When I grew Bursa it was a very big plant but I planted it on 3 ft centers. When I grew Maden it was also a big plant but I also initially grew it on 3 ft centers. When I planted Maden on 8 inch centers it was a nice small plant, like a Turkish should be. I suspect that if Bursa where to be grown at about an 8 inch spacing it too would be small, not as small as Maden though but considerably smaller than if planted 3ft apart.
Did you notice a difference in aromatic intensity?
Last season I planted some of the Baffra Basmas with 1/2ft spacing into airy, humus-rich soil, exposed to direct sunlight for just half of the day. They grew 5 feet tall, with such a mass of leaves that it was almost impossible to get a hand in there without breaking something off. Basically, leaf length was equivalent to planting distance. They took long to appear ripe, but ended up curing well.
Others were planted in a comparably desertlike spot with hard, dense soil, in full sun the whole day. They looked a few times so close to death that I (against the original intention) watered. Spacing was 2 feet, the plants never took advantage of that. Leaves were extremely sticky, just 2-3 inches long, plant height less than 2 feet. Some leaves cured directly on the plants.
A third group was growing in pots (soil from the bed for group one) and came out in size and appearance somewhere between the two former. Container size didn´t seem to matter much. Actually, single plants in bigger containers did not use all available space, growing more or less to the same size as two plants sharing a small pot. They looked the most "normal" if I take some tobacco-growing pictures from Turkey as a standard.
A fourth group was planted as "filler" in borders, surrounded by vigorous mint and roses. Outcome: Very similar to container-grown.
Xanthi: Same observations.
I have not come to conclusions aroma-wise.
Most Tik Konlaks got a bed with 1ft spacing and rich soil like the first Baffras above. Much larger leaves than the Xanthis in the same bed with the same spacing (Tik Konlak leaves have a different shape and a distinct stem). Final height 6 feet. As mentioned earlier, curing and cured leaves exhibited a distinct odour.
Tik Konlak plants grown in small pots and under competition in borders did not do very well. Fewer and much smaller leaves, which, I can already say that, are at least not more aromatic than the large leaves from the "good bed".
So I wonder if soil and environmental conditions do not matter more than intentional spacing, or, in case one can not provide the ideal conditions of a stony mountain field in Turkey or Greece, there´s a local optimum in the balance of yield and quality, which can not be manipulated further.
