Hello friends,
So, as the title says, this year was my first time ever growing tobacco and I don't want to mess up the harvest so I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to know when the plants are fully ripe and ready to be chopped? I will be stalk harvesting the whole plant rather than priming each leaf.
One mistake I know I made was planting them too close together, as I grossly underestimated how big and wide they would get. Does crowding have a negative effect on nicotine content?
The reason I ask is I originally started priming the bottom leaves as they were starting to yellow back in August. They were almost completely yelllow when I harvested them and hung them in my shed, in bunches, to cure. However, after drying them, out of curiosity I tried smoking these leaves in cigarettes and there was zero smell or flavour and no nicotine hit whatsoever. It was like smoking air. They also burned really fast, as the tobacco seemed dry, even though it was in case. It was like it was missing the sweet, aromatic, essential oils that would facilitate a slower burn.
I did notice that when I harvested the leaves they weren't sticky and not very thick. When the leaves dried they were almost translucent and brittle, not like leather and pliable, like the whole leaves I used to buy from WLT.
I'm still learning about this plant but I assume the stickiness is correlated to flavour and nicotine, as I actually harvested some suckers that had a few leaves that I hung to dry in the sun. Those leaves were very sticky and actually were thicker than the big lower leaves. They felt almost fuzzy like velvet and sticky. I dried them slowly on their small stalks and they took 2 weeks to dry. I was surprised to see they dried to a nice brown colour, even though they were fully green when harvested. When I smoked those sucker leaves, there was a nice flavour, thick smoke, a nicotine hit, and I even got a nice throat hit. There was a bit of the ammonia taste but surprisingly not that bad. And the cigarette burned nice and slow. I was quite impressed for sucker leaves that had no cure time. I anticipate the rest of the top leafs will be the best smoking, as long as they dry and cure properly.
I plan to dry these on the stalk in a garage as the lady I bought the seeds from, has a small tobacco farm in Ontario (I'm in southern BC) and that is how she says she gets the best flavour.
Now my dilemna is, how do I know when to harvest the plants? I would like to wait as long as I can as I know from gardening in general that the later in season with colder weather it brings out the oils and sugars in plants. However, the lower and middle position leaves are already yellow, some are drying right on the stalk, but the top of the plants are all still green, albeit a lighter shade of green now. Does this mean they are ready? I'm scared to chop them in case these top leaves don't cure yellow, as these will likely be the strongest and tastiest leaves and I don't want to mess them up and have them dry green, so I'm trying to hold off from harvesting as long as I can, but I also don't want to push my luck. It's starting to get cold at night. Almanac says first frost is October 6th. And I assume they need some time to dry in the garage before the freezing weather comes, so they don't freeze while still green/fresh. I may have to bring them inside.
Anyway, I'll quit talking and show the plants. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And please feel free to critique so I can learn what I can do better next year.
Cheers!
So, as the title says, this year was my first time ever growing tobacco and I don't want to mess up the harvest so I was wondering if I could get some advice on how to know when the plants are fully ripe and ready to be chopped? I will be stalk harvesting the whole plant rather than priming each leaf.
One mistake I know I made was planting them too close together, as I grossly underestimated how big and wide they would get. Does crowding have a negative effect on nicotine content?
The reason I ask is I originally started priming the bottom leaves as they were starting to yellow back in August. They were almost completely yelllow when I harvested them and hung them in my shed, in bunches, to cure. However, after drying them, out of curiosity I tried smoking these leaves in cigarettes and there was zero smell or flavour and no nicotine hit whatsoever. It was like smoking air. They also burned really fast, as the tobacco seemed dry, even though it was in case. It was like it was missing the sweet, aromatic, essential oils that would facilitate a slower burn.
I did notice that when I harvested the leaves they weren't sticky and not very thick. When the leaves dried they were almost translucent and brittle, not like leather and pliable, like the whole leaves I used to buy from WLT.
I'm still learning about this plant but I assume the stickiness is correlated to flavour and nicotine, as I actually harvested some suckers that had a few leaves that I hung to dry in the sun. Those leaves were very sticky and actually were thicker than the big lower leaves. They felt almost fuzzy like velvet and sticky. I dried them slowly on their small stalks and they took 2 weeks to dry. I was surprised to see they dried to a nice brown colour, even though they were fully green when harvested. When I smoked those sucker leaves, there was a nice flavour, thick smoke, a nicotine hit, and I even got a nice throat hit. There was a bit of the ammonia taste but surprisingly not that bad. And the cigarette burned nice and slow. I was quite impressed for sucker leaves that had no cure time. I anticipate the rest of the top leafs will be the best smoking, as long as they dry and cure properly.
I plan to dry these on the stalk in a garage as the lady I bought the seeds from, has a small tobacco farm in Ontario (I'm in southern BC) and that is how she says she gets the best flavour.
Now my dilemna is, how do I know when to harvest the plants? I would like to wait as long as I can as I know from gardening in general that the later in season with colder weather it brings out the oils and sugars in plants. However, the lower and middle position leaves are already yellow, some are drying right on the stalk, but the top of the plants are all still green, albeit a lighter shade of green now. Does this mean they are ready? I'm scared to chop them in case these top leaves don't cure yellow, as these will likely be the strongest and tastiest leaves and I don't want to mess them up and have them dry green, so I'm trying to hold off from harvesting as long as I can, but I also don't want to push my luck. It's starting to get cold at night. Almanac says first frost is October 6th. And I assume they need some time to dry in the garage before the freezing weather comes, so they don't freeze while still green/fresh. I may have to bring them inside.
Anyway, I'll quit talking and show the plants. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And please feel free to critique so I can learn what I can do better next year.
Cheers!
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