My window and balcony: 2024

[johnny108]

Suckered everything today- worse than usual. Or, at least worse than I remember…
And, sadly, the Drosgi Black-Blue in large containers outside are also flowering!
The container Kentucky are doing better than the in-ground plants. Looser soil mix, less rain exposure.

 

[johnny108]

I’m going to blame the weather for the poor showing of the Drosgi Black-Blue, because Polygon’s site says they yield a good 2 ounces per plant, at up to 10%+ nicotine.
(Although my seeds came from Skychaser, both he and Polygon sell the same ars-grin number for this variety.)

 

[johnny108]

Got a Trabzon-2 and a Kentucky Dark transplanted to window sill plants- put them in the
Morning sun window till lunch, then move them to afternoon windows. Do this until about a foot tall and they are too tall to move easily, then leave them in the evening window till flowering, like I did with some orientals.
Also transferred a Kentucky Dark into a pot filled with Perlite/Vermiculite (50/50). The pot was cut up with scissors to make a net cup. After the roots grow out and stabilize the growing medium, I will suspend the pot in a bucket lid, over a small bucket filled with triple-20 nutrient solution, aerated with an aquarium air pump.
Just to see how it does, hydroponically.

 

[johnny108]

2nd haircut for the Small Stalk Black Mammoth (shown), and Trabzon-2.
Already giving them full strength triple-20 with a dash of Epsom salts .

 

[johnny108]

Topped the Drosgi Black-Blue in the big containers. They were already flowering....
Lucky to get maybe 6 leaves per plant.

 

[johnny108]

3 Hyang Cho transplanted to a window box so the kids can watch them grow, along with their basil. Plus one more Hyang Cho in a pot for the balcony table.
(“Papa’s plants” is how they are referred to- never by what they are)

 

[johnny108]

Just did a bit of math and yield estimation:
The Drosgi Black-Blue will yield maybe 5 leaves each, each no bigger than my hand…..

 

[johnny108]

So, they have been culled, and, though it is early for them, the Small Stalk Black Mammoth have taken their place. The 2 “runts of the litter” have been put into the smallest pots on the left side.
I won’t get 2 crops this year, but I just couldn’t find a good reason to spend a month on maybe one ounce of leaves, and risk a second, likely better tasting crop, being hit by a freeze.
Always. Plant. Back-ups.

 

[Alpine]

That’s a pity. I was curious to hear your considerations about the Drosgi once harvested. Oh well, there’s always another year.

pier

 

[johnny108]

That’s a pity. I was curious to hear your considerations about the Drosgi once harvested. Oh well, there’s always another year.

pier

I still have 6 “bonsai” Drosgi BB on the balcony. I may be able to give you a review. So far- suckering is bad.

 

[johnny108]

Leftover Kentucky Dark are getting big. A couple had pretty straight stems, so they go in the bathroom window.
The big pot outside Kentucky Dark are doing very well. Looks like morning sun, afternoon shade keeps midday heat wilting from being a problem.

 

[johnny108]

Potted a Little Dutch, and am hardening it off on the balcony (gotta relabel the pot, though).
Outside Kentucky Dark are doing just as well with evening sun, especially compared to the in-ground plants.
And the Trabzon-2 seedlings have a remarkable upright growth habit (Sunset, and sunrise pictures).

 

[johnny108]

The Kentucky Dark are doing well, despite 2 weeks of daily thunderstorms.
I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what they are. The leaf shape is nothing close to a One Sucker variety- the leaves are too broad. The stem is light enough to be a burley, but the vein pattern looks close to what the Toscano cigar company shows on its website….plus the discussion on this forum about the cigars:

toscano cigars - what type of tobacco seed?

from what i took from the article Don, it could be done at home, if you have a chemistry degree, lol....whats weird is looked up cheese making because some of the microbes listed are from cheese....could it be possible that the "accident" of this fermentation could have been from a cheese...

fairtradetobacco.com

Hopefully dry weather is coming- I’m getting paler growth at the top of the plants, and I’m wondering if it’s from overwatering.

 

[johnny108]

A Kentucky Dark has volunteered for a special training system …..started normally, then transferred to 50/50 perlite/vermiculite, and hand watered with triple-20 plus a dash of Epsom salts. Now sitting in a bucket with an air stone, and full strength triple-20 and the dash of Epsom salts….going to compare to my soilless mix, and a different hand watered hydroponic Kentucky Dark.

 

[johnny108]

Balcony plants are doing well, including the bonsai Drosgi Black-Blue.
Wife wants me to find a hobby that takes up less square footage.

 

[johnny108]

One sucker seedlings are doing well, as are the Trabzon-2 starts, which are kind of in a holding pattern. The brown pots are Little Dutch, waiting for a bit more growth before going outside.

 

[johnny108]

Looks like the weather is causing early flowering in the Kentucky Dark! (See previous post: old man yells at cloud.)
I would think it would be from small containers, but even the big 25L container is flowering, so it’s gotta be the weather- thunderstorms every week and constant rain, plus temperature swings from 10C to 30C. And since it happened to the Drosgi Black-Blue, as well- gotta be the weather.
Looks like I will get 8-10 leaves from each plant. Hopefully they are as potent as the last crop. A second crop of One Sucker and Trabzon-2 is already prepped.

 

[johnny108]

In ground Kentucky Dark have definitely been stunted by the rain, but they don’t seem to be flowering yet.

 

[johnny108]

Potted up the Trabzon-2 and a One Sucker that was crowding the tray. If the Kentucky Dark is flowering, T2 and One Sucker will be my 2nd crop.

 

[johnny108]

Topped the Kentucky Dark today- they were all beginning to flower, except the three windowsill plants, and the balcony plants.