2014 Knucklehead Grow Blog

[Knucklehead]

Some interesting individual varieties.

0-40 wrapper is now 8' tall.



Samsun Canik reaches 7' tall.



Thirty something Izmir Ozbas in a double staggered row. Plants are approximately six inches apart. They are 5' tall.



The batteries died on my camera. I have some 8' Tekekkoy that I want to post pictures of tomorrow. I would also like to post pictures of my Krumovgrad 90. It's growth habit is almost identical to Prilep P66-9/7. It's hard to tell the two varieties apart. Same plant shape and wavy leaves. It is a gorgeous plant.

 

[grgfinney]

Looking excellent there Knucks

 

[DGBAMA]

Looking super!

 

[Brown Thumb]

You been cheating, where did you hide them?
Looking Super Duper.

 

[deluxestogie]

You've got a lot of fine plants. Nice work. (A lot of nice work.)

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

This is how I sun cure my Orientals. It is a method that I devised to work around some physical limitations so it may not be the answer for everyone. Little tiny Oriental leaves are hard to string, so I bypassed all that and now sun cure Orientals in bud bags. Put them in the bags and lay them out in the sun. Rotate the pile inside the bags regularly. This will need to be done more often at the beginning while the leaves are losing the most moisture. This will eliminate mold issues.

I primed Samsun-Canik and Prilep P66-7/9 for the first time today. The leaf was showing signs of alligatoring and the tips of the leaf were yellow. These pictures show the Samsun-Canik in preparation for sun curing. Notice the label tied on a corner of the bud bag. It serves no purpose other than to identify the contents of the bag. There is still plenty of room to take the leaf in and out of the bag for restacking.



It's in the bag.



I'll put it in the sun tomorrow. Last year I just laid it on top of the cement parking area and turned it over once a day. Then I would rotate the pile inside out every night to start with and less frequently as the moisture in the leaves dissipated. I think it was actually beneficial that the side away from the sun was flat against the concrete with no extra air circulation. Those leaves stayed moist while the top leaves sun cured. When I flipped the bag over, those moist leaves began sun curing and the leaves now on the bottom rehydrated. If there is air circulation under the bottom, those leaves could dry out just from air movement and dry green.

In stacking the leaf. I do the same thing I do when stringing leaf. Front to front, then back to back, then front to front again. Alternating through the pile.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Attachments are not working for me knucks

 

[Mad Oshea]

The hoppers got You too?

 

[FmGrowit]

He must be using a new uploading technique. I can't see the pictures either.

 

[ne3go]

Those plants are amazing!
In Greece the traditional way of growing oriental is: not much fertilizer, almost no water, so the plants grow small with little leaves, but full of aroma.
In those huge plants, are those characteristics still preserved?

 

[Knucklehead]

Are the pictures back? I could see them last night. I deleted and re-uploaded today.

 

[Knucklehead]

Those plants are amazing!
In Greece the traditional way of growing oriental is: not much fertilizer, almost no water, so the plants grow small with little leaves, but full of aroma.
In those huge plants, are those characteristics still preserved?

Since growing mainly for seed again this year, I did fertilize. Some of the plants are traditionally spaced, some are a little further apart. We had a very wet June. Aside from that, I can only blame my superior growing skills. ROFL
How are you? I haven't seen you here in a while. Are you growing any this year?

 

[Jitterbugdude]

My Tekekoy grew 7 feet last year so yours seems normal based on my experience but your Canik seems mighty tall. Fertilizer! I think we should swap some Tekekoy leaf this fall to see if there is much of a difference. I'm willing to bet yours will have some noticeable nicotine in it

 

[Knucklehead]

My Tekekoy grew 7 feet last year so yours seems normal based on my experience but your Canik seems mighty tall. Fertilizer! I think we should swap some Tekekoy leaf this fall to see if there is much of a difference. I'm willing to bet yours will have some noticeable nicotine in it

Done! I need to return your Samsun-Canik seed also. Thanks for letting me borrow them.

 

[Knucklehead]

This is Krumovgrad 90 that I thought was such a pretty plant. It is an Oriental from Bulgaria. Pardon the wilt, it's that time of day.



8' tall Tekkekoy an Oriental.



This is Krumovgrad 988 another Oriental from Bulgaria.

 

[Knucklehead]

I'm growing some interesting cigar filler varieties this year. Following are some stand outs.

Remidios PI 405667. Seed donated to GRIN from Cuba.



Criollo (Ti 1376) PI 405646. Seed donated to GRIN from Cuba. I added the TI number because there are some Criollo named varieties from other countries.



PI 404951. Seed donated to GRIN from Cuba.



Coroja PI 405643. Seed donated to GRIN from Cuba.



Little Cuba PI 405669. Seed donated to GRIN from Cuba.



Colombian Garcia PI 405672. A very pretty plant.



Amarillo Parado PI 377898. From the Dominican Republic. A nice plant. I need to move those bud bags up.

 

[deluxestogie]

A lot of lovely plants.

I had a look at GRIN for the Columbian Garcia PI405672:
"405672. T.I. 1457. 'Garcia'. Honduras." It appears to be a Havana type.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

A lot of lovely plants.

I had a look at GRIN for the Columbian Garcia PI405672:
"405672. T.I. 1457. 'Garcia'. Honduras." It appears to be a Havana type.

Bob

The PI and TI numbers are correct. The only place I can find "Colombian" Garcia is on the original GRIN seed pack. It is given as the varietal name on the seed pack, I can't find Colombia on the PDF or other documents. You are correct, GRIN lists Honduras as the donor, rather than Colombia.

 

[ArizonaDave]

I like the pics of the Colombian Garcia plant, the leaves are tightly spaced together. Could that be a problem for pesticide?

 

[Knucklehead]

I like the pics of the Colombian Garcia plant, the leaves are tightly spaced together. Could that be a problem for pesticide?

It hasn't been so far. Some of the plants like that just take a little extra time to lift a couple of leaves here and there.