Wruk53 2023 grow log

[johnny108]

I have no way of measuring the humidity, but the air conditioner runs at 76 degrees almost year-round and removes most of the moisture from the house, so I imagine it's quite low. probably 50 percent or less. The temperature in the cabinet probably runs from 80 to 85 degrees while the light is on, cooler during the dark period. To be clear, the cabinet is inside the house.

If you can wire up a grow chamber, you can wire up a kiln.

 

[deluxestogie]

A kiln must be constructed with adequate insulation (123-128°F) and an adequate seal.

Bob

 

[johnny108]

(Make a grow chamber with thicker walls, a heavier door, and use a small incandescent bulb or reptile aquarium heater, instead of lights)

 

[wruk53]

I'm not really concerned about building a kiln. I have the luxury of having a 2-3 year's supply of tobacco on hand and I can allow it to age naturally. This works fine for snus, which is the only tobacco product I use. Besides that, my electricity bill is too high already.

 

[wruk53]

I took 4 cuttings from the passion fruit vine this afternoon.

Outer bands of rain from the storm have been passing through for the last few hours. I hope we get at least a few inches from it; we are woefully behind on our rainfall totals for the year.

 

[Knucklehead]

I took 4 cuttings from the passion fruit vine this afternoon.

Outer bands of rain from the storm have been passing through for the last few hours. I hope we get at least a few inches from it; we are woefully behind on our rainfall totals for the year.

Same here. Water table is really low. We get a brief shower that barely settles the dust or a downpour of a thunderstorm and the majority of that is run off that fills the ditches that run to the creeks, those don't do much to get the water table back up. It has been years since I can remember a slow, steady three day soaking rain, especially this time of year.

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

The armpit of florida is also way behind. We got a little bit the other day and it was a good steady rain today for about an hour. It helps but I'm sure we are still behind! Thankfully I pile copious amounts of compost in the garden before I planted this spring!

 

[deluxestogie]

NOAA ~3pm EDT today.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

I'm not really concerned about building a kiln. I have the luxury of having a 2-3 year's supply of tobacco on hand and I can allow it to age naturally. This works fine for snus, which is the only tobacco product I use. Besides that, my electricity bill is too high already.

One of the advantages of living in the south I suppose. Our natural sauna is pretty close to prime tobacco growing regions, yours even more so than mine. Get a minor cold interruption then the tobacco is back to natural aging in the garage or attic. Color curing is as easy is hanging leaves up outside for a week or two during the warm months. The simplicity of certain tasks almost makes up for the excessive pests and heat rash for six months out of the year - along with melting out of your skin while growing and harvesting I sure do enjoy it though.
Hope the hurricane spares your house and crop any damage.

 

[wruk53]

Today is 4 weeks from transplant. I have 70 plants total, 19 Little Yellow and 51 One Sucker. The ones with the broader leaves are Little Yellow. There are a few runts, but overall, I think they look okay.

 

[deluxestogie]

What are your thoughts on a sucker crop from a dark air-cured variety?

Bob

 

[johnny108]

Curious what your opinion of Little Yellow is as a snus….

 

[wruk53]

What are your thoughts on a sucker crop from a dark air-cured variety?

Bob

This photo is the yield from the Spring sucker crop of One Sucker. I only got about one pound from 30 plants. The leaves were very small, had lots of disease, flowered very early and just were not very vigorous. So, I'm not inclined to try it again with that variety. Just for the heck of it, I might try it with the Little Yellow though.

 

[wruk53]

Curious what your opinion of Little Yellow is as a snus….

This is my first time growing Little Yellow, so it will be several months before I will know. I will definitely post my thoughts on it when I get around to trying it.

 

[plantdude]

This photo is the yield from the Spring sucker crop of One Sucker. I only got about one pound from 30 plants. The leaves were very small, had lots of disease, flowered very early and just were not very vigorous. So, I'm not inclined to try it again with that variety. Just for the heck of it, I might try it with the Little Yellow though.

I can't comment much about a sucker crop, but I've grown three dark varieties here in the south. Madole, small stalk black mammoth, and staghorn (a dark Virginian according to northwood seeds). All three have been pretty disease resistant in my area. I've not been over impressed with the yield and growth of small stalk black mammoth, It's ok but not great. Madole does better for me and produces larger leaves with more uniform plant heights and less suckering.

Staghorn also does well but I have trouble thinking of it as a dark tobacco. Staghorn air cures a nice dark reddish brown color and is a lighter more pleasant smoke than madole. I can see staghorn fitting the bill for a wider variety of uses than Madole (i.e. Larger component in a pipe, cigar, cigarette blend). There is a night and day difference between Madole and staghorn, both good choices but two very different tobacco types. Madole comes across as a stronger flavor profile and more inline with what I think of as a dark tobacco - more of a bold prescence. Staghorn is great, but a little more mellow than what I would think of as a dark tobacco.

I've made chewing tobacco with all three varities and they all work well for that purpose. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts on little yellow.

 

[Alpine]

Yep, a dark Virginia is definitely NOT the same as a a dark tobacco, Dark va’s have a stronger flavor than “regular” (?) Virginias (or, better, bright leaf) but have nothing in common with “true” dark tobacco.

pier

 

[johnny108]

This is my first time growing Little Yellow, so it will be several months before I will know. I will definitely post my thoughts on it when I get around to trying it.

Have you ever grown Rot Front or Badischer Geudertheimer?
They are both Dark varieties, supposedly too strong (nicotine) for cigarette use in the EU....
If not, would you consider it?

 

[wruk53]

Have you ever grown Rot Front or Badischer Geudertheimer?
They are both Dark varieties, supposedly too strong (nicotine) for cigarette use in the EU....
If not, would you consider it?

I haven't grown either variety. I usually chose short varieties to minimize blow overs. Rot Front is described as a tall plant. I don't know anything about the other variety. I suppose a person could grow a tall variety and just top it well below the bud at whatever height he wishes. I'm open to trying different varieties.

 

[wruk53]

Today is 6 weeks from transplant. Little Yellow is more susceptible to brown spot than One Sucker. So far, it's confined to the bottom few leaves though, hope it doesn't spread to the upper part.

A picture of my mutts.

 

[wruk53]

I was inspired by China's video on making carottes to make one out of tobacco flour. I measured out 100 grams of flour, moistened it with 70 grams of water, put it into a one-quart freezer baggie and wrapped it up real tight. I'll store it for a month or so and see what happens.

One of the best batches of Snus I've ever made was from a batch of MD 609 that I had made into a sailor's perique combined 50/50 with WLT's dark air cured tobacco. So, I'm hoping this method will approximate that.

The flour used is from a variety of tobaccos that I have purchased from WLT and grown myself. Whenever I start getting low on a certain variety, I just combine it into a 2-gallon bag with all the other varieties and call it Medley.