Squeezyjohn's 2016 grow

[squeezyjohn]

Yes Smokes ... you got that right.

Earlier in this blog I was convinced that the Mahorka Stalingradskaia was the on which had been successful for me and I had saved seeds from the biggest plant. Unfortunately I was in error - and the successful rustica was definitely 1000 year old tobacco. I only found this out as I planted mainly my saved seeds alongside the original Mahorka Stalingradskaia seed to bag and save. This season it was clear from the plant characteristics that I had got it the wrong way round and it was the 1000 year old tobacco which was the one I wished to save, not the Mahorka Stalingradskaia which must have been switched in my original grow.

To be clear Mahorka Stalingradskaia is a regular thick rubbery leaf rustica which nonetheless makes very large leaves indeed ... but in my growing conditions it ends up with a very hard to cure leaf which is low in nicotine ... the 1000 year old tobacco on the other hand is a large leaf variety which cures much more easily and is high in nicotine.

 

[squeezyjohn]

A little picture showing how it looks at about ⅓ harvested.

Interestingly it has been a very different season to last year and the Bolivian Criollo Black leaf is looking quite different. It hasn't made quite such big plants and the leaves are narrower. Also the colour and texture is different too ... last year the leaves were a very dark green and when they ripened they took on the alligator pattering as they yellowed. This year they are lighter green and slightly thinner and 2 weeks after topping they began to yellow almost to a white with no alligator patterning.

I think the difference may be down to light levels ... it's certainly been less sunny this year ... but I'm not sure.

 

[Alpine]

Could it be another labelling mistake lol Just a joke Squeezy...

 

[squeezyjohn]

Haha ... labelling mistakes are one of my specialities! ... but no ... sadly they're from the seeds I bagged and kept last year.

 

[squeezyjohn]

Just had a heads up from the weather forecasters that we're due for a September heatwave next week - perfect drying out weather which will be great for finishing off all my colour cured leaf before the curse of mould sets in! I'm currently just over halfway through priming my leaf - so I think I will harvest the rest in the next few days and do a bit of pile-curing to get them beginning to yellow nicely. They were all topped 3 weeks ago or earlier so I think they should be a good ripeness.

 

[deluxestogie]

Good plan.

Bob

 

[SmokesAhoy]

If it were me I'd hedge the bet a bit, with 5 weeks post topping the ideal I'd do some at 3 like you say, some at 4 and the rest held to 5 for a chance at some super premium leaf. Just a thought, can't wait to see the new videos.

 

[squeezyjohn]

Hmm, I know how the weather turns here and I suspect that trying to begin curing at the end of September will end up in mouldy tobacco with my set-up.

However - I have no worries about leaf becoming over-ripe and not burning well as I will use it for smokeless and I probably will take your advice with a small portion of the leaf (I have almost more than I can cure this year!)

 

[Gavroche]

and do a bit of pile-curing to get them beginning to yellow nicely.

Sorry but i've not understand...

Excusez-moi mais je ne comprends pas...

 

[squeezyjohn]

Pile curing = empiler les feuilles de tabac avant qu'ils ne soient accrochées, il faut réarranger le tas chaque jour (ou deux jours) pour vous assurer q'ils ne se décomposent pas. Avec cette méthode on peut accélérer le jaunissement des feuilles avant de les sécher complètement ... et éviter les feuilles qui sèchent vert.

(Pile curing is piling up the tobacco leaves before they're hung up, you have to rearrange the stack every day or two to make sure they don't turn in to compost. With this technique you can speed up the yellowing of the leaves before they're dried out and it avoids having leaves which cure green.)

 

[Gavroche]

Thank you,

Do I from it have to deduct that it is better to collect the morning when leaves are filled with water and still? AND not the evening when they are given thirst and soft?

Dois-je en déduire qu'il vaut mieux récolter le matin quand les feuilles sont gorgées d'eau et dures ? ET non le soir quand elles sont assoiffées et molles ?

 

[squeezyjohn]

Je pense que c'est préférable à récolter quand elles sont molles pour faire un "pile cure" - trop de sève pourrait encourager la moisissure. Le principe est simplement que les feuilles meurent moins rapide avant qu'ils ne se déshydratent. Ce n'est pas le même chose que la fermentation où on utilise un technique semblable avec les feuilles brunes.

(I think it's better to harvest when they're softer for pile curing - too much sap could encourage mold. The principle is simply that the leaves die slower before they dry out completely. It's not the same as fermenting where you do much the same thing with cured leaf)

edit: Gavroche, il faut lire ce-que j'écris en français avec un FORT accent anglais! Je ne l'ai souvent parlé depuis l'école il y a 25 ans!!

 

[Gavroche]

(Je pense qu'il est préférable de récolter quand ils sont plus doux pour pile durcissement -. Trop de sève pourrait encourager la moisissure Le principe est tout simplement que les feuilles meurent plus lentement avant de sécher complètement Ce n'est pas la même chose que la fermentation où vous faites la même chose avec la feuille durcie).

Your french is TOP...nice ! thank you very much

 

[squeezyjohn]

"durcir" - je ne connaissais pas ce mot ... c'est "curing" non?

 

[squeezyjohn]

It's been quite the week here in the UK ... record September temperatures up to 34ºC recorded and for some the hottest day of the whole year! While that's a bit freaky from a global weirding point of view - it has been amazing ... this was today's misty morning view behind the house.


From a tobacco point of view it's working to get the curing job done. I have still not completed harvesting the Bolivian Criollo Black but the first priming I took back three weeks ago is completely colour cured and in hands! That's a record for me ... BCB is such a fast cure.

 

[deluxestogie]

Beautiful color and uniformity.

Bob

 

[squeezyjohn]

The BCB plants are still going strong, still suckering and still showing not a huge amount of signs that they are ripening further! I think I may just have to bite the bullet and harvest ... they are not going through the alligator skin stage they did last year - probably because we've had a lot less sun this year.

On the subject of sun, I fear my rustica may just have too little nicotine in it to make my twists from this year ... my initial testing for tingling and taste seem to indicate there's a lot less nic - at least in the first primed leaves

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Were they allowed to dry out fully first?

But yeah that's been my experience with rustica thus far. I still try every year.

I have one of your twists in now made from dark air working nicely. Dark air I think is my favorite all around leaf when scent flavor and strength is all considered. I think next year I'm going to grow Larry's 171 mainly. Hopefully it's the original with 7+ nic.

 

[squeezyjohn]

It worked well last year ... but I do think that sunlight levels have a big big impact on nicotine levels in leaf, especially in rustica types. That's one thing we can't control - the weather ... but it's often tempting to plant smaller rustica plants closer and I think that is a false economy as the large leaved types shade each other out too much.

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Yeah I will have a lot of large leaved to test.
I got some of the tr22 I believe from knucks, in Jessica's field trials it went to nearly 7mg after 2 weeks post topping compared to the 3.5 of the GC 1, and has leaves exactly half as large. But for an application where size is important, the smaller but more powerful might be must fine. I work in a tobacco free environment, so the ability for these little coins to simply be invisible is important.

But, I like everything about dark air. Flavor is good, smell is awesome, yield is tops, I might just be wasting time and space by experimenting with rusticas. Something keeps me growing them though. But I think next year the lion share of my space will go to dark air. Hopefully bigbonner does transplants again.