AmaxB ground prep an Grow 2013

[workhorse_01]

Man what that patch turned in to! It looks good. With as many variety's as there are I don't know how one would ever settle on what one likes. I have found what I like so far, but each year I'll follow Chickens lead and add three variety's to see what I like of them. As far as you curing your tobacco goes.... You're gonna hit the mark the same way you did toasting up that golden brown leaf of joy you've been smoking.

 

[johnlee1933]

I think I need to find out which ones I like after smoking some being a complete ROOKIE. Next year I will not plant so much only 1 to 4 varieties that produce well and keep it to the area of 125 plants or less. I smoke about 1 pound every 2 weeks at that rate this years crop (if I can do a good job curing it) will yield enough for something like 3 years of smoking. This would give me a 2 year reserve if I keep it all (am not factoring waist but should) now future years will maintain the reserve.
Would like to know Johnlee those 6 footers you have they wouldn't happen to be Stolak 17 and African Red would they? These are my tallest of what I have grown.
The Silk Leaf is not so tall but the leaf is beautiful always catches my eye.

No. The Stolak and African Red are full healthy plants. The AR is ~3' and the Stolak ~ 4'. The Stolak has shown some ground level suckers and I have removed them. The Vuelto Abajo and CT shade are over 7' now.

 

[Chicken]

it's nice to have a patch you can '' disappear'' in,

thats a fat healthy patch too, them plants look very good,

now lets see the great invention go into '' working mode''

 

[AmaxB]

Man what that patch turned in to! It looks good. With as many variety's as there are I don't know how one would ever settle on what one likes. I have found what I like so far, but each year I'll follow Chickens lead and add three variety's to see what I like of them. As far as you curing your tobacco goes.... You're gonna hit the mark the same way you did toasting up that golden brown leaf of joy you've been smoking.

I'm a MUTTT I'll smoke anything that taste good and is not harsh on the throat. I don't want to mess around with blending, I want it simple. Right now I smoke nothing but va bright that I buy. So in a few months it ought to get interesting.

No. The Stolak and African Red are full healthy plants. The AR is ~3' and the Stolak ~ 4'. The Stolak has shown some ground level suckers and I have removed them. The Vuelto Abajo and CT shade are over 7' now.

I would have thought they would be bigger mine are over 6' I had no ground suckers on my Stolak. The Vuelto and shade must be looking great how about a pic or 2 of those would like to see them Jhonlee.

it's nice to have a patch you can '' disappear'' in,

thats a fat healthy patch too, them plants look very good,

now lets see the great invention go into '' working mode''

We will see about the invention pretty soon I think I got ripe leaf out there it is getting crisp and gatered with some color change happening. I got a load of stuff I bought in the machine aging is going into the 4th week.
Going to sample it today if it is ok I might take it out and put some of my home leaf in to flue cure. I got everything ready to go racks are made and the box is ready, but I am not so sure of the operator I need to read up on the controller
(refresher) and make up a few profiles to run. I've been waiting months for this day to come and now I got cold feet and it is scaring the shit out ta me. Would be a bitch to fail.
Was in the patch late noon yesterday just looking at things and seen sucker growth on lower leaves out there. It is a problem getting low to remove em cause things are getting tight even with the 4' spacing I got to be careful or I snap leaves so I got to do something soon.
Think I got a system figured out to keep varieties separated when loading the racks and ordered a roll of 3 mil poly tubing to put it in after cured. I got an old bag sealing machine that I have had for 20 years and will use it to seal the bags.
It is a funny thing had a garage sale few years ago and tried to sell this sealing machine and no one bought it. Lucky me.....

 

[leverhead]

I got cold feet and it is scaring the shit out ta me. Would be a bitch to fail.

Just try real hard to think straight, the real bitch would be to fail and not learn anything.

 

[AmaxB]

Few new PICS
Silk Leaf is looking good
.

 

[AmaxB]

Just try real hard to think straight, the real bitch would be to fail and not learn anything.

You got that RIGHT!!!
and trash the tobacco

 

[DGBAMA]

Looks amazing.

