Damandaplaya 2021 grow

[deluxestogie]

BT spray is considered "organic", and is rated by USDA as "organic".

Bt Crop Spraying

Spray your crop once a week, starting after the first sighting of a hornworm egg or a hornworm. I use this product, but there are many others available.

Monterey B.T. (Bacillus Thuringiensis) Pint Concentrate Outdoor Organic Insecticide LG6332 - The Home Depot

Monterey B.T. Insecticide kills caterpillar type insects, but has no effect on birds, earthworms, or beneficial insects such as honeybees and ladybugs, when used as directed. It is for use on fruits, vegetables, ornamentals and shade trees. It can be used on edible plants up to the day of harvest.

www.homedepot.com

Bob

 

[Damanadaplaya]

I have bees near me, and prided myself on picking worms and inspecting plants to be organic. I let my guard down for one week, when I thought it was safe!!! I had such beautiful leaf!!!

 

[deluxestogie]

Bees are more important that our tobacco. BT does not harm bees.

Bob

 

[Damanadaplaya]

Air cure for little bit more, then perique, cavendish, or kiln fermented based on quality of leaf. By that I mean the cigar leaf will be more unblemished, bc of some worm damage. All the green/yellow is ligero and beautiful.

 

[Brown Thumb]

View attachment 38851
Air cure for little bit more, then perique, cavendish, or kiln fermented based on quality of leaf. By that I mean the cigar leaf will be more unblemished, bc of some worm damage. All the green/yellow is ligero and beautiful.

Nice Hanging

 

[MadFarmer]

All the green/yellow is ligero and beautiful.

How thick does your ligero get? So far it feels none of my leaf got as thick as WLT ligero.

 

[MadFarmer]

How thick does your ligero get? So far it feels none of my leaf got as thick as WLT ligero.

I should add, does thickness imply strength and flavor?

 

[Damanadaplaya]

I should add, does thickness imply strength and flavor?

I would say half my ligero is thick, and darker in color. It is definitely a stronger!

 

[Damanadaplaya]

Trying perique…. I opted to line the stainless steel with wax paper. Stainless is not supposed to leave any transferred flavors, but after I washed the pot, my nose said I should line it. I’ll air it out in 21 days, the repack it. The basket next to it is for instapot cavendish….

 

[Damanadaplaya]

Also fermenting for cigars; volado, seco, ligero.

 

[Cray Squirrel]

How thick does your ligero get? So far it feels none of my leaf got as thick as WLT ligero.

Hard to compare our grows to the professional bacca growers. We'll get there sooner or later.

 

[Damanadaplaya]

Three weeks since perique was pressed. Wow. The smell, the color…I can not nail down the smell, it is sour, but apricot, but tinge of maybe rubber? It is definitely working. I’ll respray and put back in press tomorrow, then set it and forget it.

 

[Damanadaplaya]

Instapot cavendish with some entubado hillbilly sticks. The fermentation of the volado, seco, ligero, was difficult this go around. Consistency in kiln was a problem. I ended up spraying spring water on the leaves, pretty often. I don’t think they fermented properly.

The cavendish certainly got dark. I dried some and tried it; to my surprise it really lacks flavor, but it was smooth.

 

[deluxestogie]

If the Cavendish jars contain excess water, the water ends up with the nicotine and flavor.

Bob

 

[Damanadaplaya]

If the Cavendish jars contain excess water, the water ends up with the nicotine and flavor.

Bob

Live and learn. Too little water, you heat up dry leaves. This hobby is starting to compare to golf, slicing every shot!

 

[deluxestogie]

Cooking Cavendish is a set of choices. If you want the very darkest leaf (very dark brown), then the leaf needs to be fairly saturated. But any excess liquid needs to be added back to the leaf while you dry it. If you want the most flavorful Cavendish, then the leaf will have to be just well misted (so it appears wet, but is not soggy). Then the finished Cavendish comes out with a final, dried color that is only a little darker than the leaf that went in. And there is in between.

Bob

 

[Damanadaplaya]

This cool weather and low humidity is good for drying some “Small batch” cavendish. Per mason jar of instapot cavendish MD609 (with flecks of air cured of same), 2TB Irish whiskey, SMALL drop of almond extract by LoAnn (has PG), 2 TB of Watkins vanilla, 1 TB of honey. Soaked 15 minutes, now drying.

 

[Radagast]

View attachment 40519
This cool weather and low humidity is good for drying some “Small batch” cavendish. Per mason jar of instapot cavendish MD609 (with flecks of air cured of same), 2TB Irish whiskey, SMALL drop of almond extract by LoAnn (has PG), 2 TB of Watkins vanilla, 1 TB of honey. Soaked 15 minutes, now drying.

I coated the inside of pipe with honey recently and used a bit too much. It got soaked up by the tobacco and I loved it, so I am really starting to think about playing with it more. That batch looks really satisfying.

 

[Damanadaplaya]

I separated some 4 month perique tonight, wow. I had to have a sample, with the un-topped cavendish, and it is really good. In a couple months I’ll cut it up and store in boiled mason jars. THEN start another batch!

 

[Damanadaplaya]

I pulled my perique from October, so 8 months almost. In the never ending fight against mold, I “canned” the perique in mason jars, in an instapot, and my leaves turned black. I tried some tonight with a 60/40 blend with cavendish being 60, it was awesome!