Knucklehead's 2023 Grow Blog
- Thread starter Knucklehead
- Start date
45% flue cure
20% burley
20% maryland
5% dark air
10% oriental
for an even stronger flavor change amounts to 40% flue cure, 10% dark air
this is also my favorite pipe blend (due to laziness). I especially like it in a tiny cut down clay pipe in winter when it's too cold to stay outside for a whole cigarette or full size pipe. More often but quick in and out. Saves tobacco.
Alpine
Moderator
Extra ripe leaf is the secret!
pier
Edit: oh, and top the plants aggressively: 12th to 14th leaf maximum
Do you do that with your Rustica?
Alpine
Moderator
I try to harvest all my tobacco, rusticas included, at a ripe stage. In my environment this makes curing the leaves much easier. I do not top the plants so aggressively though, just take off the flower head. But I did it once with a few White Mammoth plants: the leaves were incredibly thick, the plants suckered like hell, and the smoke from that leaves can literally split your throat and lungs in half.
pier
pier
I rotated the pools 90 degrees for sunshine. I have not done that in a while and the leaves that were facing east are more ripe than the others. The inner leaves are also less ripe than those that face outwards. I will prime each leaf based on ripeness, rather than stalk position, so I will be priming up and down each stalk as each leaf looks ripe. As I prime ripe leaf, other leaves will benefit from increased sun exposure. I'm looking for fully ripe.
I also primed the lowest leaves from the third pool. 1-2 leaves from each stalk. They were becoming yellow without really thickening or showing rugosity. I suppose they would be mud lugs if grown in a field. I will keep those separated and see if they are worth the bother. They are nice leaves, but thin, the flavor and strength will be fairly weak. The rest of the leaves will be mixed together since I am growing for cigarettes. If the lugs are decent, I will just combine all the leaf together.
All the bottom leaf from three pools.
The waterproof Gorilla tape is still holding up. I will peel that off after the season. 1" fill level seems to work well during the spring due to rains, mild temps, small plants with not much root demand. I needed 2" when summer hit, dry, hot, and greater water demand due to larger, more thirsty plants.
Watering couldn't get much simpler than this without fully automated irrigation with a timer. I'm finished in less than 10 minutes, including dragging out and rolling up the hose. Watering lasts about three days in high 90's without rain. If you are growing in containers anyway, I highly recommend the kiddie pools. Benefits I couldn't imagine and no drawbacks. There will be a slight learning curve in figuring out fertilizer frequency but that is about it.
The leaf shows up better in the evening. The photos are a little washed out in the sunshine.
Reams 158 leaf - 10th position
MadFarmer
Well-Known Member
Is it 10th position counting from the top? And which of the 4th sets of leaves counts as number 10?
Thank you. The leaf measure photo has been inserted into the update manuscript.
It should be the 10th leaf from the bottom (not counting the two cotyledon leaves.
Bob
It should be the 10th leaf from the bottom (not counting the two cotyledon leaves.
Bob
Keep in mind that I snip the cotyledons and one or two more off at transplant in order to bury the stalk more deeply into the soil. I'm not sure how that will affect the measurements.
I don't understand "4th sets of leaves"?
The standard is based on the growouts performed by (or contracted by) ARS-GRIN at UNC. I'm certain that they never ever considered how real tobacco growers grow their tobacco. [When ARS-GRIN data is provided for two or more different growouts, they may differ in all their measurements by 50% or more. If you're selling seed, then the most impressive numbers look nice. If you're hoping for reality, then an average may be a safer bet.]
When I count to the 10th leaf from the soil line, I skip obvious cotyledon leaves, or just count starting at the ground level if the bottom leaves appear to be true leaves.
My suspicion is that the plant allocates resources (and determines leaf size) based on the foliage that is growing above ground, regardless of how much of the stalk is buried (and regardless of how many times the stalk itself has been lopped off near ground level—as in some of my "tobacco elder" experiments). It's sometimes just a wild guess as to which leaf is the 10th. And those often gigantic lower leaves are so tempting—for the record books. To further complicate it, there is always the question of which plant to select for the 10th leaf measurement: the biggest?; the smallest?; the most mediocre? If you and I were statisticians, we would measure all of the estimated 10th leaves, and simply record the mean of all those measurements.
Bob
MadFarmer
Well-Known Member
File this under: how do I know when it's ready?
They are getting close. I prime flue cured, burley, and dark air when ripe to ripe-ripe, but prior to over ripe (if a few inches of the tip has turned brown, and the rest of the leaf is mostly yellow, I call that over ripe) Ripe leaf is easy to cure.
I prime cigar wrapper when mature, for thinner leaf that has less nicotine strength and a milder flavor than filler for a nice taste to the mouth.
I prime cigar filler when mature to ripe. More yellow than just mature. I think I prime my filler a little bit more ripe than Bob does, but I'm mainly a cigarette smoker and a heathen.
Mature leaf - photo credit deluxestogie
Mature to ripe - deluxestogie
ripe flue cured - FmGrowit pulled this photo off the net
ripe - ripe flue cured - FmGrowit
over ripe cigar varieties BigBonner - I don't let my filler get that ripe
Tobacco getting over ripe
Wind has torn up some tobacco but my biggest problem is that some tobacco is over ripe . Leaves are showing browning , holes and splits from age . I just didn't have time to harvest like I should have . I did work my rear end off daylight to after dark trying to get my tobacco in my barns . I...
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I'm looking through the catalog for an automated tobacco harvester that also kilns tobacco in an hour and perfectly cooks Roadrunner breasts at the same time. It should be some more doozey of a contraption.
I just need to make a few more quick minor adjustments.
I think I have it now. Time to rustle up some dinner.
Oh, shit!
Well, that sucks.
This may not be as bad as I thought.
I was wrong.
I just need to make a few more quick minor adjustments.
I think I have it now. Time to rustle up some dinner.
Oh, shit!
Well, that sucks.
This may not be as bad as I thought.
I was wrong.
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Two hangers full finishing off stem drying in the garage to make room on the Jeep grill for a fresh coat hanger of leaf. The leaves in the garage are really thin mud lugs.
The two pools on the right were spun 90 degrees for sunlight.
This leaf is from the third pool that was planted last. They are beginning to show signs of maturity. This particular leaf is more ripe than the others.
The leaf to the leaf of center are in the third pool. The leaf to the right of center are from the older, middle pool. Quite a difference in maturity.
The mid and upper leaf is starting to feel as thick as a well worn leather shop apron. I still can't seem to capture the full extent of the mottling with a camera.
edit: the leaf in the top photo measured 30". The leaf in the second photo measured 29".
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