From Bud to Harvest

[ashauler]

Completed the final harvest on 10 Sept after work. This harvest was disappointing....I paid the penalty for my inexperience on this one. Well, that and the 60 mph winds we had the week before. All the tiny holes became huge ones and many leaves were destroyed for curing purposes. Too much damage = too much risk of rot or mold....and I ain't into risk at this point.

Here's the crop before harvest, you can see some of the shredded leaves:


Argentina harvested 3....trashed 8.....total harvested this year 12 leaves from 1 plant:


Long Red Leaf harvested 7....trashed 9...total harvested 43 leaves from 4 plants:


Small Stalk Black Mammoth harvested 2...trashed 13..total harvested 30 leaves from 4 plants:


Florida Sumatra.....0 harvested....36 leaves trashed. These plants suffered from calcium defficiency to a higher degree than the others. This defficiency causes the leaves to "hood"....curl over from the edges to the middle, causing the leaves to rot during curing and fail to lay flat....ruins them as a wrapper, and again, too much risk of rot for me to try to cure these out. Total harvest of FS was 30 leaves from 4 plants.

The aftermath:


The root systems:




So, my overall results of the experiment were:
18 peat pods successfully yielded transplantable seedlings.
12 were planted to the field and yielded a total of 115 processable leaves.
3 were planted to large pots and grew successfully. They have not budded yet, and 0 leaves were harvested.
I have not lost any leaves during the curing process.....yet. We'll see how that goes.

I would like to extend a grateful thank you to Mark for getting this started. I have enjoyed it immensely and look forward to the curing and fermenting processes, and eventually smoking a few cigars made from these tobaccos.

Thanks for following this with me, I hope it has been enjoyable.

[mrtr33]

Florida Sumatra.....0 harvested....36 leaves trashed. These plants suffered from calcium defficiency to a higher degree than the others. This defficiency causes the leaves to "hood"....curl over from the edges to the middle, causing the leaves to rot during curing and fail to lay flat....ruins them as a wrapper, and again, too much risk of rot for me to try to cure these out. Total harvest of FS was 30 leaves from 4 plants.

Calcium deficiency, huh? I'll make a note on that for next year. I know several of the leaves I harvested had "hooded". While I hope I'm able to spot them during this curing phase, the chances of me getting past the curing phase at this point in life is unrealistic.

The root systems:

...look much MUCH stronger than mine did. You've got some great soil there.

I have enjoyed it immensely and look forward to the curing and fermenting processes, and eventually smoking a few cigars made from these tobaccos.

Thanks for participating. I think we're all interested to hear how the next processes go. Keep us posted as you have time. Hopefully, you'll even want to do it again next year! This could be a regularly recurring even on the board. I know I've already started a small compost pile for next year's garden, and will probably be putting in new soil as well (with extra attention to the calcium fortification, of course!).

Let me know if you want some of my leaves, to further your potential cigar-making empire. We'll figure out something.

[ashauler]

Calcium deficiency, huh? I'll make a note on that for next year. I know several of the leaves I harvested had "hooded". While I hope I'm able to spot them during this curing phase, the chances of me getting past the curing phase at this point in life is unrealistic.

The Calcium can be handled through feeding during the growing season and need not be done with soil modification per se.....though that would work too.

Ya know, theoretically, you can put the color cured and completely dried leaves in a brown paper bag and they will continue curing with the passage of time. Just have to kinda look at 'em once in a while for mold. It will take much longer (months) for the tobacco to be smokeable, but that would give you plenty of time for cupcakes, diapers and supermodels.

Hopefully, you'll even want to do it again next year!

I've already ordered some seeds from the gov't and am planning the soil test and amending for this fall.

I doubt I'll do a thread on it though.

[Zywiec]

Wow nice project, is there a special way to make the leaves special such as "marinading\seasoning" for taste\flavors?

[ashauler]

Wow nice project, is there a special way to make the leaves special such as "marinading\seasoning" for taste\flavors?

Yes, there are many ways to "process" tobacco.