FrostD’s 2023 Grow Blog

[FrostD]

Finally finished transplanting the rest of the plants into solo cups. Week 15 1/2 from seed.

Used my aphid/bug cleaner aka Sucker Plucker 9000, to clean off leaves from bugs and took off dead or yellow leaves.

“Sucker Plucker 9000”


Transplants:

Left 8 are Connecticut Broadleaf (Transplant date 6-27-23)

Center 3 (Runts) Connecticut Broadleaf (Transplant date 6-28-23)

Right 8 Habano 2000 (Transplant date 6-28-23)



These solo cup transplants are a little bit of Guinea pigs this year. Soil mixture in the cups are Miracle Grow Potting mix with a healthy addition (but not too much) Perilite. Then about a big metal spoon to an extra half a spoon of the following additives to see what happens. These are the additives I added to veggie beds this year that I had left over and are loving it! (It may be a little nitrogen heavy now that I look at it)





Rest of the plants have been doing ok. Watered them underneath leaves a little bit tonight and then light spray over the leaves (like rainfall). Forecast says 30% chance of rain late tonight/early AM. We will see though. Canadian wildfires have been making the air quality here not the best. Perhaps a slight fire cured tasti by tobacco this year? Lol!

 

[Knucklehead]

The plants are looking great.
edit: rolling your own cigars from your own homegrown tobacco is going to be an extremely satisfying experience.

 

[FrostD]

The plants are looking great.
edit: rolling your own cigars from your own homegrown tobacco is going to be an extremely satisfying experience.

Thanks @Knucklehead ! Can’t wait for sure! I still have a few leaves from last year hanging up downstairs. Need to something with them soon.

Fingers still crossed that I can learn a few more things and get some from this year to be able to roll with.

 

[FrostD]

Having more soil in the pots would’ve definitely helped is 1 thing learned. ‍

 

[FrostD]

Start of week 16 from seed. We’ve gotten a little bit of rain yesterday and a potential for some more this afternoon. Everything looks like it’s starting to hit some strides! Some stalks are right in between a nickel & a quarter in diameter. Haven’t watered with the hose for a couple days, since we actually had some rainfall.








Our squash is thriving for sure! They are the plant in the raised bed on the right, with enormous leaves! They are blocking our 3 little green bean plants behind them and starting to push into the 4 kale plants. The raised bed on the left, cucumbers climbing up the wall with a vengeance! Dill & chives are thriving pretty nicely as well.


Need to cage up some of the tomatoes today. Sweet potatoes in the tub are loving these temps as well!

 

[Knucklehead]

That looks like a nice place to hang out with a cigar.

 

[FrostD]

That looks like a nice place to hang out with a cigar.

Absolutely! Love being out in the backyard. Not too much space out there, but make do with the space we have! Grill, fire pit, fenced in yard for the pups, and ability to get hands dirty with plants! When I’m working from home with my lady (she works from home all the time), we always like to take breaks to “stop & smell the flowers”. Both of us are big believers that playing in the dirt helps with an overall better mindset. Doesn’t matter what plants we grow, because we want to grow them all! Lol.

Definitely need to get a cigar in this weekend still or at least on the 4th. Been too long for me since I was last able to enjoy one. I’m back on travel for work schedule at least 50% of the month. In addition to having some unhealthy air ratings due to Canada fires. Yesterday was the first day air quality was down below the “unhealthy” level.

If you’re ever in the greater Madison, WI area Knucks, you’re welcome to pop by and enjoy some sticks and refreshments in the backyard! Can cook up some good ole traditional Wisconsin beer brats!

 

[FrostD]

Happy 4th of July!

Week 16 + Day 2 from seed.

Notes:
Plants were wilting due to some high temps the last couple days. Even watering them in the morning the last few days.

Decided to move them to some shade for a break this afternoon.

Gave away 2x CTBL & 2x Habano 2000 little plants to my buddy today to see how he can do with them.

My lady did some aeration of the soil in the big potted plants.

Have 3 extra bags of potting soil. Grocery store special of 3 bags for $10. Haven’t used this soil before, but feel as I’ll amend some of it with perlite, chicken poop, worm castings, and perhaps some bone & blood meal sometime this week. Use the mix to top off some of the pots where the soil has settled lower than I’d like. May also need to pinch off some small bottom leaves to make it cleaner.

