Knucklehead's 2022 Prilep and Veggie Container Grow Blog

[Knucklehead]

The Knucklehead pumpkin is growing fast. I can just make out the beginnings of the characteristic lumps on the skin in places. Not yet ready for prime time on the camera.



It also got it's own reservoir and I went from having to water three times a day to only once in the morning. The moisture in the grow bags was being sucked right into the dry, dry ground. An extra reserve of water and a barrier from the dry ground made a huge difference.

 

[deluxestogie]

The cluster of Prilep looks magnificent! I have to say that I can't imagine having to water my plants even three times a week, never mind three times a day.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

The cluster of Prilep looks magnificent! I have to say that I can't imagine having to water my plants even three times a week, never mind three times a day.

Bob

The Prilep are doing great, no pests yet, not even a single aphid and I didn't use imidacloprid or BT. I don't even have to patrol, wasps and lizards are on vigilant duty. Aside from water, fertilizer, and blow downs it's been a zero maintenance grow. Cleanest tobacco leaf I've produced so far. Knock on wood.

Watering three times a day is like a ball and chain. You can't just pick up and go and forget about it. One time per morning is not a problem and I can water everything, come back in, and the coffee in my cup is not even cold.

 

[Oldfella]

Does seem to be a lot of watering. I only need to water once a week.
Oldfella

 

[Knucklehead]

Does seem to be a lot of watering. I only need to water once a week.
Oldfella

We had a little bit of a drought and high's in the 90's (F) for a little while until the thunderstorms and we've gotten a couple slow soaking rains since then. Still, the pumpkins and squash in 3 gal. fabric grow bags and the tobacco in 1 gal. grow bags were needing a lot of attention. I have my fingers crossed the pans under them slow down the loss of moisture I'm losing to dry ground, dry air, and plant needs. I hardly water the okra, corn, and beans, they don't seem to need it.
I jinxed myself with the overly optimistic brag about clean leaf. No sooner did I post that than I went out and squished three tiny hornworms about 3/16" long under some little tiny holes. I knew better, I spouted off anyway. No aphids though, several ladybuds patrol the garden.

 

[Oldfella]

We had a little bit of a drought and high's in the 90's (F) for a little while until the thunderstorms and we've gotten a couple slow soaking rains since then. Still, the pumpkins and squash in 3 gal. fabric grow bags and the tobacco in 1 gal. grow bags were needing a lot of attention. I have my fingers crossed the pans under them slow down the loss of moisture I'm losing to dry ground, dry air, and plant needs. I hardly water the okra, corn, and beans, they don't seem to need it.
I jinxed myself with the overly optimistic brag about clean leaf. No sooner did I post that than I went out and squished three tiny hornworms about 3/16" long under some little tiny holes. I knew better, I spouted off anyway. No aphids though, several ladybuds patrol the garden.

Have you tried a soak hose? If you have a look at my blog you'll see my setup. My ground usually gets very dry in midsummer, it has cracks in it quite wide and deep. Good hidey holes for crickets.
Oldfella

 

[Knucklehead]

Have you tried a soak hose? If you have a look at my blog you'll see my setup. My ground usually gets very dry in midsummer, it has cracks in it quite wide and deep. Good hidey holes for crickets.
Oldfella

I haven't actually tried a soak hose, but I have used drip irrigation at 1/2 gal. per hour spaced one emitter per plant. Once I survived a drought so bad I gave up on the tobacco and just let it ride, not irrigating a drop, I decided I was overthinking things and inventing problems that weren't there. Tobacco is tougher than boiled shoe leather. I water now this year because the containers demand it. If those same plants were in the ground I wouldn't be watering at all. BTW ( that's By The Way for deluxestogie) I loved your Grow Blog with the Jasmine and the Jasmine was absolutely chewed up and the rest of the plants were barely touched. I thought, " you know, that man may be on to something". Really cool.

 

[Oldfella]

You say Tobacco is tough, you got that right. I hung some suckers to stork dry in February as an experiment. I was stripping the leaves today and look what I found.
Not a very good picture but look closely. No water involved.

 

[Knucklehead]

You say Tobacco is tough, you got that right. I hung some suckers to stork dry in February as an experiment. I was stripping the leaves today and look what I found.
Not a very good picture but look closely. No water involved.View attachment 42052View attachment 42052

I'm seeing green! That's just awesome.

 

[Knucklehead]

I'm minus one Prilep due to a thunderstorm. All the plants were blown over including those in 2 gal. clay pots. (inside were 1 gal. grow bags that I didn't water due to oncoming rain. They were very lightweight at the time) One plant was snapped off about 6" above soil level. I can no longer say I've never stalk harvested before. The immature plant is hanging on the back of the four wheeler in the garage for wilting. I'm going to try to coax it into showing some yellow and then move it into the sun for sun cure. The taller plants are 5' to the growth tip, the shortest one is 4' and was one of my back ups that I went ahead and potted late. A couple are budding and the short plant has two emerging flowers. The lower leaves are pale but the younger growth is green and vibrant. I'm not going to fertilize them anymore as I don't want them kicking back into the growth stage. It's time to let them mature, thicken up, and produce some wonderful Prilep goodness.
Everything is okay now, Ferocious Garden Dog is sniffing for hornworms and similar varmints.


