Growing Connecticut Shade

[CT Tobaccoman]

Since I have had some 15 years experience in Conn. Shade--grown in Connecticut and Massachusetts--it was suggested that I start this thread.

So, I will take any and all questions about how to raise Conn. Shade. But be warned, people have been trying to grow the plant elsewhere in the US, and it is never commercial quality, except in Fla-Ga up to the 1970s. Nobody knows why it grows so well in the Connecticut River Valley. It could be a lot of things.

But if you have sandy loam soil, not too clayish, not too peatish, and plenty of sun, you should be able to grow Conn Shade good enough for private consumption. It is wrapper tobacco, so every leaf is handled by hand at all phases of the growing, curing and sweating operations. Rips, spots, bruises, blue mold, calico and other tobacco pathologies are not acceptable, so it is better if the land that you are going to use has not been used for tobacco for five years. Keep as far as possible away from tomatoes and potatoes.

There is a lot of work and money that goes into the shade tent. It won't just grow under a shade tree. The tent is for retaining humidity and filtering sunlight, not for blocking the sun. Shade tobacco loves lots of sun. The plants get 10+ feet high and must be tied up to overhead wires running above each row. Cheesecloth is OK, and you will need #6 and #10 wire, and poles at least 15 feet long. I am sure that one can improvise with a small patch. A field is divided into square"bents," bounded by four poles. Each pole is 33 feet away from any other pole near it. Fourteen bents makes an acre, plants are 33 inches apart in the row. Every second row must be wide enough to provide access. There are 10 rows in a bent. If anyone uses a tractor, the rows must be carefully planned for wheel clearance.

But I will tell you how it is done, and you can make your own versions of tents, curing sheds, and sweat rooms. It's really a lot of work.

 

[leverhead]

...It's really a lot of work.

Sounds like tobacco!

 

[Jitterbugdude]

I still do not inderstand why commercial growers tie their plants. I've been growing shade tobacco for about 10 years and never had a blow over. Is wind more of an issue in CT or is there another reason for tying the plants such as making cultivation/harvesting easier?

My shade grown tobacco btw will rival any commercially grown tobacco. I suspect that it is technique more than environment that plays a role in quality tobacco. I do not grow it commercially so maybe the extra care I give my few plants makes the difference. Granted, I do no think anyone would be successful in Mew Mexico growing shde tobacco but in MD is grows fine.

 

[CT Tobaccoman]

Interesting, Jitterbugdude.

In the Conn Valley we have a couple small twisters every season and a lot of severe thunderstorms. At some point we always have to go in and straighten and re-wind the plants in some lots. Without being tied, they would fall over or lean and block the rows for the pickers and be sticking out every which way. Many leaves would be ripped or broken without the plant being tied up.

Also, the rows are very long, and there must be adequate space for the human pickers and for the rolled plastic mats, 10 bents long, on which the picked leaves are placed to be dragged from the lot. Also, to spray with machines pulled through the lot by one man per two rows, the plants have to be straight. Some growers set only 8 rows per bent and use a strong blower to spray, which would blow the plants over were they not tied, but a crew of 5 men each with an individual sprayer gives better coverage. So, on a large scale--most farms are 150-300 acres--the plants have to stand up straight without leaning. Tying the plants was done from day 1.

I'd be interested to know how you improvise your shade tent. I have seen it said that CT Shade can be grown without a tent, but our plants that end up outside the tent are quickly burned by direct sunlight. In Ecuador, it is always cloudy and humid in the area where they grow Conn Shade and so they don't need a tent. I've never seen a picture of the Ecuador operation--they too must have to tie up the plants. They can be nearly 10 feet tall by the time of the last picking, at which time the upper half of the plant is above the tying wire, which is about 5-6 feet high.

Once the plants are tied up, tractors can no longer enter the lot, so cultivation, side dress and hoeing stops. Between tying time in late June and first picking in mid July, all that is done by the main labor force is tying and winding the string.

A farm with 150 acres of shade will need at least 200 laborers. That's why USA-CT Shade is so expensive. Pickers, the lowest pay grade, are getting $12/hr with OT after 48 hrs--often working a 60 hour week. We estimated that costs were a million bucks per 50 acres.

I'd like to hear more about how you grow CT shade, yourself. Everthing big growers do can be improvised with a small crop.

