Greetings from the Cariboo, BC

[Keith]

Hello, my name is Keith......
I am about to harvest my first crop that is over 100 K away from my home, they are at a much lower elevation and have already flowered and starting to turn yellow on the lower leaves, ( Virginia (Canadlian) variety) I have some smaller plants at home that I will harvest in a week or two when our growing season ends . I have set up a old freezer unit to cure the crop a little at a time or all of it depending on how it fits, i have a fan, a crock pot full of water for heating and humidity with temperature control and a humidity display to know when to vent. I have tried to read as much as possible to prepare for this, this site is a great resource, suggestions are truly welcomed.
Thanks for being here, looking forward to sharing my successes or need for improvements.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Hey Keith. Welcome to the forum. How many plants do you have?

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT Keith

 

[riverstone]

Welcome to the forum Keith

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Keith... cure your leaves first. Hang them inside and let them turn brown, then you can put them into your kiln (freezer) . If you are planning to pack green leaves into a freezer you are going to have your work cut out for yourself. You'll need to really ventilate with forced air. Green tobacco is something like 80% water by weight.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Keith... cure your leaves first. Hang them inside and let them turn brown, then you can put them into your kiln (freezer) . If you are planning to pack green leaves into a freezer you are going to have your work cut out for yourself. You'll need to really ventilate with forced air. Green tobacco is something like 80% water by weight.

I believe Hundred Mile House is too dry to simply hang tobacco. I agree that unless he only grew a couple plants, his fridge is insufficient to cure his crop. He will need to humidify his shed or garage.

 

[deluxestogie]

Hang it in a shed, then surround the hanging area within the shed with plastic sheet.

Bob

So, Hundred Mile House is actually a place?

 

[Keith]

Thanks, I have 16 in Hundred Mile and 23 in Barriere. I will hang them in a shed and humidify as suggested.

 

[ringanator]

i am curing over 300lbs in a beer fridge flue cure chamber as my bigger unit is not done yet. Here how i do it......... i prime my plants as they are just turning yellow then store them in cardboard boxes every day i rotate the boxes and remove all leaves with the same yellow coverage to keep the cure time the same some leave only need a day in the box others need a week or longer i pack my chamber with the like leaves and start the cure process as each day i rotate the box removing more and more yellow leaf and replacing with fresh primed leaf. it may not be ideal but it works my turn around time is between 5-7 days between loads and approx 30 lbs wet leaf at a time it a slow process and you have to be on top of it or you will get mold but it dose work in a pinch. i am not fond on fermented tobacco but if i do ferment i leave it for the last load. i also do not us a crock pot in my beer fridge flue it consists of a 100 w lightbulb and a ventalation fan and a ceramic plant pot of water (only used during leaf yellow/wilt stage) it works good and produces good color one thing i need more of is internal air circulation. you can look up some of my results in other posts i have here or shoot me a pm and i will help you out with my process.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Hang it in a shed, then surround the hanging area within the shed with plastic sheet.

Bob

So, Hundred Mile House is actually a place?

It's really called 160.9344 Kilometre House.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thanks, I have 16 in Hundred Mile and 23 in Barriere. I will hang them in a shed and humidify as suggested.

I'm really curious to see how things go for you. I've said this to my wife before, I think that area is perfect for growing, all the way from Cache Creek to Lilloet, Litton, Hundred Mile. A person could truly live off the grid there.

 

[MarcL]

Welcome to Fair Trade Tobacco.

 

[Gavroche]

Welcome Keith

 

[Chicken]

sounds like you did a good job of researching.... i use heat lamps. maybe you should look into that. it would throw a lot more heat than a 100 watt bulb.

i like to colour cure my leaf slowlly,

 

[ringanator]

sounds like you did a good job of researching.... i use heat lamps. maybe you should look into that. it would throw a lot more heat than a 100 watt bulb.

i like to colour cure my leaf slowlly,

i tried the heat lamp in my beer fridge it got to hot to quick so quick the sensor could not respond to turn it off quick enough and would overshoot the temp by 15 degrees Celsius...100 w bulb in the beer between wilt and leaf dry and leaf dry and stem dry increses the temp by 2 degrees Fahrenheit an hr

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

i tried the heat lamp in my beer fridge it got to hot to quick so quick the sensor could not respond to turn it off quick enough and would overshoot the temp by 15 degrees Celsius...100 w bulb in the beer between wilt and leaf dry and leaf dry and stem dry increses the temp by 2 degrees Fahrenheit an hr

My kiln is about the same size. I have two small halogen lights, 50W each, but they are sitting directly on top of a bathroom fan next to the fan's air inlet. I put a small metal lid loosely on top of the bulbs so nothing can fall into the fan or touch the bulbs. It doesn't over shoot because the heat from the bulbs is being circulated through the box rather than being stored in the vicinity of the bulbs.

 

[chillardbee]

welcome to the forum Keith.

My wife and I have plans to move to 100 mile house in the near future probably to forest grove area or horse lake. I hear you guys have had some crazy weather up there. If your leaf is just about turning yellow, i'd just hang it in the shed, even ripe leaf will yellow quickly (flue cure varieties). We've had extreme low humidity here in 34 degree temps and the leaf is curing bright for me (yellow), it's a sight of beauty.

Char and I usually head up there for our anniversary in October. Let me know if you'd like a few more varieties to try and i'll put a little grab bag together for ya.