Deluxestogie Grow Log 2021

[Clatsopnehalem]

10-day forecast:

My weather has been windy for the past two weeks. I was up at 6 am this morning, to catch a zero wind speed. I used that opportunity to spray the tobacco beds with glyphosate. That will give me at least two weeks prior to transplant date.

Bob

Does the glyphosate only give you two weeks before weeds come back? I’ve considered trying to use that around the perimeter of our garden to kill the field grass but don’t know if it’s cost effective compared to vinegar but I think vinegar needs to be super concentrated to work so obviously I don’t have much weed killer experience lol

 

[deluxestogie]

In ancient times, after washing their clothes, humans would hang their clothing to dry for free in the air and sunshine. My back yard still proudly displays an example of this ancient technology--a clothesline.

This spot gets direct sun in the morning and again starting at mid-afternoon. I cut the stalks of my Trabzon using a pair of loppers. To hang each stalk, I pierce the stalk near its base, using the pointed blade of a pair of pruners. The tag is Tyvek. The wire is 17 ga. aluminum electric fence wire. Each "hook" is wrapped completely around the clothesline. These will need about 3 weeks of sun-curing. As individual leaves fully cure, they will be plucked off, and tossed into a bushel basket in the shed.

Although the bagged Trabzon was also ready for stalk-harvesting, I decided to leave it intact for another week or so, for the pods to further mature. The other plant standing is the poor thing that was trampled by a deer in its first 24 hours of outdoor living. It's not quite ready.

Since I did not top these Oriental plants, I ended up with several piles of pod heads. When the afternoon cools a bit, I'll gather them up, and toss them.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

glyphosate

The foliar glyphosate (Roundup) kills most weeds and grasses, including the roots. What grows up after that, and when it grows up, depends on dormant seed in the soil, intruding roots from the periphery, and fresh seed that lands on the surface.

Bob

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

I primed the bottom 3 or 4 leaves on Corojo 99 in one of my two beds of it. These were strung onto a labeled segment of aluminum fence wire, and hung in the shed. That's first priming at 67 days after transplant, or about 1 week after topping. About half of the volado was so trashy that I just left it on the stalk.

I've found the cured leaf is cleaner if I've primed only one bed (max) at a time. When I try to do more, I find that the roasting sun discourages me from being as diligent, as I stack the leaf. If I have several stacks waiting on the porch floor for me to string them, I'm also not as careful about cleaning.

My intention is to stalk-harvest most of the leaf for most varieties, as soon as their top leaf looks ready. Stalk-cured leaf is always a little cruddier than the primed leaf. But it is dramatically less labor to harvest and hang.

Bob

Is stalk cured leaf fuller flavor than primed leaf?

 

[skychaser]

A Cottontail and a White Tail, as the sun sets. Not an unusual sight from my front porch, but seemed worth a photo this evening.

Bob

ok, I'll call your deer and bunny and raise you a moose. This little fellow strolled up the hill past the tobaccos late yesterday afternoon. After circling the house and looking in the gate at me, he decided to go hang out in the shade of some trees along my driveway where the sprinkler was running and cool off for a while. He stood in the sprinkler for a good 20 minutes and really seemed to enjoy it. He also did a little arborist work for me and pruned the lower branches on an Aspen while he was there. They needed it. They whacked me in the head when I mowed. Not any more! He was sighted again a couple hours later next door drinking from my sisters moose trough.
.

 

[deluxestogie]

Is stalk cured leaf fuller flavor than primed leaf?

I believe stalk-cured leaf (air-cured) tends to maintain a slightly higher humidity for longer during the curing, and results in somewhat darker leaf color. I haven't noticed any flavor difference. Primed leaf is usually cleaner, since I wipe off each primed leaf as I string them. Sun-cured on the stalk, like my Orientals, virtually eliminates flash drying green.

I'll call your deer and bunny and raise you a moose.

What a hoot! The only moose around here is a lodge. (A neighbor's two Great Pyrenees dogs are a close second.)

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Sometimes wildlife is right under our noses, and we just don't notice. This is my laptop screen, as I sit on the porch in late evening.

Bob

 

[OldDinosaurWesH]

Glyphosate works good on lots of weeds, but it isn't much good against puncture vine (Tribulus Terrestris). A weed we have in great abundance around here. The puncture vine seeds are really hard on bicycle tires and sparsely clad feet. (Commonly known as "Goatheads".) Nasty little buggers!


I haven't seen any moose around here, but they have been spotted in our area. Just what I need is another large wild herbivore. I can't grow tomatoes around here because the pesky deer prune my tomato plants down to nothing. Fortunately, the deer don't mess with my tobacco, which is quite luxuriant this year.

Wes H

 

[deluxestogie]

"The Latin name tribulus originally meant the caltrop..." Wikipedia.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Are we There Yet, Mommy? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

"The prime of life", actually refers to those years when priming tobacco leaf seems like a good idea. As the grower ripens, his thoughts turn toward stalk-harvesting. For varieties that are too tall for my shed height, I grit my dentures, and go ahead and prime enough of the bottom leaf to render the remaining stalk short enough to fit.

