How to Grow Tobacco

I had the same problem last year with a few of my Kentucky Burley. Not sure what caused it but they were leggy in the seedling stage because of insufficient light and I thought maybe the weight of the leaves might have bent the thin little stalks and caused them to grow sideways before going up. After I set them, they still went sideways then up. One went sideways 27" before going up. Some stalks rooted and grew a sucker. The big problem was that all leaves were sucker-like in appearance. I tried staking some up to get them going staight, it worked but the leaves stayed sucker-like.

This year they got more sun and no prob with the KB. But I'm growing Samsun this year and am having the same problem with some of them. They started screwing up in the cups. I thought I would solve the problem by planting them extra deep and get the curley part under ground. That didn't help much, they continued spiraling as they grew. I tied them to stakes to straighten them out. Like last year, it worked but they still are sucker-like. The leaves look a lot like the ones in your pic. The rest of my Samsun are doing great though.

Lets hope the leaves will still give us great smoke in the end.

A bit of rain and I get camera happy! Hey, they are really looking happier with rain for 3 days in a row, not alot but enough to really make the plants smile!




That is a battery on the leaf, I felt in my pocket for something for giving you an idea of the size of the leaf and plant and that is what was in my pocket.






These have never been sprayed, were fed once, weeded twice, and watered twice. Pretty easy, plant it and forget it!

The bag garden has required alot of watering, but it is still doing good. Hey, better than not using that space anyhow.





Not bad, for the drought and all my worry! Whew!

The Bt seems to have the bugs under control once again. I am sure the hopping bugs are still chewing, but they weren't damaging like the worms were.
I haven't taken a photo lately due to bug damage, just too disheartened.
But, today, I did visit the tobacco with my camera in hand. Sure there are now holes in the leaves, but it is growing again!
Burley is not budding, it is roughly 5' tall, no mulch, only organic fertilizers, I am now spraying with Bt, milk, and fish emulsion weekly.
This is the other side, not the one that I normally get in photos. Notice the short plants in the front? They were missed when I fertilized the others.. sure made a big difference!
I will get busy and get them fertilized probably tomorrow, but they have been foliar fed with the cocktail mentioned above.


The Turkish from Vredeman is the same height as the burley, but not nearly so massive in girth, but it is in full bloom, I can't believe that I didn't get a photo of it, I thought I got one!

Here is the Ottoman, the bag garden really stunted it, it has struggled just to survive.
But it has survived and it is now getting ready to bloom, looks like I should bag it soon.


I have more Ottoman that hasn't been transplanted as of yet, so hopefully it will get a better chance to show what it can do!

If plants are stunted by conditions and not of their own, will that affect the seeds?
Do I dare save seeds of the poor Ottoman? Hey maybe it will have increased drought tolerance, it did manage to survive with wilted leaves all the time!

Yesterday, we planted a total of almost 40 plants these were Sherazi and Golden Seal Burley, they are under the usual hotcaps, and I haven't resized that photo as of yet.

Looking good Ozark, congrats.

The drought has taken its toll.
I have 5 beds out of 9 in the main garden that need to simply be dug up and redone for winter garden.
We went to farmer's market, yesterday, and I noticed... gardens are brown and dead every where, even some that normally have beautiful gardens, have scraggly looking things.

But, the forest garden has managed to survive, I would not say that it is flourishing, but, compared to other gardens that I saw, yesterday, it looks pretty good.

I am priming leaves as they turn yellow, I know it is from the drought and not from maturity since they haven't bloomed yet. But, what else can you do, they won't grow any more once they are yellow.



Grasshoppers are back! Which means... give it more water!
I saw new bites on leaves and was looking for the culprit... I found lots of butterflies and moths in the garden. I know what that means...worms.
But, I found no worms, I did finally find... a grasshopper!



I know, some of you farmers and master gardeners are thinking... sad excuse for a field of tobacco... I don't claim to be either.. Just someone trying to grow tobacco with what I have to work with!

And big news, so far, we have actually liked all of the tobacco from this year's garden, I pick it, dry it, and we smoke it... can't seem to gain anything! But that is good!

I don't know if it is maturity issue, but it all tastes the same to us. No difference in burley, Samsun, or Ottoman... they all taste equal.

