This was my first year growing tobacco and a year for learning the trade. I purchased seed from several European suppliers and grew the following varieties: Rustica, Kentucky, Virginia Gold, Burley, Golden Burley, Maryland, Havana, Badischer Gudertheimer, Samsun. I grew about 100 plants of each variety more or less for a total of about 1000 plants.
Sprouting was not too difficult, but the trays took up a lot of space indoors. All varieties sprouted fine. After thinning the sprouts, small plants were potted up in the greenhouse. Planting out took a very long time and was spread out over a month because there were so many plants, everything was done by hand by me with no help at all after work as weather permitted. This led to a wide range of ripening times and the later plants could not mature in time before the cold weather set in (October 1). I used organic pill fertilizer and I have good, mostly clay soil with lots of organic matter. I used plenty of space between plants to make weeding easier. Lesson number 1: Do not plant more than you can handle. Plant less and plant at the same time.
About midseason, warm, wet weather set in for weeks at a time and a serious fungal infection wiped out many plants of specific varieties. Luckily for me, I waaaay overplanted, so still ended up with plenty of usable product. The fungus wiped out 90% of the Rustica, 40% of the Kentucky, 20% of the Havana, 20 % of the Samsun and light damage to the other varieties. The Rustica was hit hard and all but wiped out. A anti-fungal spraying is clearly necessary in Denmark, especially for Rustica, which apparently has zero resistance to fungus. Luckily, even 10% of my Rustica crop was plenty of product as Rustica was my least desired sort and I do not need much of it. It is nice to have a totally organic crop, but not possible with some sorts in this type of climate. Some sprays are approved for organic use. I will try a sulphur based spray next year. Lesson number 2: Use an anti-fungal spray, especially for certain varieties in wet climates.
The Virginia Gold and Havana ripened first as these were some of the first varieties planted. I harvested an unreal amount of Virginia Gold. I flu cured as much as I could and was forced to air cure the rest. Air cured Virginia Gold has nearly no smell at all. I experimented with light fire curing some of the Virginia with excellent results. It gives it a very light, pleasantly smoky aroma. The Havana ripened over a long period. I harvested a lot, but great wrapper grade leaves were few and far between. The wind beat the shit out of many plants of all my varieties. Wind is hell in Denmark. I shielded the whole patch as best I could by growing a wall of sunflowers around them. Lesson number 3: Wind breaks are extra important in Denmark.
I topped the Kentucky a little too early, I think. After topping, suckers grow wild. I am proud of how I stayed on top of it, but was surprised how much work goes into topping and suckering. Eventually, I had to let the topping of late flowering Virginia go. It was nearly all harvested anyways. Samsun also has lots of suckers. Golden Burley has the least suckers and matures very early. Lesson number 4: Don't underestimate the amount of time it will take to top and sucker your plants during growth.
After all the Virginia, Havana and Samsun and Rustica was primed, I stalk harvested the rest. Luckily for me, I also primed a little bit of the Badischer G., Maryland and Burley that matured first, because the later stalk harvested plants could not yellow well in the cold weather. Delayed harvest was also not possible due to weather. The Kentucky was stalk harvested early with total success. Some Kentucky was fire cured, some light fire cured and most air cured. The Golden Burley was ready earlier as well and air cured fine, it being mostly yellow even on the plant. The Maryland, Badischer G. and Burley did not completely mature enough and could have used a couple more weeks, which I did not get in Denmark. I stalk harvested everything I had left standing and hoped for the best. It was the right decision as rain would have ruined it anyways. Now, I can see that much of it has dried green, some mold is beginning to show and I will throw away most of it. This hurts, especially the Burley and Badischer G. I will get some good air cured leaves from it, but the not the sheer volume I had hoped for. Lesson number 5: Harvest by about Sept. 15 in Denmark. Later harvests may not cure well before bad weather sets in. Plant earlier for better yellowing and more consistent air curing.
