Do we plant to many varieties???

[Ben Brand]

The question is, Do we plant to many varieties? I think I do, Planted 16 the first season, 12 this season and I plan to plant only 6 next season. Planing on planting 3 wrappers. Con Broad leaf - sun grown, Con Shade- shade grown and Pen Broad leaf also shade grown. Filler also 3 varieties- Vuelta abago, HuehueTenango and La Palma.
Talking purely for myself, I think to many varieties are confusing, the reaping, curing and the blending is a big issue to keep all separated. I rolled cigars with a few blends, maybe I`m to stupid or unsophisticated, but they all taste nice to me, I can taste the different wrappers, but the blends almost taste the same.
Hope it doesn`t come to bite me in the backside

 

[leverhead]

I planted a bunch of varieties this year and will plant a bunch next year, I'm still looking for favorites. In a few years I think I could cut back to growing just favorites. I'm growing for cigarettes though.

 

[jekylnz]

I'm growing far too many this year...25-30 types . .but it's not going to be something that I'll be doing every year. I am just wanting more seed back from alot of them ..so I don't have too many of each.(some only a couple) ..and the others should be enough fill..bind...wrap. to keep me going for the year after or so at least. ...so then I can cut back to just a few cigarette varieties(6-10) to keep stocks up..as I'll be smoking a lot more cigarettes than cigars...I don't really have the space to cure it all..so im hoping it won't be all ready at the same time. .otherwise I'll have to hang leaf throughout the whole house as well..im sure the mrs will live that. Hahaa.
I was thinking of making a portable cure setup.. with a wooden frame covered with black polythene for more room .or throw some polythene over my wrapper frame for one to maybe...& also throw together a flue cure chamber just to speed up the yellowing & hopefully keep on top of things before the cold weather sets in & makes curing twice as long & difficult.
.I'll soon see if I've bitten off more than i can chew..especially if it all starts maturing at the same time.. Lol..
I've tried to put starts down at different times to try to prevent this though so with any luck things will go to plan .

 

[Jitterbugdude]

That's just part of the growing experience. I do not know how many varieties I've grown but I know it's more than 75. Of all those varieties I found less than 5 that I really like. Everyone's tastes are different so each person needs to experiment/explore on their own.

Ben, if you are happy with the filler you now grow, concentrate on wrapper leaf next year. It will cut down on the number of varieties.

ps.. I hear that La Palma Havana makes a very tasty cigar....

 

[deluxestogie]

I think it's helpful to experiment with new varieties each year. My "worst" year peaked at 43 different varieties. It was a tedious ordeal, but allowed me to discover some varieties that otherwise would have been missed.

Now that I've determined the maximum quantity of leaf that I can adequately handle (in the range of 240 plants), I have settled down to planting about 20 varieties each year. Of these, about a dozen are my preferential varieties for specific uses (cigar: 2 good wrappers, 4 good fillers; pipe: 4 Orientals, a mild burley and a flue-cured). And in much smaller quantities, four more are exploratory, and another four are grow-outs of new varieties for the seed bank.

After dealing with over 40 varieties in a single season, managing only 20 seems easy. One of the biggest headaches is processing the seed from too many varieties. (God bless Skychaser and Knucklehead!)

But the best laid plans... I'm a sucker for new and interesting seed that I receive from other FTT members. Some of these have turned out to be spectacular.

Bob

 

[jekylnz]

Thanks to you also bob.much appreciated. Looking forward to starting to find out what different varieties add to the flavour of the cigars..I'll be like a kid in a candy shop once I get the leaf into a cured fermented smokable state..it'll be good to know what these varieties all taste like. .and like you said get to know which ones I prefer & pick ones to put on my grow next year list.

 

[Knucklehead]

First year grower with 60+ varieties - not recommended. I pretty much know what I want in the way of cigarette varieties and my cigar leaf will be purchased from Don. I don't think I can grow the quality for the price. My problem is that commercial growers are set in a rut with very few varieties being grown and I worry that so many nice varieties will be lost forever if the hobby growers like us don't keep the seed refreshed and available. I'm planning on 5 varieties for my personal grow and 24 - 36 for FTT grow outs and my personal seed bank for swapping and preservation.

 

[Knucklehead]

Ok, I started cleaning my first seed tonight, I'd like to change my answer to definitely yes.

 

[DGBAMA]

Ok, I started cleaning my first seed tonight, I'd like to change my answer to definitely yes.

Hope you remembered to cut the pods instead of crushing to minimize swarf in the seed.

 

[DGBAMA]

First year here. I did 7 and it seemed like a lot; I originally set out to do 3-4. Glad I did; found a few that will make good "bulk" grows for cigs. However there are so many interesting varieties out there, that I think next year will be quite a few more. I do feel like I can do the bulk of my grow with about 4 varieties (mostly smoke cigs), then who knows how many as onsie-twosie for sampling.

I hope that I can in several years have a basic grow of 5-7 varieties and keep room for a couple new ones each year just to try.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Hope you remembered to cut the pods instead of crushing to minimize swarf in the seed.

Can you explain in detail.
i am just about ready to harvest seed
Thanks, BT

 

[DGBAMA]

Can you explain in detail.
i am just about ready to harvest seed
Thanks, BT

I found by cutting each pod in half with a good pair of scissors (about 1/3 up from the pod stem) over my sieve, then shaking the pods lightly allows the good seed to simply spill out, without creating a bunch of small seed pod particles to sort out of the seed.

 

[Brown Thumb]

I found by cutting each pod in half with a good pair of scissors (about 1/3 up from the pod stem) over my sieve, then shaking the pods lightly allows the good seed to simply spill out, without creating a bunch of small seed pod particles to sort out of the seed.

Thank you.

 

[Ben Brand]

Okay, you guys got me convinced me. Damnation, thought I had it nailed. I must agree it is interesting to plant new varieties. It started as an hobby, but now its an obsession. Wife ask me the other day, why I make so much work for myself, just buy the cigars from a shop, suppose it will be easier, but like I said it became an obsession. So back to the drawing board, maybe 10 to 12 varieties.

 

[leverhead]

...It started as an hobby, but now its an obsession...

It seems to be the rule. I knew it had me when I tried to find good homes for the leftover seedlings.