How to rainmax grow 2013

[rainmax]

I will rotate every three days cause I have little higher temperature. Up to 130. Also leaf needs to breath. Oxygen is important during this process.

Ok, another great tobacco for my taste is Florida Sumatra. I have had only four plants in my garden this year and on other places I didn't harvest it at all. So I have very few lives but I'm very satisfied with this strain. Leaf has beautiful structure and it feels like velvet. If it has less shade it could be bigger. I believe that I will sun grow it next year. Again three phases:



Leaf on first and last picture has almost the same background but size is obviously different. When this leaf is in high case it is so stretchy that rolling cigars is an easy job.

I also break the leaf during fermentation and I believe that this unpleasant situation is going to stop in the future box fermenting.

 

[grgfinney]

Glad to see you are back Maks and are curing and fermenting successfully

 

[Knucklehead]

Good looking tobacco Maks. Pleasant smokes.

 

[rainmax]

Thanks Wallace and grgfinney.

Here are some Little Crittenden lives, also very good for cigar making.
At the beginning I was Little sCrepttical about this tobacco. I have had a problem with TEV virus from the beginning. Knucklehead suggested me to pull out this plant to prevent the spread of disease. But I didn't. I have same virus on few other plants latter on and now I am really baking my noodles, would I still have other plants with disease if I had listen to him? We will never know. So, here they are:



This year I found that there is so many varieties and all are good for something. For example here I have Black Mammoth. I try it flue cured first and I was impressed. I usually smoke ciggaretes and I was afraid of it. Not anymore. I love it. I can not explain the lack of knowledge english. Njameee (Yummee?).

 

[deluxestogie]

Your comparisons of green/air-cured/kilned is available nowhere else on Earth. Thank you.

Bob

 

[ne3go]

Excellent photos and great looking leaves! Hope to smoke well too.

 

[rainmax]

One of the biggest surprises this year was definitely Prilep. Both sorts were good but next season I will grow P66-9/7 and two I get from Ars Grin for my seed collection:

Pi 225977 TI 1291. Prilep No. 2. Tobacco Institute, Belgrade. Received May 25, 1955. GRIN: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1181506 Classed as Hungarian!

Pi 405612. TI 1325. Prilep. Yugoslavia. Plant Genetics and Germplasm Institute, Beltsville, Maryland. Received October 22,1975. GRIN: http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1305544 Classed as Oriental.

I like to smoke Prilep straight and fresh. It is flavorful and sometime I feel like I smoke spruce shoots. I have it in few different locations and the most good was from higher region with all day sun. I try it also fermented and than is really smooth and I recommend it to people who likes milder smokes. Even my Mrs. is satisfied with this tobacco but she still buy tobacco from the government. I don't have it enough this year. But next I hope I'll have it enough for both of us.

Here are some pictures of this beauty:







At Prilep 66-9/7 I found one interesting mutation or what this is?

 

[Knucklehead]

That is a really cool looking leaf. I had a Virginia do that this year. I don't know what causes it unless some damage at a young age.

Did you sun cure your Prilep? That is a good looking plant.

 

[leverhead]

...At Prilep 66-9/7 I found one interesting mutation or what this is?

I found a leaf like that on Bafra, I posted a couple of pictures of it in my grow blog on 05/16/13.

 

[istanbulin]

This year, only a Prilep plant produced a leaf similiar to yours. I'd not call it mutation, it's a different matter. This abnormal shoot or leaf formation is generally due to external influence. In many plant species; after fire or insect attack and grazing abnormal shoot formation is observed.

 

[deluxestogie]

Maks,
The Prilep Institute of Tobacco seems to agree with you: Prilep 66-9/7 is a winner.

Bob

 

[darren1979]

some good looking leaf and photos thier Maks, just touching on what Bob has said about Mak's photos of the leaf in different stages maybe it would be good if we could make a database of leaf?
How many plants did you grow in total Maks?

 

[rainmax]

Your comparisons of green/air-cured/kilned is available nowhere else on Earth. Thank you.

Bob

I'm learning from the best, you know. Proud to be member of this community. Thanks to you too.

Excellent photos and great looking leaves! Hope to smoke well too.

Thanks and yes it's really good smoke. I wish I had more to send to you guys to taste. Next year you'll have your own.

Did you sun cure your Prilep? That is a good looking plant.

All my lives are partially sun cured, air cured dried under a transparent lexan roof at my porch. Some of them are also on direct sun for a week or two.
You can see from the color; golden yellow orange. If you dry it in shade air cured the leaf color become dull brown. I see it that way. My last priming of Bosnian Burley
was drying in my kiln room and few others Prilep as well, partially.

I found a leaf like that on Bafra, I posted a couple of pictures of it in my grow blog on 05/16/13.

I remember, there I get an idea, to post it in my log too. Lots of informations here around.
You can believe that less is more?

 

[rainmax]

some good looking leaf and photos thier Maks, just touching on what Bob has said about Mak's photos of the leaf in different stages maybe it would be good if we could make a database of leaf?
How many plants did you grow in total Maks?

It is so much work with all this leaf if you want to do it properly. Next year will be better. I know where mistakes are.
There is no problem if you have two or three sorts but 25 is hard. I was thinking same about leaf database and other important things of any strain. Every strain or sort deserve its own log. Bob has his own database, Skychaser, Knuklehead, Bigbonner and many others. We could make a book of all this beautiful plants in the future. It would be bestseller.

I don't know exactly how many plants I have this year but you can calculate from my grow log. Around 200.

 

[rainmax]

Moonlight is another variety classed as cigar wrapper from Ars Grin. It is beautiful leaf but unfortunately all leaf have not been able to mature properly. I had to much shade on that part of my garden. Also I had problems with aphids. I scare them with water few times but I didn't use any chemistry. I should. I tried once on Maryland but I have burned leaves and didn't want to risk anymore. I mix two spoons of Dish Drops in half gallon of water. To strong.

Here is Moonlight:

 

[Fisherman]

Is not a thing wrong with those leaves to me.............. Yu are to much of a perfectionist

 

[leverhead]

You've done a beautiful job curing! I want to thank you for the pictures! I had a question about shrinkage after harvest and you've answered it. It seems to be about 10% in length and width.

 

[rainmax]

It looks something like this. This is Connecticut shade leaf. Fresh and green has 39 grams and after Color curing and dried has only 3,7 grams. Let say less than 10% of his fresh era. This is only approximately and for this case.

 

[darren1979]

That's a huge difference in weight, I've never taken the time to weight my leaf to see the difference but will do from on. Just goes to show how much weight is water.

 

[rainmax]

I know is 2014 now, but I have few more things to say.
Today I have opened my perique press second time. Just to aerate the tobacco and close it back. I have started it 20th, October. After eight days I have open and reorder all leaves in two days and close it until today.
Water from the top evaporated few days ago and I decide to open it. Here is how it looks:



In this small barrel I managed to stuff three hands of Burley. About 700 grams/ 1,8 Lb.
Smell beautiful. Smoke like a charm. Rich full mouth of smoke. Heavy on nicotine. I only inhale half of cigarette and the rest I smoke it with pleasure like a cigar.
I know it needs some more time, but result is that I like it already. I will definitely use it in cigars and for cigarette mix.
For next year I already have bigger barrel. It is good way to store tobacco.