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Knucklehead

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I think they were just giving you an unobstructed view out of that window. Raise the window a few feet and you'll be okay.
 

jolly

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I think they were just giving you an unobstructed view out of that window. Raise the window a few feet and you'll be okay.

Yeah, I think per the HOA you can't block the window. I'm not surprised by it. Just wish I had a heads up. I could've cut the stalk on the big one and they'd have been fine. Oh well, anything I get from out front is more than I had. I knew the risk...
 

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I would definitely let them know they trimmed the WRONG plant for sure!

The HOA hires them. None of them speak English. I speak very close to zero Spanish.

It'll be interesting to see what they do to tobacco that looks like tobacco. I know most of them come from tobacco producing countries. They might give me a break.

I think they also get paid for new plant installs, because I've been having a harder time setting anything small out without them killing it. Then every so often they'll come in and fill the holes with plants. I am going to start returning the favor and making more room for what I want out there.
 

jolly

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The largest rustica leaf I grew. 15" x 13"

image.jpg

As I was priming these I noticed that the rustica was continuing to bud in the same spot. Usually plants have a bud in the leaf axle, but it's odd to have three. Hadn't noticed before. This one had been pinched back twice and another shoot was coming in after that.
image.jpg
 

jolly

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I finally caught up on all the threads I've been missing for the past week. You guys have been busy. I found my grow log halfway down the second page. Thought I'd post a quick update.

I cut all the rustica from the front window box and I'm stalk curing it. I got concerned when the other plants reached 4' and I didn't want to risk them getting hacked. They were pretty much ready anyway. My little dutch replacements aren't quite ready for transplant yet, so I've got a gap in my plan... Oh well. The bursa is also done, but since the habano 2000 isn't quite ready, I've left one stalk to sucker out and flower.

On the flip side, the burley is progressing a bit slower, as is the fl sumatra. The plus is that the burley hasn't shown signs of early bolting. I think my delay in getting them in the ground caused them to miss the photoperiod issue. I'm hoping they get huge.

Pics:
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Burley and bursa stalk

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FL sumatra

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Need some help with this one. What's wrong with this burley? leaf veins browning, new leaves look a bit crinkled.
 

jolly

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Thanks for that. I think you're right. I'm also growing tomato and pepper (a vector for pepper veinal mottling virus) so there may be some risk. I haven't seen much aphid activity, but I do have some whitefly. I think I'm going to try spray insecticide to prevent further infections and maybe remove diseased leaves. In reading some other info it appears that the virus is limited to infected leaves.
 

deluxestogie

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I have not dealt with Tobacco Vein Mottling Virus (TVMV). My experience with Tobacco Etch Virus (TEV) is that when it appears, it spreads little if at all to neighboring plants, and most often doesn't even spread to higher leaves on the affected plant. I suspect that, at least with TEV, the affected leaves are infected by insect vectors early in the season, and that the vectors are not spreading the virus later in the season. Like TVMV, TEV overwinters in solanaceous weeds.

You may want to watch one TVMV affected plant, without removing the infected leaves, to see what it does. For me, TEV is just an occasional excuse for a crummy looking leaf, rather than a blight that requires action.

Bob
 

jolly

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I ended up pulling the infected plant out today. I had planned to keep it, but in the process of removing a tree stump next to it I ended up damaging some of its roots.

Also, I've just topped one of the FL sumatra's. It's a little shy of 4' right now.
image.jpg

Interesting thing to note: I've been complaining about my winter grows producing smaller plants, and believing this to be photoperiod related. It appears this is only the case with one cultivar I grow (KY16). For the other varieties I grow, from what I've read, the plants count the number of leaves above the roots. For most cigar tobaccos it appears this number is around 22 leaves above ground. After topping the FL sumatra it has exactly 22 leaves. It appears it's just a smaller plant given the lower levels of sunlight -- but with the same number of leaves as the 7 footers I grow in late summer.

image.jpg
Here's a shot of my curing area. Mix of bursa, rustica, and KY16 burley. Also a mix of priming and stalk curing. I'm finding the stalk cured plants seem to be doing the best with the changes in temp and humidity we've been seeing lately. Also, having most of the burley and FL sumatra slightly behind the rest worked in my favor. So far I don't have to come up with a way to increase my hanging space. The next round will likely require me to put up some hooks or wires. I'm going back through others' grow logs to see what arrangements may work for me.
 

Knucklehead

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After browning, you can finish drying on some propagation heat mats if you have any. I use them to finish stem drying to free up space in my shop. Just stack them on the mats in piles and flip them over when the stems on the bottom of the stack are snap crackle pop dry. You can carefully move them outside on a humid night or a rainy day for them to rehydrate after drying.
 

jolly

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That's a great idea, I just don't have the space. Once the leaves are pretty much cured, if I need the space outdoors I'll move them into our storage closet. It's pretty dry in there. The other thing is it's away from the kids, who can do significant damage to tobacco in all stages of cultivation. I've sprayed for them but nothing seems to keep them away. If any of you are growing a soccer ball resistant variety please let me know.
 

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I just fence in the garden and keep the kids, dogs, rabbits and all the other creatures away but this doesn't always work. I need a scarecrow drone to fly around and protect the tobacco.
 

jolly

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I just fence in the garden and keep the kids, dogs, rabbits and all the other creatures away but this doesn't always work. I need a scarecrow drone to fly around and protect the tobacco.

I tried some of the border fencing a few years ago when the kids were really small. This kinda worked to keep tricycles and pedal cars out of the border. They're getting better at playing out front, but when cousins and friends are over, all bets are off...
 

jolly

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Been away for a while -- I've got tons of posts to catch up on.

Quick update on the garden. All my plants from round one sown in Dec are either hanging or in canning jars. Growing in the borders with the most sunlight, I was able to get the following:

4 KY16 burley
3 Bursa
6 FL sumatra
4 Rustica

I had started round 2 before topping most of these. I was intending to plant silkleaf, small stalk black mammoth, and bafra, but had issues with insects/disease and "kid damage." Currently there is one small stalk, silkleaf, and one bafra that survived. In addition, I started criollo 98 and little dutch -- and these are now set out as well. I'll post some pics later of the new plants. Disease is my biggest concern at the moment. I've been spraying for white fly, but they keep coming back in force. The tomatoes seem to attract them the most -- which i believe is the cause of some of the disease I'm seeing. I may have to ditch the peppers and tomatoes until I get the last few rounds of tobacco done.
 

jolly

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Below are two pics of bafra. The plant was severely stunted and flowered at about 2 ft. It's since been removed. I'll take some other pics in a day or so. The one surviving black mammoth is suffering, as are the habano 2000.


Hmm. Ok, well, the forum won't let me upload right now. I'll try again tomorrow.

Current plan for 4 growing seasons in a year is on hold. I've gotten rid of the tomato plant which I believe brought this plague to my door. I'm going to harvest everything that survives this grow, nuke the back porch with insecticide to kill the white fly, then i'll try for one more grow once things have died down.

On an up side. The tobacco I harvested earlier this year now smells awesome. I've been smoking some of the bursa from lower stalk positions and it's fantastic. Interestingly, two of the stalks took root where I tossed them and have been suckering almost continually since that harvest. The leaves are tiny, but I've been topping and cutting each one when it's ready, so far about 7 suckers. I've smoked some of the lower leaves of these as well after color curing and hanging for a while and they're very good as well, though a bit milder than the first crop. With the heat and humidity things are curing to a smokeable state pretty fast just by hanging for a while.
 
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