Bob
Deluxestogie Grow Log 2020
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Bob
Probably all of them will be stalk-cut. Our temp drops to around 40°F for the next 3 mornings, but is expected to rise thereafter into more seasonable nightly lows for at least another couple of weeks. Hopefully temps will stay up for the 4 more weeks (money back) guaranteed in writing by the average first frost date of 15 Oct.
I examined the Corojo 99 today, with an eye to maturity of the upper leaf. I don't think it's there quite yet. (Growing it in the late season has reduced leaf thickness, I imagine from reduced sun. So the signs of maturation will be more subtle than in the past seasons.) I stalk-cut my Glessnor about 2 weeks ago, and it is only partly colored at this point. No doubt it's going to be a delicate dance.
My greatest concern is getting some seed for @Tutu from the Ainaro and Liquiça. The Viqueque is in a pot that can go indoors. I may have to do some truly shocking transplants from the ground into pots at the last minute.
Bob
I examined the Corojo 99 today, with an eye to maturity of the upper leaf. I don't think it's there quite yet. (Growing it in the late season has reduced leaf thickness, I imagine from reduced sun. So the signs of maturation will be more subtle than in the past seasons.) I stalk-cut my Glessnor about 2 weeks ago, and it is only partly colored at this point. No doubt it's going to be a delicate dance.
My greatest concern is getting some seed for @Tutu from the Ainaro and Liquiça. The Viqueque is in a pot that can go indoors. I may have to do some truly shocking transplants from the ground into pots at the last minute.
Bob
Camping in the Back Yard
An unexplained delay (delivery date was 9/22/2020) in FedEx delivering my itty bitty snap ring pliers--the only thing keeping me from finishing the repair of my Oh Deere! steering, has managed to squander an entire week of rainless days and nights. We will get heavy rain starting some time tomorrow. The parcel with the tool has taken 6 days to go from South Carolina to North Carolina.
I convinced Oh Deere! to camp out in the back yard beneath a tent fly. Although it would be straightforward to just push it into the shed--a few feet away, it's steering linkage is all disconnected, so it can't do straight forward. I would keep it company out there, all alone in the dark, but the tent fly will only sleep one. Pay no attention to the overgrown grass.
This is the beautiful, sand-colored fly of my entirely sand-colored Eureka Timberline 2 tent that I purchased in 1989. Thereafter, they made them all a puke green.
[Yes. My pump house is tilted.]
Bob
An unexplained delay (delivery date was 9/22/2020) in FedEx delivering my itty bitty snap ring pliers--the only thing keeping me from finishing the repair of my Oh Deere! steering, has managed to squander an entire week of rainless days and nights. We will get heavy rain starting some time tomorrow. The parcel with the tool has taken 6 days to go from South Carolina to North Carolina.
I convinced Oh Deere! to camp out in the back yard beneath a tent fly. Although it would be straightforward to just push it into the shed--a few feet away, it's steering linkage is all disconnected, so it can't do straight forward. I would keep it company out there, all alone in the dark, but the tent fly will only sleep one. Pay no attention to the overgrown grass.
This is the beautiful, sand-colored fly of my entirely sand-colored Eureka Timberline 2 tent that I purchased in 1989. Thereafter, they made them all a puke green.
[Yes. My pump house is tilted.]
Bob
Today, I stalk-cut 4 Corojo 99 plants and 2 Piloto Cubano plants. Of the 3 from Timor-Leste, the Liquiça is forming bud head, so I have a bud bag ready. I should probably top one of the two Ainaro, to hurry leaf maturation. They look like they want to grow a lot taller still. Viqueque in doing well in a Folgers pot, so no hurry or worry there.
Bob
Bob
It's a classic Bob Ross shed
Just out of curiosity, how long does the corojo 99 usually take after air curing before it becomes smokable? I know you made a comment comparing the corojo 99 to piloto Cubano for curing before but I'm not finding it. Just wondering since I've got a few corojo 99 plants I'm hoping to get a little off of before the season ends.
I'm not sure what "air-curing before it becomes smokable" means. I have been air-curing the Corojo 99 in the shed for about 1 year for each crop, then kilning it for 2 months. It's ready to smoke soon thereafter. That is to say, it's excellent--my favorite cigar variety--at that point. With Piloto Cubano, the year in the shed, plus the 2 months of kilning plus months of subsequent rest are required before it becomes nice and friendly.
In the absence of a kiln, I would guess 3 to 5 years of appropriate aging for a crop of Corojo 99 to approach the same level of readiness. There's just a lot of stuff in cigar leaf lamina that needs to be metabolized, then well oxidized.
Bob
In the absence of a kiln, I would guess 3 to 5 years of appropriate aging for a crop of Corojo 99 to approach the same level of readiness. There's just a lot of stuff in cigar leaf lamina that needs to be metabolized, then well oxidized.
Bob
Thanks, that tells me what I need to know. I've been letting my leaves color cure/air cure on the back porch for about three weeks then have been sticking them in the attic for a few months in a humid bag checked weekly (120+ F during the day in the summer). This winter I will probably just let most of the leaves sit at low case in a sealed bag. I would love to make a kiln but have no idea where I can put it (the house and garage are packed - 1st world problem of too much junk), so I'll probably just have to settle on my attic again next summer for a pretend-like kiln. Sounds like I'll be waiting at least a year and a half
A lot of the leaves I've had sitting in the attic this summer for a few months are beginning to smell and taste much better. I reduced the case of my July harvested and attic kilned leaves last week and have put them in storage for the time being.
