MAB 2023 (Bursa,Virginia Gold, MS Heirloom)

[MAB]

Hi Guys, this season I celebrate 10 years as a home grower of tobacco, and therefore I will grow my three favorite strains because if this season is good, next year I will not plant any plants (I think I have enough stock for two years).

The strains:

Virginia Gold: 65 plants. This was my first cultivated strain, I bought it on the internet and I was lucky to have started with this strain as it has proved to be my favourite. It is very good to smoke alone, the taste is quite neutral and therefore never tired. I use this strain as a base for other blends (I am a cigarette smoker).

Bursa: 19 plants (1 plant R.I.P.) I got these seeds from Rustycase in 2015 (thanks Rusty!) and it's my favorite Turkish strain (I've only grown Samsun and Prilep).
Well, Prilep is the best Turkish I've smoked, but Bursa is slightly inferior but above all it is much more productive than Prilep.

MS Heirloom: 2 plants. I also got these seeds from Rustycase in 2015 (thanks again amigo!) and it's my favorite burley strain (I've only grown TN90 , YTB and Barnett Special). Well I only grow two plants because it is very heavy to smoke (I like cigarettes with low nicotine) so I occasionally mix a 50% MS and 50% Virginia Gold and wow, what a wonderful taste! I want to add that I don't topped the plant but let it flourish.
However, if I want to mix an American blend I prefer to use YTB, because it has a more neutral flavor and goes better with Bursa or Prilep (and Virginia of course).

So, on Friday 30 June 4 weeks have passed since the day of transplanting into the ground and the Knee-high stage has ended. This is the situation:



In this panoramic image you can see the Bursa and the two MS at the top right. Everything else is Virginia Gold.



Close-up of the MS Heirloom. This plant seems to want to stay stuck to the ground…lol



Close-up of the Bursa. It was transplanted with the traditional Turkish measurements: 25 cm. between the plants on the row, and 35 cm. of space between the two rows. It seems that this plant doesn't need to be watered, I give a bit of water from time to time if it doesn't rain for several days.



Virginia Gold. This strain, which I grow every year, has stopped producing suckers which means a lot less work but I no longer have a decent second harvest.

Well, now my plants will enter the rapid growth stage and I hope that the miracle will happen again this year.
See you in the next update and sorry for my bad english!

 

[Knucklehead]

Your plants are beautiful. Best of luck with the remainder of your season!

 

[Alpine]

Ciao Marco bentornato!

pier

 

[MAB]

Hi Knucklehead from Alabama, when I was young I listened to Neil Young's song “Alabama” hundreds of times
thanks for the good luck!

Hello Pier, lucky you who are in the north, it's getting too hot here!

So Friday 14th July 2023 has been 6 weeks since the day of transplanting into the ground and my plants are in the rapid growth phase. This is the situation:
Virginia Gold: This strain is doing really well, the height of most plants is 110 cm. (about 43 inch) some plants reach 130 cm. (about 51 inch) with the largest leaves 60 cm long. (about 23inch).


MS Heirloom: Mississippi is also doing well I believe (I am no expert on burley strains) one plant is 125 cm tall. (about 49 inch) with the largest leaves 65 cm (about 26 inch) long;
the other plant is 120 cm high. (about 49 inch) with the largest leaves 60 cm (about 23 inch) long.


Bursa: This strain is not doing well. It grows unevenly: some plants are 100 cm tall, (about 43 inch) other plants are 150 cm tall (about 59 inch) also two plants after a heavy rain bent and do not grow straight.


Panoramic image of my little field:

On the left, the row of unfortunate plants: it's a bad position because they receive little sun in the morning and at sunset, and as soon as the ground becomes wet, some animals dig tunnels damaging the roots. So, in that row I transplant the seedlings that didn't grow well and also I don't spend money to give them fertilizer. Poor plants.. lol

See you in the next update and sorry for my bad english!

 

[Old Gasman]

That's a super looking tobacco patch you've got there, it's all the sunshine you've got maybe.

 

[MAB]

Thanks Old Gasman!

Well, the sun has become a problem here, the ultraviolet rays very often burn the leaves and also burn the fruit and vegetables!

Watering
Up until 2020, 2 liters of water (about 0.53 gallons) from time to time was enough for each plant, until in 2021 I had this bad situation:

It had been seven weeks since the transplant, just like today's update.

So everything has changed since then: if it doesn't rain, plants need a lot of water.
In 2018, in the 4 weeks of rapid growth it rained only 2 times and I gave 14 liters of water (about 3.7 gallons) in total in those 4 weeks.
In 2022 in the 4 weeks of rapid growth it rained only 2 times and in those 4 weeks and I gave 78 liters of water (about 20.6 gallons) in total.
As you can see the difference is huge.
(I hope I didn't convert liters to gallons (US) wrong)

Seventh week after transplant
Friday 21 July ended the seventh week after transplanting into the field (111 days from sowing).
The Jungle Begins:


This week I went on a picking tour of Virginia Gold low leaves, and a Mississippi plant flowered :


It seems that the season is going well:
Virginia is now 130 cm tall. (about 51 inch) with some vigorous plants 145 cm (about 57 inch) tall.
The two MS plants are 135 cm tall. (about 53 inch) and 145cm. (about 57 inches).

The Bursa is not doing very well, the smaller plants seem to be stuck at a height of 100cm. (about 39 inch), the best developed plants are 160 cm tall. (about 63 inch) with 30 cm long leaves. (about 12inch) :


See you in the next update

 

[deluxestogie]

Before transplant next year, clear away all that grass. The grass is why your tobacco plants need regular watering. Grass is optimized to scavenge as much water as they can.

