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jolly

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See below pic of N. rustica grown out front. I had to replace the plants on the right side once. I suspect the landscapers hit them with herbicide. They're a bit notorious for this, though I'm not sure why. A few years back we put a bunch of ornamental milkweed out front to attract monarchs - they nuked these several times before we got a few to establish and grow big enough for them to leave alone. I wonder if they get paid to but plant material back in when plants die...

Anyway, pics:

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Also, below is an experiment from last year. I kept a piece of mt. pima stem that had a bud opening, rooted it and planted it. It's in the shadiest part of my planter, and has been growing slowly since December. What's interesting is that, while the leaves aren't large (yet) they are amazingly thin. I'm going to let it go to see what it does. If it goes well I may have an area to do real shade grown over winter.

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Shade grown mt. pima -- next to a pile of charcoal my son poured out, most of which will be gone today since I'm grilling tonight.
 

jolly

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I'm planning on posting some pics this week. Plants have jumped up since the last update. It looks like I need to take more consideration of my selections for over winter growing. My KY16 looks like it's going to flower at around 3.5'. Based on some recent discussions, it looks like this variety is photoperiod sensitive -- so a pretty bad choice for starting in Dec. I think next year I'm going to try to start it when the photoperiod gets to 12 hrs of sunlight (mid March) and see how long it takes to flower. Would be cool to get a plant hit the top of my screen on the porch.

It also appears that my bursa will flower early, at around 4.5 feet. I may start some now and see if there is a difference growing this one through the summer. I know that other threads have mentioned that most tobacco varieties are not photoperiod sensitive, but the more varieties I grow over winter the more I think that there may be at least some impact. KY16 is a dramatic difference, but other varieties I've grown do not perform quite as well in the winter -- all else being equal. I'm going to start keeping better track of this and see if I can get enough data to show a statistical difference.

The rustica I'm growing this year is much larger than in the past. I stopped growing the midiwiwan variety and switched to isla pueblo and cornplanter. Very impressed with results, though I can't now remember which one is which. Oh well.

Lastly, I'm preparing for round two. I have started silkleaf and green brior burley. I was planning on starting several cigar varieties as well -- I've just got to figure out where to put them all. I found a great stealth grow site, but it may be too wet by the time I have plants ready. More to come...
 

deluxestogie

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You seem to have a deep interest in photo-period responses in some varieties. Plants that begin to blossom as the day shortens are actually responding to the increasing duration of darkness, rather than the decreasing duration of daily light. This effect can be eliminated by briefly (less than a minute) exposing the plants to light in the middle of the night, each night.

You might find this little book (192 pages) fascinating: What a Plant Knows, by Daniel Chamovits (2013).

Bob
 

jolly

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Thanks Bob, I'll check it out. My interest in it is purely pragmatic. I want to maximize my yields in the off-season. The discovery that there might be a large disparity between different varieties and thier sensitivity to photoperiod (in Jessica's thread) was something that hasn't occured to me before. If I can maximize output with timing of varieties rather than artificial means then that would be preferred. I'll definately check out the book.

Side note: years ago when I lived in KY, there was a nursery growing poinsettias at the end of our street way out in the country. In speaking with the manager, they look for out of the way places like that to grow them becuase they are so photoperiod sensitive that even a car's headlights at night may prevent them from flowering.
 

deluxestogie

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...a nursery growing poinsettias at the end of our street way out in the country. In speaking with the manager, they look for out of the way places like that to grow them becuase they are so photoperiod sensitive that even a car's headlights at night may prevent them from flowering.
What a great observation!

Bob
 

jolly

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Topped one of the bursa and one of the rustica today.

Sowed the following:
Criolo 98
Habano 2000
Little Dutch
Small Stalk Black Mammoth

I'm hoping they'll be ready when the majority of the other plants are done. The ones I topped were pretty vigorous and got ahead of the others when they were in cups. The rest is still a few weeks away. This should give me at least 6 weeks before there is an empty spot.
 

Brown Thumb

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They look good, Jeesh topping already. have a Super Harvest.
 

jolly

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N. Rustica -- plant on left topped

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Potted KY16 burley -- topped

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Bursa (right) all plants topped, KY16 burley left

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FL Sumatra
 

jolly

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Isla pueblo. Seed came from nicotiana project a few years ago. I just now got around to growing it. It's about 4 feet topped with 18 leaves. Not too shabby. That's the only one that survived the landscapers. The rest are corn planter.
 

POGreen

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I grew that Isla Pueblo in -13 and got seeds from Nicotiana Project too , it grew to 6 ' for me , but that was a mistake on my part , I should have topped them at 3-4 ' .
 

jolly

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PO, how many leaves did you get per plant? I'm wondering if it's 16 to 18 regardless of height.
 

POGreen

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From what I can remember they were many , especially since I didn't top them.
16-18 sounds just fine , I'll see if I can find a picture from -13 on a Isla Pueblo
 

jolly

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Primed Bursa this morning

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Leaf hanging on bamboo skewers in holes in the wall (put there for boarding up for hurricanes)

Once they're yellowed I'm going to give sun curing a shot.

As I was picking, I noticed a cured lug. Once I got everything hung I sliced it up and loaded a recently fired clay pipe. I was expecting it to be a bit flat. Holy crap this was good! It burned fast, but had a beautiful incense flavor and aroma and was fairly strong flavored. I loved it so much I ran back out and scrounged for more lugs! I'm kicking myself for not growing this sooner -- I've had the seed since 2012.
 

jolly

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The landscapers came by cut two of my rusticas down some. They threw the tops in the grass and mowed over them.

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Love these guys.

Anyway... I cut the big one and brought it in. I had already done some priming. I'm still going to give little dutch a shot in this slot, though I may need to top them lower.
 
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