There is a section on intentional crossing in the Index of Key Forum Threads.
Bob
Bob
Deluxestogie Grow Log 2021
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Clatsopnehalem
Well-Known Member
I’ve
been trying to figure out when is proper to harvest so this is really great to seePotted Tobacco Ripe-O-Meter
Maturity of a tobacco leaf is the earliest point at which a leaf should be primed (harvested). This is particularly useful for most varieties. Some, like burley, may be allowed to reach the stage of "ripe", or fully yellow. For stalk-harvesting, I usually wait for the top leaf to show the earliest signs of maturity.
A hallmark of maturation is thickening and increased rugosity (rumpledness) of the leaf. An easier (though slightly later) sign to recognize maturation is a slight yellowing of the very tip of the leaf. A fully yellowed leaf is considered "ripe".
Bob
I have passed peak green for this season. And notice the smoky sunset hue.
Bob
Clatsopnehalem
Well-Known Member
I love your garden man!! Great looking corn right where it should be looks like you are very experienced in the field
Thanks. As my height shrinks, year by year, my garden likewise shrinks. Before long, my garden will consist of only:
- 5 tobacco plants
- 4 corn stalks
- 3 broad beans
- 2 kabocha squash
- and an okra that's eaten by deer
Not even a partridge in a dwarf pear tree?
Clatsopnehalem
Well-Known Member
The deer seem to love apples over here in Oregon I’m not wavy on the breeds yet but there was this huge beautiful buck laying under our apple tree in the field at outer home and the thing stood up stomped his hoof twice and bowed up and down twice then stared deep into me. Ya I just turned around and slowly left lol no thank you I’ll admire from a long distance lol
For creating a "hook" at the bottom of each stalk, for hanging stalk-harvested tobacco plants, I like about a 2" nail with a relatively generous head. I've tried most varieties of nails, and found that the length is the most important attribute. Even the very thickest of stalks tend to be under 1.75" diameter, so a 2" nail always works. If the head is tiny (like a finishing nail), it just needs to be driven into the stalk at an acute angle, for securely hooking it over the suspension ropes beneath my shed roof.
Since nail people have not yet learned to count, you have to purchase by weight. [Hidden on an inconspicuous corner of this box, so as not to abruptly overthrow centuries of tradition, it says, "Count: 127". That metric weight surely upsets some folks!] Since the nails need to be removed from the cured stalks prior to disposing of them (compost, fire or brush pile), the nails can be reused for another year or two, if they are still straight. They eventually rust enough to make them troublesome to hammer into a fresh stalk.
Bob
Tagged nails for each variety, in separate Ziploc bags.
My Tyvek tags, that label each string of primed leaf and every individual stalk of stalk-harvested leaf, have to last. They follow the leaf to the shed, to the kiln, and ultimately to storage. Each tag needs to contain essential information that will be meaningful to me a decade from when it went with the leaf into storage. [A simple number that matches it to the actual variety name, etc. located on an elaborate key in an alternate universe just won't do.] I include the complete variety name [e.g. L'Assomption 201, rather than just "L'A"], the crop year, priming level for primed leaf, or the word "stalk" for stalk-harvested. If it's going to be sun-cured, like my Trabzon this season, then the letter 'S' enclosed in a circle will also appear. Seeing "stalk" on a tag attached to a stalk seems stupid in the shed. But one or two or ten years later, it is informative [it was stalk-harvested and stalk-cured, and the storage bag contains leaf of mixed stalk levels].
The challenge has always been for me to get around to cutting and counting all the little tags, labeling them with a Sharpie--on both faces, poking a hole into the tough Tyvek, and inserting either a wire (for primed) or a nail (for stalk-harvested). It's tedious to the point that the fingers on my left hand are mostly numb by the time I'm done. If I postpone doing it, then I may miss a perfect moment for stalk-cutting (e.g. early evening just before a forecast of rain). Once the tedium is complete, then I am more likely to do the harvesting when the conditions are just right.
I label both faces of each tag because of Murphy. According to Murphy's Law, when I look at a stored bag of crispy dry leaf from years ago, the only tag face visible is at the bottom of the bag, and will be the blank surface. The same is true of stalk hanging in the dimly lit shed. The nail and its tag are in the shadows above my head, but the tag has to be readable when I select a specific variety to strip and bag.
Bob
smallwanderings
Well-Known Member
I am very much amazed at how much you do for all of us on this forum. Thank you!
