My window and balcony: 2024

[johnny108]

I just bought a condo. Has a balcony and getting morning sun but shade in the afternoon. Thinking of trying a couple of plants.

It’s worth a try. Plants that are columnar in growth habits are easiest on balconies.
Orientals often have this shape, but there are lots of others.
Almost none of my plants get a full day of sun- either morning or afternoon, because they are against a wall or hedge. The
Morning sun plants tend to do better, so your setup should work.
What are you interested In smoking?

 

[burge]

I am all virginia

 

[johnny108]

I am all virginia

A quick look through Skychaser’s website (nwtseeds.com) shows these Virginia varieties all have a columnar form:
Africa Red
Bamboo Shoot
Crimean
Gold Leaf
NC95
Ostrolist
Ternopolskii 7
Ternopolskii 14

 

[johnny108]

Last man standing: big pot (26 liter) One Sucker. 68cm tall.
Since I’m used to smaller container plants, I had to kludge together something strong enough to hold it up to stalk cure…

 

[johnny108]

Verdict on hydroponic One Sucker:
Fail.
I had it hung up and stalk curing with the rest of my crop (inside and outside), and there was mold on every single leaf.
Something likely to do with the water content of the leaf in the hydroponic system. No big loss, but, it seems that sun cured varieties, when actually sun cured, handle the moisture levels in the leaf much better.
No other One Sucker leaf, in any location, has done this.

 

[burge]

Next summer might try with virginia. Might that is would just need the right seed for Canada. China would know for Alberta.

 

[johnny108]

The big pot One Sucker is coloring up beautifully, just slowly.
Had our first frost this morning, but everything is slowly curing in the cellar…

 

[johnny108]

Sadly, every Punta De Lanza fell to massive amounts of mold/mildew on the upper surfaces of the leaves- nothing would stop it. The Rusticas I have flowering seem completely unaffected by this….
So the new windowsill plants will be Drosgi Black-Blue.

 

[johnny108]

You just gotta love the fast initial growth stages of Rustica….

 

[johnny108]

9 days since the last picture.
Using windows for sunlight (not much), and LEDs to extend daylight to 18 hours.
Already enjoying full strength triple-20.

 

[johnny108]

How nature says “the season is over”.
Aztec in the 1st snow.
Leaves were harvested after the picture was taken.

 

[johnny108]

Today: Drosgi Black-Blue.

 

[johnny108]

Transferred the 2 middle Drosgi Black-Blue seedlings from the green tray to larger windowsill pots.

 

[johnny108]

The single Hyang Cho plant yielded 13 grams of whole leaf…(10 leaves)

 

[johnny108]

Drosgi Black-Blue seems immune to the whitefly infestation on the Makhorka #8:
Probably due to the massive amount of fine hairs that completely cover the plant:

 

[Alpine]

That Drosgi looks interesting. I look forward for your tasting notes about it.

pier

 

[johnny108]

Rustica gets big, fast.
All have been on full strength triple-20 for a while now, and I’m running out of window space!
(They slow down once transplanted to big pots, where they only get sunlight- which is only 8 hours a day, now.)

 

[johnny108]

Why you never let Rusticas stay too long in small pots: they will flower quickly.
The seed tray, right side plant that’s a bit taller:

 

[johnny108]

How are the Hyang Cho spaced traditionally? I’ve been reading about the spacing affecting the yeild but also the flavor of different varieties. Would be interesting to see how the yields and flavors vary between different types of tobacco by experimenting with the spacing. Anyways those are some tasty looking plants.

I didn’t find the original pdf I had on Hyang Cho plant spacing, but I found this abstract that shows Hyang Cho seems to follow the standard Oriental tobacco habit of lower quality when nitrogen is heavily applied, and lower planting density is used.
So the rule for Hyang Cho would be
Plant them close, and minimal fertilizer.

“…The higher contents of 2.3-methylbutanoic and 3-methylpentanoic acids was obtained at the density of 3 plant per pit (12,498 plant/10a). The components determined in the neutral fraction such as solanone, furfural, furfurylalcohol and benzyl alcohol were presented in higher amount at the higher densities. The volatile acids such as 2.3-methylbutanoic acid 3-methylpentanoic acid decreased and also the contents of butanol, furfutal, furfurylalcohol, hexanol, cinnamil, acetophenone, benzyl acetate and solanone etc., were decreased as the nitrogen level increased from 3 to 12 Kg per 10a.”

Effects of nitrogen level and planting density on chemical properties in Korean native tobacco varieties​

1989​

Effects of nitrogen level and planting density on chemical properties in Korean native tobacco varieties

fao-agris-review-search-zwcsjik2pa-uc.a.run.app

 

[johnny108]

I believe the ground measure used for the planting density (12,498 plant/10a) refers to the metric measurement “are”: a measure of 100 square meters.
Thoughts? Clearer thoughts than mine?
(I cannot access the actual document- anyone else have any luck?)