Too cool & wet August

[LeftyRighty]

This July & August has been mostly high temps in the 80+ degrees and frequent rains.
Normally, in years past, our July/August is mostly days in the 90's and few storms, very dry, it's making a big difference is ripening of the tobacco leaves. Usually by now, the leaves are yellow splotchy and browning tips tips and edges. This year, the only sign of ripening is a lighter shade of green.

It's been 4 weeks since my Virginia Bright Leaf & African Red showed blossoms and the plants were topped, some lower leaf was picked a week ago, and hung to air-cure. These leaves were then only a light-shade of green, but yellowed quickly in the shed. I picked some more of these light-green leaf, hung in the kiln to start flue curing, took 4 days at 100 deg to turn yellow, but look great.

Even the Yellow Twist Bud Burley is staying green, while the stalks & leaf stems are snow-white (a sign of ripe burley), 5 weeks after topping, the leaf lamina show only a pale-green throughout.

But suckers are going wild, having to pick them every 3 or 4 days, a real PITA.
I guess that I'll just assume that a pale-green leaf is fully ripe, and keep picking to cure.

 

[Moth]

Hopefully the longer season means more leaf. Sounds frustrating, hope it improves.

 

[Alpine]

Other than yellowing, there are other signs of leaf maturity (or ripeness):
-yellow tip
- alligator skin
- celery like leaf stalk (while harvesting, the broken stalk makes an audible “crack”)
- droopy leaves
White stem burleys show white stems for the whole growing season, that’s not a sign of maturity. Be brave and leave your leaves on the plants: in my experience it is far easier to cure a fully ripe (or overripe) leaf in bad weather conditions than to cure an immature leaf in ideal temp & humidity.
Mature plants can withstand moderately cold weather for a while, some strains even light frosts, so plenty of curing time left.

 

[LeftyRighty]

Other than yellowing, there are other signs of leaf maturity (or ripeness):
-yellow tip
- alligator skin
- celery like leaf stalk (while harvesting, the broken stalk makes an audible “crack”)
- droopy leaves

Oh, yeah, my. leaves are showing these, except the yellow tips - just lots of light-shaded green spots, and they're noticeably thicker, leathery feel and sticky to the touch, when not wet..

White stem burleys show white stems for the whole growing season, that’s not a sign of maturity.

As an immature leaf, my YTB burley have shown a green-tint, especially on the underside of the stems. When I say they are "leaf stems are snow-white", I mean they are WHITE, top & bottom, all the way to the stalk, with no hint of green.

This area has had frequent rain, all summer long, no hot-and-dry spells. None of my leaf are showing yellow spots, which is unusual 4+ weeks after topping.