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Flue Cured

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deluxestogie

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Daniel said:
Does anyone know if this tobacco cures Red or something even if it is Flue Cured?
nwtseeds.com said:
African Red is a bright leaf variety with light green colored leaves and white stemmed. A vigorous grower reaching 8 feet (200cm) in height at the first crows foot. Plant form is columnar. Average size of 10th leaf at maturity 28 inches (60cm). Leaf width 12" (25cm) 28 leaves total on untopped plants, not including bed leaves. Matures in 80 days. Has a high nicotine content, averaging 29.8 mg/g of dried leaf. Original seed donated to the USDA from Transvaal, South Africa in 1975.

ars-grin.gov PI 420191
ARS-GRIN said:
From South Africa. Seed presented August 1975 by Director, Tobacco Research Institute,
Rustenburg, Transvaal. Numbered Novbember [sic] 18, 1977.
420191. T.I. 1609. R.T. (red tobacco). Resistant to brown spot.

FLUE-CURED
My impression of "Flue-cured" as a USDA class is that they differ from, say Burley, even when both are air-cured. The FC varieties tend to be more acidic and (despite the numbers on the African Red) have lower nicotine.

With the Extension Services' recommendations and surveys, keep in mind that within traditional tobacco growing regions, well established tobacco diseases are often what determine the specific varieties that can be successfully grown.

Bob
 

Daniel

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Bob, Good point in the diseases. In the past I have found this to be of particular concern to me. Here in Nevada vary little is grown on a large scale. Very little other that a couple of short grasses and sagebrush grows naturally. This tends to keep any diseases or pests isolated to small areas such as back yard gardens. I can grow somethign one year with no pests to speak of. But the following year I will see a dramatic increase. Tomatoes for example can get heavily attacked by tomato worms in the second year when there where none the first. It is as if the diseases or pests are laying dormant until something is grown.
 

Daniel

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A bit more on the conditions I have and my concerns on sun curing.
I am original from Kansas and lived for a while in eastern Kansas where it is humid. After several years of living in Nevada I went back home to visit. on the trip we had an ice chest leak and fill a small pocket in the back end of our station wagon. I left it thinking it would dry up on it's own. three days later I checked and the water was still there. This would not happen in Nevada. It would have dried up in a matter of hours.

I can fill my dogs below approximately 3 to 4 inches deep with water and it will evaporate in a single day. It is estimated that Lake Tahoe, 30 minutes from here, looses 6 inches of water a day from it's surface. If I spray water on the driveway or sidewalk I can visually watch the water evaporate. Even if we get a heavy rain the streets will be dry in about an hour at most once the rain stops. You often can see rain falling from the clouds as a grey shadow under a cloud. But it never reaches the ground. Nevada is so dry I was originally concerned that water woudl be drawn from the large leaves of a tobacco plant so quickly that it would kill it. I have seen this happen with other plants.
30 to 40% humidity is the norm here year round and summer can get lower than that.
75 to 80 degree days even in mid summer would not be unusual for us. Hot days are only in the 90's. still my concern is that trying to sun cure will only mean that the leaf will dry crispy green in a matter of just hours. laying the stalks on a tarp and keeping them wet with a garden hose might work.

I know I was worried last year that tobacco would dry to fast here and was pleasantly surprised to find it was not so. But I did find out that it never gets humid enough to bring tobacco back into case either. not even when it rains. The moisture simply dries up to fast. I have watched it rain here for hours. very slight mist, and the ground never appears wet. We average 7 inches of rain fall per year here. Most of it in the winter months.
 

deluxestogie

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Why, it's so dry, not even the rain is wet!

One thought regarding sun-curing. You could set up a framework for hanging the leaf, cover it with clear plastic sheeting, then line the floor of the structure with canvas or scrap wood. Instead of hosing your leaf, you just hose the canvas or wood on the floor. You could even automate that part with a drip line.

Bob
 

Steve2md

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great idea bob! I wonder how I'm going to keep the temps down here at home! 110 is the average in summer.
 

BigBonner

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Why, it's so dry, not even the rain is wet!

One thought regarding sun-curing. You could set up a framework for hanging the leaf, cover it with clear plastic sheeting, then line the floor of the structure with canvas or scrap wood. Instead of hosing your leaf, you just hose the canvas or wood on the floor. You could even automate that part with a drip line.

Bob

Thats a good idea , You might use a baby vaporizor to moisten the air a little . I wouldn't put the plastic covered tobacco directly in the sun . If I leave my green house curtains up and the door closed it get so hot you can't walk half way in without it burning you and taking your breath . Same as if you leaves your car windows up on a hot day .
 

Tom_in_TN

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Talk about dry and hot...you guys have the opposite of what we get every summer, hot and humid. So anyways, years ago I met some guys from Phoenix, AZ who worked construction pouring concrete. During the summer they had to work at night because the temps and humidity levels were so bad for curing concrete.

Now, expanding on another thought about bringing cured tobacco back into case. Set up a framework (if needed) around your carport where you hang your leaf, surround it with row cover, like Agribon, so it will breathe a little. Mist the row cover and get humidity levels up. And like Deluxe suggested, hose down some canvas or wood on the floor. Should not take too much effort to get the needed humidity up in a day or 2. I remember we used to get up very early on cool November mornings when the tobacco was in case and take down all the cured tobacco stalks we wanted to 'hand-off' for the day and cover it in blankets to keep it from drying out too fast. You can figure out how to work that angle.
 

Daniel

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I didn't know if covering a frame with plastic would effect the process of "Sun" curing. I did think about hanging the tobacco on lines over my patio and then wetting down the patio constantly. My thinking is I only need to keep this process up for a couple to three days and then I can move the whole mess indoors. Moisture rising from the patio would help keep the leaf from drying out. If I can do a greenhouse or hoop house type thing. problem is solved. I will just make a temporary hoop house. hang all the tobacco in it and wet the ground down. That makes sticky humidity even around here.

By the way, Boeing used to store there unpainted planes near here. Steel does not rust in our climate.
 

marksctm

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I'm sure somebody has looked into, or though about, an old dish washer in regards to the heating element,(used in the drying cycle) for a kind of flue curing chamber. And if temperature goes to, or beyond 165 to 200 degrees. I'm sure temp could be controlled with a commercial water heater thermostat (range 120 to 180 degrees) and most, if not all home dishwashers are 110 /120 volts anyway, would it be feasible ?
Any thoughts ?
 

leverhead

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I used a Ranco thermostat for controlling over 600 watts without a hitch. They're easy to wire and set up, at about 50 bucks, I'd recommend it.

Steve
 

johnlee1933

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I'm sure somebody has looked into, or though about, an old dish washer in regards to the heating element,(used in the drying cycle) for a kind of flue curing chamber. And if temperature goes to, or beyond 165 to 200 degrees. I'm sure temp could be controlled with a commercial water heater thermostat (range 120 to 180 degrees) and most, if not all home dishwashers are 110 /120 volts anyway, would it be feasible ?
Any thoughts ?
Sounds like a cool idea but the chamber is a bit small. With that heating element and a Ranco controller you could do a much larger kiln. If you do it be careful to keep the hot element safely away form anything flammable. Maybe put 1/4 " hardware cloth 6 to 8 " above it to prevent accidental fire.

John
 
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