Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Yea, that’s what I was thinking…unfortunate. I hope I can grow some to maturity this year as I was excited about growing it…a handful of the 26 I started are doing pretty well. We shall see…
Tobaccofieldsforever 2023 Grow Log
- Thread starter Tobaccofieldsforever
- Start date
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Planting is complete! Golden burley, African red, my f4 hybrid, Prilep, MD 609, harrow velvet, Virginia gold, Costello, buckeye red, yellow twist bud, a green stem burley from local farm market 2 years ago, and a few other random “experimental tobacco varieties”…
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
About 300 or so plants this year all together…let’s see what survives!! Hornworms were pretty bad last year…fingers crossed!!
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
What is the best defense against cut worms and or slugs? I hate using any chemicals but I have lost 3 plants already and feel like I need to do something or they’ll just keep getting picked off. I find the plant laying over on its side and a lot of the leaves eaten. Seems like it was snapped off at the base of the plant at the dirt line.
I lost a plant to a cut worm once and dug around the surface of the soil around the plant until I found it. Here is some info on cutworms from another thread:
fairtradetobacco.com
Grow Log 2021 @Saintanthonysfire
Anything I need to do? Have them drying in shed with screen door, fan on low. In PA, temps 70s-80s humidity 70+ everyday.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
I did just that after I read your reply. Couldn’t find the 3rd one but I bestowed justice swiftly and with extreme prejudice!I lost a plant to a cut worm once and dug around the surface of the soil around the plant until I found it. Here is some info on cutworms from another thread:
Grow Log 2021 @Saintanthonysfire
Anything I need to do? Have them drying in shed with screen door, fan on low. In PA, temps 70s-80s humidity 70+ everyday.
I can see a hornworm nibbling away at a leaf and do something about it in time. Cutworms can take an entire plant down before you know it. Nasty creatures. Good job. Keep up the good work!
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Yea, hornworms are terrible here too. Picked well over 100 off my plants last year. I spread some DE today as well.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Lost ANOTHER plant to cut worm this morning. Dug it up and killed it. It was a relatively large plant and it was cut over about an inch above the soil with some of the leaves eaten. I had just watered everything last night (rendering the DE useless)…never had this much trouble with cut worms before but leave it to me to experience any possible issue I can with tobacco farming!!
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Also, one question. Is BT the way to go with this issue? Anyone familiar with the bioadvanced/Bayer pesticide imidacloprid?? Any help/ suggestions would be great! (I would like to keep any chemical usage to a minimum and go the most natural but still effective Route..)
BT is the way to go for worms and caterpillars. It needs to be applied every couple of weeks and after a rain by spray. A pump sprayer works well. It is not like a traditional contact poison. It is more of a bioweapon for hornworms. They have to eat the leaf and it does something to their digestion so they die of severe indigestion. Or something. It has a short half life and is gone by the time you harvest, cure, and smoke. It may be considered organic but don't hold me to that, I'm still on my first cup of coffee. Since the leaf has to be eaten and digested, BT is safe around pollinators like bees.
The imidacloprid is used in the transplant water. It is taken up by the roots and kills aphids, whiteflies, etc. You can add the recomended dose to some water and pour it around the roots. I use the bioadvanced brand for fruits and vegetables. It is gone by harvest time as a few aphids will start to appear again after flowering time. You can also use dish detergent and water in a spray bottle. (Its a pain in the butt) That washes away a protective coating on the aphids and reduces their immunity. They die of the flu or something. You can also wash the leaves while either still on the plant or immediately after priming with a garden hose. Just a slow stream and use your hands, don't use a jet spray. If I don't use imidacloprid, I prefer to hose off the leaf with a garden hose about harvest time or as I prime.
edit: my statement was a little confusing. I use the bioadvanced brand that is labeled for fruits and vegetables. I have only used it on tobacco.
The imidacloprid is used in the transplant water. It is taken up by the roots and kills aphids, whiteflies, etc. You can add the recomended dose to some water and pour it around the roots. I use the bioadvanced brand for fruits and vegetables. It is gone by harvest time as a few aphids will start to appear again after flowering time. You can also use dish detergent and water in a spray bottle. (Its a pain in the butt) That washes away a protective coating on the aphids and reduces their immunity. They die of the flu or something. You can also wash the leaves while either still on the plant or immediately after priming with a garden hose. Just a slow stream and use your hands, don't use a jet spray. If I don't use imidacloprid, I prefer to hose off the leaf with a garden hose about harvest time or as I prime.
edit: my statement was a little confusing. I use the bioadvanced brand that is labeled for fruits and vegetables. I have only used it on tobacco.
