Skafidr grow log 2024

[Skafidr]

Hello!

I decided I'd try to log things

Key data:
- First time growing tobacco
- First time I spend so much time taking care of plants
- I put my seeds in soil April 28
- Five varieties:
-- Petit Canadien (Little Canadien)
-- Obourg
-- Grand Rouge Fort (Big red strong?)
-- Turkish (the seeds pouch says "we don't know exactly which kind of Turkish it is, but it is Turkish")
-- Scent of Italy
- Canadian plant hardiness zone 5b/6a; near Montreal, Canada
- On a patio, facing south-ish, not sunlight all day due to configuration of the patio, but still a decent amount
- Can be windy
- Grow in pots, three kinds of pots
-- fabric grow bag, 5 gallons/19 L
-- plastic commercial pail (with holes), 5 gallons/19 L
-- fabric grow bag, 15 gallons/60 L
- 15 plants, one per variety per type of pot (Science!!)
- I'm not totally sure what I'm doing

 

[Skafidr]

[I'm reserving this to try and log past things]

 

[Skafidr]

I'm not sure but I'll say that "Grand rouge fort" (Big red strong) may not be a beginner's type of tobacco to grow.

It seems that the leaves can be green, ripe, dry and mouldy all at the same time. I have not harvested yet and my three plants tell me that I'm messing up. It seems the leaves show "different" signs of maturity/ripeness than what I've read here and around. It seems I should process to harvesting them at the earliest sign of maturity.

On the bright side, I had "spots" on the leaves that got fubar, so I no longer need to worry about it!

Side note: the three plants started their flowering process all at the same time, but one of the three hasn't actually flowered yet. I did not top them (yet).

Poor quality of picture because taken at night, outside with artificial lighting. It shows leaves that were still on the plants, with varying amount of damage.

 

[Skafidr]

First tobacco harvest ever!

I went ahead and harvested all the "Big Red Strong" (French "grand rouge fort") leaves that showed any sign of yellowing yesterday. I've put them in a towel to colour cure. 16 leaves, about half of the leaves of my three plants, two of which had flowers, one had the buds only.

I removed the ugly dark dry parts with scissors before putting them in the towel.

One of the leaves was curling inside. This variety does not seem to behave like I have been reading around..!

 

[deluxestogie]

Funny leaf shape is notoriously difficult to diagnose. Curling of the outer margin of the leaf is caused by the leaf margin failing to grow as fast of the rest of the leaf lamina. This can be caused by physical injury, such as cold injury, certain virus infections or nutritional deficiency. I have seen unquestionable signs of calcium deficiency in the upper leaf of a plant surrounded by plants of the same variety with no sign of deficiency. And often nutritional deficiencies may be entirely the result of alterations in the soil pH, which can reduce root uptake of otherwise adequate soil nutrients. Here are some examples.

Calcium deficiency:

calcium deficiency

Image 1440092 is of calcium deficiency damage on burley tobacco. It is by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Ca deficiency in burley tobacco is not common but sometimes occurs when soil exchange capacities and/or Ca saturation levels are low. Such conditions are...

www.ipmimages.org

cold injury:

cold injury (low temperature)

Image 1440002 is of cold injury (low temperature) symptoms on burley tobacco. It is by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Plant stunting and cupping or strapping of expanding leaves may result from cold injury. The strapped leaves and the bud area usually turn...

www.ipmimages.org

tobacco leaf curl virus:

Tobacco Leaf Curl Virus (Begomovirus Tobacco Leaf Curl Virus (TLCV))

Image 5357114 is of Tobacco Leaf Curl Virus (Begomovirus Tobacco Leaf Curl Virus (TLCV)) symptoms on tobacco. It is by William M. Brown Jr.. Tobacco plants severely afflicted with Tobacco Leaf Curl Virus (TLCV).

www.ipmimages.org

Bob

 

[Skafidr]

@deluxestogie Thanks Bob, I'll take a look!

Without botanical knowledge, my assumption was this occured because the leaf started to ripen at the edge on day one, then on day two a bit more of the inside ripen, while the edge just dried, and I harvested the leaf on day three. This behaviour occured only on this particular leaf (so far).

 

[Skafidr]

Okay, I took a look; the curling occurred when the plant ripened, in the past week or so. Those images are still useful to diagnose future problems, though, thanks! All the other leaves seem to be doing well. Picture taken yesterday before I harvest (the three plants are aligned, pointed with the red arrows).