 

[deluxestogie]

It has been said that creativity is the art of giving yourself permission to fail.

Bob

 

[AmaxB]

It has been said that creativity is the art of giving yourself permission to fail.

Bob

Damn Bob I like that

 

[AmaxB]

Was sitting out back and eying the patch and some of the leaf is looking pretty much like it is ripe / ready / near ready so I thought I would go to the guys that know and took a few pictures.
The tobacco is for cigarettes please give your opinion. Is it ready or should I give more time before priming it?
Thanks for your help
Brent
.

 

[Knucklehead]

How long since it was topped?

 

[AmaxB]

How long since it was topped?

Week to 2 and a half weeks knuckles

 

[leverhead]

I'd let it go longer. How many leaves off the ground is that? The bottom leaves will end up thinner than the top leaves do. As long as you have enough moisture in the ground, they'll get pretty yellow before they wither and die.

 

[AmaxB]

Leverhead the photos are leaf at about mid stalk they are just getting some color (faint) to them. Leaves at the bottom don't look any different by much I was hoping to hear this. Good deal I'll let em go another week.
Thank You

 

[Knucklehead]

They are past the point of maturity that you would prime cigar leaf. They appear to be just entering the ripe stage when cigarette leaf is primed. If these are a flue cure variety you can let these ripen more until you have enough for your first full load in the flue cure chamber. I don't know how equally ripe the leaf needs to be for flue curing. Can some be very ripe and some less ripe in the same load?

 

[deluxestogie]

I agree with waiting for cigarette leaf. That golden aura is a signal for me that a cigar variety is a smidge overdue to be primed (which is too often right about when I can get to it).

I've flue-cured VA Bright when it looked just like that, and it comes out light yellow, leathery and with dark veins. Actually, with flue-curing, if you visually judge the yellowing phase (rather than program a set time), the leaf can be primed at just about any stage, so long as all the leaf in the chamber is at roughly the same stage.

Bob

 

[AmaxB]

Thank You guys.. For me this is one of the most important questions I my have. I want to run it all or at the least most of it in my chamber and have next to no idea how much I can get in at a time until I due a load. I have read most of what is here on the forum and even bookmarked pages like the one Don put up with photos of Ripe Leaf for Cigs. I know not all my leaf will come to be ready at the same exact time but with a lot of it I can see the change coming on. With the help of your comments I see I do have a reasonable time window within which to work.
I'll keep an eye open for changes and think I'll start next week. I had bagged / topped at different times but according to what I have read there are a few varieties I should not be seeing the change in yet but am seeing it.
Thanks Again for all the helpful insight.

 

[leverhead]

Can some be very ripe and some less ripe in the same load?

They can be, but you don't want them to be. This is the problem that makes timing so difficult for me and there's not allot of information to go by. Less ripe leaf will take longer to yellow than more ripe leaf, so picking the time to move away from yellowing pretty much sets in cement how much green leaf and how much over yellowed leaf you'll end up with. The more uniform the ripeness is, the higher the percentage of well cured leaf can be in the finished load. This is my second year growing tobacco and flue-curing, I'm not an expert on either subject. I can say for certain that I'm doing better this year than last, I just can't say why.

I agree with waiting for cigarette leaf. That golden aura is a signal for me that a cigar variety is a smidge overdue to be primed (which is too often right about when I can get to it).

I've flue-cured VA Bright when it looked just like that, and it comes out light yellow, leathery and with dark veins. Actually, with flue-curing, if you visually judge the yellowing phase (rather than program a set time), the leaf can be primed at just about any stage, so long as all the leaf in the chamber is at roughly the same stage.

Bob

I wish I could put that much information into two sentences! Read it about five times, it's spot on. There's two decisions to make flue-curing, when to pick and when to end yellowing. You can go by the graph after that. The yellow spots on the leaves will finish orange to red (slightly over yellowed) by the time you let around the veins yellow enough. They say the best finished color is lemon yellow to orange.

 

[leverhead]

but according to what I have read there are a few varieties I should not be seeing the change in yet but am seeing it.

The weather and fertilizer has allot to do with it, you may still have 2 weeks or more.