Knucklehead's 2023 Grow Blog

[Knucklehead]

Do you keep a water level in the pool (wicking bed) or is that a bad idea?

I haven't. I have been filling it to the drain hole which was 1" and then later in the day I would fill it to drain hole again. The second filling is usually also taken up in a few hours or by next morning. That lasts a few days. I do not keep the reservoir full due to mosquitos. I just moved the drain hole to 2" around 10am this morning. I filled it to 2" twice today and there is maybe 1/8" of water in the bottom of the pool, it should be gone tonight. The soil is dry when I add water.

 

[Brown Thumb]

It’s amazing how much they drink.
I was monitoring my plants in the green house each tray started a about 1/2 qt of water a day to the same mark to 2qts a day now that they are ready to plant. They can out drink me Almost.

 

[Knucklehead]

More flowers had opened than I expected this morning. I topped all the plants from the first planting except for the bagged head for seed.

 

[Knucklehead]

The shorter plants that were planted at a later date are catching up to the others. Two of them are budding. The taller ones in the two pools that were topped last week are just in a holding pattern. I pulled three suckers today near the tops, so far very few suckers.



My two 1020 tray plants are both budding.

 

[GreenDragon]

Looking Good! I wonder if having them so close together discourages suckering.

 

[deluxestogie]

Do you usually see hummingbirds visit your tobacco blossoms?

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

Looking Good! I wonder if having them so close together discourages suckering.

Skychasers info states Reams 158 has low suckering and that was my experience in the past.

 

[Knucklehead]

Do you usually see hummingbirds visit your tobacco blossoms?

Bob

I saw some buzz past the Prilep last year. I didn't actually see them visit the flowers. I haven't seen them around the Reams 158 this year. I planted wildflowers a few years ago down one side of my long driveway so hummingbirds have plenty of options around here. I see them and bees quite often.

 

[Knucklehead]

Side note. I skipped fertilizing the 1020 tray plants a couple of times. I ran the buckets with water/fertilizer into the three pools and saw that I failed to save some for the other two plants. I meant to just fill a gallon bucket and fertilize those later but forgot. They are shorter, more pale, budded earlier, and have smaller leaves. I am assuming the difference is fertilizer.
edit: they also needed more water due to direct sun on the black grow bags.

 

[GreenDragon]

I saw some buzz past the Prilep last year. I didn't actually see them visit the flowers. I haven't seen them around the Reams 158 this year. I planted wildflowers a few years ago down one side of my long driveway so hummingbirds have plenty of options around here. I see them and bees quite often.

Mine were a hit with the Hummer's when I grew them in Austin. I would usually let at least 1/2 of my plants flower just for them. I also plant a lot of hummingbird attracting flowers and hang a few feeders too, so they usually browse through the yard on the way to the feeders.

 

[Knucklehead]

My summer weather has arrived. The last rain I received was the photo in my blog from May 17. The lawn grass was in hibernation and turning brown until I sprinkled some water on it. The tobacco is living on the water from the garden hose and that is still lasting a few days between waterings. I'm more than just pleasantly surprised, I'm a little confused by it. I may have inadvertently created a mini tropical environment that is somewhat self sustaining to some degree. I can't say for sure. When I run my arm up in the middle, it feels cooler and more humid than I feel can be explained by simply the shade. It feels as though there is some evaporative cooling effect going on and I'm also wondering if the leaves could be recycling some of the humidity rising up from the soil. There are no real reserves left after I water into the pools, the soil takes that water up in a few hours and it is the moisture in the soil sustaining the plants, rather than a reservoir. There is no reservoir. The pools are just a quick, easy way to water in three places with no wasted water. The pools are empty once the soil is hydrated. Temps are in the high 80's. Good breezes. I really have no good explanation for the infrequent watering. The top of the soil always looks dry, but I lift a bag and it feels heavy. When the bag is light I water. I'm still trying to piece together what is going on but I sure am happy about it. I feel like the soil should be drying out faster but it's not. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. The plants look great and are full size. Any guesses?

 

[GreenDragon]

Those are looking really great! And you are not imagining the cooling effect. Water molecules absorb heat from the air when they change state (ie liquid to gas), and will drop the surrounding air temperature. This evaporative cooling effect is used by "swamp coolers" for those living in desert regions. The effect is immediately noticeable when you step into a heavily forested region from an open area. The transpiration of the trees cools the air. My heavily treed backyard in Texas was always much cooler than the covered front porch in the front yard that only had one pitiful tree. Also, bunching the plants together reduces the affect of wind, creating an artificial humid bubble of moisture around the clump of plants. This slows water loss.

 

[deluxestogie]

Any guesses?

@GreenDragon wins. You have created a unique ecosystem, and are now noticing the impact of ecosystem services. And your tobacco "islands" don't have "roads" running through the middle of them, which would otherwise create the compromising, boundary effects that we impose on most wild areas.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

I have my composter going with table scraps, cardboard, and grass clipping. I hope to recycle my potting soil and supplement with compost to reduce the soil cost. Maybe add a couple bags of Black Kow composted manure. I'll store my dirt in a tarp over the winter.

 

[Knucklehead]

@GreenDragon wins. You have created a unique ecosystem, and are now noticing the impact of ecosystem services. And your tobacco "islands" don't have "roads" running through the middle of them, which would otherwise create the compromising, boundary effects that we impose on most wild areas.

Bob

I created a space between the pools for my wheelchair access. I feel they could easily be edge to edge and reduce the total footprint and possibly see even more benefit from the closer spacing and mini environment. I will definitely try this again next year for burley, dark air, and maryland. This would be perfect for a deck or south facing balcony.

 

[Knucklehead]

Out of curiosity I moved the two plants in the 1020 tray beside their sisters, planted same day. The 1020 tray was watered more frequently, slightly less fertilizer.

 

[Knucklehead]

Reams 158 flowers for the deluxestogie archives




I will be topping all the plants from the final pool in a couple of more days. Currently, 40% have open flowers with the others right behind.



We got a thunderstorm yesterday with heavy wind and hard rain that caused the outer plants to lean outwards. I wrapped all the plants in each pool with some plastic surveyors tape to pull them back together and hopefully prevent single plants from blowing over. It is 1" wide and won't cut into the stalk like string would. The tape has a little bit of give to it and I want the plants to sway and rebound as one. United we stand, divided we fall.

 

[deluxestogie]

Excellent blossom photo. If you can get a flattened, 10th leaf (with a ruler to the side), once the time comes, that will complete the photo set for Reams 158.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

Topping time for the third and last pool. All plants are topped.



Lovely bouquet




Starting to see a little bit of mottling on the first two pools topped. Right and middle.

 

[Knucklehead]

Two pools are showing signs of ripeness. One pool is showing signs of maturity. We have a week of rainy weather coming up so I may hold off longer on priming the first two pools until the rain has passed and the leaf is even more ripe for cigarettes. I have some flue cure processed Virginias put back so these will be sun cured.