Danny’s Grow Blog 2021

[Danny M]

I’ve ordered my seeds for the year. I may order a few more strains next week but if I don’t, I probably won’t miss them. I ordered
Perique(I’ll attempt to barrel ferment this)
Yenidje(an attempt at Latakia)
Habana 608
Habano 2000
Havana 263
Long Red
Costello Colombian
CT Broadleaf
PA Broadleaf

Those that I may order are Criollo 98, Jaffna, a couple Brazilians, FL Sumatran and KY 190.
That should pretty well round out the bases. I’ll start 50-100 each of the filler and binder strains, and a couple hundred of each of the Broadleaf and other wrapper strains. I’ll be using commercial tactics on a small scale.

 

[Danny M]

I noticed a “Wow”. I assume that’s because of the sheer number of plants per strain. It’s really not that much. If you figure 2 oz. per plant, it takes 8 plants to make a pound. If a pound rolls out 25 6x50 toros, or 20 7x50 Churchills and I go through anywhere from 25+ a week, that’s 52 pounds needed at a minimum. Wrappers, if you get 12 wrappers based on size and color, you’re smoking so it takes two plants per 24 cigars. That doubled is 100 plants for the year. I want to age some though so now we have to double all those figures so that I have some for now, some for later. Many of the plants should do better than the two ounces per plant, but if you’ve ever heard the expression, “don’t count your chickens until they hatch” then you’ll begin to understand why you’d base your numbers on a bad year. I’ll probably still end up buying some cigars and tobacco leaf because try as I may, I’m certain that my KY clay is not going to have the same result as a field on the equator. Normally around here we don’t even talk in terms of plants. We use acres. 6-7 stalks to the stick, 700-1500 sticks to the acre. I’ve never flue cured or fermented any so I’ll be doing smaller batches to minimize my losses along the learning curve so from all this you can see that I probably am not aiming high enough .

 

[deluxestogie]

You might scan the local tobacco news for a used Roanoke barn for flue-curing. Most of us could never fill one. But it would sure make quick work of the half-dozen or so primings of a modest flue-cure crop.

Bob

 

[skychaser]

I’ve ordered my seeds for the year. I may order a few more strains next week but if I don’t, I probably won’t miss them. I ordered
Perique(I’ll attempt to barrel ferment this)
Yenidje(an attempt at Latakia)
Habana 608
Habano 2000
Havana 263
Long Red
Costello Colombian
CT Broadleaf
PA Broadleaf

Those that I may order are Criollo 98, Jaffna, a couple Brazilians, FL Sumatran and KY 190.
That should pretty well round out the bases. I’ll start 50-100 each of the filler and binder strains, and a couple hundred of each of the Broadleaf and other wrapper strains. I’ll be using commercial tactics on a small scale.

Costello originated in Columbia in the 1960's. It's actual name is Costello Negro and it is a bright leaf strain. It has a high sugar content and is one of my favorites. It's 1/3 of my cigarette blend. I prime all mine and air cure it. You should get 3-4 oz's per plant. If you plan to stalk cure it, I will be very interested in seeing how it does. Never tried it.

I'm guessing you got your seed from O'Neil seeds. Don't know why he changed the name to Costello Columbian. The picts he has are of my field and it's my seed he sells. The pict with the barn roof in the background was a year I did a big grow to get a couple years ahead. All those plants got topped. I only save seed from bagged plants. https://www.etsy.com/il-en/listing/...eirloom?ref=landingpage_similar_listing_bot-1

 

[Danny M]

You might scan the local tobacco news for a used Roanoke barn for flue-curing. Most of us could never fill one. But it would sure make quick work of the half-dozen or so primings of a modest flue-cure crop.

Bob

I’ve been looking out for a suitable barn. No more than I’m growing, and them having different maturity dates, I may close off part of my building and make an area to flue cure some. I’m going to build some rail wagons for all the stick tobacco or I might just rig up some tier poles.

 

[Danny M]

Costello originated in Columbia in the 1960's. It's actual name is Costello Negro and it is a bright leaf strain. It has a high sugar content and is one of my favorites. It's 1/3 of my cigarette blend. I prime all mine and air cure it. You should get 3-4 oz's per plant. If you plan to stalk cure it, I will be very interested in seeing how it does. Never tried it.

I'm guessing you got your seed from O'Neil seeds. Don't know why he changed the name to Costello Columbian. The picts he has are of my field and it's my seed he sells. The pict with the barn roof in the background was a year I did a big grow to get a couple years ahead. All those plants got topped. I only save seed from bagged plants. https://www.etsy.com/il-en/listing/...eirloom?ref=landingpage_similar_listing_bot-1

I’ll be damned. Yes, the Costello, the CT Broadleaf and one other came from him I believe. I planned on priming the Colombian twice and then stalk curing the reds(Ligero).

 

[Danny M]

Costello originated in Columbia in the 1960's. It's actual name is Costello Negro and it is a bright leaf strain. It has a high sugar content and is one of my favorites. It's 1/3 of my cigarette blend. I prime all mine and air cure it. You should get 3-4 oz's per plant. If you plan to stalk cure it, I will be very interested in seeing how it does. Never tried it.

