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Anyone with Connecticut Shade tobacco experience?

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OldDinosaurWesH

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Is there anyone out there with Connecticut Shade tobacco experience? I'm growing a few this year (15) and planted them in a shadier part of my yard. They get about four hours of sun per day and are now about 5 feet tall. I planted these on June 8, 2017. My seed catalog says they will get up to nine feet tall. Assuming Jack Frost doesn't appear earlier than normal, I have six weeks or so to grow.

My question is: Can you use conventional air dry / kiln methods to cure the leaf and get an acceptable result?

Tobacco Seedlings 8-15-17 93 Conn.jpg

Photo taken two days ago. 8' 2"x2" board (stick?) included for scale.

Thanks.

Wes H.
 

BigBonner

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Don't try and dry the leaves to fast / dry . They will have a green cast to them. Last year mine had a green cast to some leaves . This year is looking good so far . My humidity is HIGH , Sweat just pours off me when I am in my tobacco barn stringing leaves . Here is some pictures . I am starting to put another run of priming in my barn . Note the top rails tobacco has started to dry down .
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DistillingJim

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The edge of my tobacco patch is quite shady. I tried growing Tutu's Besuki there this year and it really struggled to thrive. I was thinking that maybe it simply didnt get enough light and was going to be a dud spot. But if Conneticut Shade does ok with just 4 hours (it definitely gets that) it might be worth putting on the list for next year.
 

Jitterbugdude

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I grew it for a few years under a shade cloth. It does grow to about 8-9 feet. I've primed it and stalk harvested it and never noticed a difference. I find it odd why there seems to be so much resistance to building a shade tent. It is easy to do. I believe there is a link in the FAQ section. I'd put a link to it but haven't had my coffee yet... :(


link: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/990-How-I-grow-Shade-Leaf-Tobacco
 
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Hasse SWE

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I grew it for a few years under a shade cloth. It does grow to about 8-9 feet. I've primed it and stalk harvested it and never noticed a difference. I find it odd why there seems to be so much resistance to building a shade tent. It is easy to do. I believe there is a link in the FAQ section. I'd put a link to it but haven't had my coffee yet... :(link: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/990-How-I-grow-Shade-Leaf-Tobacco
I most say that I planing to build one myself (even if I not smoke cigar), I think it can be a good place to first grow and then dry the tobacco
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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To all of you respondents, thanks for the input.

One thing I have learned through the school of hard knocks, is to plant them earlier. Around here, I can transplant anytime between May 15 & May 20. Mine weren't planted 'till June 9th. Three extra weeks could've made a lot of difference.

Sunlight management is a major issue for me. The best that I can do is about 8 hours. I have too many trees, and I'm not going to cut them down. Fortunately, we have "good quality" sunshine with very little in the way of overcast or rainy days to spoil the growing season.

I can get by with four hours of sunshine on my Ct Shade, but this is less than optimal. Live and learn!

BigBonner - I like your photos. Very instructive. I'm going to let mine grow as long as the weather permits. Now I know that you can air-cure this type - with proper management.

Thanks again.


Wes H.
 

SmokesAhoy

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I also have a lot of trees that interfere with growing tobacco. In my field I have a number of rows going n-s, as the sun rises in the east the trees in my forest block a bit more of the southern strip of rows and the difference in the tobacco is staggering in what a few hours of sunlight does. Not only do the plants with more sun grow larger which is nice, the huge difference is they also finish faster. The difference in a variety that goes golden 2-3 weeks earlier vs the same variety in a more shaded location with my limited growing season is just huge.

I'd never planted in so many locations before so seeing the difference was big.

Some trees are going down this fall.
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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SmokesAhoy:

I cut one oak tree down in 2013. That's why I have the sun that I do. Said tree blotted out most of the back yard to the point that I couldn't grow grass. It also left an inch or more of acorns on the ground every fall. It made 5 1/2 cords of firewood and lasted a whole winter! I'm denying the squirrels a whole bunch of habitat. They'll just have to make do with four other Oak trees, two Honey Locusts, one Maple, and multiple Lawson's False Cypress trees, so there! Pesky critters!

On a more serious note, in my tobacco plantings as you move from west to east, away from the shade, the difference in growth is dramatic. The same varieties that are all rowed up nice and neat, can go from 4' tall at one end to 7' tall at the other. Just because of the difference in sunshine. This is why I planted the Connecticut Shade where I did, knowing they would get limited sun. It would have been nice to get them planted earlier. Having to make a living was interfering with my planting schedule. Rats!

Hope you are making good use of that wood from those trees.

Wes H.
 

deluxestogie

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Don't forget the effect of root intrusion on the performance of your tobacco. With most mature trees, the roots spread well beyond the canopy. My experience is that additional watering of those areas doesn't really make up for the presence of the tree roots. I'm sure that the roots of a mature tree significantly alter the perched water table in their zone of influence.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

I have been experiencing that. Extra water and fertilizer helps, but won't fully mitigate the problem. Fortunately, I only have one corner of the garden where I have been having that problem. I know not to plant in that area in the future. Live and learn.

Wes H.

I really liked BigBonner's photos. Very instructive.
 

