Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
Got a good soaking rain right now in guntersville. knuck.hope your getting some of it. Is all this rain this late in your grow good or bad?
2015 Knucklehead Grow Blog
- Thread starter Knucklehead
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It finally started raining today and has been raining off and on for the past hour or so. I will prime my Maryland next week which will leave one more priming of Maryland and Dark Air. That will wrap up my harvest so this rain will not make much difference except in raising humidity for my curing leaf. I've been having to play with the shop door to maintain humidity which is really rare for this time of year in my area. I've been raising it at night and closing it in the morning to trap as much humid air as possible. I've been in a bad drought. What really needs rain are the grass and trees. My dogwood tree leaves are dying all through the woods and hayfields around here are about a foot tall and brown.
Yep. Great idea guys. I just moved my first priming of Dark Air to the kiln for stem drying. This will eliminate the step of rehydrating after stem drying on the heat mat before they can be handled. I can do as DGBAMA said and just add some water to the crock pot to bring them back into case. I can retire the heat mats until seed starting time.
DGBAMA
Well-Known Member
My burley and air cure are in, but looks like my flue curing will stretch late into September. A good six runs to go.
It really sucks that I can't post pics right now..
By far this has to be my best grow yet...my curing "room" is totally awesome...I've only got it half full..and have many leaf left in the field...
My grow area can hold a lot more plants than I have in it...so next year I'm going bigger.
By far this has to be my best grow yet...my curing "room" is totally awesome...I've only got it half full..and have many leaf left in the field...
My grow area can hold a lot more plants than I have in it...so next year I'm going bigger.
Third priming of Maryland 609. The stick broke on that VA355 I hung a couple of days ago. I was able to work another stick under the one that broke so I didn't have to restring the whole bunch, but it was still a pain. The VA355 is now in the middle row. The MD609 is closest to the camera.
The remaining cigar varieties not ready to take in for stem drying (which I'm doing in the kiln now). The overflow MD609 that wouldn't fit on the stick are on the coat hanger on the far right. Hopefully one more priming of VA355 and two more primings of MD609 will have me all in.
The remaining cigar varieties not ready to take in for stem drying (which I'm doing in the kiln now). The overflow MD609 that wouldn't fit on the stick are on the coat hanger on the far right. Hopefully one more priming of VA355 and two more primings of MD609 will have me all in.
Impressive bow in those sticks. How many pounds would you guess each stick is supporting?
Bob
I couldn't guess. It was a struggle to lift one end at a time to get the new stick back up on the supports after the first stick broke and the whole thing hit the floor. I never had to support the entire weight at one time. The stick that broke was rough cut 1"x2"x8' so it actually measured 1" x 2". I put another stick under the broken one and that one broke right away, so I put a third heavier stick under them and it's holding so far. I'm pretty proud of my stringing job. They are strung with two leaves per bundle and only two leaves fell out of the whole stick of leaf during all my contortions of getting another stick under it and set back up. I'm not sure it shows in the pictures but there is another row of leaf on the other side of the stick. About 200 huge leaves with huge wet heavy stems.
Due to drought, my humidity has been running in upper 50's to low 60's during the day and mid to upper 60% at night. I've yet to see 70% and that is rare for my location. I've been packing the leaf as tightly together as possible and playing with the roll up door.
Final priming of Maryland 609. It's amazing how big the tip leaves are (leaf directly under where I topped), not much smaller than the largest leaf on the plant. Although the plants budded early and ended up very short, leaf count was high and leaf size was normal. Just very tightly spaced on the plant. This was the fourth and last priming. The stalks pulled up very easily.
The kiln is full. I have it set to dry stems on the last two hands that went in there. I will shift it over to kilning duty this evening.
With no more room in the kiln for stem drying, I'm back to the old faithful heat mat. Three stacks of Maryland 609 on a double propagation mat. I love how flat they dry.
This shows brown leaf with butt end of stem still moist and in need of drying down. Finish drying the stem in the house speeds up the operation since it's so humid around here and also clears out new hanging space in the shop. Humidity is 77% inside the shop today since we got some rain a couple of days ago. Doors are open and fan is running.
The kiln is full. I have it set to dry stems on the last two hands that went in there. I will shift it over to kilning duty this evening.
With no more room in the kiln for stem drying, I'm back to the old faithful heat mat. Three stacks of Maryland 609 on a double propagation mat. I love how flat they dry.
This shows brown leaf with butt end of stem still moist and in need of drying down. Finish drying the stem in the house speeds up the operation since it's so humid around here and also clears out new hanging space in the shop. Humidity is 77% inside the shop today since we got some rain a couple of days ago. Doors are open and fan is running.