The Samsun is not bagged yet, since it is the only one blooming in this garden. The burley doesn't even have buds, yet, but leaves on top are small, so I am expecting buds.

Ozark

Sorry to hear the drought has hit you so hard . Very dry at moms and 12 miles away at Richards and even here it's too wet . Seems mother nature has no boundries of where she places rain .

I dont think anyone thinks bad of your efforts to grow tobacco . We understand your doing the best you can with what you have . I think the more experienced had assumed it was going to be tough . It couldn't have been easy being a farmer on the fronteer .

I'm glad to hear you can at least smoke what you grew this year . That sure beats growing it to put up somewhere and not smoking it . To be honest I think the dry conditions is the main reason your able to smoke it .

I'm guessing your right and it's just young leafs is why it's all tasting the same . Hey at least your able to smoke it so thats better than lots of young leafs .

If I'm right about that it means dry years ( when your plants are having it rough ) is the best years for quality . Unfortuantly it means no matter how hard you work trying to do this your plants are going to suffer .

I know your doing the best you can with what you have and I for one ADMIRE the hard work and effort you put into trying to grow this .

What I'm trying to say is this . Get that right -of-way cleaned up and get someone to plow that for you . That way during dry years ( quality tobacco years ) you would stand a much better chance of doing better .

Plants can just get so much more moisture from ground thats plowed as they can from digging little holes or bags . They can do more than survive and even flourish in dry years if planted in a properly prepared place .

Please dont take that wrong no ones putting your efforts down . We would just simply like to see you do better is all . And just trying to point out what we think would help you accomplish this . We know you worked hard and your hearts been in this .

Thanks Lonnie,
We have decided to extend the forest garden, and retire the right of way garden.
Maybe fence it and let the goats graze there. I also have tobacco planted further down it, that is in the ground, not in bags, and it is not doing good at all.

I think altitude simply must have something to do with it, but full sun kills anything that I try to grow there, whether it is in the garden or right of way.
But, add some shade and cut those hours of sun down, and you get somewhere.
With too much water last year, I had to shade the tobacco and got 8 foot plants. The unshaded plants survived and did alright, but they were much smaller plants, than the shaded ones. Neither was particularly usable last year. The nicotine would curl your toenails.

This year on starving for water, the plants aren't going so large, but the shaded ones are outdoing the others 10-1.
I am the same latitude, or is it longitude as you, (which ever means north and south on the globe) so I get the same amount of sun, so why the difference? My soil has no depth, it is rocks! Better soil would make a huge difference, beyond that, it simply must be the altitude. What else could make sense of this?

It isn't just us, we were noticing gardens yesterday, and most are in worse shape than mine. Corn is brown... mine is still green at least! Short, skinny, but green.
The only gardens with anything alive were in partially shaded areas.

Didn't someone (Ramon?) post on here that his plants suffered the heat at 70 degrees?
He is even higher than me, by a long shot, so it has to be altitude has alot to do with it.
The higher up we are the stronger the suns rays?

Don't anyone dare laugh, but, look what I found and I am planning on starting towards this for 2011...
http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/home.php?cat=
I am having issues with the link... you can type in Hoegger and get the website, then in search put... cultivator and you will see these:

Deluxe Work Harness

6C-5 Strong, nylon harness, well-padded, easily adjustable with fleece lined breast strap for comfort. Now available in two styles. The regular work harness is designed for pulling our garden cultivator below. Let your favorite goat help you with the chores. Goats are easy to train and make really willing workers. The Deluxe work harness can be used as a driving harness as well as a work harness. Deluxe harness includes driving halter, reins, and shaft loops.

Goat-Powered Garden Cultivator

Invite a goat into your garden spot to help you prepare the ground for planting with this goat (or pony) drawn cultivator. Designed for us by an Amish craftsman (and goat owner), this environmentally friendly, durable gardening tool comes complete with a singletree, 3 "S" tines, and easy pulling interchangeable 1" and 2" shovels. Made with 3/4" tubular steel for the handles and 2" square tubular steel for the center frame. All bracing is 1/4" steel. Adjusts easily for varying widths and depth to provide the versatility needed to do different gardening projects. Tire size: 4.00x3.50 with tube. Turn your garden chores into a pleasurable experience for you and your favorite goat!
(Harness sold separately).