I'm guessing you got your seed from O'Neil seeds. Don't know why he changed the name to Costello Columbian. The picts he has are of my field and it's my seed he sells. The pict with the barn roof in the background was a year I did a big grow to get a couple years ahead. All those plants got topped. I only save seed from bagged plants. https://www.etsy.com/il-en/listing/...eirloom?ref=landingpage_similar_listing_bot-1

One question on the Costello, does it still retain the nutty or coffee bean flavor?

 

[skychaser]

I am terrible at describing tastes, but yes, I would say it has a slight nutty flavor and is a little sweet. It has more flavor than the average Virginian strain. But not sweet like Prilep. Prilep is tobacco candy.

I got an email a couple weeks ago from the two people in Macedonia who developed Prilep. They asked me a lot of questions about where I got my seed stock, who buys it, who grows it and if I knew of any commercial growers here. It was interesting to hear from them. Prilep is now around 80% of the total of tobacco grown in Macedonia. And FYI, Prilep was developed in the 1990's for modern agriculture methods and is not grown in the "traditional" way some orientals are grown. No need to over crowd them to get the full flavor in the leaf. But they also don't need the space most tobaccos do. My experience says 16 inch spacing is ideal. The plants will reach their full potential size and yield without losing any flavor.

 

[Danny M]

Tentative list of strains I have some interest in

I am terrible at describing tastes, but yes, I would say it has a slight nutty flavor and is a little sweet. It has more flavor than the average Virginian strain. But not sweet like Prilep. Prilep is tobacco candy.

I got an email a couple weeks ago from the two people in Macedonia who developed Prilep. They asked me a lot of questions about where I got my seed stock, who buys it, who grows it and if I knew of any commercial growers here. It was interesting to hear from them. Prilep is now around 80% of the total of tobacco grown in Macedonia. And FYI, Prilep was developed in the 1990's for modern agriculture methods and is not grown in the "traditional" way some orientals are grown. No need to over crowd them to get the full flavor in the leaf. But they also don't need the space most tobaccos do. My experience says 16 inch spacing is ideal. The plants will reach their full potential size and yield without losing any flavor.

I might try a little bit of the Prilep next year if you get any seed. I think I’ll like the Columbian.

 

[Danny M]

I noticed a “Wow”. I assume that’s because of the sheer number of plants per strain. It’s really not that much. If you figure 2 oz. per plant, it takes 8 plants to make a pound. If a pound rolls out 25 6x50 toros, or 20 7x50 Churchills and I go through anywhere from 25+ a week, that’s 52 pounds needed at a minimum. Wrappers, if you get 12 wrappers based on size and color, you’re smoking so it takes two plants per 24 cigars. That doubled is 100 plants for the year. I want to age some though so now we have to double all those figures so that I have some for now, some for later. Many of the plants should do better than the two ounces per plant, but if you’ve ever heard the expression, “don’t count your chickens until they hatch” then you’ll begin to understand why you’d base your numbers on a bad year. I’ll probably still end up buying some cigars and tobacco leaf because try as I may, I’m certain that my KY clay is not going to have the same result as a field on the equator. Normally around here we don’t even talk in terms of plants. We use acres. 6-7 stalks to the stick, 700-1500 sticks to the acre. I’ve never flue cured or fermented any so I’ll be doing smaller batches to minimize my losses along the learning curve so from all this you can see that I probably am not aiming high enough .

I think the weather has finally broke. I planned on seeding a few weeks ago but got to considering the extended forecast. Sho nuff, we had a light (accumulation) but heavy(density) snow and then last week we had two nights at 32 degrees with daytime temps in the 50’s. I started Habano 2000, Havana 608, Habana 263,Criollo 98, Long Red, Pergeu, Diamantina, Goyano and Bahia from Brazil. Criollo Black and Native 10 from Bolivia. Costello Negro from Columbia, a few Zimmer and Little Dutch, Suifu and Matsukawa from Japan. Puenta de Lanza 1 from Guatemala, CT Shade and Broadleaf, PA Broadleaf, FL 17 and Sumatra, 20 or 30 of each of KY 190 and Smsll Stalk Black Mammoth. As soon as these sprout I’ll transplant into 288 trays for planting, and float them on some 20-10-20. They’ll be in the greenhouse for a few weeks and then into the field. The Little Dutch and Bahia I’m going to put in grow bags. All the wrapper strains are going under shade cloth.

 

[koceff]

I am terrible at describing tastes, but yes, I would say it has a slight nutty flavor and is a little sweet. It has more flavor than the average Virginian strain. But not sweet like Prilep. Prilep is tobacco candy.

I got an email a couple weeks ago from the two people in Macedonia who developed Prilep. They asked me a lot of questions about where I got my seed stock, who buys it, who grows it and if I knew of any commercial growers here. It was interesting to hear from them. Prilep is now around 80% of the total of tobacco grown in Macedonia. And FYI, Prilep was developed in the 1990's for modern agriculture methods and is not grown in the "traditional" way some orientals are grown. No need to over crowd them to get the full flavor in the leaf. But they also don't need the space most tobaccos do. My experience says 16 inch spacing is ideal. The plants will reach their full potential size and yield without losing any flavor.

