DubHelix's 2017 Grow

[dubhelix]

I'm planting a dark air-cured variety called "Red Front" this year. I've got 50 cells filled, using my deep tree-seedling seed trays again. I'm using Coco-fiber and vermiculite to start the seeds. Normally I'd use Peat Moss, but my hippie wife told me the coconut stuff is sustainable-er.



Got the patch tilled. I'm going to try fabric covered beds this year to try to retain moisture and suppress weeds. The patch is in a hayfield, so I gotta do something.



I figure I have about three weeks to get it ready for the transplants.

 

[deluxestogie]

Good luck with your grow. Nice tiller, too.

Bob

 

[Tutu]

Vermiculite is very nice with getting seed started!

 

[greenmonster714]

Best of luck to ya. I do love that tiller too.

 

[dubhelix]

Thanks, y'all.

The Tiller is a BCS 739. It's also my mower and sometimes my Mule.

 

[Charly]

Good luck with your grow
Nice spot to grow tobacco, you seem to have a lot of space !

I don't know this strain "Red Front", is it the same as "Rot Front" (http://nwtseeds.com/Rot Front.htm) ?

 

[dubhelix]

Good luck with your grow
Nice spot to grow tobacco, you seem to have a lot of space !

I don't know this strain "Red Front", is it the same as "Rot Front" (http://nwtseeds.com/Rot Front.htm) ?

Yes, that's the same one. Rot = Red

 

[Gavroche]

I like tiller...

good luck

 

[DistillingJim]

I very nearly got some red front this year but ended up going another way. Will be interested to see how it turns out for you.

 

[dubhelix]

Some of the Red Front seedlings are ready to go in the ground. Others, not so much. Oh well I've gardened this patch for three years, do the soil is ok. Added a scoop of homemade organic fertilizer and a shovelful of decomposed horse manure from the horse farm across the street to each planting spot and worked it in.

Transplanted the seedlings and watered them in well. I'm using a closer spacing than I have in previous years to maximize my space and hopefully suppress weeds. These are 24" inches apart.


And here's the garden (and my wife). We rigged a netting fence to keep the deer out, and to keep my Whippets from tearing through the garden at 35mph. [/COLOR]

Weve also got corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, peppers, okra, and other stuff planted.

 

[greenmonster714]

Awesome start. I'm a little green with envy. Can't wait to get mine planted. Looks like your the first to plant some tobacco this year.

 

[Tutu]

Those are all lovely photographs! Is that last picture taken on another day than those sunny ones? Looks like a beautiful patch for tobacco. Hope they'll give you something really good

 

[Alpine]

Beautiful garden DubH!

Pier

 

[ArizonaDave]

Nice! Hope you have a good year!

 

[Brown Thumb]

Looks Sweet, have a super yr. that mower will have no mercy on toes or fingers.

 

[dubhelix]

... that mower will have no mercy on toes or fingers.

It makes short work of a premium garden hose, that's for sure.

[The 17 transplants are doing OK. Flea Beetles got after them, so I dusted the plants with some diatomaceous earth powder. Might try Kaolin next.

A late frost killed off all the seedlings remaining in the starter tray, but the transplants are all fine.

 

[dubhelix]

So, this variety grew well for me this year. They're about 3' tall and starting to flower. It's been 10 weeks since I started the seed.




The hornworms are starting to do some damage, so I'm thinking of starting to harvest the big lower leaves. Is there any disadvantage in doing so?

 

[deluxestogie]

I don't know what variety you're showing.

In general, wait for the tip of the leaf to begin to show yellow, before harvesting it. Much earlier, and they will be thin and difficult to color-cure. For burley, and flue-cure varieties, wait for the leaves to show signs of being ripe--"alligator" texture and coloring, and broadly yellowed.

If your planting is not too large, you can pick the hornworms off (and squish them) daily.

Bob

 

[dubhelix]

Thanks Bob. The variety is Rot Front, an Austrian Dark Air cured variety.

I've been squishing hornworms twice daily, and I've tried dusting with diatomaceous earth, but with all the rain in the Shenandoah it just gets washed right off.

I'll just keep squishing worms until the leaves are ripe. I guess "perfect" leaves aren't necessary for grinding into snus, they're just so pretty I hate to see the worm-holes.

 

[deluxestogie]

The only dark-air variety that I've grown is Little Yellow. I allowed the leaves to fully ripen, prior to priming. I think it would have done well with stalk harvesting.

I don't know much about dark-air varieties or snus making. Perhaps some of the forum's snus makers could provide better guidance on this.

Bob