You really make me LOL...hahaha
That really makes me lol and think how many times ...do.. we do that?
Pleasant experience.
Thank You guys for make me such a laugh...
deluxestogie Grow Log 2016
- Thread starter deluxestogie
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You really make me LOL...hahaha
That really makes me lol and think how many times ...do.. we do that?
Pleasant experience.
Thank You guys for make me such a laugh...
Gavroche
Well-Known Member
Good, but pepper.. many pepper... But without being aggressive or irritating
The Izmir-Karabaglar has been sun-curing on its stalks for 17 days now.
After a few more days, I'll strip the leaves, and pretty them up for a leaf photo. I'm sure it will reaffirm that priming gives you better coloration (a faster cure) in sun-curing than when it is stalk-harvested.
So far, I've had to move them to the shed for about 1 hour, because of drizzle a few mornings ago. But otherwise they've just hung on the line the whole time. I may use Knucklehead's seedling mat method for fully drying the stems.
Bob
After a few more days, I'll strip the leaves, and pretty them up for a leaf photo. I'm sure it will reaffirm that priming gives you better coloration (a faster cure) in sun-curing than when it is stalk-harvested.
So far, I've had to move them to the shed for about 1 hour, because of drizzle a few mornings ago. But otherwise they've just hung on the line the whole time. I may use Knucklehead's seedling mat method for fully drying the stems.
Bob
Izmir-Karabaglar has been moon-curing on its stalks for 17 nights now.
After a few more nights, I'll strip the leaves, and....
Bob
After a few more nights, I'll strip the leaves, and....
Bob
Tutu
Well-Known Member
Hahaha the good joke aside, it is a nice picture of tobacco by night!
Tonight is the harvest moon. I suppose it's time to harvest that Izmir-Karabaglar.
Bob
Bob
On this day of the Harvest Moon, the temp has remained in the low 70s, the sky is overcast, and the relative humidity high enough to handle some leaf.
The 5 stalks of Izmir-Karabaglar were removed from the line, and stripped. I tossed only 3 trashy bottom leaves and 2 tiny green top leaves. The rest is what you see.
Sounds easy. At stripping, the leaf was shriveled and replete with spiders, spider webs, earwigs, bug poop, grass clippings, and other undesirable foreign matter. After all, it had spent 3 weeks serving as a bug condo. That's what sun-curing is. So after evicting the living things, each leaf was carefully spread open, wiped clean with my fingers, then lovingly placed onto an inverted 1020 lattice tray. I separated the leaf into 3 crude batches:
I placed the 1020 tray sandwich onto a wire shelf in my enclosed back porch, in a location that receives about 1/2 day of direct sunlight. A seedling heat mat is positioned between the bottom tray and the wire shelf.
Once all the stems are dry, the Izmir-Karabaglar will await its turn in the kiln.
What Remains
Still remaining to be harvested are 3 strings of leaf: one each of Columbian Garcia, Swarr-Hibshman and very Little Dutch. I'll probably do these within the next few days. My shed if FULL.
Bob
The 5 stalks of Izmir-Karabaglar were removed from the line, and stripped. I tossed only 3 trashy bottom leaves and 2 tiny green top leaves. The rest is what you see.
Sounds easy. At stripping, the leaf was shriveled and replete with spiders, spider webs, earwigs, bug poop, grass clippings, and other undesirable foreign matter. After all, it had spent 3 weeks serving as a bug condo. That's what sun-curing is. So after evicting the living things, each leaf was carefully spread open, wiped clean with my fingers, then lovingly placed onto an inverted 1020 lattice tray. I separated the leaf into 3 crude batches:
- cruddy, but smokable leaf
- Bob's Finest
- stuff that still has undried stems
I placed the 1020 tray sandwich onto a wire shelf in my enclosed back porch, in a location that receives about 1/2 day of direct sunlight. A seedling heat mat is positioned between the bottom tray and the wire shelf.
Once all the stems are dry, the Izmir-Karabaglar will await its turn in the kiln.
What Remains
Still remaining to be harvested are 3 strings of leaf: one each of Columbian Garcia, Swarr-Hibshman and very Little Dutch. I'll probably do these within the next few days. My shed if FULL.
Bob
Leftovers
I suppose that the photos below are actually documentation of segments of my growing beds that should not be planted in tobacco (or anything). All other conditions being equal in my various beds, these particular spots have issues with the intrusion of tree roots (beyond the drip margins of the nearest trees).
I'll give partial credit to these Swarr-Hibshman plants, since they were transplanted several weeks later than the rest of that bed, which grew Vuelta Abajo well.
All of these midget Little Dutch will yield one string of leaf.
The small bed in which the Colombian Garcia are struggling seems to grow peas very well, but not tobacco. There is a dwarf apple tree to its left. Yield for 5 plants: 1 string of leaf. [I regularly misspell "Colombian", as in the photo caption.]
The semi-shade-grown FL Sumatra that I planted at the corner of my porch will yield maybe a dozen thin wrappers, if I can cure them this late.
There comes a time in the existence of a tobacco leaf between beautiful green and beautiful color-cured that is just awkward. All this ugly, messy stuff should become more presentable in a week or so.
Bob
I suppose that the photos below are actually documentation of segments of my growing beds that should not be planted in tobacco (or anything). All other conditions being equal in my various beds, these particular spots have issues with the intrusion of tree roots (beyond the drip margins of the nearest trees).
I'll give partial credit to these Swarr-Hibshman plants, since they were transplanted several weeks later than the rest of that bed, which grew Vuelta Abajo well.
All of these midget Little Dutch will yield one string of leaf.
