deluxestogie Grow Log 2017

[SmokesAhoy]

I amend with compost in old established beds still, but use whatever is on sale. I agree with you about the cost in money and labor though to move it all into the ground, fertilizer is so much easier. I also used black kow in the past but that was when it was 3 dollars a bag if I'm remembering right and my garden was way smaller.

I was wondering if you'd ever thought about seeding a clover or vetch into the tobacco plots about a month after transplant? I wonder if they would provide a good living mulch without robbing too much from the soil and maybe even provide some nitrogen to the beds? I added about 3500 sqft of growing room this year and the idea of amending that is silly so I was going to look into cover crops to get the organic matter into the soil.

 

[deluxestogie]

Cover crops require

• seed purchase
• seed dispersal
• thorough tilling before it goes to seed

I suppose that if I were using power equipment, that wouldn't be a big deal. But adding one more complete round of tilling is not in my future.

Bob

 

[greenmonster714]

I amend with compost in old established beds still, but use whatever is on sale. I agree with you about the cost in money and labor though to move it all into the ground, fertilizer is so much easier. I also used black kow in the past but that was when it was 3 dollars a bag if I'm remembering right and my garden was way smaller.

I was wondering if you'd ever thought about seeding a clover or vetch into the tobacco plots about a month after transplant? I wonder if they would provide a good living mulch without robbing too much from the soil and maybe even provide some nitrogen to the beds? I added about 3500 sqft of growing room this year and the idea of amending that is silly so I was going to look into cover crops to get the organic matter into the soil.

I too am planning on a cover crop this year. I found this article the other day and it had some answers for me. Another thing I plan on doing is once the cover crop dies off for winter I want to cover them with some tree leaves. I figure the cover crop can punch through in the spring and be turned in when I prepare the plots for the spring. I dunno, I'm just thinking this through my head. Sounds like a plan though.

Cover Crop Article

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I used alfalfa cubes and pellets for the first time. It comes in at 16 metric dollars per 50lbs. It's an estimated 2.5-0.6-1.9. I honestly don't know how it compares by price to other fertilizers. Tobacco is so expensive here, I don't really care if I could have saved a few bucks. I'm already saving mega CAD. I do know it's easier to use than a cover crop.

 

[deluxestogie]

The greatest benefit of a fall/winter cover crop is its ability to prevent or minimize soil erosion on what would otherwise be bare ground. My separate planting beds, each surrounded by sod, have never eroded.

Also because my beds are surrounded by grass, they are aggressively invaded by both grass and weeds during the winter. Some years ago, I sowed lentils (right from the grocery store bag) onto each bed in mid August, while the tops of the tobacco stalks had not yet been primed. The lentils grew, but by springtime, the beds looked pretty much the same as years when I hadn't sowed the lentils. As with all legumes, they need to pretty much complete a full growth cycle, in order to add any significant nitrogen.

So, for the foreseeable future, I'll be using the low-chlorine 10:10:10 veggie fertilizer. I expect to add some Black Kow every few years, just to maintain the soil structure. I have no livestock, and my kitchen produces so little food waste, that composting would be silly.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Say, "Aaahh."

We should all hope that our physicians don't discover these.

I stumbled into these in the craft section of Walmart (while picking up another packet of foot-long pipe cleaners). A bag of 45 cost under $3.

These giant craft sticks are no thicker than the Popsicle stick or the tongue blade, so they're not likely to last in moist dirt more than a couple of months. But you can't argue about how easy they are to read. Markers made from these would be nice for neighbors who may wander past your tobacco. And, of course, they are biodegradable, and can be left in the ground to rot over winter.

Their resemblance to a cricket bat suggests that they might be handy for batting a hornworm moth out the park.

Bob

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Great find!

 

[deluxestogie]

Another point about labeling wood with a Sharpie marker: When exposed to full, direct sun, the Sharpie ink (though waterproof) begins to fade. I mark my sticks on both sides, and make sure to place them with one labeled surface tilted slightly toward the North. That preserves the ink that is shaded from the sun.