Charley

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Charley, Here is a link from a year or two ago. The white cloth is from Johnlee who got it from a CT Shade grower. The black cloth is what I used to use.It is about 30% shade. The only difference between the black cloth and the "real" cloth is the "real" cloth was light as a feather. My tent accommodates about 20 plants in a single row with the plants spaced about 2 feet. It is about 8ft tall. When I grew CT shade the plants grew to the top of the tent and then made a gradual bend when they hit the cloth. The leaf was thin, oily and elastic.

http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/2643-Comparison-of-2-different-shade-cloths

 

[CT Tobaccoman]

Charley, Here is a link from a year or two ago. The white cloth is from Johnlee who got it from a CT Shade grower. The black cloth is what I used to use.It is about 30% shade.

http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/2643-Comparison-of-2-different-shade-cloths

I think that the black cloth is used to grow ferns. I saw black cloth fields that are built just like tobacco tents on the train just south of Jacksonville, FL. Black Cloth is never used commercially for shade. Probably would jack up the heat and block too much sun. As it is, the ends of tents are often raised up and left open all day.

Newer synthetic cloth bows out when the plants reach it. In the 60s and 70s we had cheesecloth, sometimes yellow as fire resistant, and the plants used to poke holes through the top. Every truck had a machete under the seat for cutting cloth down ahead of a fire, which were frequent then. New topcloth was needed each year and last year's topcloth was triple folded for sidewall.

Now we get 2 years from synthetic fireproof topcloth which then only needs to be doubled for sidewall. Altadis Shade (Consolidated Cigar) apparently buys specially cut sidewall of a single thickness--something new in the last 10 years.

Anyway, congrats on your success with shade. Sounds like it came out right. Your setup sounds ideal.

So, how did you cure it? Small amounts can be air cured. Did you sweat it? There are different methods of sweating, which removes the ammonia and gives uniform color.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

So, how did you cure it? Small amounts can be air cured. Did you sweat it? There are different methods of sweating, which removes the ammonia and gives uniform color.

I cured the leaf in my barn, then fermented it in my kiln.

 

[CT Tobaccoman]

Commercially, in a full shed, it is cured like this.

First, it is let hang, all doors closed for a day or two. Then propane stoves are lit on the floor every 20 feet or so, on both sides. We used wet and dry bulb thermometers hung half way up, accessible by a ladder. Temp is started at 86 (all degrees Fahrenheit) then pushed up gradually to about 92. Over 95 is too hot. Day by day, the humidity lessens. Using wet bulb-dry bulb, you are aiming for a 14 degree spread. 92-78 is perfect. If it gets too hot, we turn down the fires or crack the side doors. Every third plank on the side of the barn is a door that can be cracked, blocked or fully opened. When sheds are being fired, somebody drives to each one hourly and records the temperatures and makes adjustments as necessary. That is the most fun job of all, to me.

It just happened that all the old fashioned wet-dry bulb thermometers were still around from the old days, so we still use them. You'd have to find a conversion chart to find the desired relative humidity of a 14 point spread at whatever temperature. Just a simple relative humidity meter, but I never had to know the conversion.

After 8-10 days, fires are shut and doors opened to re-humidify the tobacco. It may not yet be uniformly brown, but there should be no green tint. When it gets damp enough so you can squeeze it and it doesn't spring right back, you re-fire. There are a lot of re-fires, usually 8-10 hours is enough to dry it again. On rainy days, sheds usually have to be fired.

Every time you can dry it, then re-humidify it, then dry it again you get better colors. Badly cured shade that gets a green tint can be helped a lot by many re-firings, but a green tint will never be eliminated entirely, once it is formed.

The main thing is that the tobacco turns from green, to faded lime, to yellow to orange to brown. It won't go from green directly to brown, and greenish shade isn't worth much, unless you are making candella, which is a different process.

So, small amounts can be hung in a garage or even an apartment, and the progression of colors will happen naturally, as long as the weather is not too dry. July, August and early September are best for air curing. Once it is brown and very brittle, you can hang it in the bathroom and run the shower hot water for 15 minutes, and it will be damp again.

Once it is brown, on the farm, it gets darker and more golden or chestnut color the more it is dried and re-dried. After about 6 weeks, it is steamed and taken down, packed while in case, and sent to be sweated, which must be done before it can be shipped to the Dominican.

There are different ways to sweat shade. Either by building a large "bulk" that is turned several times, or it can be sweated in the carton or case, which is easier and less expensive. Nobody bulk sweats anymore. The tobacco is placed in a room in which it is around 100 degrees and 90& humidity. Some poor guy has to go in and read the thermometers placed inside every 10th case or carton using a cardboard tube. It is finished in 10 days, and is brought to the Port of Newark or wherever by truck and shipped out in a container ship to the Dominican. If properly sweated, the weather and conditions of the voyage won't hurt it.

I have cured it in my apartment with the above "apartment method," a few pounds. Then I sweated it in the oven--set as low as possible which is about 100 degrees, wrapped tightly in paper, and keep misting the paper every half hour of so. When I had to go out or sleep, I shut the oven off, and resumed later. After about 2 weeks it was done enough.

