cotillion's First Grow Blog 2014

[cotillion]

Them leaves is a sight for sore eyes cotillion !
But those Rusticas don't want accompany the Black mammoths ?
Bottom leaves were yellow/brown from what I remember , try an hang'em outside like I did.....

Thanks P.O., I am very happy with the Mammoth. The rustica did not colour up nearly as nice even though they looked plenty ready. I didn't want to leave them outside because I had no way to move them into shelter during weekdays in case a storm decided to roll in, etc. I left them in the shed and here they are as of this morning:





I'm really not too concerned, here is a pic of a pure rustica snuff (on the right) compared to a couple of typical snuffs made from tabacum. The rustica snuff appears greenish-brown just like my plants!

 

[cotillion]

During my commutes this past week I've seen that the farmers here are harvesting their tobacco. My plants looked mature enough to my untrained eye that I figured I should do the same. Another month or so and it will be getting cold at night. So I woke up this morning earlier than I sometimes go to bed and got to work. Here is the patch early this morning:



The topped plants are a much paler shade of green compared to the ones I've bagged for seed. I noticed the seed bag for the rightmost plant has been getting darker. When I got out there it looked like it went mildewy or moldy!



Well, I cut the top off of that one and threw the bag out. There was some run-off of black stuff on the upper leaves of that plant but its neighbours did not have anything that looked like mold on them. I've left this one in the patch as well as the one in the far left corner as it is quite a bit smaller than the other plants were. Nothing grows well in that back corner: I suspect that roots from the trees at the back of the property just take too much good stuff out of the soil. If the one that had the mold/mildew problem clears up I will use these two plants to make twist.

That left me with 18 plants to hang. The previous owners left some long poles in the shed which have a metal bar in the middle and are very sturdy. They are about eight feet long and suited my purpose perfectly. While looking at other grow blogs I noticed some using plastic zip ties to suspend their plants and this worked out great for me. I hacked them down with large shears, used a large drill bit to drill a hole near the base of the stems - just large enough for the zip tie to pass through - and looped the plants over the poles.

First nine:



First and second nine, all plants hung:



I left the seed bags on the two plants to the right, I think I saw this done in another thread. If this OK or should I remove them and hang them indoors where there will be less humidity?

 

[deluxestogie]

I left the seed bags on the two plants to the right, I think I saw this done in another thread. If this OK or should I remove them and hang them indoors where there will be less humidity?

The biggest problem with seed hanging in the shed is that rodents and insects will eat holes into the bags, and consume the seed. If most of the pods are starting to brown, I would cut off the head (still in the bag) and hand them indoors to fully dry.

Bob

 

[DGBAMA]

If the pods are not yet brown , leave them as is to finish maturing. When most are brown, cut and move indoors As Bob suggested.

 

[POGreen]

Nice hang cotillion , I think plants will cure just fine in your shed.
Thats the same variety of plant right ? Then there is no reason to have the seedbags on.
So you do the dry sort , nasalsnuff , I've never tried that.
Back in the very old days , snus was even calléd foodsnus here in Sweden for a period of time.They didn't eat it , perhaps it was classified as food............

 

[squeezyjohn]

Really don't worry about the rustica colouring up slowly ... it's just what they do! They normally won't go through a yellowing phase and will go brown via a stage of greenish-brown. If you can keep them hanging in a place that the humidity swings them in and out of case between day and night then it will speed the process up - but watch out for mould on the lamina if it gets too wet ... even with dry stalks rustica will start to mould at the pores on the leaf itself if left too damp for too long ... look out for tiny black spots - they will quickly destroy the leaf if you're not careful!

 

[cotillion]

Nice hang cotillion , I think plants will cure just fine in your shed.
Thats the same variety of plant right ? Then there is no reason to have the seedbags on.
So you do the dry sort , nasalsnuff , I've never tried that.
Back in the very old days , snus was even calléd foodsnus here in Sweden for a period of time.They didn't eat it , perhaps it was classified as food............

Yes, that is all the same variety but there are tobacco farms nearby so I thought it might be a good idea to bag them up.

Most of my tobacco use is nasal snuff now but I used to use mostly snus and dip. I still use snus but not nearly as much and I also smoke a pipe or two every day. I switched to snuff for economic reasons: a can of dip or snus is around $20 here and would last me only a day or two. Ordering snus online from Sweden almost always gets caught at customs now. Snuff passes through customs almost every time and a 25g tin for 5 or 6 bucks lasts me approximately a week. It took a little while to get used to snuff but once I got used to it I really like it. You did get me craving some General loose in one of your posts awhile ago and I found a good deal online so I went for it, after taxes it worked out to just over $12 a tin.

I guess that it used to be called foodsnus because of the regulations regarding additives etc.? You probably could eat it without much bad effects other than a stomach ache. I will probably attempt to make a batch or two of snus as well.

 

[cotillion]

Really don't worry about the rustica colouring up slowly ... it's just what they do! They normally won't go through a yellowing phase and will go brown via a stage of greenish-brown. If you can keep them hanging in a place that the humidity swings them in and out of case between day and night then it will speed the process up - but watch out for mould on the lamina if it gets too wet ... even with dry stalks rustica will start to mould at the pores on the leaf itself if left too damp for too long ... look out for tiny black spots - they will quickly destroy the leaf if you're not careful!

Ha! I just brought them in yesterday to hang in the basement where the temperature and humidity are more steady. Back out to the shed they go, thanks for the tip!

 

[cotillion]

The biggest problem with seed hanging in the shed is that rodents and insects will eat holes into the bags, and consume the seed. If most of the pods are starting to brown, I would cut off the head (still in the bag) and hand them indoors to fully dry.

Bob

If the pods are not yet brown , leave them as is to finish maturing. When most are brown, cut and move indoors As Bob suggested.

I didn't think about rodents. I'll keep a close eye on them and move them inside accordingly, thanks guys.

 

[POGreen]

Jesus Christ , 20 bucks for a can of snus ?
That was the worst I've heard today.Did you try that snus I sent to Mad ?
If you want I can send you a recipe of how I make my snus.Its as easy peasy as Japanesy.....
Takes some time but you'll be greatly rewarded.Makes much better than Generalsnus , this is Colonelsnus

 

[cotillion]

Mad has mailed me off a package and I'm not sure what surprises await inside. I'd love to see your snus recipe, thanks!

 

[POGreen]

Try that package first and we can talk about the recipe if you like it.
Your welcome !

 

[cotillion]

All the plants are still hanging in the shed and they are looking good, a very nice reddish-brown on the leaves. I'm quite pleased with the way they are looking and I'll get a picture up sometime soon. I'll bring them in at spring for ageing. I'm just starting to plan next year and the front-runners look like Burley 21, Del Gold and Prilep so far. Happy New Year to everybody!

 

[Knucklehead]

All the plants are still hanging in the shed and they are looking good, a very nice reddish-brown on the leaves. I'm quite pleased with the way they are looking and I'll get a picture up sometime soon. I'll bring them in at spring for ageing. I'm just starting to plan next year and the front-runners look like Burley 21, Del Gold and Prilep so far. Happy New Year to everybody!

Congratulations on the successful season. Are you already planning to double your grow for next year?

 

[cotillion]

Congratulations on the successful season. Are you already planning to double your grow for next year?

I'm not expanding the garden next year, it takes up practically all the good sun and if I want a larger growing area I need to take down some trees. I blew my back out again this fall so I won't be chopping trees this winter. So it will be approximately the same number of plants, just more variety. I've taken up smoking the pipe again so it will be good to have few different types to blend.