Wruk53 2021 fall/winter grow log

[wruk53]

Started seeds in 52 small pots on 6/3/21. 27 shirazi and 25 harrow velvet. Shirazi began sprouting after 3 days, HV after 4 days. There are 1 or more sprouts in each pot, so I'm happy with that. I'm trying to time this so the plants mature when rainy season starts tapering off. The sprouts are visible if you magnify the photos.

 

[Oldfella]

Off to a good start by the look of it, all appear to be sprouting nicely. Good luck with your grow and keep us posted.
Oldfella

 

[wruk53]

Thinned down to one plant per pot on the 16th.

A pair of red bellied woodpeckers are using the nest box I built for screech owls. They have been coming and going from it for about three weeks, so I'm keeping an eye out for fledglings. Not very good pics of the woodpeckers, my phone camera does not do zooming very well.

 

[Knucklehead]

Thinned down to one plant per pot on the 16th.

A pair of red bellied woodpeckers are using the nest box I built for screech owls. They have been coming and going from it for about three weeks, so I'm keeping an eye out for fledglings. Not very good pics of the woodpeckers, my phone camera does not do zooming very well.

In the last photo of the woodpecker at the house opening, there are two grayish birds flying past. What kind of birds are those? They’re kind of neat looking also. Our woodpeckers are also different up here. That one is beautiful.

 

[wruk53]

In the last photo of the woodpecker at the house opening, there are two grayish birds flying past. What kind of birds are those? They’re kind of neat looking also. Our woodpeckers are also different up here. That one is beautiful.

I never noticed that until you pointed it out. The photo is blurry, but it looks like 2 more red bellied woodpeckers. Most likely it's one of the parents chasing an intruder off. Sometimes the red on their head is not as distinctive as the one on the box.

Over the years, I've seen at least 5 different varieties of woodpeckers here. Usually at least a few times a month I see pileated woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers and northern flickers. A few years back I had a red headed woodpecker visit the watering station several times, that is one beautiful bird, their head is red all the way to their shoulders and the rest of their body is black and white. It almost looks like they are wearing a tux.

 

[Knucklehead]

A few years back I had a red headed woodpecker visit the watering station several times, that is one beautiful bird, their head is red all the way to their shoulders and the rest of their body is black and white. It almost looks like they are wearing a tux.

I’ve seen those if we’re talking about the same kind. The head is shaped like Woody Woodpecker and they are larger than the others. I like the tux analogy, spot on.

 

[wruk53]

Current photos of seedlings. I'm hoping they'll be ready to plant out in 3 weeks.

Still on nest watch, haven't seen any chicks yet.

A few pics of a northern flicker outside my bedroom window.

 

[wruk53]

Gave them a little haircut this morning. Clipped 2 or 3 leaves on each plant.

 

[wruk53]

Filled my containers with mulch today and set up my rows. My God, was it HOT!!! The RH was 92 today and the temperature was about the same. Glad to get that done, it's always the hardest part. My seedlings are coming along nicely, hoping to plant around mid July. Hope everyone is doing well and staying cool. Later.

 

[deluxestogie]

You should compare the soil temperature between the white buckets and the black buckets at mid-afternoon on a sunny day.

Bob

 

[wruk53]

You should compare the soil temperature between the white buckets and the black buckets at mid-afternoon on a sunny day.

Bob

I'll try to do that soon. The farmers down here use plastic film on raised beds and they always use plastic with a wide white stripe on it in the fall and straight black in the winter and spring. One thing I've found out, is that the dark buckets last for several more seasons than the white ones. The white ones get brittle and start cracking after about 2 grows. Maybe it's something to do with uv absorption, I don't know.

 

[wruk53]

Several weeks back, I rubbed out seeds from prilep 66-9/7 pods and threw the chafe into an empty garbage can. I noticed there were a lot of seeds still mixed in with the chafe, so I broadcast the chafe on the south side of my house just to see if any of them would sprout and take hold. Sure enough, some of them did. This morning I dug them up and transplanted them in the dirt at about ten inch spacing. Usually, plants that have no natural resistance to nematodes don't do well in the soil in this area, but I'll see what happens. There are 27 transplants, 2 or 3 of them, I suspect may be weeds that look like tobacco, but most of them I'm pretty sure of.

 

[Knucklehead]

Several weeks back, I rubbed out seeds from prilep 66-9/7 pods and threw the chafe into an empty garbage can. I noticed there were a lot of seeds still mixed in with the chafe, so I broadcast the chafe on the south side of my house just to see if any of them would sprout and take hold. Sure enough, some of them did. This morning I dug them up and transplanted them in the dirt at about ten inch spacing. Usually, plants that have no natural resistance to nematodes don't do well in the soil in this area, but I'll see what happens. There are 27 transplants, 2 or 3 of them, I suspect may be weeds that look like tobacco, but most of them I'm pretty sure of.

Do you have sieves to use in cleaning your seed? Myself and some others ought these from U.S. Plastics and they work really well (and inexpensive). 400 and 600 micron sieves, tobacco seed are ~500 microns in size. I purchased a hand squeeze bulb blower (like the rubber bulb on the old bicycle horns but without the noise) to lightly blow away the chaff and dead aphid wings. You come out with some really clean seed.

seed exchange thread

I think they were crushed in the mail system from no padding, so all of mine will be padded when mailed. I'd suggest another requirement for exchanging seed is that it must be sent in a padded envelope to avoid the USPS crushed seed syndrome.

fairtradetobacco.com

 

[Knucklehead]

My hand blower is like this one.

Amazon.com

 

[wruk53]

This is what I used. I have no idea what the micron size is, that's a regular round toothpick standing up in the screen. I get a fair amount of fine chafe, which I try to gently blow out with my breath. After that, I leave them in an uncovered bowl for a few days to make sure they're dry, then store the seeds in old dark colored pill bottles, stuffed in a drawer under some clothes.

 

[deluxestogie]

A micron (µ) is a micro-meter. So 1000 microns = 1 millimeter (mm). A seed of Nicotiana tabacum is typically about 0.5 mm. Seed from Nicotiana rustica is closer to 1.0 mm.

Bob

 

[wruk53]

If anyone feels like playing "Where's Waldo", there is a female ruby throated hummingbird in this photo.

 

[wruk53]

If anyone feels like playing "Where's Waldo", there is a female ruby throated hummingbird in this photo.

Note: I posted the wrong pic at first, I deleted it and put the correct one in its place.

 

[deluxestogie]

Surely a ruby throat would easily jump out of a photo! The real challenge for me was determining the size of the bird in relation to leaf and blossom size.

Bob

 

[wruk53]

The leaves on the fire bush are 3" X 1.25". The blossoms are one inch long. There were three hummers out there yesterday, 2 females and one male. Every time you see more than one, they're fighting. They don't play well together. They're hard as hell to photograph too. I sat there for 30 minutes or so trying to get some good pics and that's the only one I could even find the bird in.