The MD 609 makes the size of a 1020 tray seem puny.
Bob
Bob
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
That is some handsome Leaf.
ProfessorPangloss
Amateur Kentuckian
+1 nicely done
DGBAMA
Well-Known Member
Wow that is some nice leaf going.
You could store the stem dried leaf until all curing is done before starting kiln runs, to retain its use for stem drying. Also an old freezer rack or such in the lower part of the kiln would allow you to pile the leaf flat for stem drying, yielding a result more like what you get from the seed mats.
You could store the stem dried leaf until all curing is done before starting kiln runs, to retain its use for stem drying. Also an old freezer rack or such in the lower part of the kiln would allow you to pile the leaf flat for stem drying, yielding a result more like what you get from the seed mats.
Curing update.
My first kiln run of the 2015 leaf. All my cigar varieties, two huge hands of VA 355 (will probably retie into four hands), several hands of MD 609. Twenty three hands total
Seven hands of VA 355 ready for the next kiln run.
Six coat hangers of MD 609 that I moved into the house for stem drying. I've had a lot of rain since I finished harvest and the humidity is staying above 70 during the day and high 70's at night. The leaf is browning nicely but the stems are not drying out in the shop. I move them to the basement for stem drying where the dehumidifiers keep humidity under 55%. Some of the stems were feeling mushy as though rot were about to set in. This will make about six nice hands of tobacco.
One stick of Maryland 609 and one stick of VA 355 dark air still curing in the shop. A few more days and these will be ready to move into the basement for stem drying. The stems on both varieties are huge so I only have two leaves per bundle. This is from the fourth and final priming of MD 609, third and final priming of the VA 355.
My first kiln run of the 2015 leaf. All my cigar varieties, two huge hands of VA 355 (will probably retie into four hands), several hands of MD 609. Twenty three hands total
Seven hands of VA 355 ready for the next kiln run.
Six coat hangers of MD 609 that I moved into the house for stem drying. I've had a lot of rain since I finished harvest and the humidity is staying above 70 during the day and high 70's at night. The leaf is browning nicely but the stems are not drying out in the shop. I move them to the basement for stem drying where the dehumidifiers keep humidity under 55%. Some of the stems were feeling mushy as though rot were about to set in. This will make about six nice hands of tobacco.
One stick of Maryland 609 and one stick of VA 355 dark air still curing in the shop. A few more days and these will be ready to move into the basement for stem drying. The stems on both varieties are huge so I only have two leaves per bundle. This is from the fourth and final priming of MD 609, third and final priming of the VA 355.
DGBAMA
Well-Known Member
Dang that looks nice.
Brown Thumb
Well-Known Member
That leaf looks Nice. I like how organized and neat you keep Everthing.
Only a suggestion, the tails hanging on the concrete floor could mold?
My bags of Baccy laying against the concrete wall sucked the moisture into them and caused mold.
Or are they hanging and the pic makes it look like they are on the floor.
Only a suggestion, the tails hanging on the concrete floor could mold?
My bags of Baccy laying against the concrete wall sucked the moisture into them and caused mold.
Or are they hanging and the pic makes it look like they are on the floor.
Good eye. They are on the floor. I'll raise them up. The Maryland is longer than the dark air.
Beautiful batches of leaf. I'm sure it beats the hell out of having only 20 leaves per variety.
Bob
Bob
You're not kidding there. My next grow will be two rows of Reams 158 flue cure and one row of TN 86 LC (low converter) Burley (48 plants per row). Plus some Izmir and Prilep traditionally spaced. I'm trying to grow my five cigarette varieties over a span of two years. Then start over. I won't need to grow cigar varieties for several years now.
Smokin Harley
Well-Known Member
"I won't need to grow cigar varieties for several years now."
Yeah , sure...I was thinking the same thing but then I realized ... I'm letting some of mine age naturally while I kiln the rest in stages so I get different ages within the same grow batch.
I picked yesterday afternoon, 4 varieties . When I opened the barn , I can start to smell actual tobacco leaf aroma (upon further sniff, it is the PA Red and the Sumatra) instead of the grassy smell it has at first...its heavenly.
Yeah , sure...I was thinking the same thing but then I realized ... I'm letting some of mine age naturally while I kiln the rest in stages so I get different ages within the same grow batch.
I picked yesterday afternoon, 4 varieties . When I opened the barn , I can start to smell actual tobacco leaf aroma (upon further sniff, it is the PA Red and the Sumatra) instead of the grassy smell it has at first...its heavenly.
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