“Staying alive”: @ChrisN

[ChrisN]

Connecticut broadleaf

 

[Knucklehead]

Connecticut broadleaf

You could pull some now. Here's a photo from Bob of a mature cigar leaf. That's about right for cigar leaf. For cigarettes I wait until they are ripe (alot more yellow), except for Orientals.

 

[ChrisN]

Ok, sounds good. Thank you very much, Wallace! I pulled some from the Connecticut broadleaf yesterday. I have these humidity gauges in the room and have them in this dry rack. Is there anything else I need to do or just let it do it’s thing give it time? How long before they are ready and how long do I leave them in there?

 

[deluxestogie]

They are likely to dry green (be ruined) if allowed to stay in such a low relative humidity. They need at least 60%, until they color-cure.

Bob

 

[ChrisN]

Ok, thank you very much, Bob! I have moved them to my garage currently but might move them to a portion of the hay barn that has windows to allow more ventilation. My garage doesn’t have windows just the main garage door. Only problem is I live in a neighborhood and get worried of people stealing things so I keep it closed often.

Current updates on the plants. Also, was wondering if these leaves are mature for picking and if these holes in leaves are from grasshoppers/crickets? Took a picture of one on a leaf

 

[Knucklehead]

What stage are you in terms of budding or topping? I can't tell.

 

[ChrisN]

Have had my first budding on a number of them. I just clipped them off with my hands or clippers. There are some that haven't had budding yet. I hope this helps. The one plant I am looking forward to budding is the prilep. Would like to collect some seeds from one of the plants.

 

[ChrisN]

One question, I do have is what’s “bring it into case”? Have read low case, medium case, or high case.

 

[deluxestogie]

In case you haven't noticed, "case" is a case of a word having too many meanings. "Out of case" means leaf is so dry it will shatter if you handle it (or bump it). For stripping leaf from stalks after curing, "in case" means fully pliable, so you can handle the leaf safely. That's usually a matter of waiting for the weather to be your friend.

"Bring into case" implies that you are doing the bringing. For whole leaf that is stored, the simplest way to bring it into case is to mist it with non-chlorinated water, close up the container, and wait overnight for the leaf to absorb enough moisture.

A more nuanced discussion of case is here:

Curing, Fermentation, Aging, Kilning? Basic Definitions

Curing Tobacco When you begin with leaf from the field (primed or stalk-cut), and then allow it to convert from a living leaf to a dead leaf (of yellow or brown), you have cured the leaf. Often in this forum, we refer to this as "color-curing". There are a number of methods for color-curing...

fairtradetobacco.com

Bob

 

[ChrisN]

Ok, thank you very much, Bob! I’ll take some pictures of the Connecticut broadleaf leaves when I get home. I haven’t misted them though.

On another note, my family and I have been visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I found a local Tobacco store called Tobacco row. He has handmade pipes and own blend of pipe tobacco. I had to get some pipe tobacco. Looking forward to trying it. Here are the blends I got:

 

[ChrisN]

Connecticut broadleaf leaves. First group (first 2 pictures) are from the lower part of the plant and first picked. They seem a little greener then the others. I also flipped them over to show the side that’s not as brown. The other side looks ok.

 

[ChrisN]

I’m guessing the leaves are turning out well. I will also take a picture of the seed pods of the Connecticut broadleaf and I’m thinking it’s probably pretty close to clip them and let them hang/dry.
I was curious, when should you mist the leaves? And what that does for the leaves?
Here are the pictures of the blends I got.

 

[ChrisN]

Connecticut broadleaf seed pods

 

[skychaser]

Those look very good and should have good viable seed with a high germ rate. They should be left on the plant until fully brown and dry. The only other time to pick them early is if you are looking at a potential loss from very bad weather coming. Many people pick them way to early in my opinion. Picking pods that are still green or yellow and letting them dry will lead to seed that may look good visually, but will likely have a much lower grem rate and a lower seedling viability.

 

[deluxestogie]

With plants with bagged heads, once the pods are well formed, and browning, you can safely prime most of any remaining leaf below the bag. I usually leave 2 or 3 leaves just below the crowfoot, until I cut the head off. But I don't think they really need them at that point. Both the stalk and the leaf auricles that remain after priming likely produce sufficient energy for the root system.

Bob

 

[ChrisN]

Thank you very much, Paul and Bob! I will collect them when they are all brown and dry. So I cut the head off (with all the seed pods on it) in the bag and hang it upside down to dry out or do I remove the bag and pick each pod?

Was also wondering what the terms are for leaves on cigarette type plants like cigar types? I can't seem to find the terms for Cigarette types. From what I have gathered via Google search cigar leaf terms are:

Bote/Clean up

Volado

Seco

Ligero

Corona

 

[deluxestogie]

You can just hang the head, inside the bag, for a month or two, to fully dry.

Best Practices: seed saving

I thought I was following good seed saving practices, but clearly was not. I germinated 12 varieties some of which sprouted most did not. Mine. Can we get a discussion from harvesting to storage? I hang the stalk to dry, crush the pods and sift the seeds, bag and store in the basement...

fairtradetobacco.com

Flue-cured varieties just have plain English names (from bottom to top):

• thin
• lemon
• bright
• red

Bob

 

[skychaser]

You can just hang the head, inside the bag, for a month or two, to fully dry.

Or you can pick the pods off and get rid of the stem once the stem is nearly dried out.

This is my process:

I harvest my seed around mid October. I pull off all the bags and then cut the heads off. They go into totes or paper grocery bags to dry further until they are bone dry before they get threshed out. I usually clip the seed heads down some to remove the bulk of the big stems because they just wear down the rubber tubing on my thresher all the quicker. Next comes 3 sets of screens to remove the chaff and then it's on to blowing to remove the rest of the remaining chaff. All the seed goes into heavy zip lock freezer bags for storage. But before being packed away in the boxes, the bags are left sitting open for another month or so to be sure the seed is very dry before sealing up the bag. All the seed is re-blown again to remove any last bits of chaff and any remaining under developed dud seed before shipping.

 

[ChrisN]

Sounds good. Thank you very much, Bob and Paul!

 

[ChrisN]

2023 grow and update

This year I am growing Cherry red, TN 90, Prilep, DR Olor, DR Piloto Cubano, Small Stalk Black Mammoth, Corojo 99, Ohio Dutch, Cuban Criollo 98, & Florida Sumatra

Have had a few that didn’t turn out well, had to reseed, and have had to thin out extras but so far they are doing well. I’m also growing pink and white Giganteum poppy, will also be growing Big horse spotted corn, and golden queen sweet corn. All seed came from Paul - Northwoods. Looking forward to planting them all outside! Poppies for the bees to enjoy, enjoy some corn, and eventually enjoy some tobacco

Before and now pictures. I’ll have pictures of the poppy and corn.