Heck, if you read his ad , they should plant & grow themselves. lol
Well tobacco grows all over the earth. It's not a particularly difficult plant to grow, like salvia divinorum or moth orchids.
I can't gripe abt them as they had a great germination rate, but I kept loosing them due to lack of proper lighting
I use a compact flourescent bulb which gives the equivalent of 150 watts for seed starting. It's not a 'grow' light either, but works just the same AND doesn't up the power bill to much.
and they would be spindly then die from condensation drops, air, rot you name it.
Did you stop humidity once they sprouted?
and hit them with Miracle Grow as I did the others.
I can't provide the link and don't even remember where I read it, but I did read that Miracle Grow is not recommended as fertilizer for tobacco plants. It had something to do with the form of nitrogen, because it would increase nitrosamine levels in the leaf. A Google search might provide the details I can't recall.
So, all that being said I have to take a lot of the blame.
Naa, it's part of the learning process and sometimes things just happen and we never know why. Just keep going and don't worry about that stuff. If you keep at it, you get the secrets you are looking for anyway.
Some leaves dried greenish and green/yellow. I was hoping for brown or sun cured bleached yellow. So, I experimented with a few. Rewetting and letting them stay in the sun helped them go yellow. The same procedure in a darker area they went on to brown. Woo Hoo...........
That's it exactly. The leaf turns different colors, depending on the humidity level in the air. If humidity is low, the leaf dries green. If the humidity is high, the leaf dries yellow, then brown. It's my understanding that here in the south, the crops were timed such that harvest would occur in late July or August, then the leaves were off to color cure in the humid dog days of the summer, which gives the right color, or necessary chemical change, to the leaves. You essentially raised the humidity level of the leaves which had dried green, which allowed them to complete the stage to yellow then brown.
the moisture and lack of air nearly molded them! Wetting is fine, but they will need air. Period.
EXACTLY!
Well I am busy prepping for some wintersowing here. I won't wintersow tobacco seeds, for obvious reasons. I have been collecting two liter soda bottles and presently have 10 with labels removed. I am using a tool to punch both drainage holes in the bottom of the bottles, and ventilation holes in the tops of the bottles. I probably won't plant the bottles until mid-January. I was going to plant them at the winter solstice, but it was only two years ago we had 70 degree temps on Xmas eve and I don't need seeds germinating that early (although they might survive regardless). If we do get snow here, it is usually the first week of January, so it should be plenty cold to break the seed coats then. Once the bottles are planted, outdoors they go to stay until spring, at which point, I should have many, many strong seedlings ready for the ground. Wintersowing works particularly well for perennials, because the seeds, by nature, need and get cold prior to sprouting, Supposedly, wintersown seedlings make for much tougher plants than store bought plants, which are babied with perfect conditions. Here's what I will start mid-January:
Basket of Gold - short, low-growing with gold blooms, although it must not bloom until year 2. These seeds can also be direct sown outdoors where you want them in the fall, because they still get the cold period.
Candytuft - low-growing evergreen which blooms white and spreads in wide clumps.
Excelsior hybrids foxglove - these bloom the first year from seed. I won't plant all 20,000 (!) seeds though
Perennial foxglove (mortensis) - this is shade or part shade only and really for a friend who can only grow shade only plants in her yard.
Gayfeather - native perennial which won't bloom until year 2, being busy growing the corm in year 1. This is the white, not purple blooming variety.
Shasta daisy - A typical, somewhat generic daisy.
Exhibition shasta daisy - crazy, fluffy looking white flower.
Sometimes I wonder if this seed $h!t is as addictive as nicotine. On the other hand, starting seeds in the dead of the cold is my way of telling winter where to stick it. (And let's not even get into the annuals I will start in the spring.)
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