Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Richard (tzaddi) hooked me up with some seeds earlier this year. I started them and transplanted them so far.
They're doing great.
I held off doing this for lots of years because I read an old book that said growing tobacco was very difficult. It went so far as to say the seed was almost impossible to start and required a heat mat, and that the seeds had to be started on a brick sitting in a pan of water, then transplanted carefully with tweezers.
The book was from 1938 or somewhere thereabouts.
Turns out it was all crap.
Starting the seeds and growing the plants has been nothing more than super easy.
Here they are so far...
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plant1.jpg
A whole tray, there's 3 trays...
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plant2.jpg
My plant stand where I grow all my plants for the garden...
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plant3.jpg

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

That's very cool Scott, can't wait to see how it turns out for you.:tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Looks great.

I too am working on growing tobacco.
Why do my leaves look so different than yours?:rolleyes:

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s.../HempLeafB.jpg

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Very cool Scott! :tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

You are not starting them too early are you? I made that mistake last year.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Very nice! have you tried Richards tobacco? it is very good!

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

You should also consider trying to grow girl scout cookies :r

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

I think you are showing us only "half the picture" (oh, you have changed the pictures).

For purposes of cigar leaf, I understand that this is very labour intensive and difficult to get right. However, the plant itself is really easy to get to grow. But, when you want specific qualities to present themselves, then you have to deprive the plant in very specific ways in order to get your preferred results. Otherwise, it is like any other plant you may want to grow and smoke, with equally disgusting results (note, I am not talking about Spiderman's girl friend here....she is always easy to grow and always gives you the result you are looking for).

That's why Cuba is "it", and many other climes are close to "it". Its the right combination of hospitable air and moisture, with the right combination of inhospitable soil and sun. So, you may want to try to up the light, and make the soil more sandy. But, I am not a horticultural/botanic type, so I can't be certain.

Cheers

Cy

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Nice looking leafs you got there Scott. :tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Very nice!!!

I don't have a sweet garage garden because I don't want my neighbors calling the cops... so I will plant my seeds when the sun starts shining again!!!:tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Nice pics as a friend of mine from another forum sent me a ton of seeds of every type of tobacco. From what I read he sent enough seeds to grow acres of tobacco. I wish I had the energy and the resources to grow this,,,and then roll them,,,surely a dream thing to do.



Lol,,,where da buds at?

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Is that a Maple Leaf? Must be the tropical version. ;)

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Dood, chill. :)
I just want to see the pretty flowers. :tu

I still haven't made any plans about what I'll do with the plants once they've grown. It's completely secondary.
I have at least six months before I even have to run that thought through my head. Right now I just hope I can grow them and watch the flowers bloom through my kitchen window and watch the hummingbirds drill them.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

:r

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

So, what you are saying then is that you are going to need me to start photoshoping you a special "Shilala Edition Limitada" cigar bands? Oh good, I didn't know how I was going to accomplish the proper embossing to ensure people could tell between the real thing and counterfeits.

You had me worried there

Cy

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Dude that's funny ship..... :r :r

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

No. Dood. FLOWERS.
We're just gonna look at the pretty flowers. :r
I might take pictures of the bees, too. I think the flowers are pretty gooey and nectarlicious, so there should be lots of critters.
There's a great big black ant filled pine tree nearby that should supply sufficient pollination, so there should be lots of hardcore critter action.
If the plants live, I might even pick some of the tobaccy.
I'd like to find out how they make chewing tobacco so I can chaw on it. That'd be the coolest. That's why I was gonna grow it years ago. To make snuff. :)

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

OK the, I guess I am back to building the Special Anniversary Vitola Select Bands for Juan IceHog's new line of Nic/Hond Corojo/Maduro/Oscuro, Ligero/Volando cigars.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Scott,
That is what I say about the ones I am growing.
I strictly want the "flowers".:r

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Keep us posted on this Scott, can't wait to see how it turns out.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Not really. Most farmers have them bedded already - just need to wait until there is zero chance of frost. I have helped raise thousands and thousands of them.

Since we grew for production - they never get to flower - but I don't seem to recall a whole lot of activity around the ones that did. You will need to keep an eye out for worms though . . .

If you plan on smoking any of the plants - you may want to top one or two. This way you can see the difference in growth. Flowered plants will grow taller with slightly narrow leaves - topped plants will have fuller richer leaves.

Looking forward to your pics -


Ron

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Scott, great to see this thread. You are off to some healthy plants. Like you said, no need to worry about constructing the tobacco barn and hiring field hands. :) You are doing it and as a master of improvisation your journey will unfold and reveal the next step.

This is what I am talking about :)

http://gallery.me.com/tzaddi/100343/...hilala/web.jpg

Congratulations:tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

That's great Shilala! It will be cool to see how they turn out! If you need a guinea pig.... I'll smoke anything! :wo

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

I can't wait to see how the plants turn out!

