msmith86 First grow log 2021

[msmith86]

My first real attempt at growing tobacco, although I started obtaining seeds during 2020 lockdowns and doing research to pass some time. I live in SW York county PA below but between York and Gettysburg (U.S. guys should know the area I'm referring to). Tobacco farms growing here before I was ever thought of, shouldn't be that hard right?
I take pictures all the time, but also use 2 phones, so bear with me as I find pictures and add entries. I'm crazy busy all the time, so I'll try to get up to date within the next day or so.

March 29, 2021 sprouts in peat pods on a warming mat 5 days after sowing. Golden burley, Rustica, African Red, PA-41 broadleaf, long red, VA brightleaf, Havana 263.

April 7th, 2021 sprouts getting second set of leaves. Using 4000k LED shop lights on a shelf in the spare basement bathroom.

April 13th, 2021 moving some to cups to allow root development.

April 24th, 2021 doing some shelf rotating as more sprout and allowing room for tomatoes, peppers, and others. Maintaining room at 78°/75%

May 3rd, 2021 start hardening a few hours per day. Daytime highs in low 70's and still frost at night.

May 8th, 2021 a few days after planting a few and leaving others out in full sun, severe thunderstorms and hail come through while I'm not home. Overnight lows still in high 30's.

May 27th, 2021 finally getting overnight lows in the mid-40's, but most plants still under porch protection because of more thunderstorms and hail. Some Rustica and African red has been in buckets for a few weeks now. Sprinkled some tomato tone in the compost dirt halfway up the buckets while planting so roots reach it soon. MG tomato food 1tbsp/gal of water mix, 12 oz per plant every Saturday evening.

June 5th, 2021 a few Rustica measuring 14"x14". 1/2" holes in buckets at the bottom on side, only water after dry for a day or 2.

 

[msmith86]

June 9th, 2021 I find my youngest comparing her size to the hail-surviving PA broadleaf next to her on the deck. Observing Rustica suckers a week after topping and contemplating an experiment.

 

[msmith86]

Now checking for on my T&E OnePlus 9/Hasselblad for more log pics.

June 6th, 2021 nights in the 50's and no more frost or high-30's so it's time to get more in the ground. Tilling the front bed (sun all day), bringing up compost from down back, and planting African Red, Rustica, VA Brightleaf, and Havana 263.

 

[msmith86]

June 15th, 2021 a heat wave coming and mulching in with pine flake bedding from the duck house. Not against plants as to not nitrate burn any leaves, but rain will carry the nitrates downward. Also hiding the bucket plants in the shed as another thunderstorm and hail arrives.

 

[msmith86]

June 19th, 2021 this is where it gets weird. The bucket Burley appears diseased and gets quarantined to the other side of the back porch/deck. It may have been over watered, and also continued to get worse so I removed all the diseased looking leaves to see what the plant would do. It has since regrown the same amount of leaves and they look healthy. No suckering or flowering as of yet.
*This is where input from the more experienced will be much appreciated.

 

[msmith86]

June 20th, 2021 bucket African Red and Rustica looking great. The Rustica with mammoth leaves I let flower seems to be wilting more every day and coming back up much less at night. After a few days looking worse I primed all the big leaves and let the sucker leaves go so it would have some for photosynthesis. That didn't work, the flower head also hung over and the plant is sad and dying. The leaves seem to being curing in the shed ok though.
*It was found that bucket only had one vent hole in the bottom, and may have been over-watered. Root rot? Granville wilt? Most likely something I did, just not exactly sure at the moment, especially since I chose to test grow so many varieties my first attempt, to see why grows easiest and best for me.

 

[msmith86]

July 4th-9th, 2021 this is where it gets weird again. I started priming the bottom VA leaves that are entirely yellow and hanging them in the shed on string trimmer line through the stems. It has plenty of airflow, so the first ones I put in there color-cured nicely to a light yellow-tan in a few days. However, I since put more in there and we've been having intermittent thunderstorms the last 4 days so the humidity is really high.
*This is where more expert advise is needed. The leaves developing the weird moldy looking mottling is within the leaf, not on the surface. They don't smell any different, but it's obvious they're still full of water, and I don't have a way to sun cure them with 80' oak trees all around my house. Is this mold/rot from the inside out? Should the leaves looking like that be thrown away? Since they are yellow, would it work to hang the lines in my basement where it is dry even though it's cold because of central AC?

