deluxestogie Grow Log 2016

[Smokin Harley]

I tried Besuki last year and it didn't do all that well. Not sure if I was just a bit green on the whole grow thing or maybe it was the fact the early part of the grow we had some flooding in the garden and it got a bit swamped out at times. I am not a big fan of Besuki anyway so it was no big deal . A garden is always a good learning experience. Teaches biology, life cycles,ecosystems, nutrition and even blurbs of small scale construction all at the same time. I wish the school systems would include it in their basic curriculum.

 

[deluxestogie]

What curing method will you be using for your Izmir this year?

First of all, I've had excellent results with "cloud-curing" of stalk-harvested Orientals. So that's what I will do with my Izmir-Karabaglar this year. You just need to protect them from rain, after the leaf has died. The presence of the stalks seems to minimize flash drying green. After stalk-harvesting, just twist a wire tightly around the base of the stalk, and hang it on a line.

I believe you get nicer Oriental leaf when it's primed, and strung in the sun after yellowing. This approach is more labor intensive, and requires actual sunlight. Once the primed leaf has begun to yellow in the shade, exposure to direct sunlight rapidly fixes a brighter, sweeter lamina, in a fashion similar to flue-curing.

Bob

 

[Smokin Harley]

You just answered a question I have been meaning to ask...

 

[cigarchris]

Thanks for the info! How many hours/days of (partial) sun exposure does it usually take?

 

[deluxestogie]

Expect about 1 to 2 weeks on the stalk. Maybe longer.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Nothing Yet Harvested

The Criollo (Ti 1376), shown below, is maturing in synchrony for all stalk levels, so this one will be stalk-harvested as soon as I can catch it without rain on the leaves.

Corojo (Pi 405643) is a little more typical, with the bottom more mature than the top leaf.

This year, my Hacienda del Cura staged a die-in. Of the survivors, I have two plants that are producing some decent leaf (better than when I grew it previously), even though they initiated budding at about 3' in height.

Because my transplanting was nearly a month late this year, the budworms showed up while the plants were still less than 12" tall. Tiny bites into very young leaves at the growth tip result in gaping divots when the leaves mature. I've seen this before, but on smaller, upper leaf. This year, the damaged leaves ended up being mid-level lugs. So the missing parts are dramatically larger.

My midget Columbian Garcia is beginning to produce some usable leaf, but as you can see, they are no taller than their Izmir bedmates.

Baldió Vera is nearly ready for stalk harvesting, while the Swarr-Hibshman still has a few weeks to go.

When a tobacco plant blows down, the auxins in the stalk rapidly accumulate in the downhill portion of the stalk that is still capable of growing longer, and initiate a corrective curve. This unequal stalk growth continues for a time, after the plant is set upright again. In the first image below, I restood the plant within about 20 minutes. (It could have been a bit longer, since it occurred a couple of weeks ago, and I may have waited for the horrid storm to pass.) My immediate attention was to restand my blown-over tomato cages. (Damn, cheap cages they sell these days are way too flimsy. I need to make some out of hog panel.) The tobacco was next.

Below, the plant was tilted by wind, but it tilted into an empty space left by a failed transplant. I just left it that way.

And finally, something of a mystery. I have several plants in different beds (and different varieties) that are displaying the mottling shown below.

The leaves otherwise appear healthy. My guess is that it represents some sort of nutrient imbalance, but I really don't know.

Bob

 

[rainmax]

... all your leaf is beautiifull.
I believe you willl start harvest. When?
How is Corojo 99 doing?

I will start colecting seco next week when I'm back from holidays. My veguero say that tobacco is beautifull and doing well.

 

[deluxestogie]

I'll begin harvesting (some stalk, some primed) very soon. The weather has not been cooperative.

Corojo 99 (Robaina) and low wage laborer.

As you can see, the Corojo 99 has reached an excellent height, and the leaves are generous and wide. All in all, it's my best variety this season.

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

They look great Bob, you forgot to mention you are 3ft 6 inches tall

 

[deluxestogie]

...you forgot to mention you are 3ft 6 inches tall

I do get shorter, the older I get.

Good news! I stalk-cut most of my Criollo today. It's now hanging in the shed. Harvest has begun. The Criollo seed plant, as well as two laggards are still in the ground.

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

Dang, I'm gonna try some eve drying this yr.

 

[Cigar]

Very nice looking plants there deluxestogie {the corojo 99}..by the way you have lost alot weight?? have you not??

 

[deluxestogie]

...you have lost alot weight?? have you not??

No.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Coroja has been stalk harvested.

Tomorrow, I will start priming my Corojo 99 and FL Sumatra. The Nostrano del Brenta is something of a mystery. All of its leaves are dark green and quite smooth. It seems like its lower leaves should be ready about now, but I guess I'll just watch. I think I'll wait about one more week on the Baldió Vera, then stalk-harvest it.

