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Need help (again), leaves air dried to a crisp. Can they be rehydrated?

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Ended up stalk harvesting my plants (only 24 plants). First 3 weeks went as described per most tutorials I read/watched.
3-4 week in noticed leaves drying faster then I expected or what I see described.

I now (5 weeks later) have very crispy leaves.
Average temp in attic/loft is 50-45 degrees and almost a steady 52-61% humidity.

can I rehydrate and de leaf the stalks into hands? (Shower with a hose or set out in the rain for a couple hours.)

Will post a couple pictures her shortly.

Any advice will be welcomed!
 

Alpine

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If your leaves are yellow (I.e. cured) you can take them off if the stalk, for further aging (or kilning) with less need for space. Tying in “hands” is an option, as well as stringing single leaves on a rope.
Do not leave the stalks in the rain or shower with a hose! You want to LIGHTLY mist the leaves with some non chlorinated water, just enough water to not crumble the leaves into tiny pieces. You can hang the whole stalks during a rainy or foggy day, but under some kind of cover (an open porch for example) so they can rehydrate naturally: tobacco leaves are fairly hygroscopic. There have been some forum member who hung their stalks in the bathroom, so that after a hot shower the vapor would rehydrate the leaves. Check with your better half before doing this though...

pier
 
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Great info!
Thank you.
Have a lean-too I can moving them in and out of easily. (Rainy humid here for the next 3 days here so will see how it goes.)

follow up question:
As to color, some are maybe a bit green(ish).
Will rehydrating allow them to cure, yellow out?
 
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Added 2 pictures, one with flash and one with out as lighting is not the greatest.
 

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Radagast

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I am definitely not discourage as I have my seed trays ready for next year planting.
Just need to get past this part! Lol

Appreciate the heads up on the Black Friday sale!!
Any time! Good luck in the coming grow season!
 

Alpine

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Appreciate that,
What possibly went wrong?

Guessing but seems I let them dry too fast?
Yes, maybe they’ve dried too fast BUT... the most common mistake of first time growers (besides too much watering) is to harvest too early, with leaves that are not mature, let alone ripe... Been there, done that. Next year, try to harvest your leaves when they show signs of maturity (or, even better, ripeness) and your curing will be as smooth as silk.
Good news is: you’ll end up this season with more experience in tobacco growing and curing than you started with!

pier
 
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Yes, maybe they’ve dried too fast BUT... the most common mistake of first time growers (besides too much watering) is to harvest too early, with leaves that are not mature, let alone ripe... Been there, done that. Next year, try to harvest your leaves when they show signs of maturity (or, even better, ripeness) and your curing will be as smooth as silk.
Good news is: you’ll end up this season with more experience in tobacco growing and curing than you started with!

pier

I followed the basic guidelines and even posted pictures before harvesting.
Was actually much later then normal according to a couple members here.

But yes, learning from trial and error is they way it will be for me! Lol
 

dev96

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Just to add my 2 cents, sometimes we over think / over do too much in wanting to force things. Tobacco is when left alone a no brainer in air curing. It's pretty much going to happen no matter what you do or where you are IN TIME, we are too often trying to force that time factor. Most everything we know today and the process we're trying to mimic were all just port to ship logistics factors that happened by circumstances of handling and climate vs intentional doing. This isn't rocket science, were trying to make a leaf die and rot... Trust me that's not that hard.

That said, trapped chlorophyll, either they were not ripe or they dried too fast. Neither really matter though. Where we are is how to fix and how to prevent it next time.

So in my simplistic thinking...

I wouldn't toss those yet, their a good science project at this point for learning.

Rehydrate them with a sprayer and leave them hang, I'll bet they start turning again and you may need to do that MANY times if you leave them in their current location. But is your storage space even suited to curing?

Early harvesting / too much N makes curing difficult but you CAN compensate for both with a little doing...aka humidity, air flow, time.

You may find your flighting localized climate I see north Ohio, the relative H there right now is 75% temps 78 but you artic may be much hotter and H much lower in the heat space (betting a H of 30% or less). Check this, get a gauge it's very important.

Find a species better suited to where you are. Some variations do better or are easier to manage like Sobo for example, short season, fast grower, super fast easy curing, your nearly yellowed out before pulling it off of the plant.

I bet your find your storage humidity is too low.. if you were to get some type of chamber going like a cheap pop-up green house or frame out a spot in your attic for plastic sheeting and get a $20 ultrasonic fog machine and low fan you'd get better results overall. Shoot for a H of 70%-80% but with GOOD airflow, if not you've got a mold chamber.

Or move it to an outside covered area, your 75% out door relative humidity shouldn't be a problem, but it needs to be stable and protected from weather and air flow.

You can also just leave them be it may take MONTHS (a season change +) but they'll change over time after enough humidity creeps into play.

Experiment with your problem, collect knowledge in doing it, learn from the mistake so you don't repeat it.
 
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