 

[Charly]

These leaves are not molding, it's just the chlorophyll taking its time to break down.
It often happens to my leaves as well. Depending on the weather, the temperature...

 

[Knucklehead]

July 4th-9th, 2021 this is where it gets weird again. I started priming the bottom VA leaves that are entirely yellow and hanging them in the shed on string trimmer line through the stems. It has plenty of airflow, so the first ones I put in there color-cured nicely to a light yellow-tan in a few days. However, I since put more in there and we've been having intermittent thunderstorms the last 4 days so the humidity is really high.
*This is where more expert advise is needed. The leaves developing the weird moldy looking mottling is within the leaf, not on the surface. They don't smell any different, but it's obvious they're still full of water, and I don't have a way to sun cure them with 80' oak trees all around my house. Is this mold/rot from the inside out? Should the leaves looking like that be thrown away? Since they are yellow, would it work to hang the lines in my basement where it is dry even though it's cold because of central AC?

Agree with Charly about the chlorophyl.
During curing I look at the average humidity during three day blocks of time. If the humidity is dropping during the day and rising at night it’s good. If it rains a couple of days, then humidity drops, it’s good. If it’s rainy for three days, the humidity is staying high even during the day, and more weather is in the forecast, it’s time to intervene. You spread your leaves apart so that’s good. You have airflow so that’s good. If the weather prediction is calling for more rain you may need to move the leaves to the basement for drying. The leaves need to stay alive through the yellowing phase, but once that is accomplished they need to die and dry. That’s basically the curing process. Dry them until the stems are crispy crunchy dry, then rehydrate them for handling and storage or kilning. Those tricky stems can hold moisture awhile after the lamina is dry and can mold there. Rot is another concern. If the yellowed leaves are drying too slowly, the stems can turn black, mushy, and rot. Do you have thermometer and hygrometer in your curing area?

 

[msmith86]

Agree with Charly about the chlorophyl.
During curing I look at the average humidity during three day blocks of time. If the humidity is dropping during the day and rising at night it’s good. If it rains a couple of days, then humidity drops, it’s good. If it’s rainy for three days, the humidity is staying high even during the day, and more weather is in the forecast, it’s time to intervene. You spread your leaves apart so that’s good. You have airflow so that’s good. If the weather prediction is calling for more rain you may need to move the leaves to the basement for drying. The leaves need to stay alive through the yellowing phase, but once that is accomplished they need to die and dry. That’s basically the curing process. Dry them until the stems are crispy crunchy dry, then rehydrate them for handling and storage or kilning. Those tricky stems can hold moisture awhile after the lamina is dry and can mold there. Rot is another concern. If the yellowed leaves are drying too slowly, the stems can turn black, mushy, and rot. Do you have thermometer and hygrometer in your curing area?

I have combo units everywhere inside and outside the house, so I always know temp and humidity. The stems are holding a lot of moisture, I was just worried about those spots. We just got another thunderstorm so I took the African Red and VA to the basement so it can dry since it was already completely yellow before 4 days of high humidity and thunderstorms. This is the lowest humidity I've seen since the middle of last week.

 

[msmith86]

I also decided to try some of the VA Brightleaf that cured first from last week to see what it would do. It is way too moist still and will barely burn, but the good citrus grassy hay flavor is there. It'll definitely also make a good pipe tobacco for long-term aging in pressed cakes.

 

[msmith86]

I forgot to mention I planted some golden burley down back by my shop to neglect food and water and see what it would do. I won't say it actually grows like a weed, but close, and really small plants. Maybe I'll give them some tomato food this week and see what they do. No sign of suckers or flower heads yet, but a few yellow leaves can probably be primed like my VA's.

 

[msmith86]

It seems I like the volume and ease of growing African Red, PA broadleaf, and VA Brightleaf the most. So those 3 are definitely narrowed down for more focus on those next year. The Rustica is really easy too and matures really early, but that is more for pipe and cigar novelty blends. The PA and Havana 263 is obviously for cigars.

What say the group on using African Red and VA Brightleaf for cigarettes, and then those same 2 to rig up a kiln and use for a pipe blend?

I have 7 long red plants but no idea what they'll do, and limited info online points to it being a Cuban cigar filler type. Does that sound correct?

