Slow Ripening Leaves

[Dirt Farmer]

I'm in Seattle and I planted a dozen or so Bucak plants this year. Other than some sand lugs, nothing yellowed sufficiently to prime. I let some set seed, and those have bloomed and the seedpods have fully matured. The leaves started curling downward some time ago at the beginning of September, but are still deep green. I suspect it's one of two things: either a lack of heat/GDD or excess nitrogen. I have a hard time with pretty much every Solanaceae due to the lack of heat, but I mulched with manure last winter with the intent of planting leafy vegetables, and they have definitely put on fantastic foliage. Other plants in the plot put on healthy foliage too, but not excessive. I suspect climate is the primary issue; N. Tabacum is a subtropical plant and I'm in a maritime temparate climate. I started them in January, had good growth indoors, moved outdoors to harden off once they got to big for indoors and the weather warmed up in May. I transplanted them in June about the same time as my tomatoes and they took off as soon as we started getting heat in early July.

I'm going to wait until there is frost in the forecast before riping them out, but ripening seems to have stalled. Any expert advice? If I attempt growing again I'll use an earlier maturing variety use cloches or a greenhouse to accelerate early growth in June, but I'm going to have to be happy with the sand lugs and experience gained this year.
I'll attach some pictures later.

 

[deluxestogie]

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Bob

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Don't give up hope yet. I've noticed that some varieties will "wilt" as they mature. I have no experience with Bucak, but I observed my Åhus and some orientals began to droop before they yellowed. If the leaves are mature enough, they can be box/pile/towel cured - make a stack in a box or towel and inspect everyday for color change and mold. Daily inspection also allows you to "turn" the pile. A good deal of my still very green Frog Eye Orinoco leaves cured nicely using the pile method for curing.

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT

pier

 

[Pasiasiainen]

Sounds quite similar situation what I had this year, even though I didn’t grow Bucak. I’m quite sure the reason my plants didn’t ripen was too much fertilizer. The summer here in Finland was also a bit on the cool side and rainy.

Last year my plants (Burley and Virginia) yellowed a lot more. I had used less fertilizer and the summer was really warm.

This year I had to harvest a big part of my leaves completely green, but there were some signs of maturity: a bit of alligatoring, drooping tips, slightly lighter green color, but not much real yellowing. I started priming around 100 days after transplanting. The last leaves I primed around 140 days after transplanting, right before the first night frosts.

Against my expectations the leaves have cured mostly pretty well, just a bit slower than last year. Last year color-curing took about 4 weeks, this year most of the leaves have been curing for 6 weeks before the whole leaf changed color.

So I wouldn’t give up on the green ones yet!