The Knucklehead way to Grow a Blog

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Ashauler

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You're God Damn sure not a cripple (except possibly mentally). Your pipes demonstrate that beautifully. There fully mobile people who would kill to be able to make that kind of art work.
Yep....there's one right here.
 

Knucklehead

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Yep....there's one right here.

First of all I'd like to thank my parents for the clearly superior genes they passed on. I must thank the tool makers, without whom I'd be pounding on wood with a rock. I'd like the thank the Indians for the tobacco they so carefully cared for. And last but not least the phamaceutical companies that developed the psychodelic, mind altering drugs that keep giving me flashbacks and inspirations for my pipe designs. clap.gif
 

Knucklehead

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18 izmir and 18 BSS-Maden sprouts transplanted to float trays this morning. It looks like 2-3 more days before the Burley and Virginia will be ready for transplant. I'm letting a tiny green leaf or two form before I move the sprouts to the float tray. Easier to see.
 

Knucklehead

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42 Burley and 54 virginia into the float trays. Will do 12 YTB to finish filling the two trays. I have some wick type trays for some seed grow outs. Going to start the seed for them today. Glessnor, Vuelta Abajo, CT Shade, Comstock Spanish and Little Dutch.
 

Michibacy

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Haven't seen your bLOG in a bit, looking real good Knucks, also...I'm desperately jealous of your property :p. Looks like your sprouts seem to be doing well. Keep up the good work! (And make sure you have an inline filter and a suction basket on that pump!
 

Knucklehead

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The sprouts are just sitting there. I hope putting on roots. A few have died already, so I dropped a few seed into those cells. They're in an eastern facing window in the heated basement, I don't know if I need to add more light or heat. It stays around 65 degrees down here. Thank goodness we have Bigbonner's seedlings for a Plan B. I won't need the pump, I ran a water line down the hill for the back-up drip. It's in case of drought.
 

Michibacy

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Ah ok. As for temp, I've noticed 72-79 *F is a good temp. "Standards" are 76*F for germination, South facing window. Have you got any kind of arti-fakle light on it?
 

Knucklehead

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I'm a little high on ph but I don't think it's high enough to try and lower it. We hit limestone rock digging the pond and little wet weather blow holes open up when it's really wet, but not in the summer. I guess that's where all the lime is coming from. Need to raise my phosphate and nitrogen. I have about 1500 square feet to plant. The recommendations are for 70 lbs nitrogen per acre, 185 lbs phosphorus per acre and 90 lbs potash per acre. Check my math here. 44100 sq ft to an acre divided by 1500 sq ft is 29.4. So I divide lbs of fertilizer per acre by 29.4 to tell me how many lbs I need on my patch? 2.4 lbs of nitrogen, 6.3 lbs of phosphorus, 3 lbs of potash over the whole patch. Is my math right and is this enough to even bother with??
 

Jitterbugdude

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Kind of looks like a "good-ish" soil test. Your Mn is way too high. You have to be careful about your pH. You might want to lower it a bit but do not go below a pH of about 6. Anything lower and it frees up your Mn which causes all kind of diseases and dead spots in your leaves. Manganese toxicity is serious business in the world of tobacco. I like the level of your N. I usually like mine between 40 and 80 because I think it makes for a mild tobacco. Most Ag places usually recommend higher amounts though. Sulfur would have been nice to know especially since your Mg and Ca are so high.

The important thing is you now have a baseline that you will be able to compare year to year.
 

Knucklehead

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Ah ok. As for temp, I've noticed 72-79 *F is a good temp. "Standards" are 76*F for germination, South facing window. Have you got any kind of arti-fakle light on it?

Just the room lights plus a lamp right beside the float trays. Indirect sunlight from the eastern facing window, direct sunlight in the mornings.
 

Knucklehead

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Kind of looks like a "good-ish" soil test. Your Mn is way too high. You have to be careful about your pH. You might want to lower it a bit but do not go below a pH of about 6. Anything lower and it frees up your Mn which causes all kind of diseases and dead spots in your leaves. Manganese toxicity is serious business in the world of tobacco. I like the level of your N. I usually like mine between 40 and 80 because I think it makes for a mild tobacco. Most Ag places usually recommend higher amounts though. Sulfur would have been nice to know especially since your Mg and Ca are so high.

The important thing is you now have a baseline that you will be able to compare year to year.


Isn't the lower line with N of 70 the recommended lbs per acre I need to add?
 

Knucklehead

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Michibacy

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Yup those would work, suck A LOT of power though. I'm not sure where on the light spectrum they operate, you may want to check that. I would also be cautious to make sure they didn't cook the plants. Those bubs act like car headlights and heat up quickly (and cool down slowly). I used these in my indoor grow which put out A LOT of light, but again was on the lower end of the spectrum.

One easy way to tell if your plants don't have enough light is to see if they "reach" for the light they do get. Depending on how tall the sprouts are out of the soil it may or may not be noticeable. Sunflowers practice this on a much larger scale for their normal growth. (called Positive Phototropism)

lightspectrum.jpg
 

Knucklehead

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Yes, I misread your report but rereading it I do not see what your N level is. Maybe I'm getting blind in my old age. What is your N level?

I can't find the current level, just the 70 lbs/acre recommendation. Which means, if my math is right, 2.4 lbs on my 1500 sq. ft. plot. Is that enough to fool with?
 

Jitterbugdude

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The problem I have is if they didn't test your N level then how can they make a recommendation? I know you've been planting cover crops and that would affect your level. Adding 70 lbs/acre might be way too much or not enough, depends on your N level to start with.

Might be worth getting another soil sample done and have Sulfur tested as well.
I like "High Brix Gardens" for a soil analysis. $25.00 for a fairly comprehensive test without recommendations.
 

Knucklehead

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Just filled the empty cells with new sprouts. I got some 500 watt work lights on them now to raise the temp. My power was off for two days after a storm and more plants died. I think not enough heat has been the main problem.
 
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