Bob:
I was out back checking, and my Bolivia Criollo plants are definitely more compact than the photos you have attached. My tallest is about 5 1/2 feet, and has produced (including primings) 24 or 25 leaves. They are still growing and have yet to produce a bloom head. The leaves are also very thick. I fertilize the heck out of mine, and believe that high doses of fertilizer will contribute to a denser more compact plant. Something I learned during my rookie year was to use more fertilizer. I produced plants successfully last year, but the yields were disappointingly low. Plants that should be producing four or more ounces were producing more like 2 or 2 1/2 oz.
In my younger days, I worked in the agricultural chemical industry. I acquired a high degree of expertise in dry fertilizer blending and application. The literature I have been reading on line from, I believe it was University of Kentucky, recommended: 60 - 90 #'s of N, 15 #'s of P, 15#'s of K, and 15#'s of S per acre for a tobacco crop. I'm hitting mine in the 90-10-10-15 range over the course of the growing season. (I have calculated this down to a gnats eyebrow.) Our local farmers never use K and rarely use P, as the soils are fairly abundant in both of these. I spread my fertilizer out over three applications at planting and twice more at approx. 30 day intervals. Last year I only fertilized twice. Also at planting time, I put a smidge of Miracid (a more acidic version of Miracle grow) in the holes to give some micro nutrients. It seems to work. We used to do a lot grass for seed fertilizing, and the fertilizer would look like a small snow storm passed through after the spreader passed. Grass for seed uses 150 - 200 #'s of N per acre. These spreaders were serious industrial machines that were 45' wide and required a pretty substantial tractor to pull them. Where I live, we farm on steep hillsides. Our modern tractors weigh 60,000 #'s and have 600 H.P. diesel engines. And they still slide down the hills!
Wes H.
P.S. I miss my Ammonium Nitrate. Those guys that blew up that building ruined that one for the rest of us. Now a days I use Calcium Nitrate, an acceptable but expensive substitute.
I grew Criollo Bolivia Black back a few year ago . It grows big and seems to take for ever to bloom. It is really sticky / gummy .
Here is just one of my soil samples Per Acre . All soil will require different amounts .
560 LB 50% Sulfate of potash
590 LB TO 660 LB 34% Ammnium nitrate ( Side dress in 250LBS per acre )
No Lime
You can still get Nitrate 34-0-0 but it has a coating on it no so that it can not be used to blow up anything . It is the main ingredient in Tannerite target explosives .