Thanks to Junican for the link to this -
There are several parts. I can't wait to see the full grown plants and still find it hard to believe that something that big can grow from a seed the size of an ant dropping.
The first part I already knew. I just planted the seeds as I have for other plants. Miracle-Gro is great stuff. Never buy the cheap potting compost, it looks like a money saver but that stuff repels water. It's dreadful.
With tiny seeds, watering from below is important because watering from above will wash those seeds around and drown them. I'll soon be at the thinning stage. I hate that part. Killing something I've grown is a terrible wrench but the reality is, if I leave them all in they'll strangle each other. I'll try moving some into other pots to give away but if they're going to get over six feet high, I just won't have room in my garden for them all.
Growing the plants looks to be no problem at all. Curing and fermenting look to be more of an issue. That has the potential to go very wrong indeed so I intend to grow enough to try a few different methods. The 'fermenting' looks more like 'composting' to me. It seems to need to be aerobic.
As for slugs, well we've been at war for a long time but lay one eyestalk on my baccy and it's nuke time. The greenhouse floor is lined with copper-coated fabric. They don't like that, it seems, because not one has found its way in yet.
Every slug on the planet is an antismoker. You can tell just by looking at them.
They all look like Deborah Arnott.
(Update: I have decided that if anyone asks what they are, I'll say 'Triffids'. Less scary than tobacco.)
13 comments:
My neighbours are very nice people. Only one side is significant, however, since the other side have huge bushes. If my neighbour asks, I will tell him what they are, but isn't it horrible that one has to think the thoughts that 'my friend and neighbour' might shop me? Thankfully, there is no law at all about growing tobacco plants, and I am sure that my neighbours do not give a toss.
I have in my mind that this year is an experiment. I expect nothing although I will do my best to produce decent tobacco. If I fail, then I have lost nothing except the cost of the seeds and some compost. The wonderful thing is that I now have a really good reason for gardening!
As regards slugs, I am saving 2 litre plastic pop bottles. When I plant my seedlings out, I will place half a bottle over them. I will also put slub pellets around them. No way is Tobacco Control going to defeat me!cledho
No one should feel nervous about growing tobacco plants, I grew ornamental versions for years mixed with Cleome which, to the untrained eye, look like cannabis plants. They make a wonderfully colourful backdrop to a border.
I got Virginia Gold seeds which must be left open to the sun for germination. I'm now starting fresh again after my lastest slug fest. Different tactics, different location and total war.
XX Junican said...
If my neighbour asks, I will tell him what they are, but isn't it horrible that one has to think the thoughts that 'my friend and neighbour' might shop me?XX
XX Thankfully, there is no law at all about growing tobacco plants,XX
There appears to be a serious logic break down among SOME people. You say yourself, it is not illegal, so what is all this bull shit about having to worry about the neighbours?
Last year tried seeds and was a little late. Although quite a few sprouted only a couple survived. Didn't get to the curing stage :(
This year started a little earlier and used Virginia Gold Pellets. These were much easier and meant that a single seed could be put into each pot. The pots are the ones that are made of compressed earth stuff (you can probably guess I do not have Rose's in depth knowledge of gardening terminology). The idea of this was to avoid thining and transplanting. The pots were then put into propogators. Of the 32 pellets sown, 30 sprouted (within a week of sowing) and are now well underway. The pots were filled with seedling compost.
I avoid 'Miracle-Gro' because of the company's unfreindly attitude towards people who smoke. Also I read that MG had a high nitrogen content which wasn't the best for Tobacco plants.
Just waiting until they get a little bigger before moving them outside. Some will go into larger pots others directly into the ground.
The most confusing part of all this is post harvesting. Still haven't got that figured out. What needs to be done seems to depend on the Variety of the plant (Virginia/Havanna etc) and use to which it will be put (Cigarette/Cigar/Pipe).
Still it is an interesting way to learn about gardening.
I grow mine as ornamentals,so Ornamental Tobacco is what they are, the flowers are lovely.
I use John Innes No3 loam based compost because it retains the water.
Mine are currently in a small polytunnel,the leaves are 5 inches long and they are already in three inch pots, because I sowed mine in a propagator at the end of January with the sweet peppers, chillies and tomatoes,to extend the growing season.
Mine will be planted out in the open ground second week in May to hopefully avoid the last frost.
I started growing tobacco in 2006 because I thought it was high time that I met the beast face to face.
People have warned me that growing tobacco is supposed to exhaust the land, but I found that with a generous application of well rotted manure every October, that wasn't the case.
It comes neatly packaged in plastic sacks from the Garden Centre and doesn't smell, so that bit is not in the least traumatic and doesn't upset the neighbours.
Rose
Urgent request.
Where do you buy tobacco seeds?
Interesting video, I've never seen 200 seeds converted to 6 seedlings before.
"I'll soon be at the thinning stage. I hate that part."
That's why I don't do it.
Pricking out instead of thinning out is less wasteful,weaker seedlings often make up ground when given a bit of space to breathe.
You have a greater amount of plants to choose the best ones from and spares to give your friends, in case of a disaster it's also a good insurance policy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/propagation_pricking1.shtml
Mind you, this year I used saved seeds from a sweet pepper and had doubts if any would grow, so I sowed the lot.
After pricking out, I was left with 88 very healthy pepper seedlings to find homes for.
Not easy.
Rose
Since the smoking ban here there has been a lot of sites I've looked at about 'growing your own' baccy but as I live in a flat I think that growing my own is unfeasable. I still found your little vid enjoyable though.
I noticed though, between your comentators, a friendly spat about hiding what you are doing when growing tobacco plants.
After the anti smokers have hidden tobacco products 'under the table in plain white wrappings' the next logical step for them is to ban tobacco consumption altogether and then...
To Junican I say that it is 'wise to be cautious'.
To all I say enjoy your Easter holiday free of worry because the battle will commence long after the holidays...chit, and there's another one coming up next Friday...bugger!
My seedlings are coming on well - I've now repotted them in sets of six, aiming for 36 plants. I had no interest in gardening apart from grass cutting until I decided to go into tax free tobacco. Now I'm the proud owner of a rotavator and a greenhouse - and am using both! My veg patch is 60x8 feet which should support 24 bacca plants, and the rest will be distributed around on all sorts of places from pots to dungheaps. The plants will be well cultivated as I play Radio 3 to them dawn till dusk, although I turned off a play about Kafka. They're too young for that sort of thing.
No garden? I saw a clip recently about a woman who was self sufficient in bacca and lived in a city flat with a balcony so anything is possible.
Interesting about attitudes to home growing. Lots of people think it's illegal or impossible. I'm sure the gov would like it to be. I fear legislation is not far away (the same goes for home brew). It will naturally be clumsy and impossible to enforce. It will also encourage people to grow other illegal crops omn the "hung for sheep" principle. ho hum.
Anon- seeds are freely available from a number of online sources.
So far there is nothing illegal in growing or curing tobacco. The duty only applies to the finished product and then only if you supply someone else (even if you give it away, you'd still have to pay duty as far as I understand it).
This is likely to change as the hysteria mounts. So telling your neighbours that the plants are tobacco is harmless now, but might not be in the future.
Found a link which might interest you/provoke ranting:
http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/health/Smokers-wont-be-hired-at-Sparrow-Hospital
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