I tried a late 2nd crop of orientals last year. I noticed in early June that my regular crop of burley/virginias was bolting to bud early. So, I started a full crop of turkish varieties. They were in the ground in early/mid-July.
Bursa, bafra and samsum were all topped in early September, before budding. The bursa & barfa and just the lower leaves of the samsum matured well, color sun-cured nicely, but were too dry to process last fall. The upper leaves of the samsum never cured well, mostly dried green.
I left all hanging in my shed over winter, at ambient temperature. It wasn't until late March that the humidity started to rise, and finally just finished processing (remove midrib) this last week. All is now being kiln-fermented. Most all the upper leaves on the dried-green samsum were trashed - but did keep a few just to see how they'd smoke.
Don't know if I'd try this again. I know I was lucky to get what I did.
Biggest problem was weather during the curing phase, difficult to sun or air cure with cool temps, cloudy days and varying humidity. I did notice that some leaves that I thought was showing or partially dried green, did actually brown nicely overwinter.
There may be varieties, like Havana 142, or bursa/bafra, that will mature early, and be worth trying to start late in early summer. I would say no on most burleys and virginias.
