Radagast Grow blog attempt 2020

[Radagast]

Freshly pressure cooked tobacco at ~15psi for 3 hours.
Delhi 34, Yellow Twist Bud, Harrow Velvet, flue cured Prilep, sun cured Prilep, and Goose Creek Red.
They all smell like baby food in their own special unique way except the Prileps and they're both different from each other. The flue cured has a fruity apricot scent and the sun cure almost an aftershave perfume scent to it. Very enticing. I'm sure the smells will change as they dry and oxidize.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Freshly pressure cooked tobacco at ~15psi for 3 hours.
Delhi 34, Yellow Twist Bud, Harrow Velvet, flue cured Prilep, sun cured Prilep, and Goose Creek Red.
They all smell like baby food in their own special unique way except the Prileps and they're both different from each other. The flue cured has a fruity apricot scent and the sun cure almost an aftershave perfume scent to it. Very enticing. I'm sure the smells will change as they dry and oxidize.
View attachment 32785

They do change a lot! I bet they're darker, too.

 

[Radagast]

Thought I had better revisit my Yellow Twist Bud after @Oldfella 's delightful looking harvest. It is actually pretty smooth!

 

[Radagast]

What now!? Leaves hung up curing have these little fellows on them all of a sudden. It's taking a while to cure, they've been hung for a few weeks.


What do I do about this?

 

[deluxestogie]

Smear them into oblivion with your thumb.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

Ah the easy way! Always my last thought hahaha!

 

[plantdude]

Ah the easy way! Always my last thought hahaha!

Aphid flavored

 

[deluxestogie]

The issue with aphids on curing tobacco is not the aphids themselves. They will dry up and die, and mostly fall off with handling the leaf. But aphids secrete (actually poop out) honeydew, which is carbohydrate rich, and sticky. This leads to an increased risk of mold, as well as sticky spots on the cure leaf. Honeydew does not go away with kilning.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

The issue with aphids on curing tobacco is not the aphids themselves. They will dry up and die, and mostly fall off with handling the leaf. But aphids secrete (actually poop out) honeydew, which is carbohydrate rich, and sticky. This leads to an increased risk of mold, as well as sticky spots on the cure leaf. Honeydew does not go away with kilning.

Bob

I've got a healthy coating of honeydew on some of my plants - fall out from the aphids in the silver maples above them. You have confirmed my fears about it contributing to mold. I've been washing theses leaves off with water prior to color curing and that seems to help. I wonder if any residual sugar will affect the flavor of the leaf.

 

[deluxestogie]

residual sugar will affect the flavor of the leaf.

I haven't noticed any impact on flavor.

Bob

 

[Oldfella]

What now!? Leaves hung up curing have these little fellows on them all of a sudden. It's taking a while to cure, they've been hung for a few weeks.
View attachment 32965
View attachment 32966
What do I do about this?

I can't help you with this. I've never had it on cured or curing leaves. Sometimes I get them on green leaves but they fall off.
Oldfella

 

[Radagast]

I can't help you with this. I've never had it on cured or curing leaves. Sometimes I get them on green leaves but they fall off.
Oldfella

I didn't recognize them as aphids because they're brown from the cured sap, I'm used to them as green. They're just that helpless that they're tiny bodies are translucent. They also barely move so they almost look like a growth of mould or fungus. Stupid aphids.

 

[deluxestogie]

Aphids can be green or yellow or red or brown. All those baby aphids insert their mouth parts into the tissue of the leaf lamina, and stay put. If you dislodge them, it often kills them. If you hose them off of growing leaf, or smudge them on curing leaf, they are goners.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

Aphids can be green or yellow or red or brown. All those baby aphids insert their mouth parts into the tissue of the leaf lamina, and stay put. If you dislodge them, it often kills them. If you hose them off of growing leaf, or smudge them on curing leaf, they are goners.

Bob

So delicate

 

[deluxestogie]

They also transmit a number of tobacco viruses, those cute little buggers.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

Radagast, I was going to send you some pics of the hundreds of ladybug larvae that were all over my plants last week eating the aphids. I went out to take some pics and couldn't find a single one. I found a lot of ladybug pupae, ladybugs, and some assassin bugs though (all aphid eaters).
Pupae on some hurricane beaten leaves:


Newly emerged lady bug from pupae case:


Assassin bug (the wife got nailed buy one of these guys yesterday afternoon so she doesn't like them anymore, they are great for biocontrol aphids and soft bodied insects though)

 

[Radagast]

Radagast, I was going to send you some pics of the hundreds of ladybug larvae that were all over my plants last week eating the aphids. I went out to take some pics and couldn't find a single one. I found a lot of ladybug pupae, ladybugs, and some assassin bugs though (all aphid eaters).
Pupae on some hurricane beaten leaves:
View attachment 32970View attachment 32971

Newly emerged lady bug from pupae case:
View attachment 32973

Assassin bug (the wife got nailed buy one of these guys yesterday afternoon so she doesn't like them anymore, they are great for biocontrol aphids and soft bodied insects though)
View attachment 32972

Thanks buddy!
Ladybug larvae are quite a revolting site, I remember them well thinking they must be horrible young wasps or something awful. Dragonflies too..

 

[Radagast]

Well it's getting cold and still this seven footer is just trucking along with very little sign of maturity.. there is some maturity in the bottom half so I guess I'll prime those..
The other two plants on this fence line are in the same boat. What would yoooze do?

 

[deluxestogie]

there is some maturity in the bottom half so I guess I'll prime those.

I agree. You could probably take 4 bottom leaves per plant without worry. It appears that you've topped these, though I'm not sure. Just don't allow them to freeze. If the weather pushes you, then stalk-cut the remainder of each stalk, and hang it upside down in the shed.

Bob

 

[Radagast]

I agree. You could probably take 4 bottom leaves per plant without worry. It appears that you've topped these, though I'm not sure. Just don't allow them to freeze. If the weather pushes you, then stalk-cut the remainder of each stalk, and hang it upside down in the shed.

Bob

I have topped them (a few times). Ok that's what I needed to hear, thanks Bob!