternoon/evening. I am trying to keep the water off to encourage deeper rooting. I know the soil is moist 2" down so I am happy so far. We have not had rain since transplant so I have given small doses of water to keep them going. Less than 1" . The water has mostly been to humidify the soil for hardening off to the ground. This has now stopped.

unless I can dig to 8" and see no moisture the plants will not be watered again before harvest. It's toughen up time so I expect to see a few more crisp leaves and stressed plants till their roots get down deep enough. I have been walking a fine line between water and growth the last few weeks, I am trying to get a growing head going and roots down at the same time.

i hope to get a few leaves around each plant that has not been mulched tomorow to take down soil temperature. The black soil is a lot hotter than a brown or white soil. From what I have seen of ten, a brown soil is good, from closer to canader a lighter colour comes into play and won't heat up as much.

soil colour has a direct correlation to the heat generated and stored by that soil. The darker the more heat retention and generation. I will mulch with brown leaves tomorow and won't be surprised if temperature at leaf level follows the cocoanut or will be less being a lighter colour.

cheers

 

[Rickey60]

Dean,
It looks like your doing something right. All the plants look like they are doing good. I think they are putting on deeper roots and once that is done the tops will take off. Hang in there, its only a matter of time.

 

[Dean]

I am discovering 180 odd plants is a bit of work. I have just been rosterd on 10 shifts a week for the next month and a half. I think they are at the stage they are coping with the heat. A couple more weeks and the extreme summer heat will start to dissipate. We are already seeing night time temps of 25degC which is a nice change to the 30's we have been having. Some of the strains have a good 6/8 plants, others all good growth. The Bafra are knocked around a lot.

ill try and get a few piccies up later in the week.

i fead a couple of days ago, foliar and some chook. Gave enough water to stop the chook smelling up the place. Hit them all with iron sulfate and trace in 2 seep rate applications. Was easier than expected pulling out the old nursery sprayer, a pneumatic 50 gallon jobbie. It gets a lot of liquid feed on the ground quick but is heavy and cumbersome on my 40 dergee block of land.

the gravel bed is rife with weeds, but it hasn't been cultivated in a decade so had a large build up of un germinated seed when I turned it over. I'll give them a scrape while they are small, maybe next week if I get time. I hope the spacings in that bed are close enough to canopy mulch the soil soon and retard any re growth. If the weather holds it looks to be a dry start to winter fingers crossed and prayers to the baccy gods.

the shed (barn) is now fully set up to take in the leaf and stalked plants, screws have been driven, nails have been punched and venting and humidity sources checked, fans installed etc. I have added extra ventilation and will now be pushing air in from one end like a chook shed. Cool air from the shaded side. I have set up the humidistat to run the fans to keep it at or below 70% hum. It will be the first time I will have a crop this large to cure and I'm a little worried. Mostly with the venting of excess humidity from the curing barn. It's 8 x 4 x 3 high meters.

i have also sorted some sort of heating by adding an electric convection heater a 3x2' ceramic plate thermo controlled heater.

if there is something I have forgotten or overlooked please let me know.

cheers guys.

 

[Knucklehead]

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week. George S. Patton.

Sounds good Dean.

 

[Dean]

15/02/14
FL shade

FL sun

Gravel bed

Bafra not doing so well

PA red and Rose from the brick down doing very well

Orinoco and shirey suckers

YTB and shirey suckers

VA Bright and shirey suckers.

Will get get the rest up once they have downloaded, just

 

[Dean]

Bursa

 

[DGBAMA]

The Bursa look quite happy

 

[Indianamac]

Nice Dean!!

Look'n great! I am so over this winter here in Indy. I have 10 types of seed from Sky, that I am just itch'n to germinate. I'm about 2 months out, before I can start and your blog is making me have spring fever. Good job and good luck with your crop.

 

[DGBAMA]

Nice Dean!!

Look'n great! I am so over this winter here in Indy. I have 10 types of seed from Sky, that I am just itch'n to germinate. I'm about 2 months out, before I can start and your blog is making me have spring fever. Good job and good luck with your crop.

Mac, you should only be a couple weeks from starting germination if you are indoors, 6-8 weeks before last frost. Spring is just a blink away.......better get them starting trays cleaned out.

 

[DonH]

Mac, you should only be a couple weeks from starting germination if you are indoors, 6-8 weeks before last frost. Spring is just a blink away.......better get them starting trays cleaned out.

In Indy I would wait until the second half of March to germinate. Even if you don't get a late frost in mid May, and given the Winter of 2014 all bets are off, usually the ground is still cold in early May. And there are lots of pests. Just my take on it. Plus everyone says 61
-8 weeks, but I wait for the full 8 weeks and put them in red plastic drink cups so that I can move them in and out if the nights get cold. But transplanting them into cups allows more root growth before putting them into the ground.

 

[Indianamac]

Thanks for the input guys. I really do appreciate it.

DonH,
I was planning on or about March 15th to germinate. I agree totally about all bets being off. We had 2" of snow here, on May 7th of 1989 (my wifes senior prom) and it was cold into June that year.

DGBAMA,
Here in Indy, if I started to germinate in a couple of weeks by April, I'd have plants and no where to put them. I'm ready though and it's hard to see guys like Deen here, growing and getting going and all I have is snow, ice and un-germinated seeeds.

 

[DonH]

March 15 seems just right for central Indiana. In Mass. I started last year on March 21st. but we're farther north.

Thanks for the input guys. I really do appreciate it.

DonH,
I was planning on or about March 15th to germinate. I agree totally about all bets being off. We had 2" of snow here, on May 7th of 1989 (my wifes senior prom) and it was cold into June that year.

DGBAMA,
Here in Indy, if I started to germinate in a couple of weeks by April, I'd have plants and no where to put them. I'm ready though and it's hard to see guys like Deen here, growing and getting going and all I have is snow, ice and un-germinated seeeds.

 

[Dean]

20/02/14

had 2 days of rain, 1/2 in all up, lost a few young leaves to hail and twigs but plants have jumped. Fed today fairly heavily with liquid feed to the top garden, left the gravel bed to feed off the chook poo. I am noticing a lot of variety specific growth, the Havanas are slow, the burleys are quick and the orientals not near the tree are 2' high. If I only had a paddock to grow in I'd be apples. The little Dutch are looking like LD, the Zimmer keeps going up without large leaves forming. The PA red and rose are doing better than any as they are in well, let's call it compost they are bloody amazing in growth but I'm worried they won't hit the soil hard enough to take out all the nitro. The gravel bed is a no nitro bed and all is supplied by me and a hoarse that left a few tonnes there a few years ago.that nitrogen should be well and truly bound so shouldn't be an issue.

The wilt issues are all but sorted now the roots are down, the only issues I still have are the shade, hot afternoon sun cooking them off with the thin leaves, I'm not putting in a fog system for the 6 plants so the sink or swim.

piccies soon

 

[Dean]

26/02/14

some more pics from around the place.

Gravel bed

FL Shade

FL sun

Bafra

PA Red

Rose

 

[Dean]

Edit. Bafra is now labelled correctly, the bursa is in the bed under the tree doing poorly. No growth as such so I won't use that bed again unless I can rais it a bit over winter.

 

[Rickey60]

Looking good Dean!