Taking my first shot at growing tobacco.

[RGD.]

Originally Posted by Footbag

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

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.

Originally Posted by shilala

. . .
We're just gonna look at the pretty flowers.
I might take pictures of the bees, too. I think the flowers are pretty gooey and nectarlicious, so there should be lots of critters.
. . .

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

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



Congratulations

[HK3-]

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

[elderboy02]

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

[HK3-]

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

[ucla695]

That's a sweet project you have going there.

[Root]

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.



Good luck

[CBI_2]

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

Look forward to following your progress.

[shilala]

Here's a couple update pics from today.
The girls are getting big. Fast.

[G G]

Cool Scott.

[WildBlueSooner]

Nice...looks like they are very healthy.

[shilala]

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.

[G G]

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.

[CBI_2]

Looks like they're of to a roaring start.

[theonlybear4CORT]

Originally Posted by blueface

looks great.

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

gb????

:d

[shilala]

Originally Posted by CBI_2

Looks like they're of to a roaring start.

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.

[CBI_2]

Originally Posted by shilala

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.

Hmmmm. Have you asked Richard about that?

Originally Posted by shilala

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.

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

[shilala]

Originally Posted by tzaddi

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

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.

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.




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

Originally Posted by shilala

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.