The description on the page where I bought the seeds says

'Grand Rouge Fort' tobacco is a variety of smoking tobacco obtained from an old gardener in Saint-Germain-de-Kamouraska where it has been grown for several generations. Pink flowers. It was traditionally mixed with the sweeter 'Obourg' tobacco.

So maybe it's a weird variety that has its quirks?

 

[deluxestogie]

If the curled leaf is the one just above the rim of the white bucket, then I will blame the injury on physical trauma.

Bob

 

[Skafidr]

@deluxestogie Yes, I had lots of those; live and learn! Next time I grow in pots, I'll fill the bucket/bags to the brim in hope to reduce this kind of damage!

 

[Skafidr]

Yesterday I removed the flowers from one of my Big Red Strong; the intention is to get bigger leaves on this plant (those leaves that are left). Also did a pass at removing suckers on all of the plants (the last time I did was about two weeks ago).

Checked the tobacco in the towel this morning, it's now "soft".

 

[johnny108]

Yesterday I removed the flowers from one of my Big Red Strong; the intention is to get bigger leaves on this plant (those leaves that are left). Also did a pass at removing suckers on all of the plants (the last time I did was about two weeks ago).

Checked the tobacco in the towel this morning, it's now "soft".

Softening of the leaves happens before yellowing for me, too.

 

[Skafidr]

Softening of the leaves happens before yellowing for me, too.

Noted! First time doing this for me. I think it makes sense based on the many times I "forgot" kale and celery in the fridge.

 

[Skafidr]

Yesterday I watered all the plants (put a finger in the soil, it was dry). Followed my usual pattern: 1x watering can (1.5 L) for each big pot, 0.5x watering can for each small pot; repeat after ~30 minutes.

Some of my leaves show curling on the outside, so thanks to deluxestogie's suggestion above, I'll suppose it's calcium deficiency for now and try and buy bone meal.

"Big Red Strong" still worries me in the towel: darker spots get bigger, specially where the leaves have imperfections. Since it seems like a very localized variety, there is not much information about this, and I don't know what colour it is supposed to cure.

One of my 'obourg' has some leaves ready, I just need to identify the nasty thing that is one 2-3 of its leaves. I'll have to look through the links this forum offers regarding this.

---

Finally, today I did some harvest of peppermint and chamomile. Smells good!

 

[deluxestogie]

I have never used a towel for curing. Perhaps other members can help here.

Bob

 

[Skafidr]

I have never used a towel for curing. Perhaps other members can help here.

Bob

Yeah, no worries; I unfortunately don't have access to a barn or kiln. Maybe when I have more room/money/time I'll build something to help colour-curing them (there are plenty of examples on this site!)

 

[wruk53]

"Big Red Strong" still worries me in the towel: darker spots get bigger, specially where the leaves have imperfections. Since it seems like a very localized variety, there is not much information about this, and I don't know what colour it is supposed to cure.

Looks to me like you picked immature leaves. If it takes more than a week to color, you probably harvested too early. This is a common beginner mistake; I did the same thing when I first started growing. If you harvest when the leaves are mostly yellow, they should turn completely yellow within a few days in the towel. At that point, hang them somewhere to dry. Once the midrib is completely dry, bring the tobacco back into case and cycle in and out of case for at least a few months. The tobacco will not achieve its final color until it is aged for a while in this manner or kilned. Color curing will be much easier and faster for you once you start harvesting at a riper stage. Keep on plugging away, it gets easier with each grow. Patience is the key.

Picture of a very ripe One-Sucker leaf, a leaf like that will color cure rapidly if kept at the proper humidity. 

 

[Skafidr]

Looks to me like you picked immature leaves. If it takes more than a week to color, you probably harvested too early. This is a common beginner mistake; I did the same thing when I first started growing. If you harvest when the leaves are mostly yellow, they should turn completely yellow within a few days in the towel.

Hey thanks for the reply!

I did plan to wait for those leaves to become yellow before harvesting, but it seems that the leaves from this specific variety become yellow/dry/rot all at once, see the image in post #3. It seems that some varieties are like this? I'll try again to wait for more ripeness with the leaves that are still on the plant and see how it goes.

Once the midrib is completely dry, bring the tobacco back into case and cycle in and out of case for at least a few months. The tobacco will not achieve its final color until it is aged for a while in this manner or kilned.

Okay, good, I'll try that. I hoped I'd have the time/resources to build/hack some kind of fermenting chamber, but at the rate things are going on, I'm not sure I'll be there soon. Also, I smoke mainly during the summer, so having tobacco ready earlier may not be necessary.

