Charly's grow blog 2019

[Charly]

2019 is already there ! (yes I know, it's there for a few month already... but I don't understand where those days have gone...)
Most of my tobacco from 2018 is still waiting to go in the kiln but I can't let a year pass without trying to grow some new tobacco !

So here I go again !

This year I started 14 strains (16 March)
10 new :
- Criollo 98,
- Dominican Olor,
- Florida Sumatra,
- Connecticut Broadleaf,
- Pennsylvania Broadleaf,
- Kentucky 151,
- Bucak,
- Yellow Pryor,
- K326 and K326 (PVY resistant)

4 old :
- Corojo 99,
- Little Dutch,
- Xanthy,
- Yenidje





The seeds took about 5 to 15 days to germinate (in my house, with no artificial light/heat), the faster being the orientals (Yenidje, followed by the Xanthy).
When they showed their cotyledon I begun to transfer them in their "personnal mini pot" (made last year with some unused XPS foam).
Nearly all the pots are full now (429 done, still about 60 to transfer... )
I always save more seedlings than what I need, just in case.
If everything works as intended, I will grow about 400 plants (120 cigar, 80 bright leaf, 20 dark air and 200 orientals).

I want to thank again Armando, Ben and Hasse for the seeds they sent me.

And I wish everyone a goooood year 2019 !

 

[ciennepi]

You have an inpressive number of sprouts and strain!!! Good luck ant tell us your experience.

 

[GreenDragon]

I love your great precision. Every seedling is perfectly centered in their pot. Hope you have a very successful crop

 

[Charly]

You have an inpressive number of sprouts and strain!!! Good luck ant tell us your experience.

Thank you
well... I may have sowed a little too many seeds .
I always sow a lot of seeds, this way I know I have enough seedlings at transplant time.

 

[Charly]

I love your great precision. Every seedling is perfectly centered in their pot. Hope you have a very successful crop

Thank you.
I don't know if I am very precise, it's not hard to find the center of the pot
I hope we will all have a successful crop

 

[Charly]

A have a question about Bucak.
From what I know this strain is a bright leaf crossed with orientals, but at which spacing should I plant it ? Like a bright leaf ? Or is it interesting to use a small spacing, like an oriental ?

 

[deluxestogie]

Charly, I have not grown Bucak. I did grow Prancak N-1, which is also a cross between a bright leaf (Prancak-95 from Madura, Indonesia) and an Oriental (Izmir). I planted it like I would Izmir (closely spaced), and it actually looked and tasted like Izmir. I sun-cured it.

Bob

 

[Alpine]

I’ve grown bucak, and it definitely is a bright leaf, similar in its grow habit to Big Gem. I spaced it at 60 cm on the row, 90 cm between rows. Huge leaves and interesting flavor (a hint of Turkish taste) but slow to ripen.

Pier

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Istanbulin said that Bucak was an attempt to grow flue cured tobacco but the experiment failed because the tobacco ended up having a Turkish flavor. I've grown a lot of it. I find it very tasty. It grows big so I give it the same spacing that I give flue cured varieties

 

[Youn]

Good luck!
Have you made holes at the bottom of the pots or is it not necessary with the XPS foam?

 

[deluxestogie]

Have you made holes at the bottom of the pots or is it not necessary with the XPS foam?

That is a great question. I believe all extruded polystyrene is closed cell foam.

Bob

 

[Charly]

Good luck!
Have you made holes at the bottom of the pots or is it not necessary with the XPS foam?

Yes, the holes are open on the bottom too (Bob is correct, this is closed cell foam).
I put a plastic sheet under the foam to maintain the soil in shape for the first weeks, once the roots are bigger I will make some big holes in the plastic sheet to give more air to the roots.
Last year, the plants grew bigger and stronger in the pots without the plastic sheet.

 

[Charly]

Thank you guys for these informations about the Bucak strain.

I think I will try to grow two spots of Bucak, one with 2 feet spacing (60cm) and another with 6 inches (15cm) spacing, just to see if I can get more flavor with close spacing.
By the way, I plan on using the same close spacing for the Xanthy and the Yenidje.

 

[skychaser]

Bucak has a very floral taste. Kind of minty or menthol like to me. I'm terrible at describing things like that, but I can tell you I like it. I got out a string that had been hanging for 4 years a couple months back. A friend and I have been smoking it a little at a time. He really likes it. I sent some to Don too. Maybe he can describe the flavor better than I can. I would plant it at 2' spacing. Here is a link to some picts and little more info on it. http://nwtseeds.com/Bucak.htm

 

[Charly]

Thanks Sky, I have already take a look at your page (your site is one or the reference I always go to when need some information about any strain ).
These additional informations about the floral/minty taste are good to know.
I will grow some with 2' spacing, but since I have enough seedlings (and not a lot of available grow space) I will also try to grow some at a very close spacing, just to see if it can be interesting.

 

[Charly]

Well well well...
It seems that this grow blog wasn't updated for nearly 4 month... what a shame for it's owner !!!

Yes I really appologize, those were very busy times and I had difficulties doing all the things together (family, work, garden, tobacco...)

So here are some updates.

I planted the different strains in two main sessions, one in the end of may (21-22) and one in mid june (13-16). Some of my plants are nearly one month older than the others.
This year I wanted to try using mulch on some strains to see if they like it, and I even tried to "create" a new soil in a place of my garden where the plants do not grow well at all (with wood, compost, much).

The first weeks, the plants had a cold and humid weather, than it became too hot and very dry, so they had some difficulties to grow correctly...
The mulch helped keeping water in the soil, the plants with mulch grew better than those without mulch.

Some strains were really stunted, some grew better.

Of course, as each year, PVY (Potatoe Virus Y) came soon on some strains (Dominican Olor, Criollo 98 and Florida Sumatra were the most affected, KY 151 and Connecticut broadleaf came next), but some other seem to grow just fine (Bucak, Yellow Pryor, Pennsylvania Broadleaf).
I'll have to wait for the end of the season to see which strains are really strong against PVY, but I have some good hopes !







Now the plants are in the ground for 45 to 70 days.
Some are already topped, some has not shown their flowers yet.
I already harvested some leaves, but there is still a lot maturing.

 

[Charly]

And now, some pictures of small (or big) creatures found on my baccy :














And a last one, which I have never seen in my garden : a Myxomycete

 

[deluxestogie]

Your photo of the assassin bug is stunning (biting, you might say). Here in Virginia, their coloration is not as alarming. Red and black striped legs certainly say something.

Bob

 

[Charly]

Thanks Bob. We don't see a lot of those assassin bugs here, so when I saw it I promptly took my phone to take a picture of it

 

[GreenDragon]

Your photo of the assassin bug is stunning (biting, you might say). Here in Virginia, their coloration is not as alarming. Red and black striped legs certainly say something.

Bob

I usually have quite a lot of them in my yard this time of year, but they have been strangely absent so far. They tend to be a little flatter, and black and orange in color. Unfortunately, we have had quite the crop of mosquitos however.