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Miracle grow makes bud booster which will make your flowers bigger. :D

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

That's a sweet project you have going there. :tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Its work getting them going and keeping them right but its something holding a full size tobacco leaf in your hands.

From the wilds of Wisconsin another flowering set.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Virginia.jpg


Good luck

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Awesome Scott! I have thought about trying it but wasn't sure I could successfully pull it off.

Look forward to following your progress.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Here's a couple update pics from today.
The girls are getting big. Fast. :)
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/tobacco1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/tobacco2.jpg

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Cool Scott.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Nice...looks like they are very healthy.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

This is a good comparison...
The tray on the right in the top pic is the same as the tray on the right of the bottom pic. (Same goes for the tray on the left.)
The top one is one week ago, the bottom one is now.

http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plant2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/tobacco1.jpg

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

There used to be a considerable amount of farmers growing tobacco in the county in which I live, there is none to hardly none now.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Looks like they're of to a roaring start. :tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

gb????

:d

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

I'm amazed at how fast they're growing.
I'm gonna let them get a little bigger and then I'm gonna have to start holding them back. Otherwise I'm gonna have to pich them back and I don't know how they'll respond, being as I never grew tobacco before.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Hmmmm. Have you asked Richard about that?

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Those plants are on a path to be over 8 foot plus. Pinching will cause multiple heads, which may result in smaller but more leaf. It's all good. Your doing a great job my friend. Making me feel a proud :)

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Thanks Richard. :)
I figured it'd push more leaves and they'd be smaller as a result.
I didn't imagine it'd create multiple heads. I thought they already put on lots of heads, kind of randomly.
I'm already thinking of an alternate place to plant these monkies because they're going to be a lot bigger plants than I imagined. I had imagined them to be somewhere around 2-2 1/2 feet wide, but it looks like they're going to be more like 4 feet wide.
Height isn't a problem as they were going to be planted next to the house, but the flower bed they were going to be in isn't deep enough to host them.
I think I'll companion plant them in the garden with my watermelons and pumpkins. The melons will like the shade and it'll slow up my pumpkins so they aren't ready so early.
I live in a river valley and the soil is crazy fertile, and there's some clinkers and potash mixed in that really helps the soil drain very well. Add to that the water table is only about 12-18 inches down and I have an awesome ecosystem for them.
There's going to be lots more sun in the garden than beside the house, too.
I have a perfect place to shade-grow a few plants by the front porch, although I'm going to have to amend the soil.
Which is the best variety for wrapper, Richard? I was thinking about using the 2000.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Yep, every time you pinch a head 2 more grow back. I would recommend the Havana for wrapper. It is much more elastic than the Mexican Maya Mopan or Louisiana Perique. The Havana seed I have shared also offers a lighter shade of brown on the first fermentation.

Your betcha those plants are going to be huge. Here are a few visuals form last years leaf and it was not even a huge year, due to the long month of smokey fires preventing full sunlight.

http://gallery.me.com/tzaddi/100276/DSC03369/web.jpg

http://gallery.me.com/tzaddi/100276/DSC03370/web.jpg
Doing the math your plants could easily have a circumference of 5 feet :)

They are going to be beauties. The tobacco road is a wondrous one with many rewards.

—Richard

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

I love watching this thread. They look awesome.
Posted via Mobile Device

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

:tpd::tpd:Me love it too!

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Ahhh. I love threads like this that have lots of pretty pictures, sound advice, positive vibe, camaraderie and are tobacco focused. Really, what more could you ask for? (assuming some tobacco consumption pictures in the end of course) :ss

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Nice looking starts you have going there Scott. Grow lights work wonders don't they for the colder areas of the country?

Now, I'm thinking the final product should be a 5x52 huh?:tu:ss

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

That sounds just about perfect. :)

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Here's an update.
I figured I'd put all the pics in order so it's easy to compare the progression of the weeds. The plants are getting absolutely huge. They're eating a lot of water and miracle grow.
Today I bought 4 bags of Moo Power composted cow manure for the flower bed wherte these are getting planted. The bag said that the Moo Power people were #1 in the #2 business. I thought that was awesome. :)
Scott (sofaman) helped me spread the poop and get the bed ready for next month when I plant these.
In the last picture you can see the rest of my seeds I just planted, all my tomatoes and peppers.
On the bottom right are the Psteospermum that will be planted in companion with the tobacco. They're kind of like African Daisies, gorgeous plants.
Anyways, here's the pics...
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plant1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plant2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/tobacco1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/tobacco2.jpg

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plants1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plants2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~shilala/plants3.jpg

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Very cool. Any way to add extra lithium to the soil? :)

Hope you extend the experiment to curing and fermentation. :tu

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

Wow they are huge. Thanks for the progessive update.

Re: Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.
 

If there's a will, there's certainly a way... Lithium supplementation with the Miracle Grow?:D

Your plants are looking great Scott:tu