 

[FrostD]

Couldn’t post pics in last post (was getti bc a security error).

Pics:

Never tried soil from grocery store:


Plants:





Some big Leaf pics:

Habano 2000


CTBL


CT Shade

 

[FrostD]

Start of week 17 from seed! Trimmed up bottoms on the larger pots. Have 7 to go, but my lady said she would take care of it while I’m out of town this week. Already pre mixed the soil with some perilite, bone meal, blood meal, earthworm castings and chicken poop. Wanted to bring up the level of soil and perhaps provide some good nutrients. Seems like the “Timberline Potting Soul” seems very similar to a lot of “organic” souls out there. I’ve found a few rocks in a couple bags. Also, it seems kinda heavy in sand. Interesting…Filled up to about 1”-2” below the top of each pot. In addition to staking a couple up that needed it, due to a recent rainfall. Habano 2000 seems to be wanting to flower soon as well. Considering on collecting seeds on the fastest and biggest producer plant of each type. We will see though. Already doing much better than last years late start.

Bottom leaves trimmed off (seems excessive. I thought the same).


Before pics:







Soil & amendments (in prior post. About a big kitchen spoon food of each):


Plants topped off with amended soil (already thinking of making sure more soil is in each pot for next year. Potentially don’t have to pick off as much undergrowth leaves.):



My lady offered to take a pic of me with the plants. Lol.


Sounds like some rain this upcoming week which will be good. Have a work trip to Massachusetts, so fingers crossed.

 

[FrostD]

1 Day shy of 18 weeks from seed. Decided to post today, since I fly back out for work tomorrow afternoon. This time to Columbus, OH for the Cultivate ‘23 expo! Amazing and HUGE expo for traditional Agriculture.

This past week my lady said we got some heavy rain, which helped, but definitely damaged some leaves. Having a job where you travel 50-75% of a month, makes extra eyes and care on plants much harder. There still appears to be some decent leaf still though! Ended up putting the majority of the plants in an area of the yard where a lawn mower could still be used and not damage the plants or have to “Jenga” them around the yard. My lady did help filling up the pots of a few remaining plants with amended soil I made up last weekend. She offered and I definitely appreciate her doing that! I just went outside and snapped a few pics. Some leaves are curling over, almost like they want to fold in half. 4x Habano 2000 plants are starting to show signs that flowers are coming! I’m considering bagging at least 1 head of each variety I’m growing this year. Just need to source material for bags or to make bags. I should be home and have time to bag within the next 2 weeks (fingers crossed that timing works out). I’m leaning towards @deluxestogie ’s recommendations in his book for either Organza bags or getting some Agribon AG-15 and testing out my sewing skills that need about 20 years of dust knocked off. Lots more learning to do, but still have done a lot better than my first year!

 

[FrostD]

Start of week 18 from seed. Moved all the plants to a different spot in the backyard and trimmed up some low hanging branch’s of a tree that I set them under. Used some bamboo stakes to keep upright some other plants that needed extra support. 5 plants are starting to flower. 4x Habano 2000 & 1x Connecticut Shade. Topped 2x of the Habano 2000 where the buds were starting to form and stretch out. Just pinched them off.






Topped or starting to flower plants:




Rest of the plants:



Ordered these bags for at least 4 plants I plan on trying to seed out.

 

[Knucklehead]

Start of week 18 from seed. Moved all the plants to a different spot in the backyard and trimmed up some low hanging branch’s of a tree that I set them under. Used some bamboo stakes to keep upright some other plants that needed extra support. 5 plants are starting to flower. 4x Habano 2000 & 1x Connecticut Shade. Topped 2x of the Habano 2000 where the buds were starting to form and stretch out. Just pinched them off.

View attachment 47127
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Topped or starting to flower plants:
View attachment 47131
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Rest of the plants:
View attachment 47133
View attachment 47134

Ordered these bags for at least 4 plants I plan on trying to seed out.
View attachment 47135

6x9 is going to be small for a tobacco seed head and may even burst. I hate for you to find out too late. Bob sews his own bags:

Deluxestogie Grow Log 2023

I admit it. Their John Deere is bigger than mine. Bob

fairtradetobacco.com

Note the size of even his Oriental bags.

