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Grey mold

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LeftyRighty

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shucks, the tobacco gremlins finally got me.
I've still got about half my 2014 air-cured crop hanging in the garden shed, I'm guessing about 10+ lbs. I was just letting the leaves age and mature naturally. I have been only removing what I needed for smokes every few months.
But, this has been a very wet, cool spring and a wet, hot summer.
Yesterday, I had a surprisingly quick bloom of greyish mold appear on most of the leaves, not just near the stems, but large blotches on the outside of the hanging, curled leaves.
What really hurts is that I'd been telling myself for a few weeks that I needed to get out there and pull all the leaves, de-rib, shred and store, to make room for the 2016 crop. Just been too lazy!
Now, I'll be trashing this tobacco.
My new 2016 crop is ripening on the stalks, and the only location I've got to air-cure them is this shed. I really need our normal hot, hot dry August to get the new crop to cure without mold.
I'm afraid this shed is contaminated now. I may be fighting this mold for years, and am seeking an alternate location or curing shed. This really sucks!
 

deluxestogie

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Sorry about your lost leaf.

Mold spores are everywhere already. Don't fret about that too much. One thing you can do (if the shed has a bare wood interior) is to spray down the walls with white vinegar, once the shed is empty. The acetic acid aroma will rapidly dissipate.

Bob
 

Huffelpuff

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Vinegar is great stuff.

Regular strength hydrogen peroxide from the store put into a spray bottle also does wonders with both mold and mildew and is cheaper than buying commercial mold and mildew killers which surprise are nothing more than hydrogen peroxide at 20x the price. If you're really concerned about that mold consider painting the inside of the shed with old fashioned whitewash. I'm talking about the slaked lime and chalk stuff from way back. You may have to mix it yourself as I've not seen it sold in years.

Jim
 

LeftyRighty

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thanks for the advice, I'll give the vinegar a try.
I already have a few strings of new bottom leaves curing in there now, just now nicely turning yellow. I guess vinegar drips won't hurt them any. If it does, won't be a big loss.
 

BigBonner

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June and July sweats . Humidity is every where here .
Tobacco hanging in my barns are in case all day and night , even with the sun bright and shinny .
 

Brown Thumb

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I know the Feeling, Bummer.
Bleach the SOB, that will kill it all.:)
 

Hasse SWE

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The Salt that you normally use on the roads can help to get control on the mold (CaCl or better up MgCl).

Air-humidity is a concern, the warm air is often at 80,90%>, while cold (with me) <60%. It starts to drip, it is usually 90-100%, and then you don't want to have something in the barn.
But that part I think alot of us have
Though there where probably many here good control on.

What you can do is check if any air can come in and circle the old air (sometimes that helps)
A piece of advice is to not be too tight, but may loosen some Board on the wall and put them carelessly so that air but not the rain coming in. Possibly one or some of the fans that sets the air in motion from high up in the barn). Then let the salt soak up the water from the air. It don't help about the mold you have, but it can help you from getting more.

Hope you all understand what I saying..
 

ChinaVoodoo

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I know the Feeling, Bummer.
Bleach the SOB, that will kill it all.:)

Agreed. Bleach is highly underrated. I used to grind barley just inside my garage door. That's where i hung my deer too. After a couple years of that, even at 40F, it would only take a couple days for lactobacillus to colonize the meat. It's not a bad thing, except trying to explain the science to the wife to say it's OK. Bleach the walls and floor, move the mill outside, no problems any more.

People, when they use it, tend to over-apply bleach. It doesn't take much. According to Papazian's Joy of Homebrewing, a teaspoon of bleach sanitizes 200L of water. You would use more, because you're not just sanitizing the water, but that figure does give some perspective, eh. Also, he says hot water somehow alters the bleach in a bad way and that it should only be used with luke warm or cold water.
 
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