Keep on plugging away, it gets easier with each grow. Patience is the key.

Will sure do! Thanks

 

[Skafidr]

Yesterday I found some fertilizer that contains calcium in the hope to have some of my leaves stop curling. I used an "All purpose Plant food" fertilizer before, now I found one "organic" that is targeting a bit more the vegetables (including tomatoes--I know, tomato is a fruit) and contains more calcium than the other. I was used to liquid fertilizer that mixes with water before giving to the plants; this new one is a pellets fertilizer that you place on the soil and gets to the roots when you water (so I also gave a single shot of water). It smells a lot (sea-related thing?), that was unexpected; makes the patio less pleasant to use. Only these varieties seemed to need it, and so only to these varieties I've given some: Scent of Italy and Turkish. I thought about using this fertilizer instead of bonemeal or lime because it seemed like the fastest action.

Today I went ahead and beheaded the Grand Rouge Fort (“Big Red Strong”) that was left to flower, the first flower was just coming out.

I also harvested two yellowish leaves on the flowering "Turkish" and one yellowish leaf on the Obourg.

I also strung my first batch of tobacco leaves! I took the batch of Big Red Strong out of the towel, and I added the three new leaves I harvested today. To identify them, I got a coloured string through the midrib: blue for Obourg, lilac for Turkish and red for Big Red Strong. Lilac is quite pale and so it would probably be hard to differentiate from white, so I won't use white. I used a metal wire because that's what I had that was strong and small--plus it's "self piercing". I was afraid that the tobacco would dry too fast, so I put a plastic sheet (trash bag) on the exposed sides to reduce air circulation (not sure to what extent this was necessary/is useful).

I'm nervous it will fail and the tobacco will dry instead of cure But we'll see! Plenty of leaves left on the plants!

Today's fail: At first, I thought I'd use the metal wire to create some kind of "ring hook" in the tobacco midrib, the idea was to then pass a yarn into these "loops" to hang it. It was not a good idea for at least two reasons: 1) the "ring" now makes the leaf not correctly oriented to hook in a series and 2) although I can manage the pain of pricking my fingers with the ends of the wire, this is a sure plan to pierce holes and damage the other tobacco leaves.

Soon, I'll have to figure out how to cure my Turkish. It seems those are sun cured, but 1) weather is not always sunny where I live, 2) no greenhouse/sunroom 3) it seems this needs a relatively high humidity? and 4) I only have three small plants. I'll read around how folks do this here. (I know... I already have two leaves that are hanging for air curing...)

 

[Skafidr]

Yesterday I did a pass at sucker removal; the last Obourg that did not flower had now a flower bud, so I topped it.

• On the weather side, the "leftovers" of hurricane Debby were due to hit us with a lot of rain today, so I did not bother to water yesterday. It's been raining non-stop for 24 hours now.
• Little Canadian flower pods are slowly getting brown.
• One Obourg is getting ripe, will soon harvest!
• I've seen brown spots appear on a couple of the plants. Needs investigation.

Yesterday, I also moved the air curing tobacco to a new "barn". A plastic box that has a cover. In which I added a container with water for humidity. I'm less afraid that the curing tobacco will dry green, but I'm not sure of the end result either. The box is not completely closed, I keep a small opening to "control" the relative humidity level (I've tried to keep this between 71 and 78--not sure what would be the ideal RH, will have to look into this), and just so that some air circulates.

This approach will not work exactly like this for the bigger leaves I have as they'll be touching the bottom much more than those Big Red Strong (and two Turkish + one Obourg).

Iterate and improve!

 

[Skafidr]

Yesterday there was a forecast of rain and thunderstorm so I decided to harvest a batch to towel-cure them just before the rain comes (I felt those leaves were ready to harvest and I wanted to do that before the leaves got wet (didn't want to wait for them to dry before harvesting)).

I harvested all the Obourg that was ready (all the leaves from the 15 gal fabric pot and the leaves from the plastic pail), and the two of the Little Canadian (also all the leaves from the 15 gal fabric pot and the leaves from the plastic pail).

Then the rain came. Heavy rain. With strong winds. And hail. We never get hail. But yesterday we got hail for 15 minutes.

It shredded my leaves and bruised the seed pods.

I'm sad: put lots of energy and enthusiasm into a project and get it crushed by nature. But I guess that's part of the game!

(FWIW, I'm not giving up, I'm looking into what's next, see this post.)