In reality, I seldom need labels beyond the first few weeks after transplant. By then, I know what is where. But early on, I sometimes need reminders, since the layout occasionally has changed from my original plans.

Historically (if the FTT forum can be regarded as a historical document of home tobacco growing), the greatest confusion of varieties occurs from mishaps or inattention during seeding, then again when managing seedlings. [It's a woeful saga of fallen tape labels, dropped trays, and wanton attacks by feline companions. Sometimes, varieties of seedlings have been distinguished by which is to the left or right of a tray--then the tray gets turned.] Some members have experienced seed that has been mislabeled by the vendor or sender--discovered once the plants have nearly matured.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

The weather forecast is for 5 days of rain. In fact, it said it was currently raining--but it wasn't. So I rushed out and transplanted my six remaining Prancak N-1 into the bed, inserted a depressingly huge tongue blade label, then covered it with an Agribon AG-15 scrap from yesteryear. That bed has already received its allotment of imidacloprid, so it will have to get by with that.

Then it started raining. A full, steady, happy garden sort of rain. I'm sure you won't miss having a photo of yet one more dirty bed sheet lying on the ground. When I wake up in 5 days, everything in those covered beds will be poking upwards. I'm sure.

Maybe one of these years, I'll put up a shade frame, like Jojjas. Three layers of Agribon AG-15 would provide 30% shade.

Bob

 

[Tutu]

I'm sure none of us would mind another picture Bob! Yet we can wait a few days longer and see an even happier sight! So everything went into the ground by now?

 

[deluxestogie]

So everything went into the ground by now?

Every tobacco bed now has its summer inhabitants.

I have one full tray (48 plants) of backup transplants. There are 4 extras of each variety, except Prancak N-1 and Besuki tabakanbau. I think I have 12 extras of Havana 322, since I started more than I normally would, when the Piloto Cubano failed to germinate. (It finally germinated just fine, after 10 long and fretful days.)

These extras will absolutely not go into the ground, unless something else dies. Rules are rules.

I do have one portion of a veggie bed that is still empty. It's about 3' x 5', and would hold 4 tobacco plants, but it's in a location that has never produced decent tobacco, because of the proximity of a large white pine. I had hoped to find some Ping Tung eggplant starts to put in there, but nobody has them this year. And I'd rather not add to my tobacco effort, simply to show mercy to some seedlings. Rules are rules.

Bob the Cruel

 

[greenmonster714]

Headlines: Brutal Bob Denies Life To Helpless Seedlings...film @ 11.

 

[deluxestogie]

One Vuelta Abajo, and one Piloto Cubano were topped by cutworms. This despite imidacloprid in the transplant water.

I pulled out the goners, and in both instances I discovered the cutworm, in person, a couple of inches below the soil surface alongside the damaged plant. (They are seldom that easy to locate.) Now, when I usually come across cutworms (a silver and white 1/2" tall letter 'C'), they squirm for mercy, crying out, "why am I being exposed to sunlight?" Just like a vampire. These two barely moved, though they appeared to be alive.

My Theory:
Cutworms obtain their required water (and nutrition) by severing the growth tip from a small plant, and sucking its juices from the vascular bundles of the stem. Just like a vampire. So these guys, though wallowing in imidacloprid, suffered no ill effects until they gave in to temptation, and tasted the forbidden tobacco. May they die in agony.

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. "Cutworms" are not a species, but a group of Lepidoptera (butterfly/moth) larvae that live in the soil, then emerge each night to feed on freshly snipped, small plants. As with most larvae (caterpillars), they need to eat the poison. So it looks like each cutworm gets to have one meal from a transplant treated with imidacloprid.

Some nice cutworm photos from ipmimages.org: https://www.ipmimages.org/browse/subthumb.cfm?sub=4253&area=62

Bob

EDIT: My vaunted collection of extras replaced the two mauled plants. Also, the IPM Images are not photos of nice cutworms, but are nice photos of not nice cutworms.

