China Voodoo's 2016 grow blog

[deluxestogie]

That's big leaf! Very nice rack arrangement in the shed.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

That's big leaf! Very nice rack arrangement in the shed.

Bob

Thanks, Sir.
I have to confess that those are the biggest leaves and are in no way representative of my crop as a whole. I will be documenting the build soon.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Catastrophic temp and humidity controller fail. My Auber instruments dual plug and play controller messed up today. Yellowing was done on my first small pick. I set it for wilting at 118F and went to bed. It's a good thing I set up a web cam to monitor my controller. I woke up, checked the webcam and saw it was 149F. Good thing it was a brand new controller because I have an old finicky one to replace it.
The heat output on the new controller is permanently on, period. Whether or not the red led is on. The short setting is set to off. It stays on even when the sensor isn't hooked up.

So I'm kinda pissed. It would take three weeks to send it back and get a new one. I'm afraid of the old one not working because there's these little wires on the sensor cord that are just hanging on and make the unit stop working if they touch.

Then there's the tobacco. It went straight from 100 to 149F in 8hours . It's still yellow. Dammit

 

[Brown Thumb]

That's odd if new, you have it set up right.
also don't have the sensor hanging in the leaf.
Try to put the new sensor on the old controller if that is the issue.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

That's odd if new, you have it set up right.
also don't have the sensor hanging in the leaf.
Try to put the new sensor on the old controller if that is the issue.

The new unit is the American one while the old unit is the international one and the plugs for the controllers are different sizes. But i don't think it matters. The heat line on the unit stays on even when the sensor is not hooked up at all, see: I brought it inside; the lights on the ceiling are plugged into it.

It was working fine for a whole week before I picked tobacco. It was fine for the first three days of curing. The unit is outside and the sensor is permanently going through the wall and positioned at least a foot from the tobacco.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Well now, I opened it up just to see. I saw that there's nothing I know anything about inside and immediately closed it back. Now it's working. So what happens if I send it back (not that it would be back before picking season is over) they would just say there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bad luck. If your leaf is yellow (not puffy red, or green), then you may as well go ahead and finish a stem kill at 165ºF. There's nothing left to go wrong at this point.

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

that sucks. Auburn should ship you a new one right away.
Just tell them your issue and talk to them on the phone.
They shipped me another sensor N/C a yr later, next day air.
Show or tell them you tested it.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Well now, I opened it up just to see. I saw that there's nothing I know anything about inside and immediately closed it back. Now it's working. So what happens if I send it back (not that it would be back before picking season is over) they would just say there's nothing wrong with it.

I have found moisture can make them screwy.
Rock on, or like bob said bring up the temps. Don't nail it with 165 tho.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Thanks fellas. I didn't think the heater would do 149F. I didn't even have it at max. I was planning on finishing at 135F, rather than 165F, so i think I'll stick with that.

Bob, what do you mean by puffy?

I wonder if there was just a wire or plug that got slightly readjusted when I opened up the unit. I wonder if I can rely on it now.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Stems get Puffy or shrink. If they all shrank rock on.
Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Stems get Puffy or shrink. If they all shrank rock on.
Bob

Some of the stems are pretty puffy. All of the lamina is definitely wilted.

I kind of want to get this run over with so I can assess the controller situation without being stressed out. I need to break the calking seal in the wall to get the sensor cable out. I thought i might run the shed with the old one and the kiln with the new one until I trust it again.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

It's actually more yellow than that. Phone photos are never very good

 

[SmokesAhoy]

Looks beautiful China, well done

 

[deluxestogie]

In flue-curing, if too much moisture reaches the lamina after yellowing, but before the yellow color is fixed by leaf drying, the lamina can take on a spongy, red-brown character. I don't know if you have yellow dry leaf or yellow floppy wet leaf. If the latter, then you can drop to 115ºF for leaf drying, and continue to ramp the temp.

Of course, you've eventually got to get those stems crispy dried. So if the leaf is currently yellow and dry, then you can start at 125-135ºF, and fully dry the stems. Flue-curing is not "finished" at 135ºF.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Here's the first pick of Costello Negro coming out of the flue cure.
I feel pretty good about these results. I did take this run up to 165F.

 

[deluxestogie]

Beautiful. I see bright lamina and black, dry stems. Nice work.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Beautiful. I see bright lamina and black, dry stems. Nice work.

Bob

Thank you Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

Scooby Do Super Looking Leaf.
Two Brown Thumbs Up

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Tips of tobacco turning very brown during yellowing... I have 5 different tobaccos in the flue curing shed at the same time and the timing wasn't totally perfect. I staggered hanging them over five days depending on the colour. The last ones I put in, only one 4' stick--half Ostrolist and half Ternopolski 7-- yellowed fastest and began getting a deep chocolate brown at the tips. It looks delicious, and it is what it is. I'm not worried. I'm just curious what it is. It's gonna look interesting, like half super bright yellow, half deep chocolate brown.

They were picked and piled for four days @60F, then put in the shed at 100F 85%rh for two days, then raised to 107F 85% for one day. Now it's on drying phase @135F. Sorry, no pictures. I don't want to disturb the drying phase.