coupon-clipping-granny
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is turkish a plant thats very hard to grow or something cause im not hearing or seeing anything about it
growing turkish
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DGBAMA
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mine seem to be thriving. do not seem to have a special trick to growing. They are traditionally planted closer together than Burley or Virginia so you can fit more plants in a smaller space. The downside to that is they are a smaller plant and the smaller leaves mean more work in harvesting/handling due to the quantity of leaf needed to have the same amount of cured tobacco.
In Cigarette blends, turkish is usually only a small percentage of the total mix, so this is not a big turn-off.
In Cigarette blends, turkish is usually only a small percentage of the total mix, so this is not a big turn-off.
coupon-clipping-granny
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ok thanks im gonna give it a whirl i just ordered leaf and plants from bigbonner i cant wait im excited
DGBAMA
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My first year too. I have overplanted everything I started out to do and am still figuring out where to put them. lol. It is exciting watching a seed so small grow with the possibility of a whole plant being 4-8' tall in a single growing season. Or a pinhead sized seed producing 30" leaves in a single growing season...........etc. What is your average "first frost" date, you may still have time to start more of your own.?
DonH
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I grew Turkish from BigBonners seedlings and they turned out great. They were Smyrna #9. They grew over six feet tall but the leaves were about half the size of the American types. I grew Virginia Bright Leaf, Burley, and Turkish in about the same proportion as a good cigarette blend and the cigarettes taste great. I'm really happy with how they turned out.
BarG
Founding Member
Your sure now? That sounds like a good blend for a grow.
leverhead
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I'm sorry that I didn't welcome you properly, so welcome! Turkish varieties aren't any more difficult to grow than anything else, maybe even a little easier than some. Check my grow blog, I've got a few there. I'll be taking some more pictures today and should have them posted tonight. I've also got some of BigBonner's seedlings coming this week, I'll post some pictures of them when they come in.
My personal experience for what it's worth is that it grows a lot quicker than most of my other strains. Next year I'll start it later than the rest of the plants, 90% of the plants this year outgrew themselves and got stringy, while all the other strains are plenty thick enough in the stalk and can stand on their own.
coupon-clipping-granny
Well-Known Member
we just had our last frost on the 15 of may it is iffy though because mother nature is seeming to be bi-polar around here lol and thanks to everyone for the help
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I've grown various orientals at a number of different spacings. As stated above, even at traditional American tobacco spacing (say 24-36" x 4') the Oriental ("Turkish") leaf is smaller than other varieties. The closer you space them, the smaller the leaf grows, and the shorter the plant grows. The upside of closer spacing is that the smaller leaves take on a more typical "Turkish" aromatic character, and become milder, which is ideal for pipe blends, and may or may not be of concern for cigarette blends.
This year, my Xanthi Yaka 18a and Celikhan are planted about 9" apart in all directions, in a 5' wide bed. This is for my pipe blending.
My impression is that regardless of spacing, you end up with a similar quantity of finished tobacco per sq. ft. of garden space, but with the closer spacing, handling the higher number of leaves per pound is a bit more work.
Bob
This year, my Xanthi Yaka 18a and Celikhan are planted about 9" apart in all directions, in a 5' wide bed. This is for my pipe blending.
My impression is that regardless of spacing, you end up with a similar quantity of finished tobacco per sq. ft. of garden space, but with the closer spacing, handling the higher number of leaves per pound is a bit more work.
Bob
skychaser
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My experience is quite different. When planted at 2' spacing, Turkish varieties produce far more tobacco than when spaced closely. Especially Izmir. But I can't speak to the flavor differences when grown in the traditional ways as opposed to the way most tobacco is grown here in the states. And IMHO, stringing tiny leaf is a hell of a lot more work!
Sky,
I may be way off in my estimate. I did not do a weight comparison. My sense is that the larger leaves have a higher percentage of stem weight (thin though it be) than the smaller leaves (in which the stems may often be left in place).
