Growing My Own Tobacco

[cosmicfolklore]

Don't let Jitter get you down. Don't spray for insects. With only six plants you can pick any hornworms off, and a spray bottle with a drop of detergent will take care of any aphids, but I've mever had an aphid, even when I went from a single bed to a quarter acre. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me, and if I cannot answer them, I know folks.

With six plants you probably won't save seeds, besides seeds are cheap. Next year, I can hook you up with some interesting varieties.

 

[jitterbugdude]

By all means SPRAY for insects if you have them. True, you can easily pick off horn-worms but aphids are another story. It is also true you do not have to save your seeds but if you plan to grow year after year you should save them. By selecting the plants with the characteristics you are looking for you can (over a few year's time) "breed" tobacco that grows better in your micro-climate. If you do decide to save your seeds make sure to bag them before the buds open. If you do not, they will cross pollinate and you will not have a pure strain anymore.

 

[paddypiper]

Thanks cosmic. I will take you up on that offer if any questions come up.

And jitterbugdude, I had and issue with something eating away at the leaves so I made my own insect repellant for it, it seems to work quite well. As far as saving the seeds goes I may save them but I got 5000ish seeds of both Virginia gold and burley. So even if I don't save them I should be fine for awhile. And cross pollinating shouldn't be an issue this year because I've only planted the Virginia gold. Next year I may plant both or a new one if I get the seeds so I'll be covering them to stop cross pollination.

 

[mso489]

paddy', I have solemn respect for Canadian winters. I went to Montreal for my 60th one September about a decade ago, and the weather was nice, but I could see the marks of those serious winters, signs warning of ice sheets falling off roofs, etc. I suspect people have grow tobacco under grow-lights, but they are so associated with pot growing, it might not be advisable. Still, yours is a noble experiment. The learning curve will be enjoyable.

 

[jitterbugdude]

Canada has a very long history of growing tobacco. I'm not sure about the Ontario area though.

 

[paddypiper]

I know tobacco is grown in Ontario but I believe most if not all of it is grown in southern Ontario. I also know other people successfully grow tobacco in other parts of Ontario but I'm not sure how far north or what their end results were.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If tomatoes grow there, tobacco will grow there. And, tomatoes grow just about anywhere. :wink:

 

[paddypiper]

That's quite true. I heard the two plants are similar enough someone was actually able to combine the two. And I don't mean that one episode from the Simpsons.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes, and potatoes are in the same family. A nursery in Yolo county, CA was selling a combo tomato-potato plant. You could get stunted potatoes and crap tomatoes from the same plant! And it wasn't cheap!

 

[paddypiper]

I had heard of people doing that too, but forgot about it. I wonder if you would get the nicotine hit for the tomatoes and potatoes.

 

[jitterbugdude]

Last year I grafted a tomato scion onto a tobacco root-stock. I did it rather late in the season. The plant did not thrive and I never tried to smoke the "tomato leaves"
Tobacco and Tomato both carry Mosaic virus and for that reason it is always recommended to not plant the 2 close to one another. That's what all the Ag Journals say but I've planted 25 tomato plants right along 25 tobacco plants for years and never had a problem.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Are you getting rapid growth this year? It may just be all the rain, but my plants are already about 5 feet and starting to put bud up. My tomatoes are eight feet tall and full of tomatoes, but my okra is leggy and my peppers are just doing nothing. It's weird how some years certain plant groups do better than the rest. Last year I had more peppers and okra than anything else.

 

[paddypiper]

This spring has been a bit weird so none of my plants are doing that well. My tomatoes and peppers are growing but not flowering yet, my carrots and strawberries are coming up well but my peas and beans don't seem to want to come up other than a few thin wispy plants. I've grown all of that before so I know it's not likely something I'm doing throwing off my garden.
As for the tobacco plants they had a pretty severe shock after transplanting and I thought they were all going to die, that mixed with something eating nearly all the leaves off I figured I'd have nothing by now. But somehow they have survived and are starting to sprout healthy green leaves so they might start to take off. Right now they are only a foot tall but again we had a late spring.

 

[paddypiper]

I'll try to get some new pictures tonight to show how much better they are doing now.

 

[paddypiper]

Here's how those two outdoor plants are coming along.

 

[paddypiper]

And here's the indoor plants.

 

[willieg]

my father in law raised tobacco for a living and believe me, it aint easy.

 

[paddypiper]

So far it isn't too bad. Nothing more than I've had to deal with with other plants at least. I think the hardest part though is not knowing how they will react to what I'm doing and if I'm doing the right thing sometimes.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Hmmm, I never had anything eating my leaves... except a neighbor who was sealing my greens, and she only took tobacco greens once, ha ha. I imagine she probably had a stomach ache after boiling up a batch of those. But, with only half a dozen plants, you could spray them with a little dish detergent and water to keep munchers off.

You might think about raised beds also. It sure keeps my weeding down, and I don't even own a hoe. Well, I do, but it is just ever used to kill snakes. Raised beds just makes it easier to maintain a garden.

This year, mine are not in raised beds, but I am growing a much larger plot.
It looks great, so far. We didn't get a winter this year, so I was able to set mine out in March. I've also been harvesting tomatoes since May. Except for severe droughts, we get a very nice long season here in Alabama.

 

[mortonbriar]

Great to see! I just drove past the the only tobacco museum in Canada, in Delhi Ontario. Unfortunately it was not open on a Saturday, will have to check it out next time I am in the province. I don't know how much tobacco is grown in Delhi commercially now, I think for the most part it has been replaced by ginseng crops.