Indoor grow tent! Swedish snus variety Tofta!

[loui loui]

Today I recieved some 11 litre (2.9 gallon) square pots. They fit perfectly next to the humidifier.
The dog is enjoying the show.


I have learned to water the soil before I plant the plants in bigger pots. The floor of the tent is water proof.

Wow, very good documentation! 11/10

Thank you!
I hope the blog can inspire others to grow indoor, it is a great way to learn more about plants.
I live in an apartment with a balcony in shade but many of the lessons learned with an indoor grow can be adapted to balconys and greenhouses.

I will try my best to document the right and wrongs I do so others can take bits and pieces from the process and adjust it to their own grow.
I want my indoor grow process to be seen as an experiment rather than a guide.

Pots can also be used upside down to raise small plants from the ground.


I harvested four green little plants rather than to just throw them away. Pretty sure this is not the right way to do it but it is my plants and I do what I want. I have read that the right way to harvest the leaves is from the bottom and up when the leaves are big and yellow, not small and green but hey ho let's go. My first harvest!

 

[loui loui]

Soil mix:
One bag 50 litre (13 gallon) peat based soil
One bag 40 litre (10 gallon) LECA clay pebbles

 

[loui loui]

I allways give the soil plenty of water after a transplant, if I grow outdoor I try to plant outdoor before rainy and cloudy weather will come.
Indoor I water and dim the lights down so the plants don't get stressed or shocked.
Plants don't like quick environmental changes.
A moisture meter can be good to have.

 

[loui loui]

The plants are back in shape after the transplant.
Some leaves are cut cause they did break during the transplant and some are cut to better fit in the square grow space and improve air flow. Next time I will be more careful, tobacco leaves seem to be fragile.
Lights on full strength 24/7.

25×25 cm (10×10 inches) square pots.

 

[furryfreek]

Next time I will be more careful, tobacco leaves seem to be fragile.

You needn't worry about that, really. Tobacco plants are far from fragile once they're established. I doubt the damage will even be noticeable by the time the plants are mature.

If anything, I'd suggest you trim back more leaves to prevent the plants shading one another, and to have them put more energy into their roots. The more their root systems grow early on; the more they stand to benefit the long run. It also tricks the plants into thinking they're being eaten so they produce more alkaloids and generally toughen up.

The lowest few leaves (those with blunt tips) rarely end up being much good for anything anyway, so it's better the plants don't waste too much energy on those.

 

[loui loui]

You needn't worry about that, really. Tobacco plants are far from fragile once they're established. I doubt the damage will even be noticeable by the time the plants are mature.

If anything, I'd suggest you trim back more leaves to prevent the plants shading one another, and to have them put more energy into their roots. The more their root systems grow early on; the more they stand to benefit the long run. It also tricks the plants into thinking they're being eaten so they produce more alkaloids and generally toughen up.

The lowest few leaves (those with blunt tips) rarely end up being much good for anything anyway, so it's better the plants don't waste too much energy on those.

Ok thanks for the tip! Let's cut it some more!

 

[loui loui]

Trichomes on the underside of a new leaf (the right leaf)
Trichomes seem to be concentrated around the veins.

 

[loui loui]

 

[loui loui]

Light at maximum light intensity 24/7.
I don't know if Tofta needs darkness to flower but the plants look fine and the electricity was cheap the last week.
Since the re-potting I've been watering with nutrients at normal instead of double strength, normal as indicated on the bottle.
I don't want to spoil the roots cause I want them to grow so I choose a lighter nutrient mix.

 

[loui loui]

Looks like one of the plants wants to make flowers allready, this under lights on 24/7!

 

[deluxestogie]

Light period and/or dark period affects tobacco plants.

Bob

 

[loui loui]

Light period and/or dark period affects tobacco plants.

Bob

My worries was that Tofta was a short day plant, a plant that require a short day and a long night to produce flowers.
I have read that some Maryland type tobacco is a short day plant so my worries was that Tofta would not produce flowers at 24 hour light cycle.
A 24 hour light cycle is natural day/night cycle north of the arctic circle, where I come from btw.
Tofta comes from south of Sweden according to the description but our experiment shows that it can be grown in northern Sweden too. This is very cool! SUCCESS!

