CULT: seedlings - long

Hello Folks,

I have hesitated to comment on my handling of these seedlings.
Partly it is because I'm not quite sure what has happened nor what
the long term result is going to be.  For my usual methods, what I
did was extraordinary.  And it doesn't quite fit what I've been comfortable
with in my practices.  When May rolled around our temperatures were
already getting above 100 F and we were (as we still are) suffering from a
dearth of rain.  Anticipating a long, hot summer, I planned accordingly.
Already, the ground was swarming with tiny grasshoppers.  Jillions!
I constructed a raised bed using four lengths of old telephone poles
which have been lying around here most of my life.  Two were 6', two
were about 8' in length.  I laid these across a swale on the east side
of the house and on the east side of a large oak tree, so only morning
sun and very late afternoon sun reached the seedlings.  I used a spading
fork and dug the grass and stirred hard red clay as much as I could.
Into this I worked a generous amount of compost (from the plains of
Texas consisting of cotton burs and cotton stalks - good stuff).  On top
of this I laid about a 2" layer of composted cattle manure.  Then I
filled the bed to the top with a mixture (by volume) of equal parts of the
compost and that doubtful gray-looking stuff sold in bags for topsoil.
Then I planted more than a hundred seedlings from nine pods.  One pod
was TBxTB, five pods were TBx1/4AB (disqualified ABs from the start)
and three pods of TBx1/2AB.  These did not yield equal numbers of
seedlings, of course.  Then I proceeded to give them water every other
day.  Generously.  Boy, was this successful.  I lost only 10 seedlings
and at least seven were directly attributable to grasshoppers.  As I go
into fall, this is still in place.  The seedlings are really nice sized
plants
for the most part.  More than half have one or several or more increases.
The fans give the appearance of mature plants.

Currently I'm in the process of constructing a long series of raised beds.
Probably will be working on these the rest of my life, which will
undoubtedly
be shortened by the hard labor involved.  Two units (two pods) are complete
and planted in more or less the same manner and the watering schedule
continuing in place.  The first two pods have continued to grow with no
sign of transplanting shock.

This seems to be a lot of water for plants I'm not accustomed to giving
that much H2O.  Do seedlings have different requirements for optimum
growth?  It seems to me they must.  If I had given that much water to
the established beds in the sun, it would surely have killed them
(wouldn't it?).  I know I can give those in shade more water, but those
with a lot of sun can fold up quickly.  Am I constructing beds which by
definition are going to require more water?   Water is a scarce and
expensive commodity here.

I don't know how I escaped more damage from the grasshoppers.  They
certainly ate on the leaves.  But here is another question - does
grasshopper
tobacco have a growth inhibitor in it?  Does anyone know?  The reason for
the question is those seedlings which are eaten at ground level or have a
notch eaten in the tiny rhizome, even when they put out new fan growth,
never seem to recover altogether.  A case in point is one TBxTB which
was the largest seedling from the pod until it was eaten severely.  It
survives, but is now the smallest and has a delicate look to the growth.
Others have fared even worse if they survived.  I'm not talking here of
chewing on the leaves, but actually devouring the plant down to more or
less ground level.  I have noticed this before on bee pod seedlings and
it also applies to increase on mature rhizomes when they are eaten the
same way.  The above cross put back out promptly, but I wonder if it
will ever do much.  Some of those with small aril-type leaf growth did not
have this appearance until the grasshoppers lopped them off, so I don't
think it is their heritage showing.

Still, at this point I'm very pleased.  I was doubtful of success at all
considering
the conditions we are in.  I don't know what these will do when they get a
dose of more normal handling, but they don't have the excuse of not being
well-grown at their beginning.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7, USA



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