China Voodoo's 2016 grow blog

[Smokin Harley]

Little bugger tried to get away with my camera!

If he can run off with it , you might want to just let him have it...not worth getting injured over.

 

[Smokin Harley]

Unless I'm misreading his post I think you bring the exit pipe out of the top of the box, down toward the floor, U-turn back up and install the inlet side back into the top of the box. One pipe. The theory is that the distance of the pipe adds enough time for the heated humid air to cool down and condense back to liquid. (Removing liquid from the kiln air) The liquid runs down the inside of the pipe to its lowest point (the U). The hole in the bottom of the U allows the moisture to drain from the pipes' lowest point. Make your hole only large enough to quickly remove the water from the pipe as fast as it collects in the U, but small enough to hold in as much heated air as possible to prevent heat loss and increased cycling of the heat source to get the job done but keep electric costs down. Too large a hole will suck in more cooler outside air degading kiln efficiency, increasing heat cycling, and raising electricity usage. It sounds like a very efficient method of moisture removal.

Edit: BT beat me to it.

This sounds a lot like a condensate drain that is found on an air conditioning unit coil . I can totally picture this working. On the bottom U , would there be some sort of "drip leg" and a rubber tip on that and once a full level within the drip leg was achieved ,squeezed by hand ,the water would then drain out to a receptacle but normal position would keep the heated air in.
Um how about just for simplicity sake , install the drip leg on the bottom U like I'm picturing and simply slip a balloon over the end . the condensate would fill the balloon ,keep critters out and maintain the air within the system . when the balloon is full of condensate , remove to empty and reattach.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I totally get it. I'm afraid the drain might freeze if we had a -20 cold snap though. My original idea was similar. A pipe with inline fan would come in from the outside, then go back out. Both open ends of the pipe are to the outside of the shed, eh. Condensation would form on the cooler outside wall of the pipe inside the curing room. That water would drip into a reservoir to be disposed of later.

 

[Brown Thumb]

I would be using 3 in dia. pipe. It shouldn't freeze if you have a drain hole a 1/4 in.
Your recirculating Hot Air it should not freeze if it is draining out.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Is this Cercospora nicotianae or Pseudomonas syringae? Does it really matter? It's only on 4 out of 20 Costello Negro plants and hasn't affected any other variety.

 

[deluxestogie]

My first thought is Tobacco Etch Virus (TEV). I suspect that you won't ever know, unless it's analyzed in a lab.

http://www.ipmimages.org/browse/subthumb.cfm?sub=6951&area=62&systemid=2

My experience with TEV is that it affects only a few neighboring leaves on the same plant, and doesn't easily spread to nearby plants. Early infection seems to cause more damage to the leaf than a late infection. So panic is probably not in order.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

My first thought is Tobacco Etch Virus (TEV). I suspect that you won't ever know, unless it's analyzed in a lab.

http://www.ipmimages.org/browse/subthumb.cfm?sub=6951&area=62&systemid=2

My experience with TEV is that it affects only a few neighboring leaves on the same plant, and doesn't easily spread to nearby plants. Early infection seems to cause more damage to the leaf than a late infection. So panic is probably not in order.

Bob

Excellent. Now so long as my tobacco and I don't get burned by this lightning storm, it'll all be good. Thank you Bob.

 

[deluxestogie]

Growing tobacco and hail are not a happy combination.

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

Good luck, we had the same forecast the other day.
We got High winds and the much needed rain but the hail dident happen.
For some reason the plants are still vertical.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

My new tobacco kilns are approximately 500cubic feet each, run on natural gas and are capable of 1.5 million btu per hour. They are fully programable and produce paper records of the heat treating cycle. See photos. (just kidding)

 

[Smokin Harley]

looks like overkiln to me....

 

[Gavroche]

lol

Ah ah ah China... it's your dream ?...

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

lol

Ah ah ah China... it's your dream ?...

I used to dream of developing a line of high carbon, high chrome / stainless cast-iron cookware that you could safely leave wet without rust. I could use an oven like that to make sure they remain ductile.

 

[Smokin Harley]

if you ever abandon tobacco processing you can always go into powder coating with that setup.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I've decided to hold off on flue curing this year and go with basic air curing. The additional fire proofing the wife wanted was just too complicated of construction and expensive. I'm mid way in building my shed. But for now here's some photos of tobacco. I need to make some stakes for the yenidge.
Ostrolist, Helena, Ternopolski, Costello, Canik, yenidge, Lattaquie, N.alata

 

[Cigar]

Very Nice grow log so far ChinaVooDoo!!


Cigar

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Very Nice grow log so far ChinaVooDoo!!


Cigar

Thank you Cigar.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

There's no way to predict September, but it is looking like summer is over.

 

[Cigar]

we just had first cool-down in months [down to upper 80'sF] but already going back up like normal..it wont be until late Sept.-early Oct before are heat/humid weather usally breaks! what I dont understand is have seen alot states having "county fairs" already?? when I was kid the state fair was not unitl like late Sept-early Oct maybe am getting old and cant remember??

Cigar

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I finished my curing shed, so now i can start harvesting. I primed the Ostrolist, and Ternopolski, and stalk harvested most of the Yenidge. A lot of the lower leaves on the Lattaquie were basically cured. I picked those and put them in the kiln instead.