Oldfella's 2021 grow & cure

[Oldfella]

Hi Bob, during my time I have pressure tested fruit ripening gas cylinders. Ethylene comes to mind as one of them. I wonder if this could be used in situations where people are having problems color-curing. I'm not sure how you would go about it. Am I just being silly? I don't know I'm not a Chemical engineer I'm a Mechanical engineer. Interesting thought though.
Oldfella

 

[Cray Squirrel]

Hi Bob, during my time I have pressure tested fruit ripening gas cylinders. Ethylene comes to mind as one of them. I wonder if this could be used in situations where people are having problems color-curing. I'm not sure how you would go about it. Am I just being silly? I don't know I'm not a Chemical engineer I'm a Mechanical engineer. Interesting thought though.
Oldfella

Lots of ethylene being used as a ripening agent for bananas in cargo holds of transport ships.
Dont think it would help people who prime unripe leaf. I've ran experiments with high ethylene gas producing fruit like apples and ripe bananas. Doesnt show positive results. Seems impractical.
Suggest to the new people to prime the leaf when its RIPE. If you aren't sure if its ripe and ready to harvest then it's not ready. If you have to ask and show people pictures. It's not ripe. You'll know when its ripe and ready from experience. Rhe worst thing that can happen is the leaf gets beaten up a bit by environmental conditions, wind, hard rain, insects etc. If you pick a green leaf, its worthless. Unless you're frowning wrapper leaf for cigars it wont matter on a bit of twatter. You and many other members have known for a long time because of your experience. My thoughts to new people with no plant physiology education or experience is to be patient. They'll figure it out pretty quickly like we all have. My many years at university and several decades of plant production didnt help me more than the experience that all members get from their own practical experience. Cant learn that from the internet or a book.
In one of my major businesses, greenhouse commercial production, ethylene gas is deadly to many bulbs and can " put plants and bulbs to sleep". It will stop their processes and they die. Dutch bulbs are particularly susceptible and are always packed in ventilated boxes and or sold in perforated plastic display bags. Same with dormant, barefoot perennial plants.
Yep.. no magic in growing plants. Just attention to detail.
Cheers Kiwi..
hope you're still on the mend..

 

[Cray Squirrel]

Additional note..
When pile curing, if I put a less ripe, more greenish leaf between ripe and mostly yellow leaf, it seems to catch up and color cure more quickly. Also on dark tobacco's, they seem to want several weeks longer on the plant to fully ripen. While they will only show yellow mottling, and not a burley yellow, they will color cure nicely to a nice yellow before turning a healthy brown.

 

[deluxestogie]

1. Always ask questions when you have them.
2. Photos are always welcome.
3. Ethylene gas is flammable.

Bob

 

[Oldfella]

Well that stirred the pot . It was only idle curiosity. I never have any trouble color-curing my leaves and any failures are my fault. @Cray Squirrel is correct the more greenish leaves will catch up eventually and all will be good. I use the cardboard box yellowing method when I have to and it works fine for me. I don't imagine that you can hop down to the local shop and get a cylinder of Ethylene anyway.
Oldfella

 

[Cray Squirrel]

Ripe bananas and apples generate ethylene gas and you can trap it next to the leaves with plastic sheeting. Just tuck the fruit into the boxes with leaf. We are 26% humidity here a lot. A bit like the Red Center of Oz so I just stack leaves touching each other in piles with towels over and under. If they seem to be drying too fast and if I want to trap important heat I'll put a piece of plastic over the towel. If too moist remove the plastic sheeting for a few hours so towels can dry a bit. Very quick method of yellowing because I do think that it traps some ethylene gas, heat and humidity.
I modified your cardboard box system. Thanks..
Cheers..

 

[deluxestogie]

If you look at a map of temperate regions where tobacco was successfully and extensively grown commercially during the mid 19th century, that coincides fairly well with growing areas where the growing season is long enough for outdoor germination, and where color-curing is really easy. Although I'm in Virginia, I'm up above the Blue Ridge. So it wasn't a natural location for tobacco production. By pure luck of my micro-environment, the compass orientation of both prevailing winds and my old farm shed, as well as the accident of that old shed having ideal ventilation, and heat reflection from the exterior wall of the house--color-curing is easy for me.