Goat powered cultivator! Tee hee...
They can eat the weeds, plow and fertilize as we go!

About every 3-4 years we get hit with drought here. So, 2011 should be wet enough year.

What a crazy season.
I spent most of today transplanting tobacco seedlings to a garden bed.
Then I went to water the 4 tobacco growing areas, and harvested some burley and ottoman that are brown right on the plants.
I see the burley is budding up.
So, tomorrow will be... bag up the burley, and finish transplanting!
Due to the drought, I will have to go with my cloches, but also with lots of mulch and shade tunnels, maybe even jugs in the ground to slowly disperse water to the root zones.

I am a fighter... this drought is not going to beat me.

But it just seems so crazy to be harvesting ripe leaves, priming burley, and transplanting seedlings all in the same day!

They sure look healthy for being several months old... wonder if they will bolt?

Ozark, you are doing a wonderful job, from what I can see !

A 500ft roll of the 5/8 drip irrigation mainline tubing is about $50.
That and a bag of 8l/hr flag emitters would save you a lot of watering chores AND conserve water.

All the info is online from a google search.

I would have continued growing in that right of way area since you already invested the labor improving the soil in that first year. Put out some transplants and get them going then let them make it on their own much as you can.

Good luck, I enjoyed reading your thread here very much.
rc

Thanks, but it isn't going nearly as well as I had hoped, back in February.

The only way I could use the right of way, I would need to shade everything.
The soil at the right of way is all rocks, it is worse than any soil anywhere. We didn't amend it, we just slapped the bags on top of it. At the end of the season, I will simply use the wheelbarrel and remove them. The forest soil is deep, and soft, less rocks than normal.

I am transplanting into the main garden, as regular crops have failed.

The little plants are looking good, you would never guess that they are in there during a drought. This soil has been worked on for 15 years, it darn well better grow them! ha ha
I have 9 beds there, and these are not the 2 that grew tobacco last year, nor tomatoes. Other crops are failing, but tomatoes, tobacco and peppers are not dying so far.


I wanted to keep tobacco away from the vegetable garden, to keep it hidden from bugs, didn't work.

When I went to water today, I killed at least a dozen hornworms. A drip irrigation system would have missed that. So, I just cranked up the sprayer. And took care of both watering and Bt. And daily I harvest lots of brown leaves right off the plants.


I have a soaker hose, what a joke, I have never seen it to be worth 10 cents. I use the flexible tubing for my cages, it is right where you get all the emitters etc. at Lowes.

I am trying to figure out a gray water system for 2011. Since the amount of water is an issue for me, and I need rain barrels to help me out some.

Even though, I am losing crops to the drought, I am still a long ways ahead of last year.
And my burley is color curing, as fast as I can hang it! No green! Yippee!

Ozark, I'm absolutely unfamiliar with Arkansas, and your weather.
...but I've seen more pictures of green come out of your state than my own !

Hot ?

OK, it may be. It runs to 117 here in Kalifornia where I live.
We haven't seen that so far this year, but it was 100% yesterday at less than 25%rh.

Everything we've got grows in the direct sun.

Beginning of the year I was able to swap out a motor in a rototiller I salvaged and I put it to good use.
Well, best I could. The garden area we use here had never been tilled. I was able to get down maybe 6"
with my tiller. There were too many rocks any deeper than that. Well, not rocks... stones... about softball size.
And they are packed in like cement.

If you happen to look at one of my garden pics you will see my soil is gray... YUK !
I don't have any plants near as pretty as most you folks, or large like that monster Montcalm up in oregon/washington?

The tobacco grew well enough in spite of all that, and I only applied some nitrate fertilizer once, when a friend gave me a few lbs of the stuff.

I'm sure tobacco might grow best in magnificently tilled fields with generous application of fertilizer, however, I'm one of those who does what he can do with what he has to work with. And you've declared yourself to be tenacious. Good!

What I'm saying, is in that right of way area, I'd dig out a shovelful or two between rocks, drop in some manure, refill the hole and set a transplant. Run a line of drip irrigation tube by the plants and presume anything I could get would be better than nothing at that location, which remains easily accessible.

