2015 Knucklehead Grow Blog

[Knucklehead]

the tails hanging on the concrete floor could mold?
My bags of Baccy laying against the concrete wall sucked the moisture into them and caused mold.

I've been thinking about this. I don't think contact with the cement caused the mold. I think the sealed bags, with cold cement on one side, and warm air from the room on the other side may have caused condensation inside the bag. The condensation caused the mold. I think. Maybe.
Anybody have a better understanding of this?

 

[Muskrat]

I've been thinking about this. I don't think contact with the cement caused the mold. I think the sealed bags, with cold cement on one side, and warm air from the room on the other side may have caused condensation inside the bag. The condensation caused the mold. I think. Maybe.
Anybody have a better understanding of this?

I think you're spot on.
Sorry, I work with Brits. I meant to say I think you're absolutely correct.

 

[Knucklehead]

Sorry, I work with Brits.

Be careful. Remember the Alamo. ROFL.

 

[squeezyjohn]

Careful!

 

[Knucklehead]

Careful!

That was my version of "When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor":

From the movie Animal House:

Bluto: Hey! What's all this laying around stuff? Why are you all still laying around here for?

Stork: What the hell are we supposed to do, ya moron? We're all expelled. There's nothing to fight for anymore.

D-Day: [to Bluto] Let it go. War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.

Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Otter: [to Boon] Germans?

Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

Bluto: And it ain't over now. 'Cause when the goin' gets tough...

[thinks hard of something to say]
Bluto: The tough get goin'! Who's with me? Let's go!

[Bluto runs out, alone; then returns]

Bluto: What the **** happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're gonna let it be the worst. "Ooh, we're afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble." Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this. Wormer, he's a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer...

Otter: Dead! Bluto's right. Psychotic... but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!

Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.

D-Day: [stands up] Yeah, I agree. Let's go get 'em.

Boon: Let's do it.

Bluto: [shouting] "Let's do it"!

 

[deluxestogie]

That was inspiring.

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

I've been thinking about this. I don't think contact with the cement caused the mold. I think the sealed bags, with cold cement on one side, and warm air from the room on the other side may have caused condensation inside the bag. The condensation caused the mold. I think. Maybe.
Anybody have a better understanding of this?

I think that was the conclusion of the moldy bags.
I just figured safe than sorry.
I know how much you enjoy moldy Baccy

 

[Knucklehead]

That was inspiring.

Bob

If you haven't seen the movie, here's the "big speech" clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vtWB4owdE

 

[deluxestogie]

No, no, no, no, no! If you haven't seen the movie, you need to see the movie.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

While you're on youtube check out 1:38 of greatness. Zakk Wylde playing "Farewell Ballad" instrumental guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYMupc564zE
I love this song. Somebody play it at my funeral.

 

[Smokin Harley]

I love that movie...and Stripes...and Blazing Saddles...and the Blues Brothers...just when I thought they just don't make movies like that anymore...

Watch "10,000 Ways to Die in the West" sometime...hilariously raunchy and just wrong on so many levels.

 

[Knucklehead]

I think that was the conclusion of the moldy bags.
I just figured safe than sorry.
I know how much you enjoy moldy Baccy

My dehumidifier went BONK last year and I lost pounds of baccy to mold. I now have two dehumidifiers just in case one goes out.

 

[Muskrat]

I love that movie...and Stripes...and Blazing Saddles...and the Blues Brothers...just when I thought they just don't make movies like that anymore...

Watch "10,000 Ways to Die in the West" sometime...hilariously raunchy and just wrong on so many levels.

Ah, the Blues Brothers . . . my favorite musical!

 

[Knucklehead]

I brought the last of this years' tobacco from the shop into the house for stem drying. That makes 10 hands of Maryland and 11 hands of VA 355 that will be ready for the next kiln run in three weeks.

