San Diego "first timer."

[Rebeletoh]

Howdy all!
First time really trying to grow and process baccy (sprinkled some rustica seeds a few years ago late in the season and got a couple small plants). I've got about 50 or so healthy plants right now. I've been experimenting with the sand dregs in hopes I can kinda figure out what I'm doing before the good leaves are ready. I've got 19 different strains in a mix of n. rustica and n. tabac and all the markers have faded in the sun so, any rolling out finished product will be a mystery mix (next time around will be maybe 3 strains at most).T They'vebeen topped as I'm not planning on saving any of the seed this time around.
Over the past two days, 6 of my rustica plants became top heavy with flowers (I just topped the rest today) and they fell over after deep watering so... I've got some whole plants hanging in my garage, some whole plants hanging outside in the shade, some sand dregs individually laid flat in the garage, some sand dregs hung up both individually and in pairs. The smaller leaves have dried enough over the past couple weeks that I've decided to see if I can do some small scale fermenting. One bag contains moistened leaves that were hung up and the other contains those that were laid out. I'll be checking them frequently to see how bad I've screwed up but the nice thing is... They're all bottom leaves and they aren't really pretty so I'm not really worried about aesthetics at this point, just process. Forgive the ugly, torn, munched up leaves please. Any tips would be great! Glad to be here!

 

[Moth]

Looking good.

You need to make sure they yellow while hanging, before drying. If the humidity is too low (85% is good) , you run the risk of them drying green, which is not good.

Some people yellow the leaves stacked in a cardboard box, some in a plastic bag. I am currently stack piles of leaf on a rack a heated propagator with a temp/humidity controller until they yellow. However I'm only priming the lower leaves as they ripen and soon will need to use the cardboard box method.

The rustica may not yellow and just go straight to brown...

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[MarcL]

Welcome to Fair Trade Tobacco.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Welcome... sounds like you have your hands full... in a good way

 

[CobGuy]

Welcome from AZ!

~Darin

 

[Rebeletoh]

Looking good.

You need to make sure they yellow while hanging, before drying. If the humidity is too low (85% is good) , you run the risk of them drying green, which is not good.

Some people yellow the leaves stacked in a cardboard box, some in a plastic bag. I am currently stack piles of leaf on a rack a heated propagator with a temp/humidity controller until they yellow. However I'm only priming the lower leaves as they ripen and soon will need to use the cardboard box method.

The rustica may not yellow and just go straight to brown...

Yeah, all the leaves that were hung have yellowed. Some of the smaller leaves I had laid out dried very quickly, keeping their green. Maybe I'll get to experiment with some candela (which I quite enjoy), haha. The larger leaves I've laid out have been yellowing quite nicely, probably because they are thicker and the stem is full of moisture so they dry much slower and more evenly.
If this summer is anything like the last I'll have high temps and high humidity to look forward to while aging the quality leaves. I don't currently have any heat/humidity control set up but I do have a couple mini fridges that could be used with a heat lamp and fan if necessary.
I'd love to be able to stack fresh leaves in a box... It would save so much room...but worry about mold in such a moist environment. Do you dry your leaves at all before stacking in a box to yellow or just throw them all in there?

 

[Moth]

I guess its all to do with managing ambient humidity - mine is too low to colour cure individual leaves without risk of drying green. (Well, ignore the current UK weather, which is unseasonably hot and humid - a by product of the European heatwave).

So the box is working well for me.

It sounds like yours is humid enough as is, its whatever works for you.

In a box, they need checking/ rearranging daily and moisture dabbed of the leaves or they'll rot fast - so the tradeoff for using less space is more labour. As they yellow I'm taking them out to hang.

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT

Pier

 

[Rebeletoh]

I guess its all to do with managing ambient humidity - mine is too low to colour cure individual leaves without risk of drying green. (Well, ignore the current UK weather, which is unseasonably hot and humid - a by product of the European heatwave).

So the box is working well for me.

It sounds like yours is humid enough as is, its whatever works for you.

In a box, they need checking/ rearranging daily and moisture dabbed of the leaves or they'll rot fast - so the tradeoff for using less space is more labour. As they yellow I'm taking them out to hang.

Gotcha, thanks! I'll probably try the box with a few leaves as they ripen up, and see how it works around here.

 

[Charly]

Welcome to FTT.
As said, it's always a matter of finding what works in your environment.

I use the box method a lot to yellow the leaves before I hang them to finish drying.
It takes time to monitor the leaves to check if they are not rotting, but if the weather is too dry it's a good method to be sure they don't dry green.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum.

Bob