Hello from Utah, USA!

[Jer]

I am a noob, but a passionate one since I found out that I can grow tobacco in an area of the country that I did not think it would grow. This year was my first attempt and the four variants I started from seed turned out
healthy and beautiful if I say so myself!
Now comes the apparent hard part;
Curing and fermenting these gorgeous leaves
Into a worthy pipe blend.
After watching a zillion YouTube videos I decided to try a couple different methods that people say they have had success with.
I hung about a dozen leaves from the rafters of my unheated garage and stacked another dozen in towels in the same garage.
I am five days into the process.
After the first couple days all the leaves (which started about a fifty-fifty mix of green mottled with yellow) were turning a nice even golden color.
The last few days they seem to have turned to a blotchy dark brown that makes me worry that they are trying to spoil.
We have had a shift in temperatures of about 20 degrees cooler over the last couple days.
Down to about 70 degrees F daytime and 55 nighttime. Could this be too cold for the color curing process?
Thanks in advance for any feedback

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Be sure to read the New Growers' FAQ, and scan topics of interest in our Index of Key Forum Threads. Both are linked in the menu bar. Both growing and color-curing are highly dependent on your location, the particular growing season, and the climate. The specific tobacco varieties also strongly determine their color-curing patterns. But all yellow leaf that is continuing to color-cure will develop blotchy areas of brown, on their way to curing fully brown. Photos are helpful.

Be sure to shuffle the leaves you've stacked at least every few days, to avoid mold.

Bob

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome. Thank you for joining us.

 

[Jer]

Welcome to the forum. Be sure to read the New Growers' FAQ, and scan topics of interest in our Index of Key Forum Threads. Both are linked in the menu bar. Both growing and color-curing are highly dependent on your location, the particular growing season, and the climate. The specific tobacco varieties also strongly determine their color-curing patterns. But all yellow leaf that is continuing to color-cure will develop blotchy areas of brown, on their way to curing fully brown. Photos are helpful.

Be sure to shuffle the leaves you've stacked at least every few days, to avoid mold.

Bob

Thanks Bob, I will study the FAQ section and
Key forum threads. I have been shuffling and patting down the stacked leaves once per day. No signs of mold yet but I have seen occasional small droplets of water.
I will post some pics tomorrow.

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT

pier

 

[jclif43]

Welcome!

 

[Jer]

Thanks Bob, I will study the FAQ section and
Key forum threads. I have been shuffling and patting down the stacked leaves once per day. No signs of mold yet but I have seen occasional small droplets of water.
I will post some pics tomorrow.

Here are some pics of my first attempt at color curing. At a week into the process I am worried that a lot of the leaves are going to dry green. Should I mist any leaves that are getting hard and crispy?
Are night time temps of 50 degrees F too cold
For color curing?

 

[Knucklehead]

Here are some pics of my first attempt at color curing. At a week into the process I am worried that a lot of the leaves are going to dry green. Should I mist any leaves that are getting hard and crispy?
Are night time temps of 50 degrees F too cold
For color curing?

Your humidity may be dropping too low. Think in terms of trying to maintain ~70% average humidity over three day blocks of time. It will go up and down but try to maintain an average. Move those leaves to a cardboard box and reshuffle daily. If the green leaves are dry and crispy it may be too late but you can trim those green spots off with scissors later and use the rest that cured properly. After they are yellowed they can go back to the shed and allowed to die and turn brown and completely dry.

 

[Jer]

Thanks for the feedback, this is a mountain desert climate so humidity is prolly low.
I guess I better get a humidity gauge.
As far as temperature do you think I am ok?
And if I understand correctly you are saying the leaves would color cure better in a closed
Cardboard box?

 

[GreenDragon]

Hi Jer and welcome to the forum!

Having lived in central Texas for many years with a hot and dry climate I too had trouble color curing my leaf at first. The biggest problem is they can flash dry completely in a few hours if you are not careful. If they dry green they are no good - even if you rehydrate them and get them to brown.

I’ve found several methods that work for me. One is the cardboard box method. If they start to feel too dry when shuffling them you can mist them or add a wet paper towel to the box. I’ve also been successful curing in my garage. I bought a cheap weather station and keep it in the garage. If it’s too dry I pour water on the floor. Too humid and I’ll crack the door open a little. Also a box fan is a must to keep the air circulating to prevent mold.

Don’t be discouraged - the first year or two is always a steep learning curve as we all live in different environments and have to find what works best for us. Enjoy the journey and augment your grow with some WLT to play with over the winter.

 

[Jer]

Hi Jer and welcome to the forum!

Having lived in central Texas for many years with a hot and dry climate I too had trouble color curing my leaf at first. The biggest problem is they can flash dry completely in a few hours if you are not careful. If they dry green they are no good - even if you rehydrate them and get them to brown.

I’ve found several methods that work for me. One is the cardboard box method. If they start to feel too dry when shuffling them you can mist them or add a wet paper towel to the box. I’ve also been successful curing in my garage. I bought a cheap weather station and keep it in the garage. If it’s too dry I pour water on the floor. Too humid and I’ll crack the door open a little. Also a box fan is a must to keep the air circulating to prevent mold.

Don’t be discouraged - the first year or two is always a steep learning curve as we all live in different environments and have to find what works best for us. Enjoy the journey and augment your grow with some WLT to play with over the winter.

 

[Jer]

Thanks Green Dragon for the encouraging
Words. Hopefullly I can salvage some of my harvest. I think I will pick a few leaves today
and stack them in a box in a spare room in the house. I don’t know but I feel like my night time temps are too cold for the color cure process to work in my unheated garage.