So, I have arrived with most of my plants either cured or nearly cured, but still have quite a large amount of gray-green-brown leaves hanging on stalk harvested Burley, Badischer G. and Maryland plants. Does anybody have any good ideas? They are hanging in a dry, ventilated barn loft. Should I just let them hang in the cold, wet air and see if they will cure to brown with time? Will they all mold and need to be thrown away? If the lamina is dry and greenish, but the stem is still pliable, will they cure to brown with time? Do I throw it all away which shows signs of green or greenish hues? I appreciate all advice.
I have not started fermenting yet, but am getting my setups in order.
My best successes so far have been:
Virginia Gold- large yields, successful air curing, light fire curing and flu curing.
Samsun- surprisingly large yield for the smaller leaf size, successful sun curing, no need for fermentation
Kentucky-successfully fire cured, light fire cured and air cured
Golden Burley- early harvest, successful air curing
Havana- successful air curing, some usable wrappers
My biggest challenges have been:
Maryland- late harvest, curing to green, huge harvest but very little usable product (luckily this sort was also kind of extraneous, as it has no particular special use, just fill)
Badischer G.- late harvest, curing to green, little usable product (this hurts and was going to be my cigar filler/binder)
Burley- middle-late harvest, some curing to green, less usable product than there should have been (this hurts most and was sorely needed for cigarette mix, main pipe tobacco)
Rustica-all but wiped out by fungus, very little usable product (only used for mixtures and perhaps snuff or as ceremonial incense)
Fermentation thoughts:
I have two methods for fermentation. My first method involves using my kiln I use for flue-curing and converting it to a fermentation chamber by increasing humidity and decreasing the heat to about 43 degrees C. The drawback with this setup, is that space is limited. I will only be able to ferment about one sort at a time. It takes 8 weeks to ferment well, so it will take a long time to ferment many sorts.
My second setup is under development. I am using large plastic barrels with a heat cable (terrarium) curled up inside with the tobacco. The heat is about 30-37 degrees C. The lid is not sealed and I will use light weights to compress the pile in the barrel slightly. This method will also take 6-8 weeks at this temperature to even lightly aerobically ferment the tobacco, but the advantage is that I can ferment many sorts at once, with each sort in a separate barrel with a separate heat cable. In this way, I hope to ferment nearly all the tobacco at once and be finished by Christmas. Any ideas, comments, suggestions?
All in all, not bad for a first time and an enormous wealth of knowledge gained. Even with the challenges, I have a stupidly huge amount of great product.
Sprouting was not too difficult, but the trays took up a lot of space indoors. All varieties sprouted fine. After thinning the sprouts, small plants were potted up in the greenhouse. Planting out took a very long time and was spread out over a month because there were so many plants, everything was done by hand by me with no help at all after work as weather permitted. This led to a wide range of ripening times and the later plants could not mature in time before the cold weather set in (October 1). I used organic pill fertilizer and I have good, mostly clay soil with lots of organic matter. I used plenty of space between plants to make weeding easier. Lesson number 1: Do not plant more than you can handle. Plant less and plant at the same time.
About midseason, warm, wet weather set in for weeks at a time and a serious fungal infection wiped out many plants of specific varieties. Luckily for me, I waaaay overplanted, so still ended up with plenty of usable product. The fungus wiped out 90% of the Rustica, 40% of the Kentucky, 20% of the Havana, 20 % of the Samsun and light damage to the other varieties. The Rustica was hit hard and all but wiped out. A anti-fungal spraying is clearly necessary in Denmark, especially for Rustica, which apparently has zero resistance to fungus. Luckily, even 10% of my Rustica crop was plenty of product as Rustica was my least desired sort and I do not need much of it. It is nice to have a totally organic crop, but not possible with some sorts in this type of climate. Some sprays are approved for organic use. I will try a sulphur based spray next year. Lesson number 2: Use an anti-fungal spray, especially for certain varieties in wet climates.
The Virginia Gold and Havana ripened first as these were some of the first varieties planted. I harvested an unreal amount of Virginia Gold. I flu cured as much as I could and was forced to air cure the rest. Air cured Virginia Gold has nearly no smell at all. I experimented with light fire curing some of the Virginia with excellent results. It gives it a very light, pleasantly smoky aroma. The Havana ripened over a long period. I harvested a lot, but great wrapper grade leaves were few and far between. The wind beat the shit out of many plants of all my varieties. Wind is hell in Denmark. I shielded the whole patch as best I could by growing a wall of sunflowers around them. Lesson number 3: Wind breaks are extra important in Denmark.
