Madfarmer's Grow Blog 2024

[MadFarmer]

Only getting things clean for 2024 today. Planning on growing, Dominican Olor, Texas Cuban, and Criollo 98 this year. I have a lot of work to get the bed prepped for spring, but maybe not as much as last year. Am particularly looking forward to thinning the neighbor's trees that have over grown my house - that work looks so simple from the ground.

 

[Ycc]

Are these you growing suitable for making cigars or pipe tobacco?

 

[MadFarmer]

Are these you growing suitable for making cigars or pipe tobacco?

Cigar tobacco.

 

[Ycc]

雪茄烟草。

哪些品种的烟丝适合？What varieties of pipe tobacco are suitable?

 

[deluxestogie]

The WLT Wiki discusses the categories of tobacco suitable for each use.

Whole Leaf Tobacco - Wiki

wholeleaftobacco.com

The variety listing for seed at Northwest Seed shows individual tobacco varieties in each category.

Bob

 

[MadFarmer]

We had rain and high relative humidity last weekend, allegedly good rolling weather. I sorted through my tub of finished tobacco pulling out the latest finished leaf. I seemed to be missing last year's Glessenor.
I laid every bag beside my tub, carefully rearranging the labels inside to be sure what was in the bags before returning them to the tub; 2021 Corojo, 2022 Vuelta Abajo etc. Finally, I found the bag of last year's Glessenor holding about 1/3rd of what I remembered having available.

With that revelation I altered this year's grow. Now I'll be growing Texas Cuban, Dominican Olor, and Glessenor.



Aiming for 24 seedlings. They're sharing space with Shishito peppers and Mexico Midget tomatoes.

 

[MadFarmer]

Everybody's up! Left to right, Texas Cuban (came up first on Wednesday) Dom Olor, and Glessenor.

 

[MadFarmer]

Took down the winter rye and smothered it with homemade compost and aged leaf mulch. All the garden beds can rest until time to plant in a month.

 

[MadFarmer]

Busy weekend. The rain let me take down the color cured leaf I hung in January; two bags of Comstock Spanish and a bag of Glessenor. The Piloto (not pictured) has probably dried too green to bother with.


Sunday was MadFarmer vs the canopy. When the first of the two limbs that hung over my herb bed came down the sunlight on my face grew very warm and I knew I was on the right track. If the cloud cover clears today I can clock how many more hours of direct sunlight will be available now.

 

[MadFarmer]

A couple things I picked up at an estate sale this morning. The pipe is pretty small, the diameter of the bowl is just 1.5cm. I'm open to suggestions on what to do to it before I smoke anything in it.
The Hemingway I already know my way around.

 

[deluxestogie]

I would flame the interior of the bowl with a lighter. Then cleanse the interior of the stem with a vodka-soaked pipe cleaner. Wash the exterior of the stem with soap and water. Set it aside, and think about it for a few weeks.

Bob

 

[ProZachJ]

I'm open to suggestions on what to do to it before I smoke anything in it

Ten Steps to Restoring Estate Pipes for Beginners

I have been reading on a variety of pipe refurbishing sites on the web how different refurbishers list the steps they take to clean up an estate pipe. Interestingly enough, there is little variatio…

rebornpipes.com

 

[MadFarmer]

Planted! One row of Glessenor, a row of Dominican Olor, and two rows of Texas Cuban. The pic is from Saturday the 29th of March.
Today, they look pretty ragged; dry cool breeze, flea beetles, grasshoppers - oh my! So far I am unconcerned. The growth tips look intact, and the weather should warm up in 36-48 hours.

 

[WillQuantrill]

View attachment 50461

Planted! One row of Glessenor, a row of Dominican Olor, and two rows of Texas Cuban. The pic is from Saturday the 29th of March.
Today, they look pretty ragged; dry cool breeze, flea beetles, grasshoppers - oh my! So far I am unconcerned. The growth tips look intact, and the weather should warm up in 36-48 hours.

I like your confidence!

 

[MadFarmer]

I like your confidence!

My confidence was misplaced. I've lost three Glessenor, two Dominican Olor, and one Texas Cuban. The survivors may envy the dead.
Our mild winter means the bugs are early. Flea beetles seem to prefer tobacco over tomatoes - the four tomato plants I put out the same day and the next bed over have fared better.


The best I can say today is they're not dead - or missing. I've cleared away excess mulch, and ringed them with compost, the gardeners panacea.

 

[WillQuantrill]

My confidence was misplaced. I've lost three Glessenor, two Dominican Olor, and one Texas Cuban. The survivors may envy the dead.
Our mild winter means the bugs are early. Flea beetles seem to prefer tobacco over tomatoes - the four tomato plants I put out the same day and the next bed over have fared better.
View attachment 50486

The best I can say today is they're not dead - or missing. I've cleared away excess mulch, and ringed them with compost, the gardeners panacea.

Thinking back to last year, the flea beetles preferred my Texas Cubans. I treated for bugs and was still scratching my head how there were zero on my corojo's but the Tex Cubans had a swarm.

 

[MadFarmer]

After the flea beetles, grasshoppers, and persistent, unrelenting shade - all but one plant in my tobacco bed have perished. Re-reading my previous logs, I see that I started my seeds two to three weeks earlier than this year, meaning I out them in the ground this year based on dates and not on the maturity of the plants.

(Lone Texas Cuban)


Even after thinning the neighbors trees I don't think that part of the garden gets enough sunlight to grow much of anything. (The oregano and thyme seem fine.) Most of my raised beds will have to move 30 feet away. In a northeast facing lot sunlight is at a premium.

So then there were three:

Potted = Glessenor
Pint pot = Texas Cuban
Four inch pot = ???

I'm hoping thats Olor in the 4". It could also be another Glessenor. Is there enough difference in leaf shape between the two to tell them apart once they're mature?

I'm debating starting a new round of seeds. I'll have garlic to harvest soon, 14 tomato plants to tend, okra, peppers, and squash to put out. I'll decide in a week or two.

 

[deluxestogie]

Olor—also called Dominican Wrapper—(head high) tends to grow taller than Glessnor (chest high).

Bob

 

[MadFarmer]

This year instead of a disposable diaper I'm trying out an unscented Arm and Hammer pet pad. According to the label this can hold up to 16oz of liquid. I'll see if it can rehydrate after a few weeks in the attic kiln the same way the diapers did.



In the kiln: Piloto Cubano, YTB, and Comstock Spanish.

I pulled out some Yellow Twist to see how it smokes before kilning. Unfortunately, in attempting to clean my pipe I broke the stem while taking it out.

 

[Knucklehead]

View attachment 50932

This year instead of a disposable diaper I'm trying out an unscented Arm and Hammer pet pad. According to the label this can hold up to 16oz of liquid. I'll see if it can rehydrate after a few weeks in the attic kiln the same way the diapers did.

View attachment 50933

In the kiln: Piloto Cubano, YTB, and Comstock Spanish.

I pulled out some Yellow Twist to see how it smokes before kilning. Unfortunately, in attempting to clean my pipe I broke the stem while taking it out.

Thats a great idea. Could also use that for rehydrating filler, binder, wrapper in a cooler.