Grow Your Own

[Andriko]

Hi all,

I am sure there was a forum for home growers? I must be getting old, as either my eyesight is playing up or my memory!

Anyway, I have a propagator and I have ordered some seeds (there once was a man from Leeds...) and wanted some advice from experienced hands.

What is the best soil to use, and will fertilizer help? I have mostly bought Virginia and Burley seeds, that should apparently matures in about 55-60 days.

The other thing to ask is, I don't have a garden or outdoor space, and so we are going to grow them in pots and put them on the balcony. Presumably this will restrict the size, which is fine to be honest (doing this with space limitations), but what kind of pots should I use? Each plant in it's own, or a long tray set up?

For curing, I am going to hang them all up about the place and air cure them, and generally leave my Dad to handle that (he grew up on a tobacco farm in Cyprus, so has done this all before even if it was centuries ago).

Thanks for the help, and feel free to move this to the appropriate forum which I have probably missed!

A

 

[cosmicfolklore]

So, you haven't started your seeds yet? How long is your growing season? I usually started my seed in January or February. But, if you have a long growing season, you may be able to give it a go anyways.

For soil, you do not want rich dark soil. You want fairly sandy, poor quality soil. If your soil is too rich, you can till in a bunch of sand. I had to buy some poor fill dirt to till into my soil. If you have too much organic materials in your soil, the taste suffers. Poor soils give you better flavors.

Yes, you want to use fertilizers. Nitrogen, and hit it at crucial points in the plants growth. Timing is less exact and more approximate, but you want to use it before you transplant, a little every other week during growth, and hit it hard just when the plants start to bloom.
You don't want balanced Phosphorus and Potassium fertilizer. These will promote the flowering and rooting, which you don't want. Nitrogen forces the plants to concentrate on leaf development.

 

[kcghost]

We have a number of growers here, but they may be a little stymied by you request as most, if not all, are American growers.

 

[Andriko]

Thanks Cosmic - crap soil + nitrogen fertlizer!

This is my first shot at this, so I am not too worried about getting the exact growing season, and this is mostly going to happen indoors anyway. This is the error phase of my trial and error!

 

[Pipeh]

Pipe Smokers Den has a growing tobacco section: Growing Tobacco - https://pipesmokersdens.com/forums/growing-tobacco.23/
Also Fair Trade Tobacco has a forum: Growing tobacco - https://fairtradetobacco.com/forums/growing-tobacco.42/
(My apologies if it's verboten to link to another forum)

 

[Andriko]

Thanks for the help guys!

I've got nitrogen heavy, nutrient poor fertiliser. The 'best' soil I could find was just some peat free compost, which might be too nutritious. It will at least do for a start, but what would you advise cutting it with? Would cactus soil maybe do the job?

Thanks!

A

 

[Professor Moriarty]

"My Lady Nicotine" contains a hilarious chapter, "English Grown Tobacco".
Most of the chapters have me rolling on the floor laughing. Such witty, tongue-in-cheek humor!
The Project Gutenberg eBook of My Lady Nicotine, by J. M. Barrie - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18934/18934-h/18934-h.htm