I appreciate the kind words. Internet forums are inherently transient things. From the time that Don (@FmGrowit) founded the FTT forum in 2011, I have tried my best to keep it from fading away. Valid info about tobacco growing, curing and finishing has become increasingly difficult to find, and is continually polluted by marketeering misinformation propagated on retail tobacco product fan sites. I have to pass on thanks to our Moderators. Knowledge is a two-way street. I have learned a huge amount from our forum members.
Bob
Bob
Yes I think the biggest misinformation is that you need a climate blessed by gods and a soil kissed by vulcano ash to even think about growing tobacco.
Once you find a few good threads about curing ans kilning it becomes still a little bit tricky but doable.
Temp indoors was 82°F. I stepped out to the front porch, and it was noticeably warmer.
I realize all you warm weather folks are just rolling your eyes at a mere 89°F. I'm a wimp. I got my garden/tobacco work done before 9 am. So many tiny air particles bounding around so vigorously makes me grumpy.
Bob
I realize all you warm weather folks are just rolling your eyes at a mere 89°F. I'm a wimp. I got my garden/tobacco work done before 9 am. So many tiny air particles bounding around so vigorously makes me grumpy.
Bob
Bob
Throughout the day today, I periodically checked the weather forecast. ¼" rain in early afternoon. Little by little, the arrival time moved to later into the day, while the total rain expected gradually dwindled to zero. I would have to haul out the garden hose again this evening.
Without any hint on WeatherUnderground, or any warning on my NOAA radio, at about 4:30 pm the sky darkened, thunder rumbled, and the wind picked up. Heavy rain followed. After about 40 minutes, it was gone.
Result:
¼" of rain
no blowdowns
Bob
Without any hint on WeatherUnderground, or any warning on my NOAA radio, at about 4:30 pm the sky darkened, thunder rumbled, and the wind picked up. Heavy rain followed. After about 40 minutes, it was gone.
Result:
¼" of rain
no blowdowns
Bob
Oldfella
Well-Known Member
Hope you hadn't gone to all the bother of dragging out the hose. My luck is just finished with the hose and rain happens, nice looking flowers 
Oldfella
Oldfella
This overhead view of Little Dutch from a frontporch-o-copter exhibits the pentagonal symmetry of tobacco (and other solanaceous plants). It is the same symmetry seen in tobacco blossoms: 5 sepals; 5 petals, 5 stamen and a 5 lobed pistil.
Bob
Clatsopnehalem
Well-Known Member
So very greatful for this pro tip as well as all of them and all other great information you provide here thank you so so much !!!
Tagged nails for each variety, in separate Ziploc bags.
My Tyvek tags, that label each string of primed leaf and every individual stalk of stalk-harvested leaf, have to last. They follow the leaf to the shed, to the kiln, and ultimately to storage. Each tag needs to contain essential information that will be meaningful to me a decade from when it went with the leaf into storage. [A simple number that matches it to the actual variety name, etc. located on an elaborate key in an alternate universe just won't do.] I include the complete variety name [e.g. L'Assomption 201, rather than just "L'A"], the crop year, priming level for primed leaf, or the word "stalk" for stalk-harvested. If it's going to be sun-cured, like my Trabzon this season, then the letter 'S' enclosed in a circle will also appear. Seeing "stalk" on a tag attached to a stalk seems stupid in the shed. But one or two or ten years later, it is informative [it was stalk-harvested and stalk-cured, and the storage bag contains leaf of mixed stalk levels].
The challenge has always been for me to get around to cutting and counting all the little tags, labeling them with a Sharpie--on both faces, poking a hole into the tough Tyvek, and inserting either a wire (for primed) or a nail (for stalk-harvested). It's tedious to the point that the fingers on my left hand are mostly numb by the time I'm done. If I postpone doing it, then I may miss a perfect moment for stalk-cutting (e.g. early evening just before a forecast of rain). Once the tedium is complete, then I am more likely to do the harvesting when the conditions are just right.
I label both faces of each tag because of Murphy. According to Murphy's Law, when I look at a stored bag of crispy dry leaf from years ago, the only tag face visible is at the bottom of the bag, and will be the blank surface. The same is true of stalk hanging in the dimly lit shed. The nail and its tag are in the shadows above my head, but the tag has to be readable when I select a specific variety to strip and bag.
Bob
That's actually an amateur tip. Only amateurs like myself grow so few plants of multiple tobacco varieties that tagging individual stalks is practical. The pros just say, "put the burley in that barn." I'm not sure how @BigBonner identifies the multiple varieties that he grows, but I assume he has enough excess barn space to segregate them.
Bob
Bob
A Cottontail and a White Tail, as the sun sets. Not an unusual sight from my front porch, but seemed worth a photo this evening.
Bob
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