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Ripe, Over Ripe, or keep going [pic]

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FALaholic

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I have seen a few leaves like this. Some I harvested, some I kept going. Wanted to ask the vets: rip, over ripe, dry (needs water), or keep going?

 

Knucklehead

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I can't see the picture, but it would help to know the variety. Cigar leaf is harvested much less ripe than cigarette varieties.
 

istanbulin

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I don't know the variety but it's not ripe or over ripe, it's just mature and ready to pick up.
 

FALaholic

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Ah, this is nice. Many thanks.
Have to admit though, if from what Don's pics are what a ripe leaf is, I've been priming when they are over ripe. My Burleys are almost blanch white, and take anywhere from 3-5 days to dry to low case.
My Virginas, I have been priming when the tips begin to brown. They have been taking some time to dry out, at least a week, maybe 10 days.
 

FALaholic

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Well I went back out today to do some more primming. My Burleys have all just about turned white. Some of the leaves that have the mature/ripe marks are only showing at the stalk/stem portion of the leaf. When I try to harvest those leaves, they bend and don't break off cleanly. I end up having to twist the leaves off to break them free. This leaves me to the thought that I am harvesting immature leaves.

ETA Drying has not been a problem. Lower leaves that were allowed to dry on the stalk have color cured nicely all in 2-3 days; Burley. My Virginas has taken upward of a week to 10 days.

ETA2: I noticed two of the remaing Burleys, all the leaves South of the top leaves have all wilted, as if they are showing signs of drought, yet we've had rain here the last couple of days. I wouldn't call it monsoon, just your average rain. Being that my soil is very sandy, I would expect them to have dried out by now, but during their growth phase, I intentionally did not water them for almost a month, and they all flourished. Could they actually be drowning?
 

Matty

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Have you been fertilizing them? My past grow I did not fertilize enough, I just gave them a little bit. I had burleys and virginias, both of which went very pale, almost white and that was even before flowering. I had a few plants on my balcony, only 4 hours sun per day, the bottom leaves always wilted and were extremely thin. Having not given them any fertilizer and the poor soil they were in the plants hadn't produced very much nicotine. Virginias need tons of nitrogen. Burleys, not so much.
 

FALaholic

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Virginias need tons of nitrogen. Burleys, not so much.

Weird, cause from the looks of things it would seem the opposite. My Burleys have turned white, and all are color curing to a paper bag brown.
My Virginias are taking some time to color cure, but when the do, they are color curing to a nice autumn red, and the leaves are thick. Enough so, I could use them as wrapper.

As for my fertilizer schedule. I have fertilized them only 3 times throughout their grow cycle, and one folic. The last time I fertilized them was around two months ago. I stopped fertilizing then I got my first seed pod, but other plants have started developing their seed pods now. Too late to fertilize now I recon.
 

DGBAMA

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turning yellow before the leaf is ripe/thick enough most likely is either too much water or not enough nitrogen. I learned the hard way this year, I mistook early yellowing for ripening. End result was nice big leaf that cured paper thin with minimal weight.
 
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