I thought about it but am a little uncomfortable with that idea looking at the neighbors house the past few weeks. I doubt it was a kiln that started it, but it's still a good reminder of house fires. I have replumbed most of my house and have taken on minor electrical tasks, but question my skills when it comes to wiring and running a device at 150+ plus for days straight with no firewalls between me and it.
Funny how attics aren't required to have a firewall or two. That could really slow down house fires. Plain old drywall is pretty fire retardant.... Projects to consider.
Fair enough concern.
When my dog was still alive, I used to toss leftover meat scraps and bones into a Crockpot, and add the broth to her dry dog food. One day, it dawned on me that the 2-quart Crockpot had been running non-stop for two years--right there on my kitchen counter. That is the moment I felt relatively comfortable with the idea of a Crockpot-powered kiln inside my house. That's not to minimize the potential hazard. Anything electrical poses a risk. (Once, I actually got a puff of smoke out of a baseboard plug socket, when I plugged in a vacuum cleaner. It is unlikely that the previous inhabitant of this old farm house ever allowed a licensed electrician to darken his doorway, despite several room additions over the years.)
Bob
When my dog was still alive, I used to toss leftover meat scraps and bones into a Crockpot, and add the broth to her dry dog food. One day, it dawned on me that the 2-quart Crockpot had been running non-stop for two years--right there on my kitchen counter. That is the moment I felt relatively comfortable with the idea of a Crockpot-powered kiln inside my house. That's not to minimize the potential hazard. Anything electrical poses a risk. (Once, I actually got a puff of smoke out of a baseboard plug socket, when I plugged in a vacuum cleaner. It is unlikely that the previous inhabitant of this old farm house ever allowed a licensed electrician to darken his doorway, despite several room additions over the years.)
Bob
Note the pronounced petiole (empty leaf stem base) on the Ainaro, as well as its large size.
Bob
Are many varieties' leaves shaped like that Ainaro?
Note the pronounced petiole (empty leaf stem base) on the Ainaro, as well as its large size.
Bob
Only certain Oriental tobacco varieties I know produce petiolate leaves: Samsun, Bafra, Trabzon, and Katerini (and a dubious, "Cyprus Latakia" variety that I was given). The leaves of most other Orientals are sessile. With generous spacing (typical American tobacco spacing) I know that both Samsun and Bafra can grow that large. The plant has not finished (and may never finish) growing, but is reaching toward 5 feet. I have some apprehension about getting seed, because of a planting season delayed by nearly two months.
Bob
Sounds like you may have a future house plant there
Did you ever get around to trying air layering on tobacco?
I've got a Florida Sumatra I bagged for seed. It put up a little sucker at the base of the plant that I ignored. It got maybe a foot high and tried to flower. I've noticed other varieties will have suckers that try to flower very quickly once the main plant is trying to flower. I don't know if cutting a plant back prior to flowering and letting a few small suckers survive would maintain the plants "sense of age/hormone balance" for flowering purposes. If so that might reduce the size of a future houseplant
The process of producing viable blossoms requires several weeks from the time the bud head begins to differentiate. My only further effort to get seed will be frost protection for the plant tops.
Bob
EDIT: I suspect that these Timor-Leste varieties aren't familiar with winter.
Bob
EDIT: I suspect that these Timor-Leste varieties aren't familiar with winter.
Pics tomorrow. I have stripped all but the top from the two Ainaro. Today, I did the same with the Liquiça. Both strings of leaf are being sun-cured. I also stalk-cut two more Prilep 66-9/7 (to sun-cure), two midget Corojo 99 and 1 dwarfed Olor (hung in the shed). So that's it for my leaf harvest of the 2020 season. I do have a potted Olor that is larger than what grew in the bed. Also in pots are 2 Viqueque, 1 Liquiça, 1 Little Dutch, and one MD 609, all out on the porch and the steps. These will likely end their careers indoors.
Tomorrow is mowing day. Yes. Oh Deere! has promised me. Once the lawn's appearance is no longer so embarrassing, I'll snap some photos of the tobacco.
Bob
Tomorrow is mowing day. Yes. Oh Deere! has promised me. Once the lawn's appearance is no longer so embarrassing, I'll snap some photos of the tobacco.
Bob
Mommy, where does all the grass go when Daddy mows it?
Abandoned Prilep suckers.
These will all go into the shed tomorrow evening, before the rains come.
I keep plucking the Prilep leaf off of the sun-curing stalks as each cures, and tossing them loosely into this bushel basket in the shed. It's been over a month, with more to go.
Bob
Abandoned Prilep suckers.
These will all go into the shed tomorrow evening, before the rains come.
I keep plucking the Prilep leaf off of the sun-curing stalks as each cures, and tossing them loosely into this bushel basket in the shed. It's been over a month, with more to go.
Bob
GreenDragon
Well-Known Member
Did the Oh Deere! hold together for the whole mowing session?
It did. It steers beautifully now. (Had it not, I was prepared to dowse the whole thing in fuel, and melt it into slag.) Remarkably, it had little difficulty with the deep, deep grass. Oh, there was this Philips head screw that I noticed resting on the floor board after I had finished mowing. I wonder what it went to.
Bob
Bob
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