So the question arises, "Is it ready to stalk-harvest?" By the time the tips of the very top leaf begin to yellow, the mid leaf is already starting to become tattered in the weather. So I search for more subtle signs of maturation. Initially, top leaf is thin, flat textured and timid looking stuff. As it matures, the color becomes more robust, the texture becomes more rugose, and the thickness increases. An immature leaf will bend at the stalk, if I attempt to snap it from the stalk. A mature leaf readily and audibly snaps (though I don't really want to use that as a test).

These more subtle signs of maturation vary from one tobacco variety to another. But the concepts are the same. In the series below, the only tricky one is the MD 609, because its leaves tend to be somewhat savoyed by nature. So for MD 609 I have to go more by thickness, coloration and feel, rather than rugosity. All the rest could be stalk-harvested today. All of them can also wait a few days to a week or more.

And for a finale, this is the only trace of a cicada that I've seen this year, though I can hear a few at the moment. If I'm still kicking at 90, then I can see if they make a better effort on their next try.

Bob

 

[dvrmte]

Glyphosate works good on lots of weeds, but it isn't much good against puncture vine (Tribulus Terrestris). A weed we have in great abundance around here. The puncture vine seeds are really hard on bicycle tires and sparsely clad feet. (Commonly known as "Goatheads".) View attachment 37913 Nasty little buggers!


I haven't seen any moose around here, but they have been spotted in our area. Just what I need is another large wild herbivore. I can't grow tomatoes around here because the pesky deer prune my tomato plants down to nothing. Fortunately, the deer don't mess with my tobacco, which is quite luxuriant this year.

Wes H

I found that glyphosate only makes horseweed angry. Palmer amaranth and some pigweeds have gained resistance to glyphosate around here.

 

[deluxestogie]

With regard to resistance to insecticides or herbicides, any agent that is not 100% lethal to the target organism serves as a selection agent favoring an increased proportion of the resistant individuals. Sometimes, the rare genes that impart resistance may simultaneously create a competitive disadvantage compared to individuals without the resistance gene. The "cidal" agent flips that relationship around. Agronomists sometimes recommend alternating insecticides (or herbicides) with agents that utilize a different biologic mechanism.

The very same process occurs with antibiotic use for infections, only more rapidly. Whereas insects or weeds may run through a new generation once or several times a year, many bacteria create a new generation as frequently as every 20 minutes.

So every chemical agent that we use as an antibiotic, insecticide, fungicide, viricide, or herbicide will eventually become mostly useless, over a span of years--unless it is used in a manner that assures 100% lethality (e.g. tincture of iodine).

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

As the time approaches for cutting the matured seed pod heads from my bagged plants, I cut wires that will be used for hanging them to fully dry. I won't admit to having ever punctured my finger or hand with the cut end of a wire, but you might notice that I carefully form a blunt curve at each end of each wire (using pliers to do the deed).

Standing before the bagged plant, I wrap the wire above my bag's tie string, and lock the wire about itself. I will snug it some more at the time I cut the stalk. I allow the future "hook" of the wire to remain straight, and out of the way of damaging the leaves.

Now, whenever the moment arrives to cut the bud heads, they are already prepared for hanging. I cut the stalk with ordinary pruning shears, then hang the stalks inverted inside my enclosed back porch to dry for a month or three.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Day Zero photo is HERE

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

"A single-cell yellow slime mold known as Blob is headed to the International Space Station."

Blob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

This is how sci-fi horror movies start.

 

[Oldfella]

"A single-cell yellow slime mold known as Blob is headed to the International Space Station."

Blob

Looks pretty,
Oldfella

 

[deluxestogie]

My sister-in-law dropped by this afternoon. While giving her a tour through my garden, I was startled to find a huge tomato hornworm on my eggplant. I recall spraying BT on the eggplant at some point, but maybe not the last time (a week ago), so it had 2 weeks to lol about, munching the eggplants. I had seen some rather large divots in a couple of eggplant fruit that were hanging 12" above the ground, but had assumed a bunny or groundhog just made an extra effort.

Unfortunately for the hornworm, I had brought my carbide-tipped Komperdell trekking pole out to the garden.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

These are the three new varieties that I grew this season. My leaf measurement is always of the 10th leaf from the bottom (excluding cotyledons). If I've already primed some lower leaf from the stalk, then I count the stubs of those stems.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Today, I stalk-harvested Little Dutch and L'Assomption 201, as well as the remaining two Trabzon. The Little Dutch and L'Assomption 201 are being harvested 12 weeks after transplant.

As you can see from the leaf texture of its upper leaves, the Olor is eager to go to the shed. I'm thinking about allowing the NB-11 to yellow in the field. If it's burley, it will do that handily.

Bob