Ah! For lack of a datum, a shoe was lost.
This season, I will attempt to calculate the weight of cured leaf per sq. ft. for Celikhan and for Xanthi Yaka, both of which are planted about as close as I dare go. Then next season, I'll gather some data on a widely-spaced grow of them.
I confess to being strongly biased in favor of those tiny, golden brown, fragrant Xanthi leaves. Just opening one of the Zip Locks of 2 year-old Xanthi from my humidor, and taking a sniff, is almost as intoxicating as the first spoonful of Oreo Blizzard.
Bob, the Biased Boffin
I may be way off in my estimate. I did not do a weight comparison. My sense is that the larger leaves have a higher percentage of stem weight (thin though it be) than the smaller leaves (in which the stems may often be left in place).
Ah! For lack of a datum, a shoe was lost.
This season, I will attempt to calculate the weight of cured leaf per sq. ft. for Celikhan and for Xanthi Yaka, both of which are planted about as close as I dare go. Then next season, I'll gather some data on a widely-spaced grow of them.
I confess to being strongly biased in favor of those tiny, golden brown, fragrant Xanthi leaves. Just opening one of the Zip Locks of 2 year-old Xanthi from my humidor, and taking a sniff, is almost as intoxicating as the first spoonful of Oreo Blizzard.
Bob, the Biased Boffin
That is one of my experiments for this year. I have Samsun Maden planted on 10 inch centers and on 2 foot centers. I'll weigh and compare later this fall.
The measurements I have done support your thesis. Big heavy stemmed leaves do lose a higher percentage of weight to the common ribbing I do for cigars. Some of the oriental used for cig blending had less than 4% loss. Big leaves have lost up to 25%. 15 to 18% is average.
whoa.... 9-inch spacing!!!!
I did 15" spacing on a clump of Bursa a couple years ago. That was a nightmare to pick suckers and spray for hornworms, even worse, when high winds blew half of them down, then trying to upright them. Most leaves were in the 12-18" length.
Decided after that experience to only plant double (maybe triple) rows, regardless of spacing.
I did 15" spacing on a clump of Bursa a couple years ago. That was a nightmare to pick suckers and spray for hornworms, even worse, when high winds blew half of them down, then trying to upright them. Most leaves were in the 12-18" length.
Decided after that experience to only plant double (maybe triple) rows, regardless of spacing.
leverhead
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I'm going to withhold any crazy statements until the end of the season. I think I'm going to be OK for most of my Turkish section, The Bursa and Ottoman are going to be trouble for sure. I don't have a problem with plant to plant spacing, yet. Row to row spacing looks like it's going to be about a foot short, going on a diet won't help me much. If it gets too bad I'll take out every other row. A staggered double row might leave enough room to work and keep the plant population the same. I've got a couple of varieties growing in two places with the same soil, one is planted by the traditional spacings and the other is planted kind of like DeluxeStogie has done. I used the traditional plant to plant spacing between the plants in all directions. It won't tell me exactly what I want to know, but it will give me some good clues as to what direction to go.
That's a depressing number of exclamation marks. I do appreciate your difficulties with the Bursa.
The point for me is to learn. By instanbulin's metrics, I should be planting at about 7.5" spacing, but since I planted Xanthi at 12" in 2012, with excellent results, and no real access problems, I compromised to 9".
Now, this is Xanthi, mind you. Bursa is a much larger-growing plant. Growing Xanthi at wide spacing produces 6' plants, and gives you a different end result. I believe that historically, US grown Turkish has seldom been commercially successful, since it was usually planted and handled in the same fashion as American tobacco varieties.
Since my beds are never more than 5' wide, with a grassy path along the entire length on both sides of every bed, I never have to reach more than 2.5', while still standing on the grass, and never have to walk between the plants. I'm not too concerned. But I'll find out.
Bob
jekylnz
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Sounds like your gonna have to harvest army sniper style..on your stomach. Lol
leverhead
Well-Known Member
Maybe a smart pet monkey.
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