Last year (2015), I stalk-harvested my Vuelta Abajo. None of it looked all that great to start with. It never did color-cure very well, but remained fairly bright. I left it hanging in the shed through the winter and up until now, hoping that time would make it into something worth the trouble of kilning.

Well...thank you, American Electric Power. During the past 3 days, the electric power went out--for nine hours on Thursday, and seven hours today, Saturday. Thursday, it just went out for the hell of it. There wasn't even a storm for an excuse. Today, it was intentionally shut down so that crews could safely make "improvements to my service." No power; no fans in the shed. With the temps in the 90s and humidity stifling, that was all that it took to trigger all the Vuelta Abajo (20 hanging stalks) to suddenly mold on all the leaves. It appeared fine yesterday. So I tossed it all over the fence today, after removing the hanging nail from each stalk. If it were nicer leaf, I would feel bad about it. Instead, it's just a task that I won't have to worry about.

[My well has an electric pump. My stove is electric. Not to mention my two refrigerators. My tobacco kiln is electric. When the power goes out in the summer, I can't flush my toilets. I can't work my tobacco, because I can't wash my hands afterwards. I can't open the fridge to get anything--like cold water. It's like being suddenly transported to the jungles of Belize. I do have a little backpacking stove that I use to make a cup of coffee.]

On the same theme, my 2015 Long Red (stalk-cut) hung in the shed until about a week ago. I stripped it, and tied it into gorgeous hands of huge, deep red-brown leaf, then moved it to my enclosed back porch to await its turn in the kiln. That would have been a heart breaker if it had molded.

The other 2015 leaf still hanging in the shed (cruddy looking Red Rose stalks, and a couple of odd strings of stubborn leaf) shows no sign of mold. But I'll get it all out of there soon.

The only photo worth taking was one I didn't take--clouds of mold spores lifting from the Vuelta Abajo stalks as they landed on the ground outside the shed door.

Bob

 

[ProfessorPangloss]

Mega bummer. Sorry to hear. It's amazing how much it hurts to throw away something you grew - even if it's half of a tomato or some ugly leaf - but most of us probably chuck supermarket produce without a second thought. 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

 

[buck]

Time to invest in solar panels and a wind turbine ...

 

[deluxestogie]

Hmm...

At the time of this writing, the installed cost of solar panels was between $7-$9 per watt: A 5 kW system would cost around $25,000-$35,000.

https://www.solarpowerauthority.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-install-solar-on-an-average-us-house/

The purchase and installation of very small (<1 kW) off-grid turbines generally cost $4,000 to $9,000...

http://www.awea.org/Issues/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=4638&navItemNumber=727

Bob

 

[Smokin Harley]

Bob, if you rely on electric for everything like you say (even flushing the toilet, I totally understand we're on a well and so do we,thank God for the gas stove or we'd starve) , maybe its time to invest in one of those Generac units. When the power goes out , they fire up instantly. Not cheap but not $25-35,000 either.

 

[deluxestogie]

The economics of convenience is a curious subject.

If all civil infrastructure suddenly collapsed, then solar or wind would be the only answer. And a little birdie tells me that I would likely not live on, Walden-like, enjoying Nature's bounty in solitude.

But what I'm experiencing is several days per year that require alternatives to common routines. Yes, I lost about $15 worth of frozen veggies during a power outage this past winter--pissed off, but not bankrupted. Ditto for the few pounds of marginal tobacco in the shed.

My greatest issue, though, is heat to keep the pipes from freezing in the winter (this has never happened, though I always worry about it), and the burden of driving 5 miles to get a meal that I have to pay for, or to use the toilet. Lets say this happens 5 days per year (usually fewer), and that a generac at $2000 will last 10 years (probably fewer). So, not counting fuel and a substantial installation cost, my electrical "convenience insurance" will cost me $40 per day of use.

Now, if my life depended on my iron lung continuing to run non-stop, then $40 per day of use is a bargain. [I don't inhale cigars, so no iron lungs here.] I accept Lynn Weldon's lightweight backpacking adage that the burdens we carry are in proportion to our fears. I'm not particularly afraid of living in an uncivilized manner for a handful of days each year. So long as I can stir up a cup of coffee each day!

(John Wesley Powell's expedition down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon carried hundreds of pounds of coffee beans in their rickety boats, as they shot the unknown rapids.)

Bob

 

[Snusser]

As a kid, hurricane preps in Florida always started with filling up the bathtubs with water. If the power went out, scoop some water out of the bathtub with a bucket, pour into the toilet tank and you're good to go. Five gallon buckets to collect rainwater for the same purpose come in handy for longer outages.

Unless you have an electric lift pump in your system, it's all gravity feed to the septic tank. The toilet does not know if the electricity is on or not.

Hot water and cold beer are sure signs of civilization and good planning during a hurricane.