DonH 2015 Grow Blog

[DonH]

I got my seeds started a couple days ago (I swear I can see some of them sprouting - maybe they'll go faster if I check them frequently). A week later than I wanted but they should be ready to go in time. I have a lot of work to do in the two months before getting them in the ground. My plot is not tilled. I'm planning on fencing it with hog wire and letting my five hogs do the work for me. I may have to add some topsoil from our local cheesemaker who has mountains of composted cow manure. There's only 4-5 inches of soil over the fill. But first the damn snow has to melt (still six inches on the ground).

Since I have room, I'm planning on going big this year, both in quantity of plants and number of varieties. I planted six 72-cell flats. I realized after last year that I have to plant lots more Turkish if I'm doing close spacing.

Here's what I got:

FTT Seedbank growout:

Dixie Bright 101
Katsuyama

GRIN seed order:
Flue Cured:
Lysistrata
Amerelo 5
Bright Yellow
VA 724
Perustitza Lazio (Italian Oriental. Istanbulin has a thread on this type and he likes it)

Other Flue Cured:
Reams 158
VBL
African Red (each year I say I'm not going to grow it due to thin leaves and susceptibility to disease, but it always tastes great)
Del Gold
Gold Leaf 939
Hickory Pryor
Costello
Gold Dollar

Other Turkish
Izmir Ozbas (The star of last year's Turkish grow)
Yayladag (giving this another go, last year the seeds didn't sprout)
Prilep
Djebel
Samsun Maden
Harmanliiska Basma
Alma Ata
Sherazi

Burley
TN90 (never did get seed for this)

Cigar
Scantic Wrapper (a Connecticut variety with resistance to the Connecticut diseases)
Havana 503B Binder

 

[Knucklehead]

You have some nice varieties picked out. Best of luck with your season.

 

[chillardbee]

I'd be interested to do another swap at the end of the year for some of that gold leaf and reams 158. You got a nice selection there. best of luck this year.

 

[grgfinney]

Good luck on your grow this year, have you tried bambooo shoot? same nicotine as african red and looks alot like it also but a lot more yield, I grew them side by side last year that is why i'm not growing ar this season, If you need some seed shoot me your address and send them out this weekend,if I didn't smoke it all up I would send you a sample

 

[grgfinney]

Bamboo shoot

 

[DGBAMA]

Nice list. Scantic produced some huge leaves for me last year. Average plant height, not tall.

 

[DonH]

I just got the hogs moved into the tobacco plot yesterday. They wasted no time starting to till.



The plot is 48'X48' which should be enough for about 160 regular plants, but I'll probably be able to fit in 200 with close spacing of Orientals.

 

[deluxestogie]

The hogs turned up that much sod in one day?

Bob

 

[DonH]

The hogs turned up that much sod in one day?

Bob

Yep. They're pretty tired today, though.

 

[Hasse SWE]

Don I like your growing-list. But I have some questions do you have TN90 or not? I have some seed left from last year. My neighbour grow"it" this year (I started em for him). So if you need some next year, I can send you some..

I have grown"Tennessee redleaf" I don't like to see it growing but, it makes excellent tobacco so I understand what you say about American redleaf..

 

[DonH]

Don I like your growing-list. But I have some questions do you have TN90 or not? I have some seed left from last year. My neighbour grow"it" this year (I started em for him). So if you need some next year, I can send you some..

I have grown"Tennessee redleaf" I don't like to see it growing but, it makes excellent tobacco so I understand what you say about American redleaf..

Thanks for the offer, Hasse. What I wrote was confusing. By "never got seed for this" I meant that I have grown it in the past but didn't collect seed. But I have some seed from members here. I have started 12 TN90 plants this year and will collect seed.

 

[DonH]

Good luck on your grow this year, have you tried bambooo shoot? same nicotine as african red and looks alot like it also but a lot more yield, I grew them side by side last year that is why i'm not growing ar this season, If you need some seed shoot me your address and send them out this weekend,if I didn't smoke it all up I would send you a sample

Thanks for the offer. I think I'll take you up on it for next year.

 

[DonH]

I just got a load of 20 yards of compost from the local cheesemaker. I'll have to hit up my neighbor to bring his tractor over to spread it. Later this week I'll get another 20 yards of screened loam. This makes me miss the midwest where you don't have to buy all the damn soil for a garden plot!

 

[Chicken]

I know how you feel...i bring my garden supplemental material home 5 gallon bucket full at a time.

 

[DonH]

Well I achieved my goal of getting the tobacco planted before the end of May. Yesterday morning my neighbor came by with his tractor and spread the soil around and ran the power rake on it. Then I spent the whole day planting. I put in a total of 224 plants, 81 of them are Orientals which didn't take up much space due to the close spacing. 14 Flue Cured varieties, 7 Orientals, 1 Burley (just growing 10 TN90 for seed, I have a lot of Burley from previous years), and 2 cigar types.

The seed growout varieties did well so I planted 6 Dixie Bright (flue cured) and 6 Katsuyama (cigar filler). Then I planted five GRIN varieites: Perustitza Lazio, Amerelo 5, Lysistrata, Va724, and Bright Yellow - 552584, 552597, 552766, 438978, 407479). So I should be able to donate a lot of seed to the seed bank this year. I didn't send any along last year because I planted a month late and the germination rates were only around 60% - good enough for my use but not for a seed bank.

Totals:

TN90 - 10
Perustitza Lazio - 12
Sherazi - 17
Alma Ata - 12
Prilep - 18
Djebel - 12
Harmanliiska Basma - 11
Izmir Ozbas - 29
Lysistrata - 6
Va724 - 6
Costello - 16
Reams - 16
Amerelo 5 - 6
African Red - 12
Del Gold - 12
Gold Leaf 939 - 11
Gold Dollar - 7
Hickory Pryor - 7
Big Gem - 5
VBL - 5
Dixie Bright - 6
Bright Yellow - 8
Scantic Wrapper - 5
Katsuyama Filler - 6

 

[Knucklehead]

That is some great looking soil. Congrats on the planting out. Am I seeing a young bull in the background?

 

[DGBAMA]

Nice ambitious list and great looking garden!

 

[DonH]

That is some great looking soil. Congrats on the planting out. Am I seeing a young bull in the background?

Nope, that's a hog.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Very Nice Indeed. Good Luck with Grow this Year.

 

[Chicken]

Your plot looks great..