deluxestogie Grow Log 2013

[ne3go]

I don't think anybody here uses the sun-cure method, maybe i'm wrong. Since its the main process for orientals, it would be a nice experiment to try even with a small amount of leaves.
Also i think that you're not a cigarette smoker, so its a question to me why you use flue-cure for cigars?

 

[DonH]

I don't think anybody here uses the sun-cure method, maybe i'm wrong. Since its the main process for orientals, it would be a nice experiment to try even with a small amount of leaves.
Also i think that you're not a cigarette smoker, so its a question to me why you use flue-cure for cigars?

Bob said he uses flue cured for pipe tobacco blends.

 

[deluxestogie]

Does flue-curing an Oriental yield something similar to sun-cured Oriental? That's the basic question I'm addressing. I don't know the answer. Purists will shout--NO! Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't.

My Basic English Pipe Blend

Based on 16 ounces:

• Flue-cured: 5 parts
• Perique (pressure-processed): 3 parts
• Latakia: 4 parts
• Oriental: 4 parts

A bright, lemon colored flue-cured Virginia also contributes to the visual appeal of such a pipe blend. If the flue-cured Orientals come to resemble sun-cured Orientals (time will tell), then it would be suitable for use in the above blending scheme. A possible use of straight flue-cured Oriental (in a pipe) is to lightly case it with Canadian whiskey (e.g. Seagram's VO) with a touch of flavoring.

I have rolled flue-cured puro cigars. Not my favorite. But a tiny cigar of all flue-cured Oriental is light, smooth and flavorful, and might be of interest to a cigarette smoker who questions the wisdom of inhaling burned paper.

Bob

 

[AmaxB]

Gonna get me into smokin Cigars yet

 

[ne3go]

... But a tiny cigar of all flue-cured Oriental is light, smooth and flavorful, and might be of interest to a cigarette smoker who questions the wisdom of inhaling burned paper.

Bob

I'm not fan of smoking paper too, so my try this year is to make small cigarilos. That's why i'm interesting if a flue-cured or sun-cured tobacco can be used in a small puro, and if has similar taste to cigarette.

 

[deluxestogie]

Rooting Experiment

What happens when you simply snap off a sucker, then stick it into vermiculite to root it? How about a bud head?

These are from FL Sumatra. They were inserted into dry vermiculite (easier), then the vermiculite was saturated with water. I will water them as often as needed to maintain a damp medium.

I'll post photos as they live or die. If they live, then I'll rinse away the vermiculite for a clear view of the roots.

Over-wintering Experiment

These little babies germinated 3/7/2013. After transferring to the 1020 (48-cell) tray, they were periodically leaf-clipped. Once all the transplants were set out to the ground, these were some of the left-overs. I have continued to water them as needed. Still in the small cells, they grew to about 12" inches tall. A week ago, I cut off the stalk, leaving several nodes at the lower end.

My plan is to limit each plant to a single, sturdy sucker, and maintain them--still in their tiny cells--through the winter in my enclosed back porch. Come next spring, I will transplant them to the ground, as though they were 2014 seedlings. We'll see how they differ.

Bob

 

[DGBAMA]

guess we know who will be first to start a 2014 grow blog now..............will be interesting to see the results.

 

[rainmax]

I like bonsai trees. I newer had one but this is interesting.

 

[deluxestogie]

Ah...smoking a cigar in the Moonlight.

Moonlight is a wrapper variety that appears to be derived from Sumatra. It resembles FL Sumatra in being a columnar plant, though my Moonlight plants--approaching 7'-- are taller than my FL Sumatra this year, have about the same leaf size, and produce several more leaves per plant. The leaf color of Moonlight is a slightly lighter green than that of FL Sumatra. In the leaf photo, this is the 10th leaf from a fully sun-grown plant.

Sun-grown Moonlight.

I continue to string my primed leaf on 17 gauge aluminum wire, one leaf at a time. I carry the stacked leaf to my porch, where I sit in a chair, and slowly examine each leaf before putting it on the wire. One advantage of this slow approach is that I can find and remove quite a few pests that would otherwise eat holes in the hanging leaf.

In the photos below, I believe that these are the pupa and 1st instar (baby) larva of a budworm, though I can't say for certain. In today's batch of about 50 FL Sumatra leaves (destined for use as wrapper), I removed about a dozen of the pupae, and several of the larvae. Each is popped on the ground.

Unidentified pupa and larva on FL Sumatra leaf.

In previous years, I performed the stringing in the field, in order to save some walking. Now, I exclusively sit on my shaded porch and take my time checking and stringing the leaf. Less sun, less sweat, less worry about leaf scorching.

Bob

 

[FmGrowit]

That larva looks a lot like a flea beetle. I'm very experienced with those buggers. Most of the ones I've seen have been a cream color except the one from Florida...they were red.