The flowering Prilep.



Corn, beans, and squash. We had several days of rain and my squash developed powdery mildew that I've been battling with milk. It seems to be working. The old leaves are grey but not fluffy powdery and I've been snipping them off as soon as possible without denuding the plants of their solar panels. The new growth looks good but production has slowed but not stopped. The powdery mildew doesn't affect the vegetable but can kill the plants. I'm trying to fight the good fight and avoid chemical weapons.

I have corn on the cob on the stalk. Pulling a few beans 3 or 4 at a time and freezing them. I may have enough now for about five servings.


Little bitty tomatoes on all the plants and blooming like crazy. Three different varieties.


The slow growing okra have grown some more and starting to show some activity at last. The pumpkin are spreading all over the place. And I have another baby pumpkin.


The Knucklehead pumpkin are showing more of the knots on their head. Ugly as sin but I'm thinking scary Jack o' Lantern and tasty pie.

 

[Knucklehead]

The aftermath.

 

[Knucklehead]

Another thunderstorm. Mostly wind and noise. I think I'll make a few changes next year.





Ahhh. That's better. Poor little critters.

 

[tullius]

Dumb question, but are you able to just put them in the ground?

 

[skychaser]

I've never seen anyone grow tobacco plants like yours in such small pots. Or corn. Or squash or melons. Do you have magic beans that reach to the clouds too? So what's your secret there Mr. Green thumb?

 

[Knucklehead]

Dumb question, but are you able to just put them in the ground?

I have deer roaming around in packs of twenty, plus my pear, plums, and persimmon have grown up and shaded my old tobacco patch down at the pond, but there are deer tracks on top of deer tracks on top of deer tracks all around the pond when the weather dries to dust. The other closest water source is across the highway in a swamp. Deer never bothered the tobacco but I also wanted to grow vegetables. The past couple of times we tried veggies at the pond (a few hundred yards from the house) the wonderful looking crop would get destroyed in a night. Out of desperation I put the plants in the yard by the house hoping to keep the deer away. So far, so good, but they stare at me on the porch from about 20 ft. away and continue browsing in the woods. They totally ignore me. I just live and let live, I haven't hunted in nearly a decade. I just enjoy the wildlife and try to get along as best I can. I really don't want to plow up the yard, getting zoysia going from seed was a pain in the first place. The northern and eastern sides of the house are too shady for even shade tolerant grass like creeping red fescue. Tobacco would be out of the question. I also don't want to fence. I've seen videos of deer jumping an 8 ft. chain link fence.

 

[Knucklehead]

I've never seen anyone grow tobacco plants like yours in such small pots. Or corn. Or squash or melons. Do you have magic beans that reach to the clouds too? So what's your secret there Mr. Green thumb?

I don't know what happened. This was my first container grow for veggie's and my first experience with grow bags. Like everything else, there's good and bad to the bags. I planned on a small experimental grow to see how far I could push the plants and crowd them in case I wanted to go bigger next year but keep a small footprint. 2 silver queen corn plants and 4 pole bean plants in a 3 gal. grow bag should have been pushing it. 2 squash plants in a 3 gal. bag should have been pushing it. Nope. All thriving until powdwey mildew hit the squash and then I realized why you don't crowd squash. Everything else looks great. A few tomatoes have blossom end rot on the bottoms. There's about 60 corn stalks crowded together in that tiny little spot (approx. 5-6 ft. diameter) and most of them now have at least one corn cob and some of them showing two. I've only fertilized three times with Miracle Grow. I have no explanation and I sure can't take credit, I've mostly left them alone aside from daily water for the tomatos, tobacco, and squash. Must be the air.

 

[Knucklehead]

I sowed wildflowers three years ago. The perennials are still doing good but there are fewer and fewer annuals each year. Poor weather at the time they needed to seed themselves.





They stretch from the shop to the mailbox.

edit: I finally figured out the magnification button on my cell camera. Too late for these. Heat index was a 105 a couple days ago and feels just slightly less today. Almost took my breath away.

 

[skychaser]

Must be the air.

ahuh.... sure... it's the air. I think it's more likely Homer got you some tomacco fertilizer at the nucleon plant.

 

[Knucklehead]

I primed a couple bottom leaves from each Prilep plant. I got a hanger full. I had broken some of the midrib standing the plants back up after another wind last night. No rain. Many of the plants are budding and two are flowering.
I'll wilt them in the garage a couple of days and move them to full sun.

 

[Knucklehead]

I harvested my first ear of corn for the season. The end of the silks had been brown and it felt full so I pulled it. The kernels have a milky color so it was just right. There are several ears with brown silks not far behind. They appear and feel to be of normal diameter but about half length. Full and beautiful with no bare spots but half length. That's cool.