I agree with the consensus that the yellower the leaf in the field, the easier the color-curing. (That's usually the way to go for cigarette, pipe and smokeless tobacco. For cigars, there is a delicate dance between ripening and leaf damage.) A few years ago, I fiddled with a pile of fresh banana peels inside a trash can in which I hung Oriental tobacco. In comparison to control plants, I was not impressed with a significant acceleration of ripening. Maybe the peels weren't releasing enough ethylene, maybe the temp wasn't ideal, or maybe the tobacco was just being contrary.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

I believe that ethylene is not involved with leaf senescence, but only in fruit ripening. I’ll have to dig up some of my old plant physiology books…

 

[deluxestogie]

Ethylene acts as a plant hormone in accelerating leaf senescence.

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals significant differences in gene expression and signalling pathways between developmental and dark/starvation‐induced senescence in Arabidopsis

An analysis of changes in global gene expression patterns during developmental leaf senescence in Arabidopsis has identified more than 800 genes that show a reproducible increase in transcript abunda...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Bob

 

[Oldfella]

Ripe bananas and apples generate ethylene gas and you can trap it next to the leaves with plastic sheeting. Just tuck the fruit into the boxes with leaf. We are 26% humidity here a lot. A bit like the Red Center of Oz so I just stack leaves touching each other in piles with towels over and under. If they seem to be drying too fast and if I want to trap important heat I'll put a piece of plastic over the towel. If too moist remove the plastic sheeting for a few hours so towels can dry a bit. Very quick method of yellowing because I do think that it traps some ethylene gas, heat and humidity.
I modified your cardboard box system. Thanks..
Cheers..

Hi Cray, maybe the Ethylene comes from the leaves that are coloring faster than the others. Your towel system does the same job as my paper, sucks out the moisture. The only advantage of paper is that you don't have to wash it when it gets to dirty. I guess it's whatever works best for you.
Oldfella

 

[Cray Squirrel]

Hi Cray, maybe the Ethylene comes from the leaves that are coloring faster than the others. Your towel system does the same job as my paper, sucks out the moisture. The only advantage of paper is that you don't have to wash it when it gets to dirty. I guess it's whatever works best for you.
Oldfella

Yes ethylene is considered a ripening gas so it stands to reason that the more ripe, more yellow leaves produce small amounts. I use the pile curing when I need to harvest a lot of leaves and have no more hanging room. I am getting around the corner finally so I stacked one last set of leaves until my color curing space get open and those leaves move to the other property and the smoke/drying shed. I like hanging stacked leaf much better than fresh. They are flatter then and can get more on a wire.
On your sub tropical climate that you've mentioned. You can get two crops a year but cant grow in dead of winter right? In most winters here, summers there, I like living in Tassie in Devonport area so the climate is very similar. ***** At least in NZ you can do many things for your personal consumption and use. I would love to grow bacca in Tasmania..
Tobacco and penguins.. Don't get any better.. hehehe Course you got bossy chickens to keep you on your toes and properly inspected.
Cheers..
BTW Victoria is in lockdown again.. They had a big earthquake the other day,,

 

[Oldfella]

Yeah I can grow in the middle of Winter. I've only just harvested the last of my Winter grow and had Grandson chop the storks off yesterday. I'm starting my summer seeds this week, still wondering what to plant. We've been pretty lucky up and have managed to keep the Covert bug at bay. Auckland and Waikato have not been. Unfortunately I had to shoot the Chickens as they had reached the end of their lay. Still I got 5yrs of an egg a day out of them and they were starting to get sick. So done the humane thing and put them out of their misery. I'll get some more soon I like Chickens and they help control the bugs.
Oldfella

 

[Cray Squirrel]

That's nice that you rewarded the chickens for laying all them eggs.. *****
Great having a grandson to help out

 

[GreenDragon]

Ethylene acts as a plant hormone in accelerating leaf senescence.

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals significant differences in gene expression and signalling pathways between developmental and dark/starvation‐induced senescence in Arabidopsis

An analysis of changes in global gene expression patterns during developmental leaf senescence in Arabidopsis has identified more than 800 genes that show a reproducible increase in transcript abunda...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Bob

You know what they say; "use it or lose it"! Thanks Bob