WormHerder
Member
Hi all, first time grower, i took photos along the way partly for my own memory and inevitably so i can ask what went wrong lol.. But i ended up with dried tobacco, so i hope now its just a matter of time.
I sprouted Virginia Gold and White Burley, and a couple Rustica for novelty, kept the plants inside for 5 or 6 weeks, then put them in the garden.
Day 0, 5th nov 25
The wind comes from the camera direction and gets a bit violent sometimes, so i put stakes in first, then realised they were just gonna shred the leaves,
Wk 5,
The garden is down the back of a hill where the sun hits the right ones first, left ones last. I thought that would be why the right ones are bigger.. Hadnt thought about variety at all though.
I was trying to take notice of stuff. Like why the middle row of Viriginia is a bit taller than the left two, Im pretty sure sun was the only variable different. Soil should all be the same. It would have got 15 mins more at both the start and finish of the days sun.
Not much problem with pests, army cutworm caterpillar was all i had to contend with, buggers can eat a few ciggies a day.. They look very different between countries.
Player 2
I pulled out the two Rusticas, i only planted them for novelty and i wanted a bit more access to the plants, couple times a week i had to crawl on my back under the plants hunting catepillars.
Week 8 or 9. 1.5lt bottle for size (Magnum in freedom units)
Not much interesting happened with the grow, caterpillars and wind is all i had to deal with.
About now i started thinking ‘the leaves are really big.. and really green.. ’ slowly realising i may have overdone the fertilizing.. the months prior to planting i had dug in a lot of good compost, sheep pellets, also nitrosol liquid fertiliser. Lucky i never added anything during growing.. I almost did many times (in hindsight now i know i was just worried that the tobacco wouldnt ‘work‘ haha, sounds stupid but i just didnt really grasp that the plant just grows fairly easily when its so valuable (in new zealand a 50g pouch costs about $150nz/$88us))
Yield-wise i thought the leaf size was pretty good anyway, i did think ‘i hope theyre not stupid big and foul tasting’
Heres a pic of 5’10” me for reference. I covered my face for privacy reasons. (probably 10/11wks)
Harvesting was a real uncertainty, i just couldnt be sure of what i was looking for, i think i watched and read too much, coupled with everyone seems to do it differently. (i had a stroke a while ago, makes it pretty hard to remember/form facts/plans etc (was accident related, not too many pies and ciggies))
I started picking the leaves from the bottom when the leaves (generally) alligator skin bumps started to yellow. The Virginia bottom leaves didnt really alligator too well, i just presumed they were ready if the ones above were. i was supposed to pick them green-starting to yellow, then finish them in the towels room.
Virginia top leaf (about 85cm/33in)
I cant remember how old they were at this stage, but this was the top leaf from the plant directly behind me in the photo. I would have started harvesting the bottom leaves at this time.
Then harvest speed was pretty much dictated by how many leaves i could put in the towels room at a time.
The Burley alligatored much more easily,
The longest leaf of the garden 1.01cm/3.3ft
All leaves were given a soft spray rinse to get rid of the stupid Punga hairs from the tree i didnt think about next to them (Punga tree is like a big tree fern that dropped hairs all over the tobacco with every wind). Then hung to dry in the garage.
The Burley was hung for weeks till the midrib was 100% dry. The Virginia was just hung for a few hours to dry the water off, then put into the towels room.
The towels room.. (i say towel but really its summer thin cotton bed sheet)
I have a very small room in the garage that i could put my shelf/rack and a couple oil-fin heaters (which i later added a thermostat and crockpot)
As i understood i was to pick the Virginia leaves green/yellowing and leave them in a high humidity with warmth, and yellow them before hanging them back out to dry.
I got a shelf and replaced the shelves with wires so i could lay the bundles of leaves. I wrapped up 8 leaves in squares of towel (just 1 layer all round).
Every morning i opened each bundle and shuffled the leaves order, redampened the towel (dunked the towel in water then rung out fairly hard (if you held the towel to your lips you would feel its damp))
I havent got any photos of the bundles on the shelf, but its exactly like you imagine. 8 bundles of 8 leaves each. I found that i had to twist the ends slightly and folding them over due to low humidity.