 

[deluxestogie]

Rain and Slope

My house is located a mere 100 yards from the Eastern Continental Divide (to the right, in this photo). If I spit in my yard, it ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. If I spit 100 yards to the east, it ends up in the Atlantic Ocean. So, the total watershed above my yard is tiny. But with persistent, heavy rain, the soil nonetheless becomes saturated, and standing water appears. When my driveway looks like it does in the photo above, then I know that the lower garden beds (which are about 40 feet to the left of the photo) are flooded.

One advantage to being near the top of the watershed is that areal flooding (rain falling on an area) usually subsides fairly quickly, and there is no risk of flash flooding. But the lowest portion of the property, below the garden beds, may remain flooded or soggy for a week or more. I created two garden beds near the lower limit of the garden slope a few years ago, but have since abandoned them because of persistently waterlogged soil.

In the photo below, the bed in the foreground (Besuki for this season) has only about 6" more elevation than the abandoned bed.

When the rain stops, the gentle slope of the garden allows the soil to dry in the upper beds within a few hours, and most of the lower beds within a day or so.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Easy Removal of Floating Row Covers

Here's what's been hidden beneath one of my Agribon AG-15 floating row covers. You get to see this, because I removed the cover today. I had planned to keep the bed covered for another week or two. But using an easy trick that they don't want you to know, I was able to remove the row cover with zero effort. That's right. Zero effort! And it was so quick--less than a second.

...And now, the rest of the story (with apologies to Paul Harvey).

As I was mowing the grass today, a teeny, tiny corner of the Piloto Cubano row cover sneaked under the edge of the belly mower. You might think that it would just get that teeny, tiny corner clipped. Instead, the entire row cover instantly shot out of the discharge opening. It made a brief, pathetic sound, like blowing out birthday candles.

One could imagine that such a traumatic removal of the floating row cover would scalp the tender transplants. That didn't happen. A single leaf lost its life in the process. All the plants just looked up at me and asked, "Umm...wasn't there a floating row cover here just a second ago?"

For most of the stones that were anchoring the row cover, it was like pulling a table cloth out from under the dishes and silverware. They stayed right where they had been. The one stone that moved, landed directly on top of a tobacco plant, but didn't seem to injure the stalk.

It took me about 15 minutes to pick up all the shreds of Agribon. A steady wind made that an entertaining endeavor.

So, for tonight, the Piloto Cubano will go naked.

Bob

 

[Charly]

All the plants just looked up at me and asked, "Umm...wasn't there a floating row cover here just a second ago?"

Happily no plant was injured

 

[greenmonster714]

That could have been a disaster. Glad to know your plants weren't sheered off to the soil.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Oh boy. The thought of you running after the loose bits of cloth made me laugh. I'm glad your tobacco is alright.

 

[deluxestogie]

On the bright side, since the row cover is gone, I was able to insert my giant tongue blade label into the bed. You can now identify the Piloto Cubano bed from Google Earth or the International Space Station. I'll post a photo, once the satellite has made its next pass.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

As promised, here is a genuine satellite photo of my Piloto Cubano bed. Wouldn't you know it, right when it finally passed overhead, there I am, standing in the way. And boy, was that thing flying low!

[I confess, even with photo manipulation, you still can't quite read the "Piloto Cubano" giant tongue blade in the genuine satellite photo.]

Here is my skippety-hop corncob bed. Some of the plants are the first planting, and the smaller ones are from the great re-seeding. I figure that by the time they're over 10' high, you won't notice the difference.

Even corn is interesting sometimes. Among the TN Red Cob plants, there is one freak mutant that is all yellow. While the other TN Red Cob stalks show red at the base, this yellow one does not. It's like an albino corn.

I will be sure to bag the silks and tassels of the yellow mutant separately from the other TN Red Cob. If it makes a fat cob, then I'll propagate it next year, to see if it breeds true. Unless it greens up a little, I doubt it will grow very well. Maybe it's just a slow starter, like white-stem burley.

Bob

EDIT:

Bonus Zoom

This is a comparison of the giant tongue blade and the standard tongue blade.