Basic Growing Info

[Henry]

Greetings,

I just found this forum today so I haven't had a chance to look it over completely yet. My wife read once where tobacco smoke was harmful to regular garden plants - tomatoes in particular, I think. So she guards the perimeter of our garden with shovel and attitude when I am out and about with my pipe or a cigar. I assume though that tobacco plants themselves, if I were to grow them, would pose no harm to my garden. Is this correct?

Other details I wonder about:
I have little windbreak where my garden is so could I be successful growing pipe or cigar tobacco?
My soils are heavy clay (I am working to add organics to loosen it up). Does some tobacco do well in heavy clay?

Assuming you think I could be successful does anyone have any suggestings on what varieties to begin with?

Thanks

 

[Steve2md]

Welcome to the forum! If your wife's plants were in an enclosed room, EXCESSIVE smoke would be harmful to them. It's not an issue in an outdoor grow. Till in some mulch, composted manure, and either sand or pearlite to aid in drainage and you should be good to go.

 

[johnlee1933]

Welcome to the forum ! At the top of the page (left of center) you will find Beginner's FAQ's. Click on that. It answers most of the beginning questions.

Re: Tomatoes and tobacco. There is a tobacco mosaic that attacks tomatoes. As a smoker I have always been careful to wash my hands (or wear surgical gloves) before handling my tomato plants. I grow them side by side in the garden and have had no problems so far'

John

 

[deluxestogie]

I can't resist mentioning that over the decades, the only TMV I've ever seen came from tomato transplants, not from tobacco. I doubt that any fully processed tobacco (stuff you smoke) could still have viable virus. Tobacco seed that is free of chaff and other debris is not capable of transmitting the virus. It's true enough that if your growing tobacco or growing tomatoes are infected, then TMV can be transfered by hands or implements between the tobacco and tomato.

Bob

 

[johnlee1933]

I can't resist mentioning that over the decades, the only TMV I've ever seen came from tomato transplants, not from tobacco. I doubt that any fully processed tobacco (stuff you smoke) could still have viable virus. Tobacco seed that is free of chaff and other debris is not capable of transmitting the virus. It's true enough that if your growing tobacco or growing tomatoes are infected, then TMV can be transfered by hands or implements between the tobacco and tomato.

Bob

Thanks Bob. I've got to say I personally have never seen it. I figured it was because I was being careful. Maybe it is just a bugaboo.

John

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Last year my last row of tobacco took up only about 1/2 the row so I planted tomatoes to finish. A few tobacco plants died so I planted tomatoes in between. During the growing season they were in almost constant contact with one another. I would also go out and sucker my tobacco, then prune or tie up my tomatoes. I've been planting tobacco and tomatoes together for at least 10 years and have never-ever seen TMV. Not saying it doesn't occur, just saying I've never had it. This might actually turn out to be an old wives' tale. People in the Ag industry ( and books too) will tell you that you cannot raise turkeys and chickens together in the same pen, nor feed them the same food. That's obviously BS too since I've done it quite often.

Randy B

 

[BigBonner]

Maybe the reason I have no problems with TMV is because most commercial tobacco seeds now days are resistant to TMV .

 

[deluxestogie]

Randy,
While "old wives' tale," I think, suggests that the risk is bogus, perhaps "not a risk in some locales" might more closely state the reality for TMV. If you consider sexually transmitted diseases as an analogy, being exposed to unprotected sex many, many times, yet not acquiring a sexually transmitted disease is only a testament to good fortune or selectivity, rather than evidence that such diseases do not exist.

I agree that gardening books have overstated the risk of TMV to tomatoes from contact with anything associated with tobacco.

Bob

 

[Tom_in_TN]

My wife read once where tobacco smoke was harmful to regular garden plants - tomatoes in particular, I think. So she guards the perimeter of our garden with shovel and attitude when I am out and about with my pipe or a cigar. My soils are heavy clay. Does some tobacco do well in heavy clay?

Assuming you think I could be successful does anyone have any suggestings on what varieties to begin with?

Thanks

Here is a site with info on varieties that grow in clay soils and some have resistance to TMV http://ces.ca.uky.edu/darktobacco-files/DarkTobacco/2011%20Dark%20Tobacco%20Variety%20Guide-01-19-11.pdf