I kept the room at 33c/92f (well that was pretty much max i could get) but the humidity was always the issue, it was usually 55%rh outside, and would end up 30%rh in the towel room, i was hanging bathroom towels in the room so i could put a few glasses of water on them twice a day, but that would only give me and extra 5%. I ended up buying a crockpot which was great 65% in the room easy. The first batch didnt get too yellow because of the low humidity, it got real crispy/stayed a fair bit green. Lol the anxiety.. Id try to pull them out when the green is gone, but a lot of leaves were just so green and id pull them before they started going bad. I didnt get any photos of the problem green leaves
The second batch after getting the crockpot was better, after 4 days the leaf was turning yellow
Day 4 avg leaf
Day 7 min/max yellow/brown
I was busy the last day and saw how quickly the leaf can turn from yellow to brown, hope its not buggered.. It looks chocolatey/progressed from the terracotta color rather than burned or rotten, no bad smell.. Lol we’ll see
Then i hung them in the garage, its under the house, has lots of gaps to the outside air, if i shut all the doors, you could see the leaves move sometimes.
The humidity was usually 55 on a fine day, 70 overcast, 80+ on a rainy day. If it rained for a few days id put the dehumidifier in on 75 just to knock the top off it.
After a few weeks, the Virginia looked like this (green/brown leaf on the left) (generally it was the larger lower thinner leaves that were the problem, i think a combination of too much nitrogen + too low humidity in the yellowing towels)
Virginia hung a few weeks after yellowing
Once the Virginia had dried fully i put it in plastic totes inside, airing it every couple days to start.
With the Burley i noticed a bit of a fine salt looking residue on some leaves. Learnt it was Bloom and to ignore it.
In Bloom
The Hot Tent
The Burley was still just hung drying at this stage, once id finished using the heaters and gear for the Virginia, i set up the Burley tent, my first thought was man this is getting expensive.. Till i remembered the whole setup only the cost a couple months worth of store bought ciggies.
I hung the tote in the tent, with the heaters and a oscillating fanblowing side to side on its lowest to keep even heat all around, there was about a fist of space all around the tote. An inkbird thermometer ran the oil-fins to keep it at 41c/105f, i have a separate sensor in the tote thats got a display in the house so i can see the temp/humidity inside the tote.
The crockpots supposed to be in the photo too, i had it on the lowest setting and that was fine to keep the tent at 60%rh, no problems with condensation etc
The Burley in the photo was first conditioned overnight in a rubbish bag with a damp cloth and felt pliable
After 24 hrs each morning id open and shuffle the leaves, i had to actually pull the lot out and re-lay them in because i ended up put a little jar in each corner with a damp cloth poking out like a wick. So i knew i shouldnt be pulling the lot out.. Just opening/airing/shuffling them was what i was supposed to do, but because space was so tight and i didnt want the damp wicks to touch Burley i just pulled the lot out and re-layed it out leaving gaps for the jars in diagonal opposite corners. I gave it 10 mins to air out each time.
After a while i got the nose what was going on, the effect was like sniffing white pepper, (not the scent, just the spicey buzz), then i started realising im sweating out the spicyness (ammonia and other compounds). Repeated airing every morning, day 4 started to get a floral smell, day 6 there was substantially less spice in the smell, i gave it another day, smelled even less peppery effect, so i called it there. Btw in the last few airings it was more like 25 mins.
By this time id tried a few puffs out of interest to see what its like early on. (only ever drawing into the mouth, I had no interest in inhaling at the moment lol). the taste afterwards is close to that buzz/spice left in your mouth after, i think of as sticking your tongue on a 9v battery.. (is there a proper name for that taste?) i imagine that pepper smell and that buzz taste are pretty related.
After a few days i tried the Burley and it was a bit less buzz taste than before it went in.
I did some reading and decided to do the same with the Virginia but at 31c/88f and only for 4 days,i noticed the drop in peppery smell on day 3.
After airing out on the rack for a few hours all tobacco was put in the totes and moved upstairs. (actually have 1 more tote of Virginia to do) and then just wait.. and wish i had planted more.. Yield wise, i think once the midribs are removed itll be 1.8kg/3.9lbs, definitely a years worth.
Burley left and half the Virginia on the right (nothing there for scale but large 110lt/29gal totes)
I think the 2 major things rectified for next time is leave the soil alone (compost dug in is plenty) and getting that crockpot helped immensely in controlling humidity.
Also i think most of the doubt comes from that buzz taste.. I have barely started noticing it dropping, and therefore started believing it will actually fade and go away. I think thats really the main thing i care about at the moment, not fussed on taste and flavour and how nice it is.. Just that its passable and doesnt taste like licking a battery. (also after talking and comparing to a guy down the road, i realised that he didnt care/taste that taste.. That was a shock)
If anyone has any pointers on any part of what i did or didnt do, would love to hear it. I got really confused and almost didnt try, because it seemed like the learning curve/setup/gear needed was more than i had or could get.. Between the Flue curing and Fermenting etc theyre very intimidating terms and then you see the barns etc.. haha
Cheers
I sprouted Virginia Gold and White Burley, and a couple Rustica for novelty, kept the plants inside for 5 or 6 weeks, then put them in the garden.