 

[Michibacy]

Don/Bob, that's all I have here in Lansing. Red little Bastards that fly, and scream when you smush them. They come out A LOT during wheat harvest. A good product to kill them with is Triazicide (lambda/beta cyalothrin). It's a contact spray. Don't spray 25 days before consumption. Do it a couple times during a year if you have to.

 

[Boboro]

Id mash em slow if they screamed.

 

[deluxestogie]

I failed to include any size scale for the pupa and larva. They are roughly the same length, and many times longer than a flea beetle adult. I did find the following:

Eggs hatch in about a week and the small, slender, white larvae feed on and tunnel in the roots and stems of tobacco plants for 4 to 5 weeks. There are three instars. After 4 to 7 days as pupae in the soil, adults emerge.

http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG271/tobacco/tobacco_flea_beetle.html

So, it seems like the larvae and pupae of flea beetles are not usually found on leaf. Incidentally, the leaves on which I tend to find these are often not affected by typical flea beetle damage.

While I may be completely wrong about their being stages of a budworm, I suspect that they are stages of some moth. All suggestions are welcome.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Tobacco Lights

Shortly after sunset tonight, I settled myself in a lawn chair at the top of my tobacco beds, and lit up a home-rolled cigar. On the horizon to the north, the sooty black smear of a cloud bank inched eastward. To the northwest, a crescent moon rode above the dazzle of Venus. Overhead, only scant wisps of cloud drifted across the emerging twinkle of constellations--faithful friends since the time I earned Astronomy merit badge as a 14 year old.

Lightning flashed pink within the northern storm cloud. Above me, lightning bugs flashed intermittently, while far higher, an airliner blinked its beacon in a slow-motion arc. With a white hot streak, a Perseid meteor consumed itself. My cigar glowed red. Lightning flashed again to the north.

For a sound track, only the rustle of wind passing through tobacco leaves, accompanied by an August cricket symphony.

Bob

 

[DGBAMA]

Relax and enjoy. Relax and enjoy.

 

[johnlee1933]

Tobacco Lights

Shortly after sunset tonight, I settled myself in a lawn chair at the top of my tobacco beds, and lit up a home-rolled cigar. On the horizon to the north, the sooty black smear of a cloud bank inched eastward. To the northwest, a crescent moon rode above the dazzle of Venus. Overhead, only scant wisps of cloud drifted across the emerging twinkle of constellations--faithful friends since the time I earned Astronomy merit badge as a 14 year old.

Lightning flashed pink within the northern storm cloud. Above me, lightning bugs flashed intermittently, while far higher, an airliner blinked its beacon in a slow-motion arc. With a white hot streak, a Perseid meteor consumed itself. My cigar glowed red. Lightning flashed again to the north.
For a sound track, only the rustle of wind passing through tobacco leaves, accompanied by an August cricket symphony.Bob

MY!, waxing nostalgic aren't we? As an Eagle myself I can identify. You do have a way with words. Well Done.

 

[deluxestogie]

I'll start with a shot of a Prilep blossom. They remain densely packed within a closed bud head. The bud stalk never lengthens as it often does in other varieties.

Moonlight, though a slow starter, is outdistancing the FL Sumatra. It's lighter leaf color suggests that it might cure to a lighter wrapper color than the FL Sumatra. Only time will tell.

There nothing like a BigBonner burley puro to start the day.

My curing shed is nearly full, as is my enclosed back porch. Soon, I'll start tying the color-cured leaf into hands, which take quite a bit less room to hang. But that will have to await the complete drying of the stems.

Below is a close-up of my method of stalk hanging. I drive an aluminum nail into the base of the stalk at an angle. This takes only three gentle taps with a hammer, while the whole plants lie out on the ground for wilting. Each is tagged with Tyvek. The nail then serves as the hook for hanging the stalk on suspended Nylon rope. I'm re-using the same nails from last season.

The wire belongs to an adjacent string of primed leaf.

My pipe cobs are looking promising. It's all about the width. I'll leave the ears on the standing stalks until they have thoroughly dried.

The Oriental bed is still productive, though looking a bit anemic these days.

This little bed is host to 12 Little Dutch plants, which now hold just the top leaf.

And in a tale of redemption, now that the VA Bright bed has recovered from the monsoons, the leaf above the frenching leaves are looking normal.

Bob

 

[Boboro]

I like the nail hangin.I may have to steal that one next year.

 

[johnlee1933]

Bob, Do you have a problem with raccoons? Those ripening ears seem like a big temptation to me.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob, Do you have a problem with raccoons?

Good question. I haven't seen raccoons here in about 8 years. Last year's Bloody Butcher corn stood well into the fall, without being bothered. It may be that since there are nearby commercial corn growers, the local consumers have found a better restaurant.

Bob