Are these ripe?

Lonnie_in_Tenn · **Joined:** Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:03 am **Posts:** 2205

That sure puzzles me Bob every strain I'm growing is very sticky . Three strains of burley . three strains of turkish and the Va Gold and Havana all are very sticky this year . Last year my Va Gold got somewhat sticky . The tops and suckers were sticky but the leafs really wasn't sticky at all .

This year is the opposite they everyone are getting sticky . I could be wrong but I think it's from the dryer conditions this year .

Yea I think your about the only one I know of smashing suckers and smelling them lol . I just break them off and throw them down . I do like smelling cured tobacco in a bag or can to smell if it has a nice tobacco smell but never smelled the growing plants .

The turkish Samsun and ottoman both grow well here with 12 inch spacings in the row . I planted the BB Samsun just like a burley because of how big SC Yankee said it got . I'm having to blend in much more than any 5 % turkish .

That might be different if the burley was ferminted or run through a kiln . But straight off the stalk I'm guessing I'm using a 20 to 25 % turkish in my blend . Not so sure I need that much but it gives the baccy a nice sweet smell and works good for us . The first ones we smoked I tried about 10% turkish and I could still taste the slightest burley bite about half way through a smoke getting very intense by the time your finished with one . 20 to 25 % and you never get any burley bite .

Just looking at your pics Bob it looks like you have plenty of room to grow extra turkish . I felt the same way though untill I seen the plants grow and tasted the difference a hefty % makes to the smoke . If I grow any next year a good 25% will be turkish if not all turkish depending on how much burley I actually end up having .

Shihan · **Posted:** Sun Aug 01, 2010 7:34 pm

bob_kemp wrote:

Hi --

Shihan, I'm growing the Turkish for the reputed flavor it adds. As the lowest nicotine level domestic tobacco, I can't commit a huge amount of growing space to it either. I think that as little as 5% of Turkish mixed with brightleaf and burley adds the distinctive flavor to the smoke. That means I wouldn't need that much space if it turns out that I like the blend enough.

I think you are right about being able to space them closer together and next year I will do that too.

I checked the flowers today and they are definitely rose-colored around the edges of the petals.

I noticed that some of the burley is starting to get yellow highlights on the bumps today and it's had 4 weeks now since topping, so I'm getting ready to hang the stalks to color cure. Still haven't noticed any extra stickiness on the burley leaves or suckers I've pulled and no noticable extra fragrance to the sap. The burley leaves are pretty heavy now, though.

The Yellow Orinoco is about 2 weeks behind the burley, has been topped for about 2 weeks and I'm finally starting to get some sticky leaves and fragrant sap. This makes me think that the burleys (I have three kinds) won't ever show those signs of increasing ripeness I see in Virginia and Turkish tobacco.

Bob

I haven't tried any of the oriental yet and hope I like it.

How to Grow Tobacco

Are these ripe?

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