Seed to Cigar: My journey to grow, harvest, ferment and roll my own cigars!

[HercDriver]

Yeah I think next year Im going to use the 28" pots and ditch the 5 gallon buckets. Ive seen people pull off plants in a 5 gallon bucket but it didnt work out too well for me. Ill probably move the secondary plants into the yard or a raised bed.

HercDriver:

re: using 5 gallon buckets. I have used 5 gallon buckets and 14" flower pots in the past, largely on an experimental basis, and didn't have much luck. The 14" pots did better than the 5 gallon buckets, but it was my experience that the pots got too hot in our abundant sunshine. There was no comparison between my soil based tobacco and the flower pot based tobacco. Since then, I have opened up more garden space and discontinued the buckets/flower pots. Less lawn mowing, more tobacco!

Wes H.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob

 

[HercDriver]

Impressive!

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

I wasn't attempting to impress you, but rather to indicate that the size of the pot (soil volume) is not your culprit.

Bob

 

[HercDriver]

After seeing that I agree. I must have done something wrong with the plants in the 5 gallon buckets. Maybe I used incorrect soil or to much nutrients. Good to know they'll grow in small containers!

I wasn't attempting to impress you, but rather to indicate that the size of the pot (soil volume) is not your culprit.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Common problems with container growing:

• poor soil (e.g. too much clay content. A lighter soil is better than a heavier soil. Some bagged potting soil require the addition of peat.)
• inadequate drain holes at the bottom
• putting gravel below the soil (Don't do that. It just raises the perched water table.)
• overwatering
• inappropriate fertilizer (too little; too much; funky exotica)
• inadequate hours in direct sun

Bob

 

[HercDriver]

Sorry about the delay in updates. Jobs got my time all wrapped up. I did manage to get seeds from the pods. Ill have more seeds than I know what to do with!

I also am just monitoring the hanging of the leaves in the shed.

Earning monies for more cigars!

 

[greenmonster714]

Looks like a nice container grow. Nice bag of seed and some nice leaf. Good job.

 

[Charly]

Yes, tobacco plants are really generous about the amount of seeds they give !

 

[HercDriver]

Sorry everyone for the radio silence. Been slammed at work. Anyway heres an update. I pulled all the leaves out a month ago and theyve been sitting in my house waiting on me to find a fridge to hyper ferment them. I got about 50% of what I feel are "usable" leaves. I took A LOT of pictures of each leaf that I felt was either good or bad for examples for people reading this thread. If youre an OG in growing and fermenting let me know what you think about the leaves on what I can and cant use.

Heres what I got out of the crop of four plants after about 8 weeks in the shed:

 

[HercDriver]

Apparently you cant edit posts after 5 minutes lol...

CUBAN 98.
I found a hornworm nestled up in one of the leaves rendering it useless.

Most leaves come out like this. Its got some spotting on the end. Is this something I can cut off and use the rest of the leaf?

A few came out like this with some leftover molding (at least thats what I call it lol)

This one is decent.

Is this leaf acceptable to use? It looks like some TEV after effects?

HABANO 2000:

Can I still use this one?

More molding

So I figured out why my secondary plants in the 5 gallon buckets were struggling. I didnt put the drain holes low enough for the water to drain out. When I pulled the plants out of the bucket to throw into the compost pile about an inch of water was settled in the bottom and the soil was sopping wet. Lesson learned! Make sure the drain holes are at the bottom. Mine were about an inch above the bottom of the bucket.
Heres a pic of the color difference in the leaves. The lighter ones are the ones with too much water.

 

[HercDriver]

Connecticut Broadleaf. These were definitely the hardest to hang and get to cure the best. I assume its because of their size. Not sure if any are usable.

 

[HercDriver]

Lost this one to mold for sure :/

 

[HercDriver]

HAVANA 608

MEH...

 

[HercDriver]

Couple randoms

 

[HercDriver]

Heres whats sorted. LEFT UNUSABLE. MIDDLE (Maybe okay for pipe tobacco). RIGHT USABLE (In my uneducated opinion).

Huge learning experience. I think next year Ill have a better idea of whats going on. That and I have a raised 15'x6' bed Im going to put plants in too.

 

[CobGuy]

Looks like a partial success, at least ... congrats!
Every year is like going to school and learning another piece of the puzzle, it seems.
I'm hopeful that 2019 is going to be "my year". LOL

~Darin

 

[deluxestogie]

Just cut off the truly icky looking parts of any leaf, mist the fuzzy molded stem areas with some peroxide, then kiln all the rest. Once it's done, you have a second opportunity to discard what doesn't look so good.

In general, if only a small portion of any particular leaf appears problematic, you can usually save and use the remainder of the leaf.

Bob

 

[HercDriver]

Okay I appreciate your input!

So if I understand correctly:
-Continue with good leaves and place them into the hyper curer (Fridge with heater and humidifier).
-Take not so good leaves, cut out the bad, peroxide the mold, kiln whats remaining.

Or are you saying kiln all the leaves after I doctor the nasty parts out? Sorry for the confusion on my part.

Just cut off the truly icky looking parts of any leaf, mist the fuzzy molded stem areas with some peroxide, then kiln all the rest. Once it's done, you have a second opportunity to discard what doesn't look so good.

In general, if only a small portion of any particular leaf appears problematic, you can usually save and use the remainder of the leaf.

Bob

 

[HercDriver]

I also dont feel like my leaves have "THAT" look to them you see online from the major growers before being thrown into pilons. I am sure they have perfected their growing and again process but I figured I could replicate at least ONE of mine lol.