Anyone Grow Tobacco?

[LuckyStrike]

I love to smoke and think Tobacco would be a great crop. Does anyone have any experience growing it?

Someone recommended this link to me as a place to get seeds and such but I haven't bought them yet.

http://www.seedman.com/Tobacco.htm

[keehah]

I think any such seeds should easily germinate.

I have a few growing as weeds in my strawberry patch. They self seed. Never cured any though, something for the future if I have the need or time. It seems as if one could plant an acre's worth from the seeds of one plant.

Acidic soil. Once they get leaves more than a few inches off the ground what was nibbling on them stops. No disease in my isolated location for such a plant.

They say the genetics can degrade (for human use) over generations in strange locations.

[Saul Mine]

seedman.com is rather expensive. http://coffinails.com/ is much cheaper and also has a forum for growers.

[BabushkaLady]

I love to smoke and think Tobacco would be a great crop. Does anyone have any experience growing it?


I lived in the Tobacco Belt for a good while. Growing it shouldn't be a big problem as long as you have enough hot and dry weather. Buy the seeds specific for smoking, not the dark fired tobacco, that's for chew.

There should be plenty of info on the net about oiling and suckering the plants to make them produce bigger leaves. There are some diseases that can be prevented, depending on where you are, they probably won't even be an issue. Curing your tobacco can be considered an art. This takes practice and patience.

A tip for your garden if you do grow some: always rotate the tobacco to a distant corner. It drains the soil of a lot of nutrients.

I still talk to a few tobacco farmers regularly if you have specific questions . . .

edited: (to remove Burley placed in wrong part of sentence)

[SLV^GLD]

I grew up farming tobacco. It is the hardest work on the planet, I promise.
I'm sure raising a few plants for personal consumption is no biggie but curing it would be a bitch.
I suppose you could construct the essence of a mini pole barn.
Since we always sold the dried, baled leaves to the market I have no clue what it takes to go from the hung and stripped plant to a smokable product. We rotated soybeans on the fields every other year to replace the lost nitrogen.
For maximum foliage you want to top the plant at about 5-6' when it starts to flower.

[keehah]

For maximum foliage you want to top the plant at about 5-6' when it starts to flower.

That does not set it back much. They really seem to really want to make seed. Does one keep cutting this back or only do it once?

[BabushkaLady]

For maximum foliage you want to top the plant at about 5-6' when it starts to flower.

That does not set it back much. They really seem to really want to make seed. Does one keep cutting this back or only do it once?


You usually only need to top it once, as long as you don't top it prematurely.

[LuckyStrike]

I grew up farming tobacco. It is the hardest work on the planet, I promise.
I'm sure raising a few plants for personal consumption is no biggie but curing it would be a bitch.
I suppose you could construct the essence of a mini pole barn.
Since we always sold the dried, baled leaves to the market I have no clue what it takes to go from the hung and stripped plant to a smokable product. We rotated soybeans on the fields every other year to replace the lost nitrogen.
For maximum foliage you want to top the plant at about 5-6' when it starts to flower.


I have a shed with a tin roof and rafters that I plan on hanging it from hopefully this will get the job done since it does get pretty damn hot in there.

I'm sure it will be trial and error for awhile but I'd like to get the kinks ironed out while I can still buy it. Same philosophy with my garden.

[osoab]

First year growing. I smoke, wanted to see what would be involved.

I have 2 plants each of eight varieties. Started from seeds. 8 are for cigs, 8 are for cigars. They were bought as a package deal.

The seeds ary tiny. Pin head size. I got way too many when I planted.

I planted in 5 gal, 4 gal, 3 gal, & 1-1/2 gal buckets/pots. I won't use the small pots again. The smallest of those is about 2' tall. All are yellowish, nitrogen rich fert doesn't bring them out of it really.
The ones in the 5 gal buckets are 5'+ from the top of the bucket. 2' long leaves, awesome looking.

I planted in pots, because I had read they get buggy and wanted to keep them further away from the main garden.

Well, they got buggy.

I have sprayed 7 dust liquid concentrate 4 times on them, the last was 3 weeks ago. I didn't want too, but they are infested. I cannot stop these red egg sacks and white larvae. They are all over the place. The plants, though, show no signs of distress from them. A crap load of flies I think are eating the larvae. Shiny green ones. I think I have some mice eating some of the leaves too. I have my compost bin surrounded by the tobacco, and there is a sizeable amount of what looks like rodent droppings all over the lid.

I do have questions for the pros.

When would you pick leaves? Just as they start to yellow?

Or should we just harvest the whole plant at once?

What bugs like tobacco?

[keehah]

I'm no pro, but if I really had to go native, I would roll and light up the bottom 20% of the leaves that may go yellow over summer, then dry the rest from the stalk till the next crop is ready next summer.

Judging from what I have observed, pick or use the 20% bottom that you thin as you notice them begin to yellow (or they will go to waste), and the rest can be harvested at once.

[BabushkaLady]

I'm no pro, but . . .

Next time grow them in the ground! Nuttin grows really great in the pots.

Depending on where you are, you could have any kind of bugs. All kinds like tobacco. Especially the horn worm. Just pull those off regularly.

I'd call one of the county extension offices in your area and see if they can narrow down what the red sacks are. Once you know what you're dealing with you can then plan your attack. I don't know what the farmers are currently spraying on the tobacco, but another call to a Tennessee/North Carolina/Kentucky county Co-op or Ag office would be a quick answer for you.

Steps for growth: plant, top once, then remove suckers at about 1-1/2 inches as needed. The leaves are mature and ready to cut when the bottom leaves are drooping and getting thick with a hint of yellow. Also may develop a coarse feel to them. Cut all at once.

After you cut, you could use straightened coat hangers to string the leaves on. Leave about 1 inch between stems for ventilation before hanging.

Check the archives on Backwoodshome.com for old articles about home grown tobacco.

[Buddha]

Vodka is a natural pesticide.