I topped the Kentucky a little too early, I think. After topping, suckers grow wild. I am proud of how I stayed on top of it, but was surprised how much work goes into topping and suckering. Eventually, I had to let the topping of late flowering Virginia go. It was nearly all harvested anyways. Samsun also has lots of suckers. Golden Burley has the least suckers and matures very early. Lesson number 4: Don't underestimate the amount of time it will take to top and sucker your plants during growth.
After all the Virginia, Havana and Samsun and Rustica was primed, I stalk harvested the rest. Luckily for me, I also primed a little bit of the Badischer G., Maryland and Burley that matured first, because the later stalk harvested plants could not yellow well in the cold weather. Delayed harvest was also not possible due to weather. The Kentucky was stalk harvested early with total success. Some Kentucky was fire cured, some light fire cured and most air cured. The Golden Burley was ready earlier as well and air cured fine, it being mostly yellow even on the plant. The Maryland, Badischer G. and Burley did not completely mature enough and could have used a couple more weeks, which I did not get in Denmark. I stalk harvested everything I had left standing and hoped for the best. It was the right decision as rain would have ruined it anyways. Now, I can see that much of it has dried green, some mold is beginning to show and I will throw away most of it. This hurts, especially the Burley and Badischer G. I will get some good air cured leaves from it, but the not the sheer volume I had hoped for. Lesson number 5: Harvest by about Sept. 15 in Denmark. Later harvests may not cure well before bad weather sets in. Plant earlier for better yellowing and more consistent air curing.
So, I have arrived with most of my plants either cured or nearly cured, but still have quite a large amount of gray-green-brown leaves hanging on stalk harvested Burley, Badischer G. and Maryland plants. Does anybody have any good ideas? They are hanging in a dry, ventilated barn loft. Should I just let them hang in the cold, wet air and see if they will cure to brown with time? Will they all mold and need to be thrown away? If the lamina is dry and greenish, but the stem is still pliable, will they cure to brown with time? Do I throw it all away which shows signs of green or greenish hues? I appreciate all advice.
I have not started fermenting yet, but am getting my setups in order.
My best successes so far have been:
Virginia Gold- large yields, successful air curing, light fire curing and flu curing.
Samsun- surprisingly large yield for the smaller leaf size, successful sun curing, no need for fermentation
Kentucky-successfully fire cured, light fire cured and air cured
Golden Burley- early harvest, successful air curing
Havana- successful air curing, some usable wrappers
My biggest challenges have been:
Maryland- late harvest, curing to green, huge harvest but very little usable product (luckily this sort was also kind of extraneous, as it has no particular special use, just fill)
Badischer G.- late harvest, curing to green, little usable product (this hurts and was going to be my cigar filler/binder)
Burley- middle-late harvest, some curing to green, less usable product than there should have been (this hurts most and was sorely needed for cigarette mix, main pipe tobacco)
Rustica-all but wiped out by fungus, very little usable product (only used for mixtures and perhaps snuff or as ceremonial incense)
Fermentation thoughts:
I have two methods for fermentation. My first method involves using my kiln I use for flue-curing and converting it to a fermentation chamber by increasing humidity and decreasing the heat to about 43 degrees C. The drawback with this setup, is that space is limited. I will only be able to ferment about one sort at a time. It takes 8 weeks to ferment well, so it will take a long time to ferment many sorts.
My second setup is under development. I am using large plastic barrels with a heat cable (terrarium) curled up inside with the tobacco. The heat is about 30-37 degrees C. The lid is not sealed and I will use light weights to compress the pile in the barrel slightly. This method will also take 6-8 weeks at this temperature to even lightly aerobically ferment the tobacco, but the advantage is that I can ferment many sorts at once, with each sort in a separate barrel with a separate heat cable. In this way, I hope to ferment nearly all the tobacco at once and be finished by Christmas. Any ideas, comments, suggestions?
All in all, not bad for a first time and an enormous wealth of knowledge gained. Even with the challenges, I have a stupidly huge amount of great product.
