Redleaf 2023 grow

[Redleaf]

Missed getting any plants started in time last year so this will be only my second try at growing. If it goes as well as my 21 crop I will be very happy. In 21 my daughter started plants for me in Feb. this year I put seeds on damp coffee filters and put them in a closed jar to germinate about the 3rd of march. I just planted the tiny little guys in potting soil today. My last crop was Virginia gold and Aztec. This year I am trying Canadian Virginia, monte calme brun and burley. Don’t know much about the qualities of the monte calme brun ir burley but wanted to try some different varieties. The coffee filter sprouting worked exceedingly well except for the burley. Now if I can just keep them alive.

 

[deluxestogie]

Mont-Calme Yellow (Mont-Calme Jaune) is a burley cross, developed in Switzerland. Mont-Calme Brown (Mont-Calme Brun) is a cigar variety, also developed in Switzerland. Details about these two varieties are scant. [The spelling of Mont-Calme is from the name of the Swiss agriculture experimental station.]

@Petzi helped locate the basic information. Below is a link to the Mont-Calme Brun page that will eventually appear in the next update of Tobacco Varieties for Home Growers.

Download Mont-Calme Brun as a 1 page pdf.

Bob

 

[Redleaf]

Still full on winter here so not much to report. Did do a bit of transplanting to set aside some spares of each variety. If all goes well I plan to gift a few seedlings to friends for ornamental plants in their garden. Seedlings are coming along nicely from the incredibly tiny sprouts I picked off the coffee filter a while back.

 

[Redleaf]

 

[deluxestogie]

That's an interesting, symmetrical dual cat.

Bob

 

[Redleaf]

I almost gave up on growing tobacco this year after neglecting my plantlets all through a busy spring. Between farming and fishing I just never got around to transplanting. I would say I could have had another 4-6 weeks in the garden. If I had been on the bit I would be curing ripe leaves by now. As it happens I finally got them set out and they are turning out much better than I could have hoped.

 

[Redleaf]

The plants have developed differently than my previous observations as they are much shorter with the leaves clustered together and at this point are getting ready to start blooming.

 

[Redleaf]

That's an interesting, symmetrical dual cat.

Bob

The one on the right is our tomcat and the left is his daughter.

 

[deluxestogie]

much shorter with the leaves clustered together

With elongation of the bud stem, the rest of the stalk will also elongate, and increase the spacing between the leaves.

Bob

 

[LazyBaba]

View attachment 47962

They look great..

 

[Redleaf]

Having mismanaged almost an entire month of the growing season my leaves were very green when cold temps forced me to harvest. I filled a large cardboard box with Virginia leaves and seem to be making headway with having them turn yellow. I was however surprised to see some leaves have turned a chocolate brown. Can anyone explain what this is and is it good or bad ?

 

[Redleaf]

 

[deluxestogie]

Air-cured leaf goes from green to yellow to some shade of brown. Flue-curing artificially kills the leaf during the yellow phase. You have to flue-cure a Virginia variety to prevent it from going on to brown.

Bob

 

[wruk53]

View attachment 48755

Looks to me like they were in a pile for too long and picked before they were ripe. If the leaves are at least beginning to turn yellow on the plant when harvested, it shouldn't take more than a week to turn completely yellow in the box. If those brown leaves smell alright, I would go ahead and dry them quickly before they rot. Just try to transplant to the field earlier next year so that the plants can ripen before freezing weather.

 

[Redleaf]

I understand the air cure resulting in brown rather than a yellow colour but in the past my Virginia leaves hung in the shade to air cure presented a much different shade of brown as opposed to the rich chocolate brown that I am seeing with this box/pile curing.

Air-cured leaf goes from green to yellow to some shade of brown. Flue-curing artificially kills the leaf during the yellow phase. You have to flue-cure a Virginia variety to prevent it from going on to brown.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Flue-cured tobacco (as well as all other tobacco classes) that is air-cured will take on a darker shade of brown if the curing environment is more humid.

Bob

 

[Redleaf]

Flue-cured tobacco (as well as all other tobacco classes) that is air-cured will take on a darker shade of brown if the curing environment is more humid.

Bob

Well that would definitely describe the conditions inside this box of very green and mostly immature leaves.