Tobacco plant..is this one?

[louise]

After a few years living in a pickers hut on a tobacco farm, I reckon it does look like tobacco... if it is the flowers and associated structures will have an unpleasantly sticky surface.

 

If you want to crop the leaves you need to remove the flower heads to keep the plant growing, leaves are picked yellow, but unless it's an old fashioned air dried variety, I don't know how you'd cure it without a gas fired kiln.

[Astro84]

so if i want to do anything about it, is it too late to chop the flowers? how long do these plants live for?

[Innocent criminal]

A bit of reading for you astro, the curing is the trick, and there are many methods and tricks to it so the more reading you do the better off you will be.

 

This one deals with commercial type curing but has the most in depth and interesting information I have found.

http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/436/436-048/PDF_61-...ringTobacco.pdf

 

This one is a general growers guide but has good curing info for home gardeners

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8227028/Growing-Curing-Tobacco

 

Just google search tobacco curing and you'll find plenty more info.

[louise]

Tobacco is an annual crop, so if you want mature leaf for smoking you need to remove the flower heads so the plant doesn't just seed and die. It's also very frost sensitive.

 

I've never grown tobacco on a small scale ( don't even smoke it these days) so what I know about cultivation etc may not be terribly relevant to home growing, but I expect you'll find more on a hobby scale over at coffinails.com

[Astro84]

i see, well i collected the seeds from some of the dying flower heads, way smaller than poppy seeds and plenty more of them, looks like thousands out of one plant!

 

no doubt there will be some more growing next season, not in any particular rush to get into it but it's cool to know about it i guess

[Al Fish]

Astro84,

If you need help with Tobacco, maybe some seeds of different varieties, please just let me know. You won't get much nicotine from the plant unless it's been given nitrogen - in whatever form. Only a couple of well nurtured plants will give you more than enough tobacco for nasal snuff and quite a lot for chewing tobacco. Spring is planting time. Just sprinkle seeds on top of soil and cover with a cut, clear plastic drink bottle with lots of perforations and the cap taken off; this thwarts snails. Likes well watered, well drained soil in full sun.

When leaves are half to three quarters yellow simply remove with knife or by bending the leaf down by hand, holding close to the vertical stem. Wrap leaves in a kitchen towel or similar. Place wrapped leaves in a glass jar in the sun. When leaves have lost a bit of water, dry in humid conditions that are regularly aired: garden-shed, fern-house. When leaves are completely dry use towel method again. You'll be surprised how much water remains in the leaf stem and this amount is just perfect for curing, but that's another store. Do not place leaves in sunlight! Ever.

As I say, if you need any information I'm a font of bookish and actual, hands on learning.

Good luck.

Al.

[Astro84]

hey thanks for the detailed info there, I'm probably not going to go ahead with the tobacco just yet as i dont know nearly enough about it, at least now that i collected some seeds i can store them for the future

 

cheers

[Al Fish]

Astro84,

 

Spring is in the air and now is the time to grow!

Why hesitate?

With my help and your minimal work I assure you of every possible success!

Who is going to recognise a few different tobacco plants? Cops? Oh Really? Next to no one knows what a tobacco plant looks like. Anyway, I thought you were growing for the flowers, from which you can make bouquets or perfume.

 

Al.

[mull]

Not illegal to grow baccy, only illegal to possess shred without paying excise..

[Cyclone]

Interesting statement Mullaway.

 

Would you mind sharing with every one the penalties for processing and shredding?

 

Cyclone -