What to do with "tips

[Fisherman]

Hello,

I have primed a lot of my plants and have lots of thick leaves on tip that are really sticky and resiny. I was told they would have lots of flavor IF they cured brown.

I was going and still want to try for a sucker crop but none are forming on lower part of plant stalk and If I was to fertilize now I think it would make the existing leaves cure bad????

If I cut and hang top of the primed stalks will the small tips cure?

Will a sucker develop on the bare stalk?

Should I just yank and replant? I have another set of starts ready in a few weeks.

Would appreciate any help.
Mike

 

[deluxestogie]

You have a number of conflicting goals.

Tips: My tips of most varieties seem to take many months to color-cure. It's almost June, 2013, while some of my 2012 tips are just now coloring-up. For cigar condiment, kilned tip leaf is wonderful. It may be way too potent for cigarette use--I don't know.

With some of my tips, Turkish varieties in particular, I do cut the top of the stalk, and hang that in the shed until it's color-cured. For larger-leaf varieties, I prime the tip leaf, after allowing it to ripen as late as possible on the stalk.

Suckers will likely develop at every leaf node on the stalk, once you top the plant. My most successful sucker crop was grown by cutting down the entire stalk, then removing all but the strongest single sucker that emerged from the base.

If you have a suitable season for a second full crop, I would be inclined to completely remove the roots of the first crop, re-fertilize, then go with fresh transplants. This will likely give you a better quality of leaf than even the best of suckers.

Other members have had different experiences with sucker crops, so you might get their impressions, before taking any action.

Bob

 

[workhorse_01]

If you have plants ready in a few weeks I'd pull the old and use them. Last year I didn't have any new starts ready so I didn't pull suckers from the bottom of the plants once they reached 4' tall that way I had them ready at harvest, at harvest I took a pair of pvc cutters and cut the stalk off a inch above the best lowest sucker and pulled all the rest off. This worked for a total of three crops. If I had been smart like you I would have had new plants ready and used the whole growing season. I get antsy reading our northern brothers post's with the hurry up the snow is coming grow, grow, grow. We don't have snow, put on some buffet, calm down, have a beer and plant another crop. You got three times as long to grow. Good luck!