Post fermentation catch up: @WillQuantrill

[WillQuantrill]

Second attempt growing. First picture is from April 15, fairly certain seeds were started late March. Second picture is May 15. Tried to simplify strains this year to cut down on the chaos. Corojo (labeled Coroja), Corojo 99, Texas Cuban, and Moonlight. Biggest take aways for new guy at this stage is don't overwater! Alot of peat pellets or starter soil don't include nutrients, of which I had to add. Don't fool with cheap grow light under $25, that was part of my problem last year. The right tray with pellets I donated to a friend who just purchased 7 acres.

 

[WillQuantrill]

First set is June 1st, second set is June 15. Couple important lessons about this stage. I had read somewhere mounding the root ball was great for water shed. While it may be, it led to pretty narrow root dispersion so when the plants get tall enough they will lean or fall over. Had to buy 6' fiberglass stakes to tie off to. You will notice the Texas Cubans in the back grew very rapidly compared to the others with Moonlight taking the longest. Once the Corojo took hold though it became VERY productive. New guy lessons I learned at this stage... I should have added a second application of the granule insect treatment I put down original mid April and it wore off, but lots of research was paying off.

 

[WillQuantrill]

Late July and the plants are really hummin along. I had to water very seldom so I was lucky for decent weather. Here in Missouri I was a little more worried about hail and thunderstorms. The leaves on drying rope are in front of the window of my garage, front rope Seco, middle Viso, back Ligero. At this point I started to notice the MO bugs enjoy Texas Cuban leaf more than the 2 corojos. Moonlight was still pretty small. This is when I felt confident enough I might end up with a smokable end product. Kiln build started.

 

[WillQuantrill]

As my primings accumulated and dried I endeavored to build my kiln. Believe I posted some of these pictures in another thread about "alternative heat sources". I tried to do as much diy hardware as possible and have a fully automated, very efficiently operating kiln. 5 weeks in and I haven't had any electronics fail, and it seems to do the job! I did add a bunch of spanish cedar "deadman" blocks on the bottom grate cuz I figured it couldn't hurt holding moisture and may add to aroma. Set to 70-75%RH a gallon of distilled water lasts about 2 weeks. I will be painting the box and using a different weatherstripping on the door this winter. Biggest things I learned during this phase is the difference between relative humidity and "case". Having rolled my own cigars I always add moisture by feel so 70% RH humidity feels kinda dry to the touch in bulk form. I cranked it to 95% for 2 days just to see if it was sustainable and all de damned... after a few humidifier cycles it stayed pretty steady.

 

[WillQuantrill]

After 37 days kilning I pulled 3 strains of Seco. Pulled my paperclip hangers and brought into medium case. Sorted by strain and filler or binder/wrapper. Fresh aroma is awesome! The moonlight is about 3 weeks behind and it got stalk cured. Weighed finished leaf and vacuum sealed before I put into freezer for 3 days. Total first priming is 12oz. Not too shabby cuz I was fairly liberal discarding the mud lugs. Now I'm all caught up!

 

[WillQuantrill]

42nd day in the kiln for my visos, and ligeros... time to bag em! Starting to think the Oscuro method has something going for it. Of my corojo, corojo 99, and Texas Cuban I had topped and primed everything but Ligero of which I left on the plant for another 2-3 weeks. Then I stalk cut right below remaining leaf and air cured on the stalk. There is definitely potential for Texas Cuban Ligero to get that deeper Maduro to Oscuro color, and pretty thick as well. My only problem is I did not get alot of wrapper grade Tex Cuban as the bugs seemed to be noticeably more attracted to that strain then the others but will make excellent binder! Since we are experiencing an abnormally early cold snap I had to bring my operation of sorting indoors. The leaves do not come into case as quickly when it's 34*. Final weight totals on filler:
Texas Cuban (3 plants) 13.3 Oz
Corojo (3 plants) 12.9 Oz
Corojo 99 (3 plants) 7.5 Oz
The outperforming strain this year has been the COROJO which has 5 times the leaves that came out binder/wrapper grade. Will update soon on those weights for the 3 as I put em back in the kiln for another week. Moonlight still cooking in the kiln so stay tuned! Included the picture of the different ligeros to contrast color differences. Top is Tex Cuban which is close to Maduro, middle is Corojo 99 pretty standard Colorado shade, and the Corojo on bottom still has a reddish hue which I find surprisingly appealing.

 

[WillQuantrill]

Unplugged the kiln on my new kiln last night and it's time to total yields for the season!
Texas Cuban: 14.5 Oz
Corojo: 20.7 Oz
Corojo 99: 9.2 Oz
Moonlight: 6.1 Oz
Totalling 50.5 Oz
Things I will consider for next grow season: Favorite strain is Corojo hands down, I got 5.7 Oz of Binder and 2.1 Oz wrapper. The plants were easier to produce nice leaf, seemed more resistant to bugs and I really like the thicker leaf from Ligero for binder. Will be growing more in the future. Moonlight was unimpressive, so hopefully it has a great filler flavor. The maturation time in ground was alot slower, the bugs loved it and leaf size was half of the other strains. Something to note, maybe it's my dirt/environment but I initially had high hopes for the moonlight as it is billed as a wrapper leaf, after fermentation it had a really nice Connecticut Shade type color, kind of a poor man's shade wrapper. I packaged it all in vac seal bags which store nicely, during the vac cycle I stop short of a complete vacuum as I don't want the leaves compressed. Will follow up in the other forums for cigar blending my homegrown. Have a great holiday season!

 

[deluxestogie]

Moonlight is a variant of CT Shade, and similarly requires ~40% shade to produce larger leaves.

Bob

 

[WillQuantrill]

Ha, now I know. After first harvest I have alot more appreciation for being able to grow any wrapper grade let alone start into "shade" cloths.

 

[deluxestogie]

Florida Sumatra makes a decent wrapper when fully sun-grown. But so does Corojo 99. And the Corojo 99 makes better filler than Florida Sumatra.

Bob

 

[WillQuantrill]

Florida Sumatra makes a decent wrapper when fully sun-grown. But so does Corojo 99. And the Corojo 99 makes better filler than Florida Sumatra.

Bob

I had read (in some other thread) your recommendations on FL Sumatra so I bought some seeds a while back its on the grow list for 2024. All in all I am very very happy with my leaf and experience for this season. Worst case scenario I have a variety of WLT wrapper to fill with backyard binder and filler.