Day 0, 5th nov 25
The wind comes from the camera direction and gets a bit violent sometimes, so i put stakes in first, then realised they were just gonna shred the leaves,
Wk 5,
The garden is down the back of a hill where the sun hits the right ones first, left ones last. I thought that would be why the right ones are bigger.. Hadnt thought about variety at all though.
I was trying to take notice of stuff. Like why the middle row of Viriginia is a bit taller than the left two, Im pretty sure sun was the only variable different. Soil should all be the same. It would have got 15 mins more at both the start and finish of the days sun.
Not much problem with pests, army cutworm caterpillar was all i had to contend with, buggers can eat a few ciggies a day.. They look very different between countries.
Player 2
I pulled out the two Rusticas, i only planted them for novelty and i wanted a bit more access to the plants, couple times a week i had to crawl on my back under the plants hunting catepillars.
Week 8 or 9. 1.5lt bottle for size (Magnum in freedom units)
Not much interesting happened with the grow, caterpillars and wind is all i had to deal with.
About now i started thinking ‘the leaves are really big.. and really green.. ’ slowly realising i may have overdone the fertilizing.. the months prior to planting i had dug in a lot of good compost, sheep pellets, also nitrosol liquid fertiliser. Lucky i never added anything during growing.. I almost did many times (in hindsight now i know i was just worried that the tobacco wouldnt ‘work‘ haha, sounds stupid but i just didnt really grasp that the plant just grows fairly easily when its so valuable (in new zealand a 50g pouch costs about $150nz/$88us))
Yield-wise i thought the leaf size was pretty good anyway, i did think ‘i hope theyre not stupid big and foul tasting’
Heres a pic of 5’10” me for reference. I covered my face for privacy reasons. (probably 10/11wks)
Harvesting was a real uncertainty, i just couldnt be sure of what i was looking for, i think i watched and read too much, coupled with everyone seems to do it differently. (i had a stroke a while ago, makes it pretty hard to remember/form facts/plans etc (was accident related, not too many pies and ciggies))
I started picking the leaves from the bottom when the leaves (generally) alligator skin bumps started to yellow. The Virginia bottom leaves didnt really alligator too well, i just presumed they were ready if the ones above were. i was supposed to pick them green-starting to yellow, then finish them in the towels room.
Virginia top leaf (about 85cm/33in)
I cant remember how old they were at this stage, but this was the top leaf from the plant directly behind me in the photo. I would have started harvesting the bottom leaves at this time.
Then harvest speed was pretty much dictated by how many leaves i could put in the towels room at a time.
The Burley alligatored much more easily,
The longest leaf of the garden 1.01cm/3.3ft
All leaves were given a soft spray rinse to get rid of the stupid Punga hairs from the tree i didnt think about next to them (Punga tree is like a big tree fern that dropped hairs all over the tobacco with every wind). Then hung to dry in the garage.
The Burley was hung for weeks till the midrib was 100% dry. The Virginia was just hung for a few hours to dry the water off, then put into the towels room.
The towels room.. (i say towel but really its summer thin cotton bed sheet)
I have a very small room in the garage that i could put my shelf/rack and a couple oil-fin heaters (which i later added a thermostat and crockpot)
As i understood i was to pick the Virginia leaves green/yellowing and leave them in a high humidity with warmth, and yellow them before hanging them back out to dry.
I got a shelf and replaced the shelves with wires so i could lay the bundles of leaves. I wrapped up 8 leaves in squares of towel (just 1 layer all round).
Every morning i opened each bundle and shuffled the leaves order, redampened the towel (dunked the towel in water then rung out fairly hard (if you held the towel to your lips you would feel its damp))
I havent got any photos of the bundles on the shelf, but its exactly like you imagine. 8 bundles of 8 leaves each. I found that i had to twist the ends slightly and folding them over due to low humidity.
