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Madfarmer's Grow Blog 2024

MadFarmer

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Over seeded some Bahia in the two center rows, slightly under seeded some Little Dutch on the right. The two left side rows I seeded Jaffna gifted from another member - so far just one sprout. I plan to put these somewhere in my garden beds August 1st and gift a few starts to a cousin who's wanting to try this all out.

Right to left, Glessenor, Dom Olor, and Texas Cuban:
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The Texas Cuban and Olor finally started growing. I had given up on them.
 

MadFarmer

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I've been out of town all week. When we got home last night I saw the the highest attic temp topped out at 141f. I had the tub positioned higher and closer to the sunny side of the roof than any year previous. Two weeks ago while checking the tub I pulled a few leaves of YTB and Comstock out and rolled a cigar. It tasted brilliant and I figured all the American varieties in the tub were finished but I'd leave it at little longer.

The big surprise was the Piloto Cubano. Remember my problem color curing in winter? The top leaf for the most part looked like it had flash dried green. I kept all the green leaf separate from anything that had colored AT ALL, any yellowing and it did not go in the bag with the small green leaves. When I checked the bag before leaving town I thought perhaps the coloring was a trick of dim attic lighting, high case, and relatively hot temperatures. But, this is what it looks like out of the attic and in (indirect) sunlight.
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MadFarmer

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The view over my kitchen sink. All three have been topped, the TX Cuban first (right) Glessenor next, and Dominican Olor just this week (right).
The Cuban has ripened the longest, topped it in July 1st.
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I also planted some Little Dutch and/or Bahia in a free space in my vegetable bed.
 

deluxestogie

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Not much to go by. My guess is that this is some sort of environmental damage. Small pots may have dried out during the hot sun. Something sprayed into the straw-covered bed? Exuberant use of a garden torch nearby? (Occam says they just wilted, and got sun-scalded.)

Bob
 

MadFarmer

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I completely harvested my Texas Cuban (center) 28 days ago, cutting the stalk at the soil level. I kept this sucker watered but added nothing else. We'll see how wide the leaves get after topping.
The Dominican Olor (left) is still ripening. In the morning before the sun is up it looks like massive dinosaur kale leaves. It's certainly rugose but isn't mottling. Do high temps affect ripening?
The Glessenor sucker has 83 days before my first average frost, and the climate will be closer to Pennsylvania summer.
 

MadFarmer

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The Texas Cuban has dried down enough to go into the kiln. I'm trying to get pictures of the leaves, they're a nice buckskin brown. But, I'm having trouble getting the color to come through in the pics on my Motorola phone. It's all I have and I'd take any pointers you all have.
 

MadFarmer

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While I've neglected my blog I haven't been idle. Yesterday morning I made use of the high relative humidty to roll a cigar. It's a mix of this year's Olor and last year's Glessenor and Piloto Cubano. Last weekend I stung the last of 2024's crop - two plants of Little Dutch and one Glessenor sucker stock. My tobacco patch is right outside the kitchen window, and as the chief dishwasher of the house those three plants were companions through the fall. They're coloring up well in the garage. The week of Thanksgiving I sampled all the tobacco I kilned this summer. I even bought a small corncob pipe to aid in this, no more using extra leaves of finished tobaco to find out the new varieties weren't yet ready, now they'll just be stuffed in the pipe. I was pleasantly surprised that the Dominican Olor was ready by Thanksgiving - it has a richness that I think would enhance a more assertive flavor.
The Texas Cuban even surprised me in the end. I prepared myself to be disappointed from the start with it. The seedlings were runty and established slowly. The two I gave space to in the vegetable beds never amounted to anything - I didn't even attempt to harvest them. The one that grew to full size looked alright. It was exceptionally tall, the long distance between leaf nodes meant the leaf count was low. But then, it went from post harvest stump to full sized, flowering sucker in 28 days. Even so, I told myself that it would have to be some of the best tasting leaf ever to make growing it again worth it.
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After sampling the Olor and Cuban - they are distinctly different. The Olor has a richness that seems like it would boost any flavor you paired with it. The Texas Cuban had a flavor that was hard to pin down, but something between nutmeg and ginger. I'll be growing both of these again soon.
 
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