FantomBadger's First Attempt at Tobacco

[bbfarmky]

We’ve done this. Should help with aeration and drainage.

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Now just after we watered it looks like rain is coming. My luck has been terrible predicting the rain.

We used spade forks as well, smaller hand forks around the basins.

Now you’ve started something, never seem a broad fork before in my life. I need one.

From the looks of your soil, it seems to have a heavy clay content. If that is so, get a beefy broadfork. They are not all created equal. The Gulland brand (here in the U.S.) has a heavy duty model that has gussets bent and welded in to provide extra strength. Maybe other brands have that too, I don’t know. But I do know they make a world of difference.

 

[FantomBadger]

Learning more and quicker than I want to. Look what showed up today, about 12 of them and only on the bigger broadleafs.



Is it tuta absoluta? And how do I kill them? Mechanical as always, but the bios are not holding up on my new mostly untreated and poorly planned beds.

 

[deluxestogie]

BT (Bacillus thuringienis) will kill any caterpillar that tastes the leaf on which it is sprayed. The BT must be sprayed approximately once each week. More frequently if it is rinsed away by rain.

Bob

 

[FantomBadger]

I have decided to not spray for pests. After finding the ten odd tutas, we have not found anymore. I did receive all my bios today. So I’m pretty happy and will apply Bt tomorrow evening.

Beauveria Bassiana, whitefly, leaf etc.
Bacillus Thuringiensis (Kurstaki), caterpillars.
Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens (D747), fungi, mildew etc.
Trichoderma Asperellum (KD), rootrot, dampening off etc.

Broadleaf 1 got 10g of LAN last night, final N application, with 3 liters of water. Broadleaf 2 got 10g of LAN and 1g of MAP with 2 liters of water. Monitoring them now. They seem ok so far.

I am still contemplating whether I’m going to apply more nitrogen on the mixed plants, maybe 4g of LAN on the original mixed bed and a light foliar kelp application to the new 9 mixed plants. And in 2 weeks or so they’ll get 4-6g LAN as a total for the growth for the replacements mixed plants. Some of them are growing nicely now.

SOP to be applied this weekend on broadleaf 1.



Olor are ready to go into more space. I’m going to plant them in 200ml bags with just a kelp soak before hand.



Everything is looking ok currently. I’m happy with how far the plants have come.

 

[FantomBadger]

I got 60 plants out of very cells. I’m going to see how these go, I’m going to try and keep as many as possible, as I sensibly can. My tent is getting too small. I have 10 outside on the porch in bigger bags.

Let’s see how many takes, I’m going to baby them for the next few days. I’ll need to run some more extraction, the tent seems a bit hot at 31°C. I would prefer them to be around 26°C now. Unfortunately our days are now going to start to run at 36°C plus so I might swap the growlight for small 6watt LEDs that is substantially cooler.

What I like about the grow light is that they grow very strong and compact. The plants doesn’t seem to grow higher, just wider.

I had to nuke my beds with Emamectin Benzoate. With more experience I might be able to only do bios, however I didn’t receive my product in time for normal control and had an infestation.

We learn everyday and I’m sure as I go I will become a better grower.

The hardest parts are still to come.