BTW, kiddie swimming pools are dandy for holding larger amounts of water than rain barrels. Or you can line a natural depression with old carpet then a couple layers of 10mil plastic to build a quickie reservoir.

Sure looks like you're having fun out in the woods, but I know just about everything is a chore !
Maybe in the future you'll be able to hire a powerful tractor with big rippers to motor down that right of way and turn it into something. Advertise on craigslist and you might be able to get a great price one day when everything is real slow.
..I just watched a house be torn down and put in piles with a hoe for only $300. What a deal !!!

Best
rc

The forest garden isn't so bad, not bad at all.
It kind of takes care of itself, except I have had to start watering with 3 months of no rain. (We averaged an inch a month for June and July, I don't think we got an inch in August as of yet). And the hungry hornworms are finding the dead weeds unpalatable, so they are going after my watered, and luscious tasting tobacco and tomatoes! tee hee So, I seasoned their dish with a bit of Bt...ha ha

I know how the plants feel getting chewed on, if I get less than a dozen ticks per day on me, I stayed in the house! Thanks to the deer, squirrels, and chipmunks sharing their crop of ticks!

If this had been a normal year, the forest garden would have headed for 8 feet tall. Oh wait, the burley in the photo is now at 6 foot tall, and budding, so it will get on up there, halfway decently. The Turkish got a little taller than me (5'6"), and fell over, so now it is "ground tobacco" ha ha I propped logs under it, but it won't stand up.

This is all still a learning curve, still experimental. I am still sampling the tobacco on a daily basis, but the tobacco is getting ahead of me. So I am simply making sure it is dry, and then storing it in the little boxes tubes come in. I am watching for the change.
Because the sandlugs were good last year. It was the more mature that is pesticide.
I want to see if there is a point where it changes, so I sample some almost daily.
But, so far, all of the 2010 leaves are out ahead of the 2009 even after being stored for months. But, I still can't tell any difference in the Ottoman, Samsun, and Burley. Sure size wise I can. But once they are chopped and rolled up, they all taste the same, not over the top, not wonderful, but smokeable. I figure I can mix them with commercial and cut some costs. A penny saved and all that. If this doesn't change, then I see no reason to raise anything but burley. You get so much more tobacco for your efforts and so much easier to grow!

I transplanted tobacco seedlings, on Wednesday, and I got covered with ticks in doing it.
I noticed no where else in the main garden do I get ticks, just this one bed... chipmunks play there alot.

Today, I went to mulch it, and got, hmmm only 21 ticks on me, and that is not counting the ones I killed in the garden, those just are the ones that came inside with me.

This means war!



And the cavalry are on duty, they can use some extra protein...ticks!


It shouldn't take them long to deal with the tick issue, by the time my plants are ready to leave the cloches, I should be tick free in that bed.

Cute little chicks, Ozark!

Be sure to put out some boxes with ash & fine dirt for their dirt baths! It will help keep the ticks off them.

I think Sevin might help with the ticks... but it might not be good for the chicks!

Good luck,
I really enjoy reading about your life in the woods.
Ticks would wreck my day... I'd have to set off a small thermo-nuclear device !
rc

Many years ago, when you could buy stronger poisons for the yard, we still had tick issues, and swore there were tick eggs in the bags, until we got biological controls... chickens. They were so bad, that I abandoned that garden totally.

The only true defense against ticks is: feathered! Lots of bird houses, water baths, hummingbird feeders, and poultry, which I have 55 chickens, 20 are younger than those in the tractor, 6 geese, and 17 ducks. That is bug patrol big time! But they are a bit young yet to be freed where they are the target of predation.

The ducks are about to go in the garden to eat up the harlequin bugs and stink bugs, the poultry are pretty bug specific, ducks also love slugs, but dry as it is now, I doubt there are many there for them. This new litter of ducklings will be the garden slug getters.

Folks around here, don't consider us in the woods, they like to come visit our "homestead" and play with the critters, even some of the neighbors. Even local cities are in the woods by most standards, there are yards in the trees, instead of trees in the yards.

Take a short vacation into my world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ozarks
http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyc ... ntryID=440

The descriptions say up to 2500 feet elevation, I am at 1600?, and that it is too rugged for agriculture... I believe that! I am between the two towns with the highest elevation in Arkansas.