Robncars 2021 (and winter 2020) Grow

[Knucklehead]

So if im reading you right (they had massive stems in the SSBM) I may need to adjust my wilt and yellow time for them. Just let them color before I start curing. Don't hurry dont worry?

I smoke cigarettes daily with the occasional cigar or pipe once in a while. I prime the cigar types when they are mature and my cigarette varieties when they are yellow and ripe (with the exception of Orientals). Curing goes better when they are yellower at harvest, but the leaf will be stronger in both flavor and nicotine kick which I actually prefer. Some people may not. Thicker leaf like the dark air is just going to take longer to cure than thinner leaf at a comparable state of maturity (especially the stems).

 

[Knucklehead]

And 1 more question just cause I'm curious- anybody know what variety produces the biggest leaf and how big is it?
My mammoths are nice. 18x20 green

I didn’t take measurements but my largest leaves were either Maryland 609 or a number of different dark air varieties like your Small Stalk Black Mammoth. My heaviest, thickest leaves were the dark air. The Maryland was huge but rather thin.

 

[deluxestogie]

Here are my biggest leaves (always the 10th leaf from the bottom):




Bob

 

[Robncars]

So the leaves are in a closed chamber like a kiln but at air curing conditions? That will work well when the climate isn’t cooperating. I have to battle the climate, too, at harvest time. Temps are great but big humidity swings. Are you venting your chamber? They are putting out a lot of moisture now. If that’s okay I would just keep feeling the leaf and watch.

Yeah I built a flue chamber out of a 2 door stainless fridge. I set it to 95⁰ with (hopefully) 80% humidity. It worked great to yellow leaves last year


From last year
My humidity is atrocious here. Relative humidity averages 70%

 

[Robncars]

I'm going to try to let the rest yellow on the stalk, idk if those grasshoppers get any worse ill have to strip the leaves.
The rustica simply won't change. The frozen leaves look more black in the flue chamber than the not frozen ones. It will be interesting to note the color cure.
1 Incekara has been topped for 2 weeks. Very dainty leaves compared to the others. No sign of alligator or yellowing. Very smooth shiny leaves. The drastic difference to the rest peaks my curiosity.

Many of my plants have substantial leaf damage. 50/50 between wind damage and hopper damage. If I grew for cigars I'd need crop insurance. I like to try to grow wrapper grade just to admire the leaf but I grind them to flour anyway. Source of pride when I can show a perfect leaf the size of a lazyboy recliner arm this one is from last year

You can see part of a PS4 controller in the bottom left corner. (Some get a better idea of the size of the leaf. )

 

[Robncars]

The wind visited me while I wasnt home yesterday. Blew 1 big gem over. It had been topped for awhile so it snapped right off.
Wind damage is bad this year

 

[Robncars]

The staghorn i put a bud bag over and was seeding blew over today. Snapped it off. I snapped the stalk at the bud bag tie after leafing it. I have no idea if it will continue to seed or just die off.

 

[deluxestogie]

Hang the unexpected bud bag in a relatively temperate location, out of the sun, preferably moderate humidity (so it doesn't immediately dry out). Then just hope for the best.

Even well developed tobacco seed is somewhat refractory to germinating during the autumn after it was grown. This winter, sprinkle some of the seed on a paper towel or coffee filter, mist it, and enclose it in a Ziploc bag. Find a 70-80°F place to allow it to try to germinate. Within a week or two of starting that trial, you will know it's approximate germination rate. Might be zero. Might be 95%.

Bob

 

[Robncars]

My main pile of rustica leaves

 

[Robncars]

So I went from a skillet to a crockpot in my flue chamber. I just couldn't keep the humidity up this year.

 

[Robncars]

The grasshoppers are desperate and sitting through the diatomaceous earth. They stripped one of my rhubarb plant of all leaf overnight. My tomatoes and raspberries are surviving better though. Not sure why. Even the rustica- which the hoppers wouldn't touch until now- have a couple hoppers hanging on them- even covered in diatomaceous earth. Clean dry. No reason they should still be there.
Rhubarb


Wind and hopper damage


Incekara hopper damage

 

[Robncars]

So im thinking I may have a solution for those hoppers. If I take 2 sheets of chicken wire an put wood between them. Maybe a 1/4x1 board every like 6" stretch them up tight and add an electric fencer. Voila -giant grasshopper zapper

 

[deluxestogie]

Agribon AG-15 is an excellent insect barrier.

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Bob

 

[Robncars]

Agribon AG-15 is an excellent insect barrier.

Bob

I feel like tobacco would hate netting. It seems to hate anything touching it

 

[deluxestogie]

Depending on my growing season (that is, from year to year), I have used a floating row cover of Agribon AG-15 over entire tobacco beds for the first month after transplant. I use it for bud bags that sometime end up including newly sprouted leaf that crowds inside the tied bag.

Bob

 

[Cray Squirrel]

I didn’t take measurements but my largest leaves were either Maryland 609 or a number of different dark air varieties like your Small Stalk Black Mammoth. My heaviest, thickest leaves were the dark air. The Maryland was huge but rather thin.

Just finished the last set of leaves before it freezes. Madole, dark tobacco, was by far the largest leaf of Little Yellow, Black Mammoth and of course Madole.
It's a very highly ranked commercial variety but needed 7 weeks to ripen, tends to mold on the stem and have house burn around those huge, moist leaf stipes. Huge, heavy and thick leaves... very sticky..

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Nice leaves. Good luck with the cure!

 

[Cray Squirrel]

Nice leaves. Good luck with the cure!

That's Madole... it cures easy but watch for mold. I dont care for leaves this big. Just finished stringing a bunch of really big Tenn 86 burley. I like the leaf size of little yellow real well. The black mammoth does have the wider leaf that gives you weight. That little yellow cures easily.

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

big fat oily heavy black mammoth for the win! lol I originally got my small stalk black mammoth seeds so my wife could roll up her medicine but also to make moist snuff. I hope it turns out well. There's a member on here that has a recipe that sounds amazingly close to copenhagen longcut that I am going to try as a base. While southern blend is my current fav, it's all about the longcut! lol

 

[Oldfella]

Looking good Cray, I'm looking at growing some of the Dark Tobacco varieties this season. I usually do two grows a year, summer and Winter. Keep us posted on your progress.
Oldfella