Bob

 

[MAB]

Hi Bob
Well, obviously at the time of the transplant I have the grass cut in the garden, this is the only image of this year with the newly transplanted Bursa :



Then I pulled the grass 3 weeks after the transplant, my helper Billy the Cat is also visible in this picture :



I don't like having tall grass in the garden and I should have pulled the grass out a couple of weeks ago but it was very hot and I was very lazy
Since yesterday the weather is cooler but the field is a jungle now and I will wait to harvest the low leaves before pulling out the grass.

 

[MAB]

8th week after transplant

Friday, July 28 ended the eighth week after transplanting into the field (118 days from sowing).



Here's what's new:
MS Heirloom also flowered the second plant and I bagged it.
Virginia Gold flowered the most vigorous plant and I bagged it.
Bursa no signs of bud-flower formation, usually blooms later.

Harvest:
This week I did two rounds of low leaf picking of Virginia Gold, the following images are from the picking of Sunday July 23rd.
My work plan with the leaf harvesting box, the sink and the tray with the hooks:



The leaves are washed and placed in the sun to drain for about an hour. Those harvested leaves are quite yellowed but not like in the photo (my phone doesn't take good pictures in the sun) :



These are the leaves I brought home after about an hour, and the color of the photographed leaf is quite similar to the real one



This is the pile that will be covered with paper and then inside a plastic bag for yellowing :



Here are the leaves yellowed after two days inside the pile :



Compared to the picture, the yellow color is paler. Usually I don't hang the leaves as soon as they come out of the pile but I put them immediately in the card-box in the sun. This time rain was forecast so I hung them up until the next day.

I apologize for the monotony of the images to older growers who have seen these photos before.

Well, I would say that my plants have entered the flowering stage (except Bursa).
This year seems late: I have a note from 2018 and by the eighth week after the transplant, Virginia had flowered in 22 plants out of the 51 plants I had in the field.

See you in the next update.

MAB (Marco American Blend)

 

[deluxestogie]

Your leaf looks wonderful. Nice work.

Bob

 

[MAB]

Your leaf looks wonderful. Nice work.

Bob

Thanks Bob!

9th week after transplant
Friday 4 August ended the ninth week after transplanting into the field (125 days from sowing).
In the main field all of the Virginia Gold has flowered except two plants which show pods.

Harvest:
This week I did two rounds of harvesting pulling off the last low leaves of the Virginia Gold. Legs are starting to show:


Garden A: the two bagged plants on the left are the Mississippi, the Bursa is quite hidden behind the 15 Virginia Gold plants.


Garden B: it's all Virginia Gold about 155 cm. tall at the crow's foot:



MS Heirloom:



There is so little information on this strain, I believe it is a Dark Hair Burley as the plants have been in flower for about two weeks but the lower leaves are still very green only showing a yellowing at the tip. No alligator marks.
In 2016 I had primed the leaves and then hung them in the lower part of the cellar and the leaves had cured well to a leather brown colour. I think I will do so again this year.
See you next week.

 

[MAB]

Hi Guys, It's been a long time since I've updated my Grow Blog but I've had a lot of work as this season has been very productive with lots of leaves! And I'm happy

Wednesday 6th September was the second week for my second harvest and this is the situation in the garden:



During this week I also finished harvesting the Bursa which I harvested whole stem.



Let's take a step back:

Virginia Gold
During the 12th week after transplanting I harvested all the middle-stalk leaves and I pulled the top-stalk leaves off the stem. A big storm was forecast for that weekend (which didn't happen in my area).
Now the top-stalk leaves are curing in the cellar along with some middle-stalk leaves I harvested that were still quite green.



MS Heirloom
Mississippi not cured in piles but simply hung in the lower cellar. To take this image I moved them to the top of the cellar:



It seems that the leaves have cured well:



Bursa
This strain did not do very well, the heights were not equal: the smallest plant was 130cm tall. and the tallest plant exceeded 2 meters, I couldn't measure it!.
Flowering was also not equal, some plants had already flowered for 6 weeks when I harvested the stem while some plants didn't even show buds!.
Finally, the leaves are not what they traditionally should be, i.e. green with yellowed leaf tips. The leaves are light green and often turn brown on the plant:



Now I hope for a decent second harvest, this hasn't happened for many years! The image below is from 2016: in the center the Virginia Gold and on the right the Bursa which had become gigantic:



See you in the next update!

 

[MAB]

Hi Guys, we are at the end of my Grow Blog which coincides with the harvest of the second growth (growth from suckers).

Wednesday 25 October marked the end of the ninth week for my second growth and on Friday and Saturday I picked out all the plants with whole stems and stored them in the cellar.
Well, 210 days have passed since I sowed!
The tobacco season is so the manufacturing part has yet to begin: de-veining and thin cutting of the leaf.
Now all the first harvest is stored with loose leaves inside cardboard boxes.

Second growth
Second growth went very badly for MS Heirloom and Bursa: neither plant developed a decent sucker.
As for Virginia Gold, this year's second growth was the best season in 5 or 6 years:

Garden A:



Garden B:



East Extension:



Cellar:



The quality of my second growth has never been close to the goodness of the first harvest but if it is flavored (casing) with Vanillin it becomes a pleasant tobacco and my wife really likes it.

Well, all things considered, this season has been really lucky: the first harvest was abundant and next year I certainly won't be growing tobacco; the second growth was quite decent and I think it will be enough for my wife for a couple of years.

Thanks to everyone who intervened and also to those who looked at my blog-grow, I will probably write again when there will be the final weighing with the leaf cut and ready to smoke.
Goodbye,
MAB (Marcon American Blend)