Tofta must be a day neutral type of tobacco, it will flower without darkness, therefore it can be grown north of the arctic circle, in America that is the northern Alaska and northern Canada.
It is a fast flowering plant also, today is less than a month after this picture was taken.

 

[loui loui]

I topped the plant cause I read it somewhere.
It is supposed to promote leaf growth.
Maybe I did cut a bit too much I don't know.
Good bye flower!

 

[deluxestogie]

I would advise against cutting off the growth tip. Clipping the tips of leaves may be useful in starting trays (1020 trays), where the closely spaced plants are shading one another.

Bob

 

[loui loui]

I would advise against cutting off the growth tip. Clipping the tips of leaves may be useful in starting trays (1020 trays), where the closely spaced plants are shading one another.

Bob

Ok did I do something wrong?
It looked like a bud at the end of the growth tip at the top of the stalk.
I thought that I was supposed to cut the tip so the plant can't make flowers.
I got seven untopped plants so it is not a big deal.
Thanks Bob!

 

[deluxestogie]

Although the causes of premature budding are poorly understood for the thousands of tobacco varieties, unusual lighting period seems to contribute in unpredictable ways.

Sometimes, if you cut off a premature bud head, the plant will immediately produce another premature bud head. Whether or not it does that may depend on the initial cause of the premature budding. Artificial lighting regimens make understanding the likely outcome a challenge.

If you cut off the primary growth stem, the plant will sucker from buds in each leaf axil (and sometimes from the roots). Select the one sucker that appears the most promising, and remove all the other suckers. With enough additional growth time, your selected sucker will remold the plant stalk, and produce a reasonably sized, mature plant.

Bob

 

[loui loui]

Although the causes of premature budding are poorly understood for the thousands of tobacco varieties, unusual lighting period seems to contribute in unpredictable ways.

Sometimes, if you cut off a premature bud head, the plant will immediately produce another premature bud head. Whether or not it does that may depend on the initial cause of the premature budding. Artificial lighting regimens make understanding the likely outcome a challenge.

If you cut off the primary growth stem, the plant will sucker from buds in each leaf axil (and sometimes from the roots). Select the one sucker that appears the most promising, and remove all the other suckers. With enough additional growth time, your selected sucker will remold the plant stalk, and produce a reasonably sized, mature plant.

Bob

Ok thanks for your reply Bob!
I don't panic, I learn new things by making mistakes so it is OK.
I will get through this grow somehow and adjust something to improve the next grow.
The plants want to make flowers now and it is OK for me cause the grow area is filled with healthy and sticky leaves, I don't need several layers of leaf beneth the canopy cause they would probably be of low quality shaded leaves.

I expected suckers to come out from between the leaves, I will probably remove all suckers and wait for the leaves to yellow and then harvest.

 

[loui loui]

So we got premature budding.
Can it be lights on 24/7, humidity, nutrients or a combination?
It looks like all of the plants wants to flower but one was a bit faster then the others..
Interesting, got to take a snus and think about premature budding, that is something new to me.

 

[Snue]

could it be where your light is hanging?
you may need to lower the lights or crank it up to 100%
but from what i've read 16hrs at 60cm(2 foot) should be the sweet spot and then lower the hours to 12 to get seedlings

 

[loui loui]

could it be where your light is hanging?
you may need to lower the lights or crank it up to 100%
but from what i've read 16hrs at 60cm(2 foot) should be the sweet spot and then lower the hours to 12 to get seedlings

They light is at 2 foot now but the last couple of days I had the lights dimmed down a bit.
When I lower the light intensity the leaves spread out more horisontal to absorb more light.
I have noticed that the last days growth has been halted, it is also the smallest plant that have come the longest into the budding.

I guess the plant thinks it is mid summer and it is better to flower now than too late. Plants are smart.
Another hypotesis is that Tofta is a long day plant and the longer the days are it produces more flowering hormone, that would make sense but there are other factors at play like a low nutrient soil mix since LECA don't contain nutrients.
I would probably need a few grows to know, not sure if I want to do a lot of experimenting, if the plants contain a lot of nicotine I am satisfied no matter what.

Thanks friend, we will see how it goes!