Who's growing this year?

[Vaporer]

TV, they will all be nitrogen hogs.
I was going to rotate so I could have clean seed to save and not cross bred, thats all.
It was just a matter of getting enough ahead to do it.
I think a person could stage 2 blooms a season far enough apart to be safe on saving the seeds as pure strain for self use.
Time will tell from the log entries of this yrs attempt.
I've seen pods for sale. Wonder how many seeds are in one?

Wonder how long pollen is viable? Something else to look into.
I did read that tobacco is or can be self pollenating, kinda an odd thing.
I dont know that much abt plants, but most seem to take more than one.
I've pollenated apple trees before and tomatoes with a small paint brush or q-tip.

 

[TWISTED VICTOR]

Ok, food for thought. I did know about the nitrogen, at least. Don't know anything about pollination.......well, besides my resulting kids......

 

[WerkIt]

I am seeing what looks like white specks of dust in the soil where the Rustica & Perique were scattered, which means the seeds are beginning to sprout.

 

[TWISTED VICTOR]

Can you tell if it's a boy or girl,yet?????

 

[WerkIt]

I put the children outdoors today for some sunshine, although only 8 of these bottles are baccy:

5 of the 10 rustica seeds are sprouted, as can be seen in this shot taken from above, looking into the bottle:

 

[maureengill]

I'm apologizing...I have to say what popped into my head when I saw this thread...

I'm growing this year...to make up for all the years that smoking stunted my growth 8-o

Sorry...

Maureen

 

[Vaporer]

WerkIt, looking good.
Are they at the stage yet to leave the top off or are you gonna wait for a little bigger primary leaf?
My wife tossed the 2ltr bottles I had set back!
I have some flats and the plant cups, add saran wrap, I'll be ok.

Maureen, if you arent smoking anymore I'll give you a pass on that. lol

 

[WerkIt]

WerkIt, looking good.
Are they at the stage yet to leave the top off or are you gonna wait for a little bigger primary leaf?

I will wait a bit longer to slice the top off, but not necessarily long enough for primary leaves.

I am seeing the white specks of dust on the soil where the yellow orinoco was planted now as well.

 

[dgriego]

You will be fine. tobacco grows all over the planet practically, even in the nastiest of soils. The major problem people seem to have is getting from sprout stage to transplant stage, but that is easily solved by stopping humidity after germination.

Ok now I am interested, I live in New Mexico and I have lots of room to plant but the dirt is not very good dirt. Maybe I can try a couple plants and see how it does here.

LOl my husband is going to think I have lost my mind, he already thinks i am losing it with my snuff, planting my own tobacco will clinch it. I shall have to look out for the people in white coats.

 

[WerkIt]

Ok now I am interested, I live in New Mexico and I have lots of room to plant but the dirt is not very good dirt.

In the case of not the best soil, perhaps try Virginia Brightleaf?

It had been noticed for centuries that sandy, highland soil produced thinner, weaker plants. Captain Abisha Slade, of Caswell County, North Carolina, had a good deal of infertile, sandy soil, and planted the new "gold-leaf" varieties on it. Slade owned a slave, Stephen, who around 1839 accidentally produced the first real bright tobacco. He used charcoal to restart a fire used to cure the crop. The surge of heat turned the leaves yellow. Using that discovery, Slade developed a system for producing bright tobacco, cultivating on poorer soils and using charcoal for heat-curing....

...News spread through the area pretty quickly. The infertile sandy soil of the Appalachian piedmont was suddenly profitable, and people rapidly developed flu-curing techniques, a more efficient way of smoke-free curing. Farmers discovered that Bright leaf tobacco needs thin, starved soil, and those who could not grow other crops found that they could grow tobacco. Formerly unproductive farms reached 20–35 times their previous worth.

 

[four2109]

Looking good WerkIt. How many days to sprout?

 

[WerkIt]

Looking good WerkIt. How many days to sprout?

It depends on the type of tobacco seed. I put mine down on 3/13. It is now 3/19. Here's what I am seeing so far. The rustica is up and was the first to come up. The Balikesir is sprouting, as is the Izmir-Osbas, actually, I see 8 sprouts out of 10 of the Izmir-Osbas. I see one speck of green in the Perique, but others that look like white specks of dust. I see what looks like white specks of dust in the Yellow Orinoco. There is nothing yet in the Virginia Gold, Bafra or Black Sea Samsun, but the Bafra and Black Sea Samsun were put down later than the others. The Virginia Gold isn't quick to come up anyway, if I am remembering correctly from last year.

 

[Vaporer]

Well, got my seed in the starter pots today. Yippie!
Chobies Virginia, Cuban, Aztec Rustica and Cuban Nicotina Hiltonia.

Last night, wife went out of town shopping. Ok, we have huge amounts of potting soil from last year on the back deck. Of course it had all kind of strange little things growing in it by yrs end. This is something I didnt want to hassle with.
If I'm gonna baby it, it better be the tobacco I want. Not weeds.
Solution, get a very large ziploc bag, fill it, soak it with water and nuke the crap out of it.
Ok, it will be sterile now or should be.
Falling asleep in the recliner and wife coming home finding hot dirt in the microwave...Priceless. Not pretty, but still priceless.