I doubt you got email from the people who developed it It was developed in 90s and back then we were still Yugoslavia. CIA has declassified documents of tobacco in Yugoslavia in the 50s and they are praising Prilep tobacco. Anyways, the "developers" were probably some large scale growers who got stood up by the goverment this last year, and they are trying to sell it to someone. Half of our tobacco farmers here are stuck with huge quantities of tobacco, so if any one wants some you can get it here dirt cheap.

 

[deluxestogie]

SECOND BALKAN CONFERENCE ON BIOLOGY
MAY 2010, PLOVDIV

Development of Prilep 66-9/7

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

I doubt you got email from the people who developed it It was developed in 90s and back then we were still Yugoslavia. CIA has declassified documents of tobacco in Yugoslavia in the 50s and they are praising Prilep tobacco. Anyways, the "developers" were probably some large scale growers who got stood up by the goverment this last year, and they are trying to sell it to someone. Half of our tobacco farmers here are stuck with huge quantities of tobacco, so if any one wants some you can get it here dirt cheap.

Here, we are guilty of referring to Prilep 66-9/7 simply as ”Prilep”. There are only a handful of members here that have tried other Prilep varieties besides Prilep 66-9/7 and skychaser sells seed for the Prilep 66-9/7 variety on his seed selling website at http://northwoodseeds.com/. I have grown five Prilep varieties, Prilep 79-94, 66-9/7, Prilep 2, Prilep TI 1325, and Prilep Orient. Prilep 66-9/7 was by far my favorite.

 

[Danny M]

Had some more frost. Some strains haven’t done as well as I hoped..mostly in one tray so I’ll deduce that they’ve not had as adequate a situation as the other two, but i was beginning to doubt my seeding so I doubled it with only one sprout and drenched things. The next day there were 30-40 . The last two Afternoons I’ve spent transplanting from the sterilite containers into float trays. I tried the Brazilian Bahia first to make sure it was ok since I need the least of that strain and it isn’t a high production strain. Today I transplanted about 125 Connecticut Shade and about 150 Criollo 98. In addition to this I built the niftiest interim float bed possible.

 

[Danny M]

I’m getting closer. There’s a few more strains to do if they ever show but that should be the bulk of it.

 

[Danny M]

As of now I’ve transplanted about 2900 plants. Should be about 4000 when I’m done. Improved some on the float bed. I hope some of the newer growers are paying attention to what I’m doing because it’s being done as cheap as can possibly be done. I already had all this material around the house so as of now I have about 80.00 invested in what would be about 1.5 to 2 acres of tobacco. I have 0 dollars invested in trays or in the float bed and it can be put together by one man in about 30 minutes tops.

 

[skychaser]

I doubt you got email from the people who developed it It was developed in 90s and back then we were still Yugoslavia. CIA has declassified documents of tobacco in Yugoslavia in the 50s and they are praising Prilep tobacco. Anyways, the "developers" were probably some large scale growers who got stood up by the goverment this last year, and they are trying to sell it to someone. Half of our tobacco farmers here are stuck with huge quantities of tobacco, so if any one wants some you can get it here dirt cheap.

Doubt all you want. Here it is.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gordana miceska <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Mon, Jan 25, 2021 3:09 am
Subject: Leeter

Dear,
The Macedonian variety P66-9 / 7 is also on the list of tobacco seeds in your gene bank. As authors of this variety of tobacco,J prof. d-r Gordana Miceska and prof. d-r Miroslav Dimitrieski would like to inform us where you got the seed material from, how you reproduce it and whether there are clients who are interested in this variety, and where it comes from.
We hope for further cooperation.

Best reagards ,

Phd Gordana Miceska
Senior research fellow- full professor
Department of genetics, selection and seed control
Un. “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bitola , Scientific tobacco institute, Prilep
Kicevska bb Prilep , Republic of North Macedonia
e- mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
www. tip.edu.mk

 

[koceff]

@skychaser Seems legit, proofed me wrong Maybe they are curious because the big scale growers here all must have contracts with the one of the two tobacco companies here who also provide the seeds. You can't buy it and you can't sell it. Maybe they want to expend .
her_bio but it is in Macedonian.

 

[Danny M]

I think some of these seeds are having twins.

 

[Danny M]

Latest pics. Some strains are getting their second set of Cotyldon leaves. They got their first dose of 20-10-20 on Friday evening. Topped off the water levels. Used a different method to start some seeds with shorter maturity cycles as well as a couple that simply didn’t germinate well or as well as the others. The last picture is my new rolling station. After some talking and a cigar, a friend gave me the cart. I cut two extensions off the front. Welded up some shelf brackets out of some tube we had here at the house and have now cut and glued together a oak top and shelf. I’ll run those through the planer a few times and rout the edges. I don’t think I’ll apply any finish since a portion will be covered by my homemade rolling machine and the other sections will be covered by glass, leaves, tools, etc...