 

[Knucklehead]

It seems I like the volume and ease of growing African Red, PA broadleaf, and VA Brightleaf the most. So those 3 are definitely narrowed down for more focus on those next year. The Rustica is really easy too and matures really early, but that is more for pipe and cigar novelty blends. The PA and Havana 263 is obviously for cigars.

What say the group on using African Red and VA Brightleaf for cigarettes, and then those same 2 to rig up a kiln and use for a pipe blend?

I have 7 long red plants but no idea what they'll do, and limited info online points to it being a Cuban cigar filler type. Does that sound correct?

deluxestogie grew Long Red. To narrow the search results here on the forum, enter “Long Red“ in the search box and deluxestogie in the “by” box. There’s still ten pages of posts.

 

[deluxestogie]

Long Red is similar to PA Red, only somewhat milder and more productive. Both are Pennsylvania cigar types, rather than Havana types.

Bob

 

[msmith86]

Long Red is similar to PA Red, only somewhat milder and more productive. Both are Pennsylvania cigar types, rather than Havana types.

Bob

That's very good to know, which is fine because I roll cigars too. Throughout my searching I believe I saw a bunch that you or someone else posted about long red cavendish, so I'll be reading into those posts further.

How about the African Red? My bumpy gator skin leaves really look like a burley type, so my thoughts are to primarily use it as a power-up in a cigarette blend with VA brightleaf. Very limited info on most tobacco it seems.

I have some golden burley plants, but they are mostly in experimental places and not near as productive, so they can go to a cigarette or pipe blend.

-Matt

 

[msmith86]

This evening I checked on the neglected golden burley down back by my shop. Out of all 4 plants looking decimated by hornworms, I found two of the fattening little buggers. I promptly delivered them to watch their ultimate demise of being torn apart by my heritage black and gold turkeys. Simply killing them on sight seemed insufficient as they did significant damage (Their demise was glorious BTW). I then primed the yellow leaves so they can cure in my hanging shed.

 

[msmith86]

Update on some towel yellowing on top of the freezer in my hot garage. The yellowing ones in the first pic are African Red from a big plant and a smaller plant, and the smaller green ones are Rustica. The second pic is some PA broadleaf. In the rotation, the green PA leaf was on the bottom so the cool metal didn't let it yellow at all, so it will now be on the top of the pile until tomorrow evening when I check and rotate again.

 

[msmith86]

It's been a week since my last update, crazy around these parts lately. Humidity is still swinging on the high side and more intermittent thunderstorms, but I have an oscillating fan in the shed to move air in the door and out the open sides at the back of the roof. The dark brown close-up is the first primed Rustica at the end of June, it shot up and then flowered early. I noticed Rustica doesn't like to yellow much before almost going straight to brown, even with trying to yellow in a towel in the hot garage like the African Red does easily.

One of my smaller African Red plants I primed off completely last week is now trying to turn into a bush, it's very entertaining to see. If I keep flower heads cut off, will a hundred small sucker leaves be any good for cigarettes or pipes if I wait until end of season and stalk-cut to hang?

My tallest Havana 263 is getting ready to flower, so I'll bag it. Does this type ripen similar to my PA-41 broadleaf and African Red with the gator skin texture? Some bottom leaves of the Havana plants look like that now, I topped all but that one within the last week.

And one more question if anyone ever grows Rustica: is it common for the flower head to get heavy and hang over? Full disclosure, this plant was topped in mid-June, and primed completely by the first week of July. I then let sucker stalks come up where each leaf was and kept pruned so only either 2 or 4 leaves on each sucker stalk would grow. The very top one I let turn into a flower head. My assumption is since the flower head is on a fairly thin sucker stalk, the head is too heavy to be supported by the thin stem. Is my thinking on this correct? I didn't bag it because it's the only plant I let flower out back.

 

[Knucklehead]

Regarding the African Red, if you want a sucker crop, you keep the suckers removed and produce excellent main leaf. Then let one sucker grow at the bottom (won‘t matter if you prime or stalk cut) let that one sucker become a new stalk and new plant. You have a second crop without replacing with new seedlings. It may not be as large or flavorful as the first crop but it works if you don’t have seedlings ready and your season is rather short.

edit: in terms of maturity, Deluxestogie just posted photos of that very question:

Deluxestogie Grow Log 2021

collect the dead or dying caterpillars Interesting idea. But when I use BT, my total caterpillar detections wouldn't amount to more than a few hundredths of a gram for the entire season. Dead hornworms and BT residue in my blender? Bob

fairtradetobacco.com