The small bed in which the Colombian Garcia are struggling seems to grow peas very well, but not tobacco. There is a dwarf apple tree to its left. Yield for 5 plants: 1 string of leaf. [I regularly misspell "Colombian", as in the photo caption.]
The semi-shade-grown FL Sumatra that I planted at the corner of my porch will yield maybe a dozen thin wrappers, if I can cure them this late.
There comes a time in the existence of a tobacco leaf between beautiful green and beautiful color-cured that is just awkward. All this ugly, messy stuff should become more presentable in a week or so.
Bob
Strelok
Member
Columbian Garcia beautiful leaves,fluted. Eye-pleasing.
Tutu
Well-Known Member
Strelok's right, they do like nice. But so does the FL Sumatra. Thin and wafer-thin veins. Hope you'll be able to cure them to stretchy wrappers. An enjoyable read. The sun cured leafs look very nice. If you hadn't mentioned all the NTRM you'd think that all went flawless! The cured leafs look brilliant. I might start growing some orientals here at one point and give sun curing a shot!
I'm a sucker for a pink sunrise.
The garden.
The pasture.
The white contrails in the second photo converge on Roanoke, which is about 30 miles away.
Bob
The garden.
The pasture.
The white contrails in the second photo converge on Roanoke, which is about 30 miles away.
Bob
Cigar
Well-Known Member
WOW so cool..but I cant see out of my jail cell..makes wish I could!!
Gavroche
Well-Known Member
I like your sequencing and your layout everything is straight and clean!
The lines of plane are practical to sow on-line the tobacco lol
j'aime votre ordonnancement et votre agencement... tout est droit et propre !
les lignes d'avion sont pratiques pour semer en ligne le tabac lol
The lines of plane are practical to sow on-line the tobacco lol
j'aime votre ordonnancement et votre agencement... tout est droit et propre !
les lignes d'avion sont pratiques pour semer en ligne le tabac lol
Most of my Little Dutch looked quite like yours, it's good and aromatic, though.
My Prilep didn't sun-cure as fast as your Izmir, one third of the plant is still not done. I had to take the almost-cured leaves down since a major rain period started, and I fear mould. Stem-drying is now done in a sun-heated room.
My Prilep didn't sun-cure as fast as your Izmir, one third of the plant is still not done. I had to take the almost-cured leaves down since a major rain period started, and I fear mould. Stem-drying is now done in a sun-heated room.
I agree that even runty Little Dutch is distinctively aromatic. If the leaves are thoroughly riddled with flea beetle holes (as the lower leaves of my runty plants often are), they don't cure properly, and are, in my view, not worth the trouble. So I'll certainly keep the nice leaves, but probably trash many of the lower ones.
Bob
Where Do Hornworms Go when they Die?
If they don't die, they burrow into the soil beneath their latest plant, and pupate, waiting for favorable weather to emerge as a glorious Manduca sexta Hawk Moth.
But if a Braconid wasp lays its eggs inside it, the hapless hornworm never goes far. The dead hornworm in the photo lies at the foot of the pepper plant on which I photographed it 11 days ago. No ceremony. It just turns black, and slowly becomes a part of the soil.
If the creepy analogy with Aliens is not strong enough already, the detail view below shows all those little cocoons with their lids popped open. The tiny Braconid wasp babies have left the nest, and now fly about the garden, searching for the next hornworm.
Bob
If they don't die, they burrow into the soil beneath their latest plant, and pupate, waiting for favorable weather to emerge as a glorious Manduca sexta Hawk Moth.
But if a Braconid wasp lays its eggs inside it, the hapless hornworm never goes far. The dead hornworm in the photo lies at the foot of the pepper plant on which I photographed it 11 days ago. No ceremony. It just turns black, and slowly becomes a part of the soil.
If the creepy analogy with Aliens is not strong enough already, the detail view below shows all those little cocoons with their lids popped open. The tiny Braconid wasp babies have left the nest, and now fly about the garden, searching for the next hornworm.
Bob
Today, I accompanied my brother and his wife, along with our sister, as we ventured into a lovely area of the nearby Jefferson National Forest called Glen Alton. It's within a mile or so of the VA WV border.
Along a gravel mountain road, we came across a cluster of foot-high wildflowers that none of us could identify.
After returning home, I spent over an hour trying to track down its identity. This is a Closed Bottle Gentian. Apparently these fall blooms never open. They stay just like in the photo. I read that the ordinary Bottle Gentian blossoms open a bit, and display a small amount of ruffle as they do so.
It was nice to not have to fuss with tobacco plants today.
Bob
Along a gravel mountain road, we came across a cluster of foot-high wildflowers that none of us could identify.
After returning home, I spent over an hour trying to track down its identity. This is a Closed Bottle Gentian. Apparently these fall blooms never open. They stay just like in the photo. I read that the ordinary Bottle Gentian blossoms open a bit, and display a small amount of ruffle as they do so.
It was nice to not have to fuss with tobacco plants today.
Bob
Tutu
Well-Known Member
Haha of the hook for a day!
I have 4 leaves yet to harvest. They're the tips of my landscape specimen FL Sumatra. Since that plant was never topped, and has yet to blossom, I may just allow it to run its course--so long as the weather holds out. I likely have 4+ weeks before the first frost.
So long as the last 4 strings of leaf manage to yellow, I'll be content. The Colombian Garcia, Midget Little Dutch and stunted Swarr-Hibshman will all probably end up in a Perique press.
I'm considering using them to make a drippy wet, super long cigar from wilted yellow leaf, then coil it up, and place it in the Perique jar under pressure--an experimental approach. A new twist on twist. If it works, I will have a twist coil with a square cross-section. Maybe with a FL Sumatra wrapper!
Bob
Yesterday evening...
The view from my porch.
Bob
The view from my porch.
Bob
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