Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.
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August 9, 2019 | #76 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Mid-Atlantic right on the line of Zone 7a and 7b
Posts: 1,369
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Can you expand more on the "how I will make money from this this year"?
I talk to farmers every day in my work, and there is obviously a lot of interest in hemp. I have yet to get an answer from anyone on how it will be sold and marketed or how they will make money moving forward. I know this is regional, but here, everyone seems to be reading the same internet article on how you can make 100k on hemp and they are ready to jump in without even thinking through how that would work. Nice setup btw. |
August 9, 2019 | #77 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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Quote:
The biggest obstacle to farmers I know is that hemp is not the typical corn, beans, and wheat. It is more like growing acres of tomatoes in regard to the labor required. There is no roundup ready hemp (yet). Farmers I have met in Kentucky often employ migrant labor. The second biggest obstacle is not getting ripped off. Fantastic sums of money draw shady people after a quick buck. Feminized hemp seed goes for about $20,000 per pound, seed for fiber is $35 per pound, and you cannot tell them apart until after they sprout. So there is an easy scam to run right there. I would be hesitant to trust an anonymous web site to sell me seed. So the capital to get started, the labor to keep going, and the good fortune/street smarts to not get scammed are all important in my view. I would like to get involved with the local small farms I know and set them up as clone factories. I have been collecting the best genetics, which usually require large investments, no one sells plants in fewer quantities than thousands at a time. So I could set them up with supplies and plants, then find a buyer for them when they have cuttings to sell. When things go well, there is a lot of money to be made, and everyone involved gets paid. Merely brokering plant deals to farmers is quite lucrative. |
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August 9, 2019 | #78 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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August 9, 2019 | #79 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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Quote:
We were actually rushed on planting and did not get the weed cloth down in time to soften the ground, so we made planting holes with a drill and an auger bit. The ground was quite firm, but it did soften over time under the fabric. My plants never got watered, either. The cloth conserves moisture. New plants in tilled ground must be watered frequently in hot dry weather. Hemp can "test hot" under drought conditions, meaning the thc levels spike up from the stress. I think no till will help prevent that from happening. And the worms! I even see them when mowing and trimming grass. The sod is full of huge earthworms. They like to eat the decomposing sod under the fabric, too. I was in a tilled field last week and thought to myself, good luck trying to find a worm out here. Even the grass that grows back after tilling is sickly and yellow. Conventional agriculture, whether it be cultivating or roundup no till, I am convinced just murders soil. |
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August 9, 2019 | #80 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: connecticut,usa
Posts: 1,152
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They grew it here during colonial times for rope making to support the ship building trade.
Too much red tape even for commercial growers.Only 1 in the state so far that is authorized to grow.For individuals forget about it.You need special licenses and permits and a note from your mother. |
August 9, 2019 | #81 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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Quote:
Hemp was an important war material until steam power took over. In addition to cordage, the sails were hemp, and the fibers were also mixed into whatever they used to patch cracks between timbers, probably tar or pine resin. That's why colonial settlers were encouraged, sometimes even required to grow it, and allowed to pay their taxes with it. Hemp was vital to our national defense as a young nation. |
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August 9, 2019 | #82 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: connecticut,usa
Posts: 1,152
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I think they even ate the seeds or got oil from the seeds
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August 9, 2019 | #83 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Zone 6 Northern Kentucky
Posts: 1,094
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My paternal grandparents grew it during WW2 & my maternal grandparents grew sweet potatoes. Both were approached by the government to do so. The hemp was a real moneymaker compared to the sweet potatoes according to my 84 year old uncle.
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Mark Last edited by wildcat62; August 9, 2019 at 04:13 PM. |
August 9, 2019 | #84 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Vaasa, Finland, latitude N 63°
Posts: 838
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I have used hemp fibers as mulch in my raised beds and greenhouse. I ordered the stuff from a company, which is trying to promote and make all sorts of products from industrial hemp. I wanted try to grow the tall hemp as ground cover last year, but the summer was so dry that the seeds germinated poorly and too late. I had few plants, which I germinated indoors to test the seeds and those grew to three meters. I saved the stalks and use those now to support tall growing peas.
I like taste of the organic hemp seeds and oil, which are sold in grocery stores here. The seeds have nice nutty flavor and are great in yogurt. Sari
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"I only want to live in peace, plant potatoes and dream." - Moomin-troll by Tove Jansson |
August 9, 2019 | #85 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Brownville, Ne
Posts: 3,297
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Big problems for farmers in Nebraska wanting to grow commercial hemp. The only permissible means of growing hemp in the state is through university research. But even researchers have faced a series of hurdles that have meant not a single hemp growing operation has launched in Nebraska. There is an exception for pilot programs, but in Nebraska, a state bill to allow farmers to apply for this exception was thwarted by senators and police officials who feared hemp would be a gateway crop to recreational marijuana. An amended bill passed that limits hemp to university research.
The Hemp Industries Association estimates some $573m of goods containing hemp were sold in the United States in 2015, almost all of it imported. These goods included foods, supplements, body care products, clothing, auto parts, insulation and construction materials and medicine. According to advocates, hemp is as American as apple pie. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all grew hemp, which was used for paper, rope and cloth. The first flag of the United States, sewn by Betsy Ross, is said to have been made from hemp, and the Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper. This information was taken from an article in the Guardian written by Nebraska writer David Steen Martin in Eagle, Nebraska.
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there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes. |
August 9, 2019 | #86 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: connecticut,usa
Posts: 1,152
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Reefer madness 2019 remake
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August 9, 2019 | #87 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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October 2, 2019 | #88 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Illinois, zone 6
Posts: 8,407
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Buds!
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October 2, 2019 | #89 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Up yours.
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October 2, 2019 | #90 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: Augusta area, Georgia, 8a/7b
Posts: 1,685
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An absolutely gorgeous crop, Robbie!
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