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I agree with @Knucklehead.
The safest approach to dealing with cutworms is prior to transplant. Deeply till the soil. A cutworm will amputate a small tobacco stalk long before any poison within the plant can kill it. Soil fumigation is expensive, and not suitable for home growing.
What you have done—angrily dig out and kill the perpetrator—is also effective, unless you have heavily infested soil. That sort of situation is why I always attempt to have ~25% more transplants available than I expect to put into the ground. [Then I get to watch in silence, as my excess seedlings wither and die.]
Imidacloprid is not (trendy) "organic". It is a synthesized neonicotinoid (faster, deadlier, more persistent than its "natural" nicotine prototype), though indeed it is an organic compound (containing covalently bonded carbon) from a chemist's standpoint. I use the "fruits and vegetables" Imidacloprid preparation—at the dosage stated for tomatoes, but only in my transplant water, only for my tobacco, and never for fruits and vegetables. This practice is safe for pollinators (although a honeybee stung me on my chin as I was mowing yesterday!).
Bob
The safest approach to dealing with cutworms is prior to transplant. Deeply till the soil. A cutworm will amputate a small tobacco stalk long before any poison within the plant can kill it. Soil fumigation is expensive, and not suitable for home growing.
What you have done—angrily dig out and kill the perpetrator—is also effective, unless you have heavily infested soil. That sort of situation is why I always attempt to have ~25% more transplants available than I expect to put into the ground. [Then I get to watch in silence, as my excess seedlings wither and die.]
Imidacloprid is not (trendy) "organic". It is a synthesized neonicotinoid (faster, deadlier, more persistent than its "natural" nicotine prototype), though indeed it is an organic compound (containing covalently bonded carbon) from a chemist's standpoint. I use the "fruits and vegetables" Imidacloprid preparation—at the dosage stated for tomatoes, but only in my transplant water, only for my tobacco, and never for fruits and vegetables. This practice is safe for pollinators (although a honeybee stung me on my chin as I was mowing yesterday!).
Bob
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
Cutworms don’t like dry soil, don’t over water the baccy. They have roots to find water
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
I don’t usually water them much at all but we are having an exceptionally hot and dry spring/summer here in northeastern Ohio. I purchased some BT and applied it…no further issues thus far. The BT was surprisingly hard to find. I thought it would be a staple of any lawn and garden section.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
I was worried about this fact (a cutworm will fell my plant before the BT can do anything helpful) but in the handbook that comes with the BT I purchased it claims an offender will cease feeding IMMEDIATELY after ingesting some BT though it’s imminent death will not occur for 24 to 78 hours (it will not feed during this time!?). I hope that is the case. I have not experienced anymore cutworm casualties since my BT application yesterday evening. I always deeply till my soul and often see cutworms being pulled up in the process. This is a first for this type of damage from them and it is strange as this is the driest May we have had since 1967 (lowest humidity and no rain to speak of the entire month of may!!) maybe the worms are getting depserate…ha!
Hmmm. There is "instantaneous" vs. some time following a specified interval. BT is biologic. BT does not work instantaneously. You'll have to undertake a controlled study to determine if a hungry cutworm is able to amputate a baby tobacco stalk before it gets a tummy ache.
Bob
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
right, I understand how it works and was skeptical of the claim myself. I was simply repeating what I read here:
Edit: this paragraph was a huge selling point for me and likely the reason I purchased it rather than just sticking with DE applications and killing worms as I find them. No further damage as of this morning…time will tell.
Can I question a Captain publicly? When I regularly spray with BT, I always get scattered, small holes here and there, from hornworms, though I never see large divots or large worms themselves. The BT keeps the damage within a tolerable range. In our age of hyperbole, I suppose the Captain can absolutely use the unbelievably incredible exaggeration of his jaw-droppingly stunning time frame of action.
Major Bob™
Major Bob™
The only good cut worm is a dead cut worm. I squished three little tiny brown worms the other day. Possibly army worms eating tiny holes in leaves. They were too small to be sure what they were. Brown. Dead. Good. Still no sign of hornworms. Fingers crossed.
Tobaccofieldsforever
Well-Known Member
Well it appears you have. But, knowing what you know and being who you are, you wouldn’t dare second guess a colonel! “A lot of learned men think people really are the food they've eaten.” - colonel sanders. That, of course, would mean that these worms ARE in fact captain jack himself. And would you deny a learned worm captain his opinion on the time he says he will cease feeding? Of course you wouldn’t!! So, rudimentary worm law tells us that this time frame, once thought to be an exaggerated marketing ploy, is nothing less than a fundamental law of science.