I kept the room at 33c/92f (well that was pretty much max i could get) but the humidity was always the issue, it was usually 55%rh outside, and would end up 30%rh in the towel room, i was hanging bathroom towels in the room so i could put a few glasses of water on them twice a day, but that would only give me and extra 5%. I ended up buying a crockpot which was great 65% in the room easy. The first batch didnt get too yellow because of the low humidity, it got real crispy/stayed a fair bit green. Lol the anxiety.. Id try to pull them out when the green is gone, but a lot of leaves were just so green and id pull them before they started going bad. I didnt get any photos of the problem green leaves
The second batch after getting the crockpot was better, after 4 days the leaf was turning yellow
Day 4 avg leaf
Day 7 min/max yellow/brown
I was busy the last day and saw how quickly the leaf can turn from yellow to brown, hope its not buggered.. It looks chocolatey/progressed from the terracotta color rather than burned or rotten, no bad smell.. Lol we’ll see
Then i hung them in the garage, its under the house, has lots of gaps to the outside air, if i shut all the doors, you could see the leaves move sometimes.
The humidity was usually 55 on a fine day, 70 overcast, 80+ on a rainy day. If it rained for a few days id put the dehumidifier in on 75 just to knock the top off it.
After a few weeks, the Virginia looked like this (green/brown leaf on the left) (generally it was the larger lower thinner leaves that were the problem, i think a combination of too much nitrogen + too low humidity in the yellowing towels)
Virginia hung a few weeks after yellowing
Once the Virginia had dried fully i put it in plastic totes inside, airing it every couple days to start.
With the Burley i noticed a bit of a fine salt looking residue on some leaves. Learnt it was Bloom and to ignore it.
In Bloom
The Hot Tent
The Burley was still just hung drying at this stage, once id finished using the heaters and gear for the Virginia, i set up the Burley tent, my first thought was man this is getting expensive.. Till i remembered the whole setup only the cost a couple months worth of store bought ciggies.
I hung the tote in the tent, with the heaters and a oscillating fanblowing side to side on its lowest to keep even heat all around, there was about a fist of space all around the tote. An inkbird thermometer ran the oil-fins to keep it at 41c/105f, i have a separate sensor in the tote thats got a display in the house so i can see the temp/humidity inside the tote.
The crockpots supposed to be in the photo too, i had it on the lowest setting and that was fine to keep the tent at 60%rh, no problems with condensation etc
The Burley in the photo was first conditioned overnight in a rubbish bag with a damp cloth and felt pliable
After 24 hrs each morning id open and shuffle the leaves, i had to actually pull the lot out and re-lay them in because i ended up put a little jar in each corner with a damp cloth poking out like a wick. So i knew i shouldnt be pulling the lot out.. Just opening/airing/shuffling them was what i was supposed to do, but because space was so tight and i didnt want the damp wicks to touch Burley i just pulled the lot out and re-layed it out leaving gaps for the jars in diagonal opposite corners. I gave it 10 mins to air out each time.
After a while i got the nose what was going on, the effect was like sniffing white pepper, (not the scent, just the spicey buzz), then i started realising im sweating out the spicyness (ammonia and other compounds). Repeated airing every morning, day 4 started to get a floral smell, day 6 there was substantially less spice in the smell, i gave it another day, smelled even less peppery effect, so i called it there. Btw in the last few airings it was more like 25 mins.
By this time id tried a few puffs out of interest to see what its like early on. (only ever drawing into the mouth, I had no interest in inhaling at the moment lol). the taste afterwards is close to that buzz/spice left in your mouth after, i think of as sticking your tongue on a 9v battery.. (is there a proper name for that taste?) i imagine that pepper smell and that buzz taste are pretty related.
After a few days i tried the Burley and it was a bit less buzz taste than before it went in.
I did some reading and decided to do the same with the Virginia but at 31c/88f and only for 4 days,i noticed the drop in peppery smell on day 3.
After airing out on the rack for a few hours all tobacco was put in the totes and moved upstairs. (actually have 1 more tote of Virginia to do) and then just wait.. and wish i had planted more.. Yield wise, i think once the midribs are removed itll be 1.8kg/3.9lbs, definitely a years worth.
Burley left and half the Virginia on the right (nothing there for scale but large 110lt/29gal totes)
I think the 2 major things rectified for next time is leave the soil alone (compost dug in is plenty) and getting that crockpot helped immensely in controlling humidity.
Also i think most of the doubt comes from that buzz taste.. I have barely started noticing it dropping, and therefore started believing it will actually fade and go away. I think thats really the main thing i care about at the moment, not fussed on taste and flavour and how nice it is.. Just that its passable and doesnt taste like licking a battery. (also after talking and comparing to a guy down the road, i realised that he didnt care/taste that taste.. That was a shock)
If anyone has any pointers on any part of what i did or didnt do, would love to hear it. I got really confused and almost didnt try, because it seemed like the learning curve/setup/gear needed was more than i had or could get.. Between the Flue curing and Fermenting etc theyre very intimidating terms and then you see the barns etc.. haha
Cheers