The more it is sweated, the darker it gets. Shade can get pretty dark, if the top primings are used. The Macanudo Robust wrapper is shade, and it could be called maduro. General Cigar, on the Gold Label Macanudo, uses first priming, very light leaves, as they come from the curing barns, without sweat at all.

It all has to be done a certain way commercially, but every operation can be improvised with small amounts. The most important thing about curing shade is the color progression: green-lime-yellow-orange-brown. Any way that you make that happen is the right way.

Charley

 

[DGBAMA]

Great post. Thank you

 

[CT Tobaccoman]

It is a superstition in the Conn Valley that it is bad luck to start a new operation on a Friday. It's OK to get set up and even try a few rows, but most owners used to be very insistent about it. Nowdays, well...

First priming of shade in the CT Valley should start Monday next, if some have not started already. I hope to be there this weekend into next week to see what's going on and finish scouting around, find out where the Medio tiempo field is this year, who has how much shade, etc. Anything interesting or unusual, I'll let y'all know.

When I was there last month, it appeared to be the smallest shade crop that I have ever seen. but big increase in Broadleaf. I am interested also to find out how much Havana seed is being raised, since it has recently (15 yrs) returned after a 50 year absence.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Since I have had some 15 years experience in Conn. Shade--grown in Connecticut and Massachusetts--it was suggested that I start this thread.

So, I will take any and all questions about how to raise Conn. Shade. But be warned, people have been trying to grow the plant elsewhere in the US, and it is never commercial quality, except in Fla-Ga up to the 1970s. Nobody knows why it grows so well in the Connecticut River Valley. It could be a lot of things.

But if you have sandy loam soil, not too clayish, not too peatish, and plenty of sun, you should be able to grow Conn Shade good enough for private consumption. It is wrapper tobacco, so every leaf is handled by hand at all phases of the growing, curing and sweating operations. Rips, spots, bruises, blue mold, calico and other tobacco pathologies are not acceptable, so it is better if the land that you are going to use has not been used for tobacco for five years. Keep as far as possible away from tomatoes and potatoes.

There is a lot of work and money that goes into the shade tent. It won't just grow under a shade tree. The tent is for retaining humidity and filtering sunlight, not for blocking the sun. Shade tobacco loves lots of sun. The plants get 10+ feet high and must be tied up to overhead wires running above each row. Cheesecloth is OK, and you will need #6 and #10 wire, and poles at least 15 feet long. I am sure that one can improvise with a small patch. A field is divided into square"bents," bounded by four poles. Each pole is 33 feet away from any other pole near it. Fourteen bents makes an acre, plants are 33 inches apart in the row. Every second row must be wide enough to provide access. There are 10 rows in a bent. If anyone uses a tractor, the rows must be carefully planned for wheel clearance.

But I will tell you how it is done, and you can make your own versions of tents, curing sheds, and sweat rooms. It's really a lot of work.

I've been looking at buying bulk cheesecloth and it comes in various "grades" although I am not sure how the grades correlate to % of shade . What grade should I be looking at ? Thanks

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Not sure either. I was lucky to have Johnlee send me about 100 feet of real Conn shade cloth. It looks like a super heavy duty version of the stuff you'd buy at the store but with a much more open weave. Before he sent me the used shade cloth, I was using a black 40% shade cloth that I had bought online.

 

[ArizonaDave]

You can always double the cloth if it's too porous?

 

[Smokin Harley]

Thats true but I don't want to buy a grade that is too heavy to begin with either. The descriptions of the site Im looking at all say the same exact thing (cleaning, straining, etc) but non-inclusive of much use for horticultural shade. I made an inquiry to the company ,waiting for a reply.

 

[Knucklehead]

Here's some sources for the real deal.
Greenhousemegastore: http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/product/40-percent-white-shade-cloth/shade-cloth_1
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Easyshade-Blk40-Sunblock-Resistant-Fabric/dp/B00E0DWR9U
Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/40-shade-cloth

 

[Smokin Harley]

Thanks Knuck...I just bought a 20x36 black 40% cloth on ebay (shipped) for $57 ...best deal ive seen. should give me more than I need to cover my shade wrapper plot.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Could you grow shade tobacco in the woods?

 

[Smokin Harley]

possible/plausible but the trees would definitely take away a lot of nutrients.

 

[Knucklehead]

Could you grow shade tobacco in the woods?

My try in the woods was a total fail. Partially due to the sun moving to higher in the sky as spring turned to summer. Partial shade turned into full shade, it's hard to judge. I think an even bigger problem was tree root competition. My plants barely hit two feet tall with stalks the size of a pencil and couldn't even hold themselves up. Most of them also suffered from frenching, the only frenching I've had so far. Full sun with shade cloth is tried and proven. Anything else is a shot in the dark and you risk a total fail of all wrapper varieties like I had my first year.

 

[BigBonner]

Look up Agribon row covers .