My latest Harvest...Virginia Gold

[Greensage45]

Hi,

This is what I did this morning. I cleared out all the under-leaves to my tobacco plants. Then I removed all the bloom heads except one (this is a self-pollinator).

Virginia Gold, tobacco

Here are my plants after I removed all the leaves and blooms.

this view shows that I planted these next to my neighbors house (was the original farm house, mine was the bunk house :tools )

Now that I removed the lower leaves and the tops, these leaves that remain will expand and get really crinkly and fat. The lower branchings will be the ideal tasty wrappings for cigars. The color will change from green to a rich Golden Yellow.

Here is a flower

Here is this mornings Harvest. Likely this part will be mine (I am a non-smoker). This will be cured and ground to become my future pesticide!

and my current bible

Just a Gardener here!

Ron

 

[HiDelight]

I love to smoke a cigar now and then I can not wait to see how this turns out you have to keep us posted!

Oh I just reread it are you going to make a cigar or not? I am confused ..but I am also at work and detail is reserved for work thingies

 

[Greensage45]

The young tender sprouts that come from the lower branches, the ones there now and the ones to come, will also begin to age and change too, but smaller and more delicately. They are known to be the most flavorful and make the best wrappers for cigars.

We will see!

First the curing! That is taking it all down to dry (completely dry). Then the fermenting. This will be done in several batches likely so we can try several recipes.

My curing room will be my Bunnies building. Everything will be bundled and hung for several months. This room will stay cool and will extend the process. The worst of it will be the spiders that take up residence, but they are there to keep out bugs that eat plant material.

To ferment: Then I will take my Grow Box (I might consider sharing this, I built it myself) and convert it to add humidity and warmth. I will use one of those panel heating pads that look like a waterbed heater. It will all run on a thermostat and a hygrometer. No lights! My grow box right now utilizes a refrigerator fan to move air through it.

My grow box supported my seedlings during their first 30 days of life! The tobacco seedling is nearly microscopic in nature and very delicate.

Ron :bouquet

 

[injunjoe]

Very interesting!
I like your set up there.
The lath table is a great idea.

"Then I will take my Grow Box (I might consider sharing this, I built it myself)"

no the large please,

 

[HiDelight]

I hope you do a few cigars even if you do not smoke just for the experience

that is quite a bit of work and the plants are really pretty!

good luck Ron I will watch to see how this goes!

 

[Southern Gardener]

That is so cool!

HiDelight - I love a good cigar now and then also!

 

[obsessed]

Way awesome. I grew a type of tabacy when I was a teenager but mine filled me with panic everything my parents when in the back yard....

 

[Greensage45]

Way awesome. I grew a type of tabacy when I was a teenager but mine filled me with panic everything my parents when in the back yard....

LOL... are you sure those weren't some kind of Hibiscus? LOL

Ron

I bet they knew what it was, they just were letting you think they didn't!

 

[ducks4you]

Ron,
Did you get around to your tobacco harvest yet? The other atty in DH's office said that she a had a professor who kept one plant in his office and he'd harvest and cure and smoke it about one week later.

I bought a pack of 100 tobacco seeds (Nicotiana tabacum, or "Virginia Smoking Tobacco) from Whatcom seed company last month. I'm thinking about growing them on the border of the cement slab that covers one of our cisterns. It's on a slope and I've already dug a bed for tomatoes there this last summer about one foot wide and 1/2 a foot deep. That way we'll constantly be walking by and admiring it. Do you think it should be wider? I have no problem with stakes since I'm cleaning up numerous "weed-tree" saplings this winter that I can stake them with. Looking at your beautiful pictures make me look forward to growing this myself.

 

[Greensage45]