AZDave's 1st grow blog

[ArizonaDave]

Well- He- He, Now that You are hooked and ready for a good 2015 run! Mad's sujestions on Your next DEAD-SERT GROW. Pick a spot that the sun is not hitting at the heat of day. If so find a net that is like what Wally-world uses in the store(Shade) The best spot is the east side of a shelter). Dig a hole for each plant at 18 or so inches deep. Then dump is some garden soil (bagged). for each plant, one hole. Then throw in some sand and mix. Table scraps fish ect. then top with top soil of the area. Water it every week , one time a week, over the winter to keep it active. NO FERTS!. I'll give You the recipe in a moment to use here. The holes will be 2 ft. apart for Mammoth, silver River ect. The large plants, and 12-18 inches for Izmir ect. Get some wood chips that will be lite in color, to have enough to cover the base of the plants at 2 to 3 inches deep on transplant. This will help on water retention.Even mulch from Your area deasert will work chopped up. You can put white bisquin on the ground and cut holes in for the plants and add the mulch for better water use. Now the Ferts. This will be Your plant food. Dissolve 1 teaspoon each of Epsom salts, Sapetre, and baking powder(not soda) along with1/4 teaspoon houshold amonia(not comercial) in a gallon of water.shake it up till desolved. Every 5-6 weeks water the plants with it, using as much of it as you would in watering them with water. I use one gallon per plant. You can mix it with 1:100 ratio for the leaf spray. two or three times a year. Not in the heat of day. nite time only! Let them do the job befor they evaporate. Greg used it this year and look at His grow blog- Ask Him how well it worked and see the out come. Now for My bug protection, I plant marigolds and garlic between them and for a sray, I mix three or four table spoons of Costco Jar of minced garlic in a pot of water, then a squirt of dish soap and a splash of cooking oil- then boil. Add it (strain'd) to a gallon of water for the spray bottle. I won't work on horn worms, sorry. With the grass hoppers we had this year- I am afraid will double next time. WWAAA! So keep it on hand ready. They can, and will wipe You out. Try the Silver River next time. Awsome plant. PS: I hope Old Putt Cigar sees this post? Mad Oshea- Remember the plants are to be "in" the hole- not on top. So water will pudle and soak in. I think We have two dead-sert masters here folks.....

Wow! Great info! I'm going to print this out!

 

[Old Putt Cigars]

Mad,

Encyclopedia Britannica has got NOTHING on you MAN!

OP

P.S., PM me and tell me what kind of Cigars you like.

To put it in the words of Gen. George S. Patton: "A man that eloquent has to be saved"!

 

[Mad Oshea]

Well apart from My poor spelling, and missed letters- All of the information was handed down to Me and some failures along the way. I have learned how to cook a plant fast here. This year I didn't have to do the rag on a stick trick to give them shade from the hot sun. The worst spot to plant a Tobacco plant out here, is on the south side of any structure. They will fry like bacon.I like the north side when they are young. After they are up a couple of feet high, they will do well with plenty of water. One year there was no wind at all, so I stung a string from end to end and tied rags along it. It gave them cheap shade from the heat. It isn't hard to grow tobacco out here- Just have to do it a little different, as well as curring it.

 

[Old Putt Cigars]

Mad, you've got a mail issue:

• "Mad Oshea has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space."

I cant PM you back!

OP

 

[Mad Oshea]

I had to dump some mail out. sorry. Mad-

 

[ArizonaDave]

Mad went crazy~!!! He bombed me with enough seeds to grow a bazillion different varieties for my next spring grow~! Thank you Mad!

This grow is going well, just haven't had time to post pics, been busy all weekend! All three varieties are doing well (Black Mammoth, VA Gold, and Ergo Burley). Have now a bunch to list that Mad gave me, will try to get to it after the weekend sometime.

Whew! My whole yard is going to be the greenest yard in Phx, especially after spring grow!

A double thanks Mad!!!

 

[BarG]

I imagine growing where your at you need a mad o mania approach. I feel for you guys, but then again we are all on a learning curve, no matter our conditions from to dry hot to too wet and humid. And then there is the ideal conditions in tobacco country.

