wazzappennings 1st year glow log

[Tom_in_TN]

Wazz, your grow is coming along good. The plants look like they hit their growth spurt.

Listen to the others about using a big bag to cover the seed head.

 

[Chicken]

nice looking canadian money..

it does show just how big that leaf is, and it's BIG<

 

[wazzappenning]

thank you for all the comments/info.

lakota- so yours are all done...makes me wish i planted them a month earlier(when i should of)


smokes ahoy, jack in nb- as for the flowers, i think i only will bag one of each,(if they all reach that point.)....but for the others, ive heard something about topping. 2 questions arise.

should i cut the buds off the plant that i do not need seed from right away?

and should i try to produce seed from the largest plant(to try to get the biggest plants from the seed), or does it really not matter?

 

[Lakota]

Wazz Yes mine are done to the priming stage. Browning well, . A month will make a differance on your finished product. Hope I have time for the seeds to mature and dry. We had a light frost on Aug 16, no damage to my tobacco plants, but my cukes and peas got hit. I hope you can get a few more weeks, will make a big differance on leaf size and thickness. Next year is another season, you will get them in the ground before june 1. I had most of my plants started by march 20, they were a good size when I put them in the ground. Russ

 

[wazzappenning]

i had my seeds started about march 20 as well. i think maybe i overwatered some because some of my seedlings were tiny and didnt make it after putting them in the ground. then again those tiny ones were still in the original starting tray until a few weeks pror to going in the ground.

im hoping to be able to keep them in till mid september, but well see.

as for your frost, i hope northern manitoba has kinder weather then im imagining (based on winnipeg) and i hope you can succesfully grow up there, although, more north, more sun hours. but were sunnier right?

and of course i do have to thank you again for the seeds as without them none of this would have been possible as i never managed to get seeds from any other source.

can anyone chime in on cutting the buds?

 

[Lakota]

Wazz If my seeds make it I will send you what you need.
I grew Turkish bafra, smoking virginia, ytb, Albertla big leaf, gold seal burley and Golden Burley. I top my plants when the flower starts to open.

 

[wazzappenning]

just a brainfart here, but what about just using an old pillow case?

 

[Tom_in_TN]

The paint strainer bag sounds like a good idea. May have to try that next season.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

In finding the 5gal size too small, I think they also sell 6 and 7 gal sizes, will go that route next time. My buds are turning around inside the bag to start growing towards the middle. Grins got about 60% of the potential before harvest.

 

[wazzappenning]

are my plants over ripening? i've noticed a few are quite different texture. seems to be the virginia. also after reading the when to harvest thread, now im wondering if they're all pretty much done. i dont want to end up with crappy tobacco, so is it time?

the first two pics are virginiia, while the last two are goldseal burley i believe.

 

[Chicken]

they are proabbly ready for half the plant to be harvested,

snap off a bottom leaf, if it snaps like celery, and it's all alliagator texture, and yellowing,

then yeah it's ready,

i'd harvest half the plant, and let the top half continue to grow,

 

[Unregistered]

I'd say the Virginia could be primed (lower leaves) and the Burley isn't ripe.

 

[wazzappenning]

i was trying to water the other day, and as careful as i tried to be i kept hearing snap, as my foot or the hose caught some of the leaves.

as for alligator texture, i dont think i see any yet.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

i was reading some old literature, and it mentioned the best way to tell a plant was mature was by the presence of the ground suckers forming, said that was a sign the entire plant was mature, not just a leaf here or there. it was just mentioned as an aside in a text dealing with quality tobacco production. it was written in the late 1600 early 1700's i think? one of the topics was "negars" and how to ensure you were fair and just so you could reap better rewards with both crops. really old text, but i have never seen the mention of the ground suckers being a sign of maturity, the way it was presented was just in passing, with no emphasis placed on it as though it were really a "no duh" comment.

 

[wazzappenning]

wow, thats pretty bad calling them crops, but i guess it was the times.

i cant see any ground suckers (were talking about ones growing from the ground next to the plant right?) , but am wondering if i should get rid of my top suckers? the huge leaf have not had one sucker, but now at the top leaves (4 or 5 down) im getting suckers that look more like buds forming than leaves.

while i was out there i stepped on a viginia and heard snap. the midrib was broken through 3in from the stalk, so i snapped it off at the axis and sure enough heard a snap just like when you pull a stalk of celery off the bunch right at the base.

im guessing its about time to get to work then, but i have to get equipped.

i would really prefer to hang the entire plants as i have enough other things to do around here before it gets cold, so anything to save time would be great. at the same time im guessing that pulling the whole plant gets you overripe leaves at the bottom and ones that would have grown a little more at the top.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Yah, little suckers at the base. I checked my crop and the most mature ones did in fact have little suckers growing from the dirt level. I'd be hesitant to call the text correct until our more knowledgeable members weigh in but so far my plants have only started putting out root level suckers after they have bloomed or been topped for a few weeks so I'd guess it's plausible.

 

[jeapadrenaline]

I don't belive ground suckers would be a good way to determine ripeness. Depending on variety, some of my plants had ground suckers start within 4 weeks of planting out. I harvest yellow leaves as they turn, but maybe the top 4-6 leaves my be stalk hung as small leaves are harder to hang. The bottom leaves are easy to string and dont take long once you get a system going.
Good luck wazz, lets hope we both get the whole crop in before frost.

 

[wazzappenning]

yes lets hope we can get it all done.

as for those ground suckers, i had one right off the bat i think. by the time i noticed it(when the plants recuperated from the hail damage) it was a second stalk half as high as the one it was sandwiched with.

i pulled it and it had a little root ball, so i planted it. (you can see it just to the left of center in the pic on post #8) not sure its worth it anymore.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

might depend on stress and the variety, but so far the only ones in my patch to develop ground suckers are approaching 3 months old.

 

[wazzappenning]

ok so im curious, does the leaf have to meet all the properties were talking about, snaping like celery, yellowing, and alligator texture, or can it be any of the above? ive got some of each (only one textured) but none with all.

im going to snag the yellowing very bottom leaves today, but do i wait for the others to show more signs?

my plants are exploding in height, and some of the leaf seems to be getting larger as well. to get more of a yield i would like to wait till i have to pick those, but i dont want to go overripe.