Wruk53 2023 grow log

[treeehousejoe]

The first ones I bought from Walmart; the brand name is "Growneer". When I went back to order more, they are no longer listed on their website. I've reused these about 4 times now and they are holding up well. They are made of the same type of material as weed barrier except it is much thicker. You have to be careful with a weed eater, it will damage the fabric.

https://www.hydroponic-gardens.com/shop/pots-containers/12-pack-3-gallon-plant-grow-bags/. These look like they would be about the same though. A little more expensive than what I paid for mine.

All of the weed barriers I have played with were both heat-sealable and autoclavable. The grey heavy duty stuff I find has excellent capillary action and is rigid enough to form a structurally solid base. S'all I've used for years, from start to finish****.

Really digging your set-up. Trying to make the jump from processing 2 packs a day to growing my own snus leaf varieties here and strictly using snus, like yourself. I hope you won't mind if I come clamoring for a spoon feeding if/when I think of any worthwhile questions.

 

[wruk53]

All of the weed barriers I have played with were both heat-sealable and autoclavable. The grey heavy duty stuff I find has excellent capillary action and is rigid enough to form a structurally solid base. S'all I've used for years, from start to finish****.

Really digging your set-up. Trying to make the jump from processing 2 packs a day to growing my own snus leaf varieties here and strictly using snus, like yourself. I hope you won't mind if I come clamoring for a spoon feeding if/when I think of any worthwhile questions.

Feel free, I'll try to help as much as I can.

 

[wruk53]

What are your thoughts on a sucker crop from a dark air-cured variety?

Bob

After spending about 2 hours this morning stripping stems out of about 400 very small leaves from my sucker crop of One Sucker, I'm changing my answer from maybe, to a firm NO. It's too much work for too small of a return.

 

[wruk53]

I've been reading through an old publication titled: "Tobacco: Growing, Curing & Manufacturing." It was published in 1886. Most of it does not pertain to us as small hobby growers, but there are some gems of knowledge in it that I found interesting and helpful. Particularly on curing, when to harvest, pruning, fermentation, topping, etc. It's a free download on the project Gutenberg website if anyone is interested.

 

[deluxestogie]

Tobacco: Growing, Curing, & Manufacturing., by Charles G. Warnford Lock

www.gutenberg.org

 

[wruk53]

I made 2 more carottes this morning, one with reinforced tape and one with cotton fabric ribbon. I put 80 grams of destemmed and flaked Little Dutch in each one-gallon freezer bag, wet each batch down with 50 grams of water, rolled the bags up as tightly as I could on the countertop, put a few pieces of tape around the bags to hold them tight. Then just wrapped them as tightly as possible. I'll store them for a month or two before opening.

 

[wruk53]

Today is 8 weeks from transplant. I'm going to top One Sucker later today after the dew dries. Little Yellow still needs a few more days before topping. I plan on topping just above a 10-inch leaf on each plant. This will result in fewer overall leaves, but they should be larger and heavier in the end. We'll see. I've pruned up pretty high from the bottom on account of brown spot.

 

[johnny108]

Have you noticed any difference in kilning/aging whole leaf vs. flaked/powdered leaf?

 

[wruk53]

Have you noticed any difference in kilning/aging whole leaf vs. flaked/powdered leaf?

I always try to age my leaf in the whole leaf form before grinding, so I don't have an answer for you. However, I am currently experimenting with fermenting some flour in carottes. In a few weeks, I will open one of those and give my thoughts on it.

 

[wruk53]

Today is 10 weeks since transplant, 2 weeks from topping. I've primed up the plants pretty high on account of brown spot. Once a leaf gets several dozen of the spots, it starts yellowing and stops growing. Even though they are ugly and sort of small, I'm going to cure them and use them. The 12 plants in the blue 2-gallon buckets are much healthier than the ones in the 3-gallon fabric pots for some unknown reason. We were well below average rainfall this season, yet we had a lot of very light persistent rainfall that kept everything damp for much of the time. Next Fall I plan on starting my seeds about a month later than I did this time. Mid-October is when we normally transition into the dry season, so planting later may help lessen the disease problem.

