Weeds and Seeds !!

[mayfair70]

Strange week. My answer to the Tobacco Apocalypse is to grow some in the spring. Right now, we have tomatoes out the wazzoo and this was just not the year to start. I was contacted recently and directed to a tobacco growing site and offered seed samples. OF COURSE I will not turn down free samples. THIS is what I got...

I received the following unexpected tobaccos:

Rustica- Sacred Cornplanter

Mopan Mayan

Burley-White Flower

A Homemade Perique

A Turkish/Dutch VaPer

Turkish- Kavala

Turkish- Samsun-Maden
AND the following seeds:

Rustica- Sacred Cornplanter

Rustica- Southern Tepehuan Makuchi

Tekekoy (!?)

Burley- Yellow Twist Bud

Burley- White Flower

Turkish- Bucak

Turkish- Samsun-Maden
All the tobaccos burn to a fine grey ash and taste really nice so far. I now have THOUSANDS of seeds and will have to at least double my garden space to accommodate. Fantastic!! Fate is playing a part I suspect, because I started working at a greenhouse this week. I may hit him up on growing some at the greenhouse, or, at least starting seedlings in January or so. I must be doing well as the owner took down the help wanted sign.
Considering everything I wanted to buy this month was out of stock, thanks to hoarding, this is a great turn of events and I owe much to this site and the members who frequent it. THANKS RANDY !! Enjoy your Holiday everyone!

 

[pagan]

and directed to a tobacco growing site and offered seed samples.

Sweet, share the link please, I would love to add to the garden

 

[mayfair70]

@Pagan - Here you go.
http://fairtradetobacco.com/
edit- PM sent

 

[pagan]

I just looked up some stuff, an area at least 24 feet by 3 feet will be enough to grow approximately fifty tobacco plants, your on to something hear

 

[pagan]

As you can see Im a novice gardener

 

[tmb152]

Right now, we have tomatoes out the wazzoo

As a totally irrelevant aside, tomatoes have nicotine in them as well (calling the FDA! ;^) and time was a long time ago that folks thought them a poisonous plant! As to growing tobacco, I wonder if cross-pollination is ever a problem?

 

[jpmcwjr]

Yes, the Nightshade family! Once grown only for novelty and decoration.
Cross pollination- Is that a problem only with hybrids? I think so but am not at all sure. Can't check heading out for family L-Day gathering.

 

[jitterbugdude]

To prevent cross pollination you put a bag over the seed heads of the plants you want to save seed from. A big Organza bag works perfectly.

 

[deathmetal]

That okra looks fantastic. I spent yesterday making gumbo, and I can hear the call of the soft green pods...

 

[drrock]

Great score! Growing your own would be something fun to try.

I really like the looks of the pipe in the picture - what is it?

 

[gsmunoz]

@Mayfair70:
Congratulations on the new job and new found passion as well! That site has TONS of great information and will serve you sell.

 

[mayfair70]

@gsmunoz- Thank you sir!
@drrock- That is my KBB/YelloBole "honey cured briar" #2074 panel pipe. It's sanitized but I haven't scoured the stem to black yet. It will soon grace the KBB/YelloBole etc. thread when I find my Magic Eraser and high grit sandpaper. The bowl is pretty small, but it smokes great. The stem is long and is the closest I have to a Churchwarden. I'll post "before" pics this afternoon so you can get a gander at it.

 

[beastinview]

Awesome!
I too recently benefited from JBD's generosity, and received the Sacred Cornplanter seeds and some of the tobaccos you list above. They are delightful. I will post reviews soon.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

What, no Virginia Gold?

I have almost a quarter acre devoted to tobacco, which got me 9 pounds this year. I just ran a flue cure this weekend. I'll need a little more room to actually grow enough to smoke for a single year.

 

[mayfair70]

8O

Wow. How much do you smoke per month?

Maybe I'm not keeping track of my actual usage. I'd guess a pound would last me six months easy.

What, no Virginia Gold?

Ha!! I'll have to bite the bullet and buy those seeds myself. You're giving me Farm Envy!! Only nine pounds for about 10,000 square feet? I think I'll just tear out all the grass and grow tobacco on every square inch of property not already bustling with trees. The neighbors will love me. Insects will fear me.

 

[lawdawg]

Thread favorited! I love this idea, and this is an excellent response to the current developments. I would love to try some home grown, home cured tobacco. I'll have to get aboard on that website and start learning how it's done. Luckily I've got a very large back yard

 

[cosmicfolklore]

My first year I had the plants crammed together, which gives you lots of lugs, and little actual harvest. Last year, I had a... I can't remember actual size, but three feet by twenty gave me a better yield, but the plants really needed more room to spread their leaves. But this year, I used more space per plant. But we had a serious drought here. No substantial rain for all three months of summer. Which ate into my irrigation costs, but I still lost many plants to the sun. No irrigation will 100% replace rain, unless you can flood your crops.
I smoke 10-12 bowls a day, which is almost a pound a month. I know that I will never smoke just one blend, so I will never just smoke my own grown. And, having some set back to continue aging only makes sense to me. But, my 270 lbs cellar, which is still growing, plus my own grown, I'm not worried. Except about storage space.
I just sold off most of my farm land, because I just suck at growing cash crops. So, a nice retirement savings, no debt at all, except my student loans, which will never be paid off, ha ha. I'm look forward to just enjoying my canoe, bikes, and hunting and fishing for quite a few more years. Growing tobacco, and a studio behind my house are just going to be hobbies for me. This has been a dream in the works for a long time. Even my wife is closing shop to join me. By next Spring, I will be doing what I want, when I want for the first time in my life. ::

 

[mayfair70]

I'm glad you mentioned about letting the plants have breathing room. We used to be able to cram a lot of veggies into a smaller space and still have good yield. I will NOT do that to the tobacco.
I'm not going to have acres for many years yet, but that works in my favor because limited space reduces the amount of plants I can screw up. I figure the first year, I'll have two or three of at least six different varieties to get my learning curve going. Virginias are what I'm worried about the most, as I'm not sure if I can stove or cure them properly and have them turn out OK. It will be fun to learn though.
Congratulations on the retirement Cosmic!! We are getting there slowly but surely. Cheers !! ::

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Oh, and my goat, Jackstraw, ate a few of my plants, and I think it makes them hallucinate, because he was walking like a sailor on shore leave for a few hours afterwards. He's already a bully billy, so he was like super grumps for a few days. The vet said it wouldn't kill him, but it would rid him of any worms for a while, ha ha.

 

[mayfair70]