Tobacco is all on the ground!

kyplowboy · Sep 29, 2009

Got the last of my tobacco cut today. Should have help Wendesday afternoon, going to try to get it all unloaded. Took vacation last week to get done, only to get 3 loads up all week around the rain. Got two loads cut spiked and loaded today, another 50 sticks cut and spiked, about 100 to spike and load tomorrow. Life is pretty good here. Didn't even have too much "labor drama" this year. Two have been in jail since the week before I started and the woman who has been helping me broke her hand in a domestic dispute and had surgery two weeks ago. Did have one good high school kid show up, he's only 15 and rode his four wheeler to work after school. He should make good help for a few years. Most of the time it was just me and the 62 year old man up the road who helps me some. He has a bad back so that means I have done most of the barn work this year, get'n to old for this.

Dave

Kanuck · Sep 29, 2009

Hey Dave,

Just wondering what kind of effect that rain has on tobacco in regards to quality? have a good one.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 29, 2009

I remember those days of cutting and hanging that tobacco. I could never do that again. My back would not take it. Not many people grow it here in WNC anymore since the buyout. I bet I have not seen more than 5 tobacco patches in the entire county this summer. People say there is no money in it now. How much do you grow?

James Howell · Sep 29, 2009

Remember you promised photos of your harvest.

Might consider posting bail for your two "detainees"; they should be well rested and ready get back to work.

Hope the rain holds off until you get it in the barn.

MF165farmer · Sep 29, 2009

I help my uncle every year an last year we really had tobacco on the ground We had his barn a little over half full an we herd a pop Two tiers broke that we had just hung It was quit a sit to see for a minute then we had to fix those tiers an do it all over again

huntingreen2day · Sep 29, 2009

Dark or burley? We spiked the burley and always split our dark.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 30, 2009

Those are similar comments my brother is saying , just different stories.. about half is Cut,,, none in the barn ,,, Weekend Warriors here we Come !

Anonymous-0 · Sep 30, 2009

Hey Kyplowboy I was lucky on the rain, we had 16000 sticks down, hung fri. sat. got it all in 8:00pm sat.thunder sun.whew 5in. I read the word "spiked" do you cut and spike later? We cut and spear at the same time.

kyplowboy · Sep 30, 2009

I raise dark tobacco and it's not as limber as burley. You have to cut it and let it lay a while to wilt. If some one cut and speared/spiked at the same time on good dark tobacco you would end up with about as many leaves on the ground as you would have on the stick.

I think the spike/spear deal is one of them I65 things. One word to the east another to the west.

Congrats on miss'n the rain last week.
Dave

kyplowboy · Sep 30, 2009

Dark. I have some family who splits a few sticks every year just to prove they can still do it. When I was in college I worked for an old man who used split'n knives just to cut. Didn't take long for me to figure why that game ended years ago.

I just cut it and let it lay till it wilts good before getting it up.

Dave

kyplowboy · Sep 30, 2009

I have got a pretty good collection of pics for ya.

One of them ain't gonna see day light for a year. I ain't putt'n up bail for the other, I don't trust him to not run and he ain't that good of a hand any way. The one that hurts is the girl who had surgery. She was good help.

Dave

kyplowboy · Sep 30, 2009

I had a small 3 acres this year. Have been contracting with US since before the buyout. Last year the nice folks at PM thought they could do a better job than US could in the smokeless end of the the buisness so they bought US. They are going to do such a better job of selling our smokeless tobacco that they cut our contracts 20%. It is still profitable but PM ain't as deticated to American tobacco as US was and I think it will not take long for PM to weed out any grower who is not going to raise 50+ acres.

Dave

kyplowboy · Sep 30, 2009

This is just a report from what I have seen in a 20 mile circle around my place.

The rain has hurt quality a great deal.

We have had a wet and cool summer, 'baccer don't like that. I have a few nighbors who got hit pretty hard with black shank, lost about 10 acres between the two. Every one had a good bit of stalk rot this time with all the rain after topping. The first of mine that was cut is cure'n up nice but it is getting a grey mold about it. Don't know what the new buyers are going to say about it.

Dave

Mike (WA) · Sep 30, 2009

The guy who's put away for a year would probably have been a good candidate for "work release"- they let him out during the day to work, he spends nights in the hoosegow. Most jails are pretty favorable on work release, if the guy's not a "runner"- they make him pay a portion of his pay for the privilege, and jail gets some much needed revenue (along with one less mouth to feed).

John Harmon · Oct 1, 2009

A few acres near Loretta Ky.With out seasonal workers from Mexicali it would not be possible.

kyplowboy · Oct 1, 2009

Yeah, I have a cousin who raises 60 acres. Me and him were talking the other night. I had a good day and got 400 sticks done with me, a high school kid and the 62 year old man up the road. He had a good day too, got 15 acres of burley cut down and 4 acres of dark housed. I think he had 15 amigos that day.

Dave

Tobacco is all on the ground!

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