I use 5 gal. paint strainers and sometimes even those are filled to near bursting. The photo shows my current bagged Reams 158. A 5 gal. paint strainer is taller than a 5 gal. bucket, some of that height is taken up by securing the bottom bunch and tying with a cable tie. The purpose of the bags is to prevent pollinating insects from carrying pollen from one plant and crossing it with a different variety. Tobacco is self pollinating, rather than wind pollinated. You can't tell in the photo, but the bud head is doubled over inside the bag.



edit: I had to adjust the bag once, they keep growing inside the bag. I use an adjustable cable tie. That is a small seed head compared to some that I've had in the past.

 

[deluxestogie]

I've just posted photos of my current bud bag status:

Deluxestogie Grow Log 2023

The temp is 88°F in the shade of my front porch. Very little breeze. An oscillating fan is running at high speed. Also at high speed, I race to eat a bowl of butter pecan ice cream (with Cool Whip) before it melts. For the moment, the RH has dipped to 70%. Huge, puffy gray clouds creep...

fairtradetobacco.com

Bob

 

[FrostD]

Thank you @Knucklehead & @deluxestogie ! I appreciate the advice immensely! I’ll cancel my order for those bags and get the Agribon AG-15 or look for 5 gal paint strainer bags. Come to find out my lady has a sewing machine that we can dust off.

On a side note… I get through security for my flight to Columbus, OH and no sooner do I get through and my flight gets delayed. To the point where my connecting flight takes off before my first flight lands. Tried changing flights, can fly out Tuesday. Which doesn’t help, since I had an 8am meeting tomorrow and then an expo to walk from 9am-5pm. The real kicker is that car rentals are sold out in Columbus. In addition to being sold out at Detroit airport, if I just flew there and drove down. Also, Madison, WI car rentals are sold out as well. Frustrating afternoon for sure! May need to just reschedule appointments and meetings for the week. Since Covid, flights and car rentals have bee atrocious, if you don’t book at least 3-4 weeks in advance. Flight delays, changes, or cancellations really mess with way more when trying to travel. Ugh…

On the positive side, if my travel week gets scrapped, at least I get to spend time with the tobacco plants… oh, and also my lady, my son, and our pups. Lol!

 

[FrostD]

Was able to cancel the small bags I initially ordered. Placed an order for these, which should arrive Wednesday. Which should hold me over for a season or two. I’m thinking I’ll grab a larger amount of Agribon AG-15 when I’m not in a time crunch to have extra on hand. Also, some tags to make sure I don’t get things mixed up when all said and done. Plan on cutting the netting up and sewing to 30” tall x 24” wide. Feel free to let me know if I’m still not doing this right. Lol.

Lastly, another thank you to @Knucklehead for the quick save here! Also, @deluxestogie for the save and the book “Grow Your Own Cigars” that I reference over and over again! So many answers in this book and it’s super helpful to have on hand to page through whenever needed. You guys rock!

 

[deluxestogie]

Get away from city lights (ha!) this evening, and look north after full darkness (~9 pm), and you may see an aurora.

It seems like in the time you spent at the airport, to get nowhere, you could have simply driven to Columbus.

Bob

 

[FrostD]

Get away from city lights (ha!) this evening, and look north after full darkness (~9 pm), and you may see an aurora.

It seems like in the time you spent at the airport, to get nowhere, you could have simply driven to Columbus.

Bob

May try to do that if I can! Would love to see an Aurora!

You’re not kidding either. It’s just over 7 hours of driving from home to Columbus, OH. That’s my backup option if the back office lets me drive my own car. They usually want us to get car rentals all the time, but on such short notice, no car rentals are available. I estimated how many miles I’d put on my car and it would be at least 1,200 miles. At $.655/ mile and gas expensed… that would be roughly $800 they would need to pay me to take my car. Not sure if they would want to do that. Ha ha ha!

 

[deluxestogie]

Check this projection before you try to see the aurora. It seems not as robust as only 90 minutes ago.

Aurora - 30 Minute Forecast | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

www.swpc.noaa.gov

Bob

 

[FrostD]

Hopefully this evening it’s time to figure out making some bags for a few plants to collect seeds! Looking over the instructions of the sewing machine my lady has, I may need to do some research on the good ole YouTube as well. Im thinking of just doing some straight stitching and do a couple rows of it to reinforce. There’s multiple types of stitching that it appears the machine can do. Doesn’t seem too complicated…. As of yet. Ha ha ha