Grow diary of 2021 first bulk grow: @Clatsopnehalem

[Clatsopnehalem]

I’ve been pouring distilled water into the carpet every so often now that I have the fan up on high

Won't your carpet start to rot and stink? I'd be inclined to use a towel as a wick in a bucket of water.
Oldfella
[/QUOTE]
It’s evaporated almost entirely by now but I didn’t even think about that I’ll do what your recommending from now on that’s much smarter

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

Are you planning to color cure that huge crop in a closet?

Bob

I hope not we have had some extenuating life stuffs so we’re going to use any space our families can donate just for this year but we want to build a curing shed next year so we’re not stuck doing this lol

 

[deluxestogie]

That's an impressively large closet. Do take care not to damage the floors with moisture.

Bob

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

So here’s a few closer photos oh and I dunno why but now it’s up to 99F and fluctuating humidity and staying firm at 99F with occasional bumps up to 100F but all I’ve done is cracked one door and the other door from time to time to let out humidity. I’ve had so many hours sitting in here that it’s cleansing feeling a lot of sweating and tobacco smells
So we’re kinda worried about the leaf drying green with this harvest is kilning ok to get that green out or is it ruined if it drys green?

 

[deluxestogie]

For color curing, you need temps between 60°F and about 90°F, but the 3-day average humidity should remain around 70-75%. Leaf that dries green is pretty much ruined.

Bob

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

This leaf is going such a rich dark dark brown in the spots that are drying brown at the tips and edges. I’m use to seeing leaf that’s much lighter color brown so I’m wondering if the rest of the harvest can be yellowed more on the plant if it will go yellow faster and maybe dry a lighter brown color than this first plucking

 

[deluxestogie]

Tobacco allowed to yellow more on the plant will be easier to color-cure.

Bob

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

Tobacco allowed to yellow more on the plant will be easier to color-cure.

Bob

Should I just mulch the leaves that dry green and basically dispose of them? I don’t wanna smoke a ruined leaf I’m guessing

 

[deluxestogie]

Leaf that dries green won't hurt you. It will just taste crummy. Air-cured leaf will color-cure from green to yellow and then to brown. Only flue-curing (and sometimes sun-curing) produces yellow leaf at the end. Your arrangement is not capable of flue-curing.

Bob

 

[Oldfella]

Definitely would not recommend flue curing in a closet. If you want yellowing you could try the cardboard box method with a bunch of the leaves that you have in your closet. The process is described in several posts on the forum, I use it for my winter crop. I'll get back to you in a little while, we are all on lock down now and I want to catch the news.
Oldfella

 

[Oldfella]

Hi, I'm back now. The Covert bug is a problem, still being a small country it's fairly easy to shut the gates, we'll get over it. If you want to try the cardboard box yellowing method here's how.
Clean,dry leaves into the box thus, 1 leaf, 1 sheet newspaper, 1 leaf, 1 sheet newspaper, until the the box is full.
You should empty the box daily and check for mold or rot. Replace the paper with new, you can dry the damp paper and reuse. Hang the leaves in your drying area when you're happy with the color.
Oldfella

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

Thank you all for the help I appreciate your time taken to respond it’s been a tremendous help

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

So today looks like a lot if not most of our lizard tail Orinoco plants are 5 foot 8 inches and a couple 6 foot tall plants. I’m very confused because all the reading I’ve done so far on this cultivar says it is a short plant and that it is an early maturing variety but they are just now starting to produce flowers and still look very green. I didn’t get a close up today but behind the tobaccos there’s an equally covered space of honeydew melons, theres maybe 50 melons lol for a late planting we’re impressed with what we’re seeing

 

[deluxestogie]

1. Are you certain that it's Lizard Tail Orinoco?
2. What other varieties did you plant?
3. Is there nearby light shining on the tobacco at night?

Bob

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

1. Are you certain that it's Lizard Tail Orinoco?
2. What other varieties did you plant?
3. Is there nearby light shining on the tobacco at night?

Bob

I purchased the seed from a person that grows them and sells them privately but no I’m not sure if he got some cross pollination with other varieties or maybe it’s the part of Oregon I’m in? I dunno though. This makes me want to definitely get the same variety from a few different seed banks and plant all in there own rows next year alongside seed from our plants from this year and see if they look the same or not. We only planted lizard tail Orinoco and Black Sea sampsuns and like a few weeks later I sprouted some Havana on my porch but I don’t live near our garden at all. No there’s no nearby lights it’s pitch black out in that field at night

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

Only other thing I can think of is I started those Orinoco seeds in the rain cold start of our spring but way to early, and they got heat shock in there trays once and once in the field but otherwise I’m very confused

 

[deluxestogie]

Purchase your tobacco seed from @skychaser at http://northwoodseeds.com/

It's all too much work to mess with uncertain seed.

Bob

EDIT: Here is @skychaser's Lizard Tail Orinoco. Note the acutely pointed leaves.

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

Purchase your tobacco seed from @skychaser at http://northwoodseeds.com/

It's all too much work to mess with uncertain seed.

Bob

EDIT: Here is @skychaser's Lizard Tail Orinoco. Note the acutely pointed leaves.

Those leaves look similar but the guy I got seed from online might have gotten some cross pollination maybe because there’s a lot of pheno diversity out there alongside mostly tall plants with much larger leaf

 

[Clatsopnehalem]

I’ll be going to nwseeds next for sure and anyone else with lizard tail Orinoco just to see if there’s any similar behavior in there seed on our field

 

[deluxestogie]

and anyone else with lizard tail Orinoco just to see

I'm not saying that Northwood Seeds offers a nice Lizard Tail Orinoco. You don't want diversity in a specific tobacco variety. You want homogeneity. The seed offered by Northwood Seeds is derived from properly bagged (genetically isolated) exemplars of ARS-GRIN PI 552377. That is Lizard Tail Orinoco. Anything that looks different (better or worse) is not. You are expending a huge amount of effort to grow the tobacco. Why mess with seed from dubious sources?

Prior to about 1920, tobacco growers and breeders believed in the "adapting to our climate" or "adapting to our soils" explanations (the now discredited, Lamarckian genetics) for the well documented tendency of a newly introduced tobacco variety, year by year, to look more like whatever other tobacco varieties were usually grown in the region. Once knowledgeable growers began to recognize Mendelian genetics, they began to conscientiously bag their blossom heads, to prevent cross-pollination. Pi-552377 is Lizard Tail Orinoco.

Bob