BigBonner

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I am still adding to those rails of Shade leaf . If I had the whole barn full of primed leaf , I would have to add some burners underneath to get the temperature up to 75 to 90F and humidity level around 78% to cure the right color .
I won't have barn full of primed leaf so they should be ok with out adding additional heat to pull moisture out . Plenty of air space as of right now . I also put a lot of leaves per stick to keep moisture leaves from drying too fast . In the next few days I will start adding tobacco speared on sticks .
Habano, Big Havana , Pen red , Silver river . Yellow Twist Bud , PA Wrapper , Ct Broad leaf , Nostrano Del Berenta , Corojo 99 .
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Yes please do post some more photos. This is very educational for us that are low on the experience curve.

Wes H.
 

BigBonner

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Here you go .I have plenty

Knife and spear we use in Burley . I want a set of tobacco shears for cutting some cigar types of tobacco
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Burley Cut on the stick ready to haul to my barn .
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My son holding a stick of CT broad leaf . This was a stick of re grown sucker that grew back after harvesting the Ct Broad leaf .
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Silver River
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Ct Broad Leaf
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BigBonner

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Here is one that will make you cry . I lost the whole field . The weather man said a light rain possible but it came a flood .
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webmost

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I am still adding to those rails of Shade leaf . If I had the whole barn full of primed leaf , I would have to add some burners underneath to get the temperature up to 75 to 90F and humidity level around 78% to cure the right color .
I won't have barn full of primed leaf so they should be ok with out adding additional heat to pull moisture out . Plenty of air space as of right now . I also put a lot of leaves per stick to keep moisture leaves from drying too fast . In the next few days I will start adding tobacco speared on sticks .
Habano, Big Havana , Pen red , Silver river . Yellow Twist Bud , PA Wrapper , Ct Broad leaf , Nostrano Del Berenta , Corojo 99 .

Larry, are you growing CT shade this year? That would be fabulous, cause it it getting very difficult to source the stuff. I talked to a grower in CT who is one of our FX Smith's Sons cigar customers. He told me between taxes and regs in CT, cost of labor, and such, total CT shade acreage up there is in the low hundreds, I forget the exact number. Down from thousands and thousands of acres just a few years back. Nail in the coffin was a bad crop a year or two back, when all the leaves came out super small. I have some of that crop, and it is truly small leaves. I ran round Lancaster county on my murdersickle last month looking for muslin. Couldn't find any. Talked to several baccy farmers. One told me Lancaster Leaf held a big meeting begging growers to raise some wrapper leaf. But they didn't want to pay for the extra work. I asked the guy why didn't they hold that meeting last Winter, before everyone sprouted their seedlings. He spread his hands and grinned. Talked to FXSS. Guy said it's impossible to source any but the small stuff. All you can get now comes from Ecuador and does not taste the same at all.

Bottom line is, you should be able to make good money if you can provide decent shade wrapper. Heck, I'd blow a couple hundred to stash some good shade. And I know lots of other guys looking for it too.

Let me know when you have some ready.
 

BigBonner

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I grew a little Ct Shade last year as organic and bugs made several holes .I rolled a puro out of last years shade and it was decent
I planted some more shade this year .It grew ok with leaves up to 26" long . I have a lot of small leaf at 15" to 20" size .
There will be a lot of 12" leaves left on the Shade stalks that could be primed . I just don't know if I will have the time to prime them or if they are worth priming .

This was grown without cloth .I am testing the waters by growing a small amount to see if I can make a bigger grow .I just don't want to plant a big grow and it turn out bad .
This spring after seeding and plants almost grown , I found and purchased a leaf stringer and some shade cloth . I need to figure out how to work the stringing machine . This needle and string is getting old .
I could have covered with shade cloth but it was not worth the trouble with a small grow of 1000 shade plants .
 

deluxestogie

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I could have covered with shade cloth but it was not worth the trouble with a small grow of 1000 shade plants .
At ~20 leaves per plant, that "small grow" would be 20,000 leaves of CT Shade. At 50 leaves per pound (a low estimate), that "small grow" is 400 pounds of CT Shade leaf. If sold at 1/2 of the retail price, that's $10,000 gross.

What's it cost to grow 1000 shade plants?

Bob
 

BigBonner

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At ~20 leaves per plant, that "small grow" would be 20,000 leaves of CT Shade. At 50 leaves per pound (a low estimate), that "small grow" is 400 pounds of CT Shade leaf. If sold at 1/2 of the retail price, that's $10,000 gross.

What's it cost to grow 1000 shade plants?

Bob

Right now I have over 70 sticks of Shade . They are loaded with leaves two to two and a half times more than a normal shade Lath / stick would have . I hung them thicker to keep the leaves from drying too fast .

1000 plants did not cost me much at all . I have not hired any labor , My son and his wife helped me plant it , free labor . I seeded and grew the plants . Fertilizer was maybe $20 .
Me crawling around underneath priming leaves " Priceless" . First priming was something else crawling up the rows on my knees and at times sitting on my butt . Packing leaves to my truck took up a lot of time , need a primer and someone packing leaves . . No wind / air stirring around and wiping sweat with a sweaty handkerchief .

Cost would go up when adding poles , wire , hired labor and the price of shade cloth . Buying new every other year if there is no windstorms blowing the shade into the next county .
But labor would be the big investment . Planting ,Keeping weeds out , spraying for bugs , priming and stringing .

I told my soon to be 8 years old Grandson that priming tobacco would be a good job for him because he was closer to the ground than I was . He said no pretty quick .
 
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