Ciennepi 2019 Grow Blog

[ciennepi]

First harvest of the 2019 grow. I pick up the lower leaves (seco) of the Little Dutch and put in a box for yellowing with the pile-cure technic that the past year gave me the better results.
The leaves:

The leaves in the box:

Little Dutch is the first maturing of my plants. The leaves begin to ripe well and I topped it 3 weeks ago. The Piloto Cubano is the slowest, it keep growing leaves and there is no sign of flowering. They are coming huge

 

[deluxestogie]

The Piloto Cubano is the slowest

My Piloto Cubano is also my slowest to blossom.

Bob

 

[Charly]

Yes, Little Dutch is a fast maturing strain, and Piloto Cubano is just the opposite

 

[ciennepi]

After only two days in the box, due to the high temperatures of this period, about half of the Little Dutch leaves are yellowed. They are strung to complete the browning phase and the other were left in the box for another day or two.

 

[ciennepi]

A photo of five plants from my pot coltivation. From the left Little Dutch (the first volado leaves harvested), Bahia, Piloto Cubano DR (not yet budding!) and two Vuelta Abajo (topped about three weeks ago). For my eyes the Bahia and Vuelta Abajo are near identical.

All the plants except Little Dutch have reached a height of 150 cm.

 

[GreenDragon]

Nice looking plants and a beautiful view off the balcony.

 

[deluxestogie]

For my eyes the Bahia and Vuelta Abajo are near identical.

In my own grows during past years, the Bahia plants appeared very similar to San Andrés as well as to Vuelta Abajo--while growing. They cured quite differently. My careful comparison of San Andrés leaf to Bahia leaf (even while green) showed subtle differences in shape and intensity of their color.

Mexico, Brazil, Cuba--we can definitely see that these varieties are closely related.

Bob

 

[Charly]

Nice !
Your two Vuelta Abajo plants seem to be just fine, no sign of pvy on it ? You may have found two pvy resistant VA !!!

 

[deluxestogie]

They're in pots!

Bob

 

[ciennepi]

Greendragon: yes, the view is beautiful, about 1/4 is the village and 3/4 is mountain and forests.
Charly: they are growed in pot because in pot on my balcony they show no sign of PVY. The strange thing is that the soil is the same as the garden!!!!. I'convinced that the transmission of PVY is die to the aphids that don't reache the height of the balcony. Growed in the greenhouse in the middle of the garden they also do fine!
Bob: can you tell us the difference in curing and in taste between Vuelta Abajo, San Andres and Bahia? Thanks.

 

[Charly]

Well, at least you found some places were pvy infection is limited !
When I grew in pots, I had pvy infected plants too (the plants were just a few meters away from those in the ground).
The greenhouse idea is interesting, but I have not enough place in my small green house for my tobacco plants

 

[deluxestogie]

can you tell us the difference in curing and in taste between Vuelta Abajo, San Andres and Bahia?

I'm afraid I can't offer any specifics regarding the taste, other than that the Vuelta Abajo offers a richer and more complex taste. Any greater detail would be creative writing. They are different. My Vuelta Abajo consistently cures darker than the other two.

Bob

 

[ciennepi]

Ok, it's time to begin seriosly the harvest season. The lower leaves have matured and have hint of a slightly lighter color and a yelliwish tips. Today I harvest the Vuelta Abajo and the Bahia seco of my pot cultivation and put them in the cardboard box. About 2 or 3 leaves for every plant.
The leaves are about 30 cm (12 inch) long.

 

[ciennepi]

Strangely enough the tallest plant in my 2019 grow is not one in the field ma this Piloto Cubano in a pot. It's 210 cm high (about 7 feet) and the biggest leaves are 60 cm long (23 inch). I immediatly bagged the blossom.

 

[ciennepi]

 

[ciennepi]

I'm like a lot the short period in wich on a leaf color curing coexist the green and the bright yellow in an intricate design.This is a Vuelta Abajo leaf.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Visually speaking, the stage of coexistence of green and bright yellow is my favorite to look upon.

 

[ciennepi]

I'm in the full of harvest season. This is a portion of my cellar (not a real underground cellar but a room in comunication with my garage) in wich I hang the leaves after they are yellowed in pile curing box. From the left to right there are on the left string Vuelta Abajo, and Piloto Cubano PR and on the right string Bahia and Little Dutch. The temperature is constant at about 23 C and the relative humidity at about 70- 75%. If the air become too dry I wet with water the concrete floor and the RU goes immediately up.

 

[ciennepi]

A leaf curing story.
During my biggest and probably last rush of pile curing I marked a single leaf of Piloto Cubano PR (52 cm - 20 inch long) with a cut near the base and take photo of it during the shuffling in my big carton pile curing box.
This are the results:
Time 0


After 3 days


After 4 days


After 6 days


After 7 days.


This is the final stage and I hung the leaf to complete the browning phase. In a week I can pass from a green leaf to a half cured leaf. The pile curing method is by now the best procedure that I found to cure correctly my tobacco.
The only drawback is that at least daily you must take out alla the leaves and change they position in the box.

 

[deluxestogie]

Excellent documentation. Thanks.

Bob

EDIT: I have created a new link in Key Forum Threads to that post.