That's tough. The south side of your house or garage next to the wall, what's it like there?
Homegrown Burley
- Thread starter Ahi Ka
- Start date
5 to 10 gallon buckets or pots might be better in your climate.
Asphalt/driveway. But I could use containers?
I think so. You may have the short season working against you but your insanely long days will work for you. I would be very interested in seeing how it all works out.
The ground temperature is only important for growth, not survival. Anything above 40 and it can survive. It's just pointless to take a plant growing in a pot and put it into ground where it'll stop growing.
I’d imagine the frost line would move faster than root growth, at this point. I can always dig a big ass hole and then transplant into fresh soil so it stays warm throughout the growing season. My major concern is getting them big enough to transplant in time. Everything I’m reading is saying it takes several weeks. They’d definitely get full sun and plenty of water once in the ground, but I don’t know if there’d be enough time left by then.
It's much warmer here. We had our last frost last week and I've stated planting. If I didn't have seedlings and had to start now, I would probably go with either a variety I know to grow quickly, or one that doesn't get very big. The fastest grower I have is Delhi-34, a Canadian bright tobacco from Delhi research station in Ontario. I would have to mail those to you. Pm if you would like some and I'll send them off right away. I think you should also order seeds from northwoodseeds.com because coming from Washington might be faster than from Alberta. I would suggest Harrow Velvet as a mild Canadian burley which might grow alright. But look at their varieties and see what interests you.
Northwood Seeds Providing organically grown seed for home gardeners - http://northwoodseeds.com/Seed%20List2.htm
Plan on stalk curing. Before temperatures in fall drop below 30 hang the entire plants in a place that's 60-80 and not too dry or humid. Basically.
The next year will go better with this practice.
I’ll shoot you a PM. I also sent an email to Northwoods earlier today asking for suggestions on varieties that might work in this situation.
I’d also say to anyone curious about homegrown to grab some whole leaf tobacco. Even just to play around to get a feel for moisture, processing, and storage
Definitely agree, I've been using it for a couple of years now and today I'm enjoying some amazing pressed Virginia red leaf with a smaller % of Virginia cavendish. I'd have to look at my notes for exact numbers (scary to view lol) but it's there somewhere. One day when I find time I'll get all my scribble organized.
Here are some pics of what I was bagging up today. The first is pure semois (Martin variety) that has been shreaded and then pressed into a brick. The other one roughly follows the ratios for “Le petit robin” and is equal quantities of semois, Va bright, Va lemon.
I don’t have a pic yet, but so far the best way I have enjoyed homegrown semois is mixed 50:50 with some staghorn (dark air cured Virginia). I’m slightly tinkering around with the blend, but this has won a jar spot on the work desk.
I don’t have a pic yet, but so far the best way I have enjoyed homegrown semois is mixed 50:50 with some staghorn (dark air cured Virginia). I’m slightly tinkering around with the blend, but this has won a jar spot on the work desk.
Last pic of this season before these bad boys get put in the back of the closet to age. I pressed all my varieties into seperate whole leaf/threshed plugs, portioned and then vacuum sealed to retain the pressure/eliminate mould risk while they sit in medium case.
Wow. That's self-sufficiency, Dave.
Quite something to aspire to.
Quite something to aspire to.
Thanks a lot for this thread. I have done a similar process to some whole leaf burley and the result is great. Very, very yummy