Sometime during the next week I will pull up the tobacco stalks and move them to the burn pile. Then I'll till the patch and plant perennial clover and purple top turnips. The turnips will be allowed to rot in the soil the first year. I'm planning to plant one row of Orientals in a different small patch next year while I let the main patch rest a year (year and a half before the second spring). This will give me a good break. The perennial clover will survive until I replant the main patch two springs from now. Turnips will be planted in the main patch two winters and allowed to rot the first winter. Prior to planting the main patch two springs from now I will till under the clover and second crop of turnips. The clover will put nitrogen into the soil and I hope the turnips will keep the soil loose and provide some good dead stuff. I'll keep the patch mowed as necessary.

 

[Knucklehead]

Dang. It was down into the 50's this morning. It felt plumb chilly.

 

[deluxestogie]

It got down to 48ºF here this morning. (High pressure, no clouds.) So, what is it that you have against turnips, and how soon do they rot?

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

Sometime during the next week I will pull up the tobacco stalks and move them to the burn pile.

"Sometime this week" turned into "This morning". All stalks are in the burn pile except for the single bagged plant that isn't ready for the seed head to be harvested. I'll go back in a few hours after the dew has burned off to mow the grass. Then I'll till the patch after those grass clippings have died down. The grass has gotten really high in the patch. Too tall for tilling.

 

[Knucklehead]

It got down to 48ºF here this morning. (High pressure, no clouds.) So, what is it that you have against turnips, and how soon do they rot?

Bob

I'm guessing a couple weeks, but the patch will be idle next year. The turnips from the first winter will be allowed to run their course and die and rot in place. The turnips from the following year will be turned into the ground and chopped up (twice) a few weeks before tobacco planting whether they are rotten or still living. I like to till early one time, then wait till the grass and weeds start coming back strong, then till again. When I've grown winter turnips in my food plots I've noticed the soil was very easy to turn the following spring. Those big turnips do a really nice job of keeping the soil loose. Keeping the clover and the turnip tops mowed occasionally should add a good amount of vegetative matter to the soil during the idle time, in addition to the rotten turnip bulbs. That's my theory anyway. I haven't seen anyone trying this so it's an experiment. I know clover is good due to the nitrogen.

My plan is to let the main patch sit idle next season with a cover crop until I replant tobacco there. I will plant a row of traditionally spaced Izmir-Ozbas and Prilep in a different spot next year. The following season I will move back to the main patch with a row of TN 86 LC (low converter) Burley and two rows of Reams 158 Flue Cure. I'll sun cure the Reams 158. Since I finally built my kiln I found I prefer the taste of sun cured flue cure varieties over the taste of flue cured flue cure varieties for cigarettes. Great taste with absolutely no tongue bite. I'm guessing the difference is in the pH.

 

[Rickey60]

Tillage radish is the way to go if you want add to your soil, the sheer volume of organic material a tillage radish produces is hard to believe until you see it. It produces large diameter (up to 3/4") foliage shafts that grow up to 42" tall. Each one of those will produce literally hundreds of flowers and at least 50 - 75 seed pods on each one. The radish can grow up to 3" diameter, although 1" is more likely and they grow from 6" to 24" long. Most of mine grew about 8" to 16". When they were tilled in the organic material was very high. Some of the radishes had succumbed to the heat and were already decomposing.

I have planted Rye, Oats, Hairy Vetch, Turnips and Rye Grass for cover crops and nothing comes close to the sheer bulk of material produced by this "Ground Hog Radish." Until I find a better replacement, this is my cover crop of choice. Imagine if I had fertilized it like I was supposed to instead of putting it in unfertilized soil. I can't wait to plant them over both gardens this fall

 

[Knucklehead]

Sometime during the next week I will pull up the tobacco stalks and move them to the burn pile. Then I'll till the patch and plant perennial clover and purple top turnips.

Ok, good with plans, terrible with time tables.
The patch looked so good after mowing I just had to give it a go with the tiller. The soil moisture content was perfect for tilling. The early planting date for my clover is Sept. 25 so sometime after that I'll start watching out for rain clouds then rush back down there for another tilling then sow my clover and turnips. (Ricky, I bought the turnips before I saw your post)

Patch today with one lone bagged survivor. Still flowering TN 86 LC.



Tobacco stalks ready for burning. I hope there are some hornworms in there when I light the fuse.