Re: Growing tobacco

Posted by kyhayman on March 23, 2009 at 10:32:54 from (75.104.128.56):

In Reply to: Re: Growing tobacco posted by super99 on March 23, 2009 at 03:34:28:

I put in a link to Rickards seed. When I was raising tobacco I always preferred their varieties to any other.

The following applies to light air cured (burley) and dark air cured tobacco. Flue and fire cured is its own art form.

To get to cutting you have to address topping. When the flowers begin to appear, somewhere 10 percent to 50 percent depending on variety you need to break the flowers and budding flowers out of the plants. Top all the plants not just the ones with open blooms. Then spray with MH 30 (maleic hydrazide). Even if you have to order it from tobacco country its worth it. Otherwise every leaf axil will form a sucker and you have to go through and break them out too. MH is cheap and does a good job.

Cutting is 21 to 28 days after topping. Cut the plant at ground level and spear on a wooden stick. Our standard sticks at 1x1 oak 48 inches long but some barns take 52 inch sticks. Use a metal spear to get the plant on the stick.

Hang in a barn or open shed, nothing metal so there is shade and airflow. If its curing too fast, use plastic to slow down the air flow, curing too slow fans will speed it up. The tobacco goes through two distinct curing phases, yellowing and browning. Yellowing should take 7-10 days. Moderate temps, slow steady breeze, and moderate humidity take care of this. All the leaf tissue should turn yellow and the veins fade to white. If this goes wrong it can set green colors (unmetabolized chlorophyll) which sets bitter flavors in the tobacco. Browning is more forgiving. Takes 4-6 weeks of the same kinds of conditions as yellowing. I like to slow down the air flow a lot at this point. When there are no fat stems left, its cured. Wait for a day of high humidity after the 6 week point and the tobacco will 'come into case' where the leaves bend instead of crumble. Strip from stalk.

At this point its ready to wash, redry, flavor if wanted, and consume.

Note!!!!! Potassium/potash should NOT be in the muriate form for smoking tobacco. The chloride in the muriate will adversely affect the burning qualities of the tobacco. Sulfate of potash is the preferred source for potassium. For sale, its not legal to use muriate but for your own use dont reckon it matters unless you are smoking it.

• rickard seeds

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