 

[ArizonaDave]

I imagine growing where your at you need a mad o mania approach. I feel for you guys, but then again we are all on a learning curve, no matter our conditions from to dry hot to too wet and humid. And then there is the ideal conditions in tobacco country.

You got that right! It is a learning curve. Where to place them in the yard is another. I recently lost a couple VA gold by placing it where I thought it had some shade, but got scalded by the sun. No worries, have plenty more in a better area.

 

[BarG]

Once you start getting a couple few years behind you , you will be having some semi aged tobacco to play with. You will love it even more better. You won't be running out and thats for sure.

 

[Mad Oshea]

Some will have a zero recovery rate if they get the old sun beatting. Frying eggs on the hood has nothing with a dead-sert grow on baccy.

 

[Old Putt Cigars]

Dave, What I found in PHX - FYI: If the leaves droop from lack of water, heat, etc. on any given day and you don't water them that same evening, they WILL die the next day and be lost!

 

[Mad Oshea]

Every day at sun down.

 

[ArizonaDave]

I have been watering every evening, thanks everyone! Yes Mad, if they get a Sun beating, sometimes they don't come back. Yes, Old Putt, I agree. Boy we got the rain last night!!! 5+" of rain. This soil doesn't absorb that quickly. Dry clay has a tendency to expand and block water from absorbing deeper, unless it has time to soak. Luckily, it has been mixed with black soil, so the Tobacco plants are doing great!!!

No drooping leaves today! And we have more rain on it's way tonight.

Of course the TV stations are complaining as usual. I see rain in the desert as a big blessing, and not a reason to complain! So what if they were temporarily inconvenienced? Water is important for life, especially in a desert situation!!!

 

[Old Putt Cigars]

This is the "Rain" I woke up to at 5:00 AM Mon. If I had gotten up at 5:15 AM to re-open that City of Phoenix wash, I would be bailing mud out of my house instead of my pool! 5" of desert rain in two hours is not a blessed thing! I had already shoveled and washed the gravel and stone out of the street in front of the house before I took that picture. It will take weeks to repair my place.

 

[DGBAMA]

The muddy pool pic says it all. Hope the cleanup goes well.

 

[Mad Oshea]

What a mess! I have a dirty water pump at hand, just for that! What folks don't know is that out here- when it starts to rain, is at the end of the year. And the ground is so dry, It beads off without the ability to soak in. So the top will wash and flood everythig. I have yet had any rain, and have been wathching Your grief come at You Guys. The sand storms and dirt devils are just as bad. Flood insurance, in the desert? Yes. Sad to say- The water is not soaked in, just destroy every thing above ground. We have the Baja storms, The Gulf storms and upper Oregons to deal with in a bad way. And none to the good for Us. I need Some Migrant workers "ASAP"! 25 at this time, with a road boss that speakes English. The jobs are long term, with all year work for the best hands to work a real Tobacco farm! So If You guys know any ready for the job PM Me ASAP! The pay is good, and The best will have jobs to come back to. Must be able to pass a Home land back ground, and have papers to work. The jobs are NOW! ( No felonies to pass the back ground is all) I will need up to five road crews this week. Thanks. Mad-

 

[ArizonaDave]

Oh my!!! Luckily, or house is higher up that most of the neighborhood, corner lot and all, but the park across the street became a lake! Almost wanted to go fishing!

Wow, you got the rain just as bad as our neighborhood! Really sorry to hear about all the mud, etc.... Yes, our pool was completely full too, but only some mud, not that much! All I can say is WOW!

Mad, really didn't know you got it that bad too! A lot of people were flooded out of their homes. Did either of you get it into the home? I hope not!!!

 

[Mad Oshea]

Thats just it, I have had no rain. Just My water hose. I have the pump due to the past rain experiences.

 

[leverhead]

I'm sorry to see that, Mother Nature is a real ankle bitter!

 

[deluxestogie]

I'm sorry to see that, Mother Nature is a real ankle bitter!

Mother Nature just bites. She doesn't know that there are ankles in there.

Bob