Have an electronic log started too. I dont normally keep a log file of things, but something tells me a growing log will prove very useful later on.
I have a pretty good memory, but there are just to many details to keep track of from what I can read so far with growing.

I was wanting to start them on the 15th and got real busy. Ok, the 21st still gives me 8 weeks -6 days till our normally safe plant date in Ohio. Ok, 7 weeks.....
We normally have a few warnings after that anyway and this has been a rough winter for us. So, I dont feel to bad. At least I have them started.
Progress pics will be posted as it goes.
If they start well, I will probably start a second set in 4 weeks.

They are presently sitting under a 4' light and in front of a south facing window.

 

[The Wiz]

Well, got my seed in the starter pots today. Yippie!
Chobies Virginia, Cuban, Aztec Rustica and Cuban Nicotina Hiltonia.

Last night, wife went out of town shopping. Ok, we have huge amounts of potting soil from last year on the back deck. Of course it had all kind of strange little things growing in it by yrs end. This is something I didnt want to hassle with.
If I'm gonna baby it, it better be the tobacco I want. Not weeds.
Solution, get a very large ziploc bag, fill it, soak it with water and nuke the crap out of it.
Ok, it will be sterile now or should be.
Falling asleep in the recliner and wife coming home finding hot dirt in the microwave...Priceless. Not pretty, but still priceless.

Have an electronic log started too. I dont normally keep a log file of things, but something tells me a growing log will prove very useful later on.
I have a pretty good memory, but there are just to many details to keep track of from what I can read so far with growing.

I was wanting to start them on the 15th and got real busy. Ok, the 21st still gives me 8 weeks -6 days till our normally safe plant date in Ohio. Ok, 7 weeks.....
We normally have a few warnings after that anyway and this has been a rough winter for us. So, I dont feel to bad. At least I have them started.
Progress pics will be posted as it goes.
If they start well, I will probably start a second set in 4 weeks.

They are presently sitting under a 4' light and in front of a south facing window.

Sending lots if "Wizardly" grow thoughts your way Vaporer so you can share that goodness when "Harvest Time" comes!!!

The Wiz!

 

[TWISTED VICTOR]

If I'm gonna baby it, it better be the tobacco I want. Not weeds.

I accidentally raised a well pampered burdock that way once . Good idea on the log, it'll be helpful in coming years.

Oh, and be careful not to over-cook the dirt in the microwave....makes it too chewy .

 

[Vaporer]

There be sprouts!

I have 2 of 4 with sprouts as of yesterday.
Yesterday they looked as a fine white spiderweb spot. Very small.
Today we have green showing! Not a leaf yet.

I was concerned. The week prior to planting was warm sunny and beautiful.
So, I decided to start, a week late...........
The 1st couple days in the window sill started to worry me. The window is in my work room, pretty isolated and I dont keep much heat in there normally.
Sitting in the window sill was way cooler than I expected for the 1st couple days. No sun at all. Nights in the 30's so I figured the room temp was 70 at the best.
This concerned me on germination. Strange enough to just drop flecks on the soil.
I have Glad cling wrap over the 4" pots.
I decided they needed more heat to be safe and not rot from just wetness so I placed them on top of the 4' flouresent light. It felt nice and warm, free hanging over my bench.
Checked them last night as saw the fuzz so I moved to the light.
I'm impressed as this is so diff than other things I have grown.
The cat knocked my one Cuban from the sill and very little spilled.
Just put all I found back in jiggled it level and am hoping on it.

The 2 that are up are Cuban Hiltononia and Rustica.

Just so I could identify them, hopefully........I planted at clock positions 12, 3, 6, 9 and then inbetween each of those 1/2" from the rim and lastly in the center.

 

[me who]

I may start some seeds tomorrow. Last year I grew;

TA16 Standard Burley Tobacco
TA42 Kentucky
TA44 NC2 Hybrid
TA51 NC BH129 Hybrid
TA101 Golden Seal Special

Got em from
Tobacco Plant Seeds From Around the World

 

[me who]

Just so I could identify them, hopefully........I planted at clock positions 12, 3, 6, 9 and then inbetween each of those 1/2" from the rim and lastly in the center.

I tried a similar technique last season in hopes of being able to identify them later, unfortunately I lost track, now I have boatloads of baccy seeds in the greenhouse... just not sure what's what.

 

[Vaporer]

I have 4 strains in 4 labeled seperate 4" pots.
I plan to plant in 4 seperate groups and have a map.
I'm not looking to have pure seed the 1st yr since they can polinate up to 1mi.
Anything blooming at the same time will surely coss.
We have a few bee hives in the area among other insects.
I'm not planning on selling seeds , but never know what might grow from them in a pinch.

 

[DVap]

Oh, and this thread is going to have to evolve into it's own "Home Grown" section so we can add threads for harvesting, curing, etc. Maybe Dvap can give us some input on TSNA's... See what you started!

Sorry I missed this for so long... I've been a busy boy!

If one is growing tobacco and wishes to minimize TSNA's, I'd recommend researching the various curing methods and their known impact on TSNA production.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything solid for this that I can pull either off the top of my head or out of my ....