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Haroon's grow log 2025

The Haroo ln

Haroon
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Yeah I've got a total of 60 proper plants and then a couple of leftovers in smaller pots. They were just spares in case I had any of the originals destroyed/lost. So i had about 75-80 that germinated and out of them i only wanted to plant 50, but was more than happy when I managed to get some extra pots to plant 10 more
 

The Haroo ln

Haroon
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Ok I found them. You got a lot more than I do lol. Great looking plants. One of mine was turning a light green about 3 weeks ago and I did a foliar feed using calcium nitrate and in a couple days it had turned a lush green again.
I've only used 'chempak' fertilizers last year and this year, but I swear by them. Chempak 2 high nitrogen feed NPK(25-15-15) usually 2 weeks after transplanting into the garden and then after another 2-3 weeks i give them chempak 3 fully balanced feed NPK(20-20-20) and then after another 2-3 weeks I'll give them the chempak high potash tomato feed NPK(11-9-30) and then flush them out for the last 3-weeks. Im also thinking that next year I might start with the fully balanced feed first and then give them the high nitrogen feed after 3 weeks or so.
 

The Haroo ln

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Here's my plants again at almost 6 weeks after transplanting. All doing really well. 2 of the criollo started to bud but this is probably due to some severe winds we had over a couple of days which made them bend and curve putting stress on them. 2 of piloto also started to bud, but the corojo hasn't had any budding yet. Overall I'm really pleased with how they growing.
 

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The Haroo ln

Haroon
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I'm growing tobacco for cigars. Would it be worth letting the leafs ripen on the plants before harvest or am I better picking them when they mature? How would the difference affect the tobacco?
 

PressuredLeaf

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My two cents are: I’d leave the filler leaves on the plant till they are close to fully ripe. The reason being is that some varieties can be more difficult to color cure if picked too early. A green cigar leaf is not a good thing imo and there is no remedy once it dries green. On the other hand I live in the desert where the RH is usually less than 20%. If you live in a more humid climate or have a humidity controlled curing chamber you can probably get away with harvesting earlier.
 

The Haroo ln

Haroon
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My two cents are: I’d leave the filler leaves on the plant till they are close to fully ripe. The reason being is that some varieties can be more difficult to color cure if picked too early. A green cigar leaf is not a good thing imo and there is no remedy once it dries green. On the other hand I live in the desert where the RH is usually less than 20%. If you live in a more humid climate or have a humidity controlled curing chamber you can probably get away with harvesting earlier.
Yeah i had this issue last year i lost around 40 leaves due to humidity being too low and temps being too high.
 

PressuredLeaf

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Yeah i had this issue last year i lost around 40 leaves due to humidity being too low and temps being too high.
I’ve lost so many due to the low humidity that I finally built a humidity controlled color curing chamber. It’s was surprisingly easy and pretty hands off. I used on of those grow tents, a cheapo ultrasonic humidifier, and a cheap humidity controller from Amazon. Oh and tiny fan for air circulation. The only thing I had to do was occasionally fill up the humidifier.

Where are you located btw? Your soil looks very nice, and the plants too.
 

The Haroo ln

Haroon
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Im in the UK in Warrington. It's right in between Manchester and Liverpool. Yeah the soil is a lot better quality than last years. I had some organic compost that my mum made. And then I bought a couple of bags of top soil and mixed it into the normal soil around 4 weeks before I transplanted the tobacco. As far as curing goes I built a really basic shed from pallet wood last year as a curing/drying chamber and as a little mancave to smoke inside when the weather wasn't good. I had a small bedroom humidifier in there with a fan but and then spritzer the walls and floor with a little water whenever the temps got too hot to keep humidity levels up.
 

Angry Turtle

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I've only used 'chempak' fertilizers last year and this year, but I swear by them. Chempak 2 high nitrogen feed NPK(25-15-15) usually 2 weeks after transplanting into the garden and then after another 2-3 weeks i give them chempak 3 fully balanced feed NPK(20-20-20) and then after another 2-3 weeks I'll give them the chempak high potash tomato feed NPK(11-9-30) and then flush them out for the last 3-weeks. Im also thinking that next year I might start with the fully balanced feed first and then give them the high nitrogen feed after 3 weeks or so.
That sounds like a plan. Maybe I’ll give that feeding schedule a try next season. Took a screen shoot in case. Thanks for the advice. Looks like you plants are benefiting from those feedings.
 

deluxestogie

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I have successfully stalk-cured Corojo 99 as well as Piloto Cubano. My Corojo 99 grew so tall (9 to 10 ft.)—taller than the interior height of my curing shed—that I usually would take 3 or 4 primings (~3 leaves from each stalk per priming), and string those for curing. Then when the upper leaf matured, I would stalk-cut and stalk-cure the upper 6 feet or so of each stalk.

Leaf priming reduces the risk of in-field damage to individual leaves. Stalk-cutting and stalk-curing provides a decent cure, as well as minimizing the risk of flash-drying green, and is considerably less work than priming and stringing all the leaf. Traditions die slowly.

Bob
 

WillQuantrill

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Missouri
Hey guys just a QQ has any other cigars strain grower tried stalk curing corojo 99, criollo 98, piloto cubano or habano 2000? Never heard of anyone/any company doing this apart from with connecticut strains. Just curious on whether it works for cigars or not?
I have not had great luck stalk curing for cigar variety and here's why. Im an impatient prick, once the leaves are cured it is much more difficult to get them into high case to then prime them off the stalk. This could be done with enough time waiting for the leaves laying underlapped to gain moisture but at this stage Im just trying to get leaf strung up. So unfortunately the lower case leaves get damaged trying to prime off to string in the kiln. But, for my system all leaves are going to be strung up in hands so there isn't really any time savings to be had by stalk curing. For cigar I always think... filler is wrapper that didn't make the aesthetic cut.
 

The Haroo ln

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Cheers guys that's cleared up quite a bit. So as I understand, stalk cut is if you have low humidity problems when curing right? If humidity is high then priming is better?
 

The Haroo ln

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Here are my plants at approx 49 days after transplant. I must say the corojo 99 is doing realllllyy well! At almost 5ft tall! The criollo 98 is abit disappointing with the largest plant at around 4 1/2ft and the piloto I'm very surprised by, I thought they were supposed to grow to between 7-8ft its just about reaching the 4ft mark. All plants are budding some quicker than others. Criollo 98 started flowering the fastest and then piloto. Corojo is showing flower buds but theres still some leaves that will grow before it actually starts to properly flower. It looks like most of the harvest/priming will begin end of this month. The corojo 99 will be probably be harvested in August. The very last pic with the solo plant in the pot is what I had left over and somehow lost the labelling for it, so I have no idea what it is but after 4 weeks in a small grow tent I have decided to bring it outdoors. Does anyone think its worth transplanting into the ground or should I leave it in the pot? It's about 3ft tall and show.ing very healthy leaves.
 

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Knucklehead

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