Wombat's 2026 Grow Log

[Wombat_smokes]

After letting my Trabzon #2 rest over night, it is most leaves are in extra wet high case (almost like a wet sponge) to high case (leathery & stretchy). Only two leaves had small spots of white mold around the midrib at the center of the leaves. These 2 leaves and a few more didn't have the last 1/3 of the mid rib brown.


Some leaves have thin, translucent spots; but all have. Cured to a nice golden brown.

There was a fair bit of leaf damage from the wind knocking things about, but 4 small hands of "tangled" flue-cured tobacco is still good, smokable product. Each hand had ~9 - 10 leaves.

While the next step is to expirament with a solar kiln, I am unsure if I should remove the stems now or later. Midribs/stems mean excess moisture, therefore, mold. For mold safety, I want to dry down to low/medium case. Removing stems now is also convenient since their already in high case.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Well, I done did it. Hand thrashed my 1st batch of high case Brightleaf (Trabzon #2)


I swear shelling 5 gallons of green beans (white mountain half-runner) out of my Grandaddy's South Carolina garden was easier. There's a delicate balance between too moist and just right moisture for pulling stems.

I am tempted to save the stems to make my own reconstituted tobaco wrappers (paper), but that's a project for a different grow year.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

What a productive day. Yaladag is strung up to cure and my clear lid, water/dust resistant tote has the Trabzon #2 as a solar kiln.

I hope the Yayladag isn't too green to cure properly. Half of each plant was starting to lighten in color with yellowing base leaves.

The Trabzon #2 smelled wonderfully of raisons and dare I say, honey. We'll see if this 1st priming "kilns" well or if it molds. I admit it was still in high case, but I wanted some humidity left inside to aid the process and expect the sun to thoroughly warm the tote.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

I checked on the solar kiln yesterday afternoon with an instant read meat thermometer (analog). The thermometer is 5°-10°F too high (need to calibrate) and measured 140°F in the tote. Adjusting for the inaccuracy, the kiln is 130°-135°F. Hopefully, this did not have time to fully denature the oxidase enzymes. However, that should only cause the color to stay light golden brown/orange while peroxidase will still develop the flavors.

Also, the raisin smell did get stronger throughout the day.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Maltya is stripped and resting in my "bushel" bag.

Leaves are a bit tattered & bug nibbled, but they'll still be good smokes. Some leaves dried a bits of green, but I'm hoping the kiln will help fix that.

Bursa is now hung to cure.


Yayladag is coming along nicely.


Things not going so well.... my Frog Eye Orinoco is having trouble with ripening lower leaves. I see them maturing, but it feels like lower leaves are feeding suckers & flowers instead of yellowing. I keep picking suckers. Trabzon #2 seems to be doing the same thing.


Oh, and the Shargo is now mature. I'm topping and picking suckers while waiting for plants to be 50% yellow before I stalk harvest.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

4 plants worth of Åhus are sacked for curing.


My full sun, Åhus grow bed has made a lot of leaves with good size. All were planted at 12 inches or less. I haven't even harvested the biggest plant (which had ~6 inches of space). My largest stalk harvested, 1st early spring crop looks to be drying green, but I'm not going to intervene. An expirement in Åhus stalk curing.

I'm suprised how some varieties will tell you they are ready to harvest by yellowing on the plant while others do well when you decide they are ready. Brightleaf, Burley and most Orientals (esp. my chosen varieties) ripen on the stalk and you harvest accordingly. With the advice for topping Åhus and wait 3 weeks, I'm diversifying my harvesting & curing methods to maximize my yeild.

My 3rd Åhus crop will be grown more like an Oriental. I'll top once to promote larger leaves, but let the suckers grow until the plants are either "ripe" or it's too late in the season for continued growth.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

I harvested 4 more Åhus yesterday. I still have 6 more - some are runts. I had to cut my harvest session short due to curious wasps. I had no desire to accidentally anger one.

As I stripped the leaves, I sorted them by size. The largest leaves are 17 x 9 inches. 7 plants are stacked for bag curing. It took 3 brown paper grocery sacks to avoid making the piles too big. I am stalk curing 1 of the smaller plants. We'll see if it dries slightly green, or cures properly.

I also brought the 1st batch of Åhus into case for stripping. Their green tint now looks more of a garish green-brown.

 

[green_bean]

View attachment 60407

What you got growing between the tobacco rows? From here, it resembles epazote.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Weeds
Lambsquarter, red root pig weed, goat thorn, oxtail grass, Scotch/Canada thistle, perennial pepperweed, various members of the Asteracea Family.....

My garden is a constant battle with weeds. Start with nothing there. Week after week, no weeds. Then some small sprouts pop up and they're manageable. Then, like magic, they explode and take over the rows.

The only "not weed" I allow to grow is alfalfa. Alfalfa is EXTREMELY drought tolerant once established. I have some outside of the garden that grows quite well with the meager rain get. The only reason alfalfa hay gets a bad rap in the arid west is growers want to maximize their season with regrowth - more harvests, more money.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Well.... I came home from work due to a "hard to work through" migraine. I slept a good portion off and decided to medicate the rest of my migraine with some nicotine in the garden. I stripped most of the Yayladag and primed the Frog Eye Orinoco to about the 3rd or 4th stalk position. Much of it was green with signs of maturity. I chose to harvest instead of let the ripe leaves become food for insects.



For color curing, I piled the Frog Eye Orinoco leaves and covered them with a brown bag. The pile is 11 inches tall. My biggest leaf was 12 x 24 inches. I did not feel like stuffing those leaves in 3 or 5 bags, so a pile they will sit in my shed.