 

[wruk53]

I was inspired by China's video on making carottes to make one out of tobacco flour. I measured out 100 grams of flour, moistened it with 70 grams of water, put it into a one-quart freezer baggie and wrapped it up real tight. I'll store it for a month or so and see what happens.

One of the best batches of Snus I've ever made was from a batch of MD 609 that I had made into a sailor's perique combined 50/50 with WLT's dark air cured tobacco. So, I'm hoping this method will approximate that.

The flour used is from a variety of tobaccos that I have purchased from WLT and grown myself. Whenever I start getting low on a certain variety, I just combine it into a 2-gallon bag with all the other varieties and call it Medley.

This is a follow up to the above post. I opened one my flour carottes today after one month. It has an interesting smell, it almost smells like a primary wine fermentation, but not quite, sort of fruity and acetic at the same time. I'll dry it out and try some of it in a snus blend in a few weeks.

 

[wruk53]

Today is 4 weeks from topping. I'll probably harvest all that's left next week.

The weather has been nice for the last several days, daytime highs in the mid-80's, nights in the mid-60's and lower humidity.

 

[wruk53]

I've lived in my current home for 18 years. I've always had neighbors on the East side of me and a vacant lot on the West side. Someone recently bought the vacant lot and is having it cleared. They put in a culvert for the driveway a few days ago and began clearing the lot. The lots out here are what we call "band aid " lots, they are 75' wide and 660' deep, 1.14 acres per lot. So, I'm kind of bummed out. No more taking a nonchalant leak on that side of the house with no concerns of anyone seeing you. Not to mention the loss of wildlife habitat. I just hope that whoever builds and moves in will be decent neighbors. Looking on the bright side, the danger of wildfires to my home will be lessened significantly.

 

[deluxestogie]

The inexorable march of population growth.

Bob

 

[Bottenslam]

Really sucks when that happeness, The cottage i spent every summer at is now in the middle of a expensive housing area... I do still sometimes take that nonchalant leak, but i prefared when it was less of a politicized thing.

 

[wruk53]

Wruck53-
Would you take/post a picture of a plants root system after you cut it down for harvest?
I’d like to see the root development in the mulch/bark you are using.
(I’m watching heavy rain compact the soilless mix in my containers a good 1/2”- which means no air for the roots. I’m wondering if a layer of shredded wood mulch would help my containers from getting water logged…)

Here you go.

 

[wruk53]

I stalk harvested the rest of my fall crop today, five weeks from topping. I said I wasn't going to try a sucker crop, but once again, I lied. I figured I'd just as well since I'm not growing a winter crop this time. I scrunched them all in close together. 28 One Sucker and 16 Little Yellow stumps. I'll weed out the ones that don't develop a vigorous sucker. A pic of a large lima plant that my grandson germinated at school. I'll start some seeds early January for a spring crop.

 

[johnny108]

Here you go.

Ok, so after germinating my seeds surrounded by overripe bananas, I need to include bark into my soilless mix, to prevent soil compaction and over watering.
Silly me- I thought I’d be all “dialed in” for next year with all the little experiments I did on my first grow…..
thanks for the pics- much better than what I got with any potting soil, and my soilless mix is about half as good.

 

[wruk53]

Ok, so after germinating my seeds surrounded by overripe bananas, I need to include bark into my soilless mix, to prevent soil compaction and over watering.
Silly me- I thought I’d be all “dialed in” for next year with all the little experiments I did on my first grow…..
thanks for the pics- much better than what I got with any potting soil, and my soilless mix is about half as good.

Are you using any perlite in your mix? If not, you could try using about 25% or more to make your mix lighter and more well drained.

 

[johnny108]

My mix is
10 parts coconut coir (hydrated w/ triple-20)
5 parts perlite
5 parts vermiculite
5 parts compost or potting soil

But, it looks like my experiment with Jaffna seedlings in orchid bark mixes, along with your results, show better root development, and are less likely to be over watered……