Newbie needs some tips on growing.

[Danny M]

It looks like your over watering because mold only grows in dark and damp conditions. If your soil is dry, it matters not how much light is involved. If you give your plants plenty of light, only in the absolute worse conditions should you have mold, like black shank or root rot. Too much moisture and the roots can’t absorb it, they go into shock and that shock converts to necrosis. Rice does pretty well under water but tobacco not so much. Tobacco actually prefers a drier environment with rain occurring sporadically. If you think about watering in terms of the way they measure rainfall, you’ll soon realize as anyone dealing with potted plants would, that you’re probably watering too much. If a rain comes after a warm period and the accumulation is 1/2” and after that rain the tobacco shoots up a foot then it should tell you in volume 1/2” of rain over the area of that pot is optimal. I know that probably sounds a little technical or like some wives tale but raising any plant is just science.

Your stress level will drop immensely if you just set the plants outside, assuming it’s not freezing, and let nature do her work. Tobacco isn’t valuable enough to be using grow lights. If they’re outside, they’ll get adequate moisture and sun and your troubles will be far less. Next year I would suggest direct seeding into 3 or 5 gallon buckets. Just lay a piece of plexiglas over the top. Don’t put a 1000 seeds in there but put 10-20, then as the plants grow, just weed out the weak ones. That’s how you find plants that are tailored to your situation. If cold weather is an issue, just build you a cold frame.

 

[koceff]

Well, this week is fine, temperatures are around 65-70f, but the evenings are cold around 45. It is still winter here, that is why i must keep them inside. 4 days with few hours of sun and the mold is almost gone. Now about miracle grow, can i use fertilisers for tomatoes or some starting mixm

 

[Knucklehead]

Well, this week is fine, temperatures are around 65-70f, but the evenings are cold around 45. It is still winter here, that is why i must keep them inside. 4 days with few hours of sun and the mold is almost gone. Now about miracle grow, can i use fertilisers for tomatoes or some starting mixm

I use urea free orchid fertilizer 20-10-20 for seedlings.

 

[deluxestogie]

I don't have miracle grow here.

Purchase a fertilizer suitable for growing tomatoes.

Bob

 

[Danny M]

G'day China. Welcome. For the seedlings that you have: growing them out will be fun. You might want to dry the leaves more slowly, in the shade when you harvest them. Take your time and look at the key threads page. Most questions are probably answered there.

Key threads in the FTT forum

Bookmark This Page for Future Reference This is a list of threads that have been nominated by forum members to be particularly useful. The list will be updated as suggestions are added. Tips on Using the FTT Forum How to post pictures Seven Moral Rules Found All Around the World Cannabis...

fairtradetobacco.com

I hope you enjoy this forum as much as I have. The learning is half the fun.
Little Dutch is a short plant and great in the pipe. Im sure there are many other "discrete" plants for your situation.

Nic levels. That's a tough one. I'm guessing that other members of the forum will advise you to seek out specific low-nic varieties for the pipe:
Most Turkish varieties are supposed to be lighter nicotine. I'm growing Japan8 this year.
Costello has a nicotine content at 2.4%.

for my part, I seldom save immature leaves- smoking them gives me a headache. You can make a bug killing tea out of them and spray it on other plants.


I would start here: http://nwtseeds.com/seed_list.htm for ideas on what to grow next season.
SkyChaser is the owner and a member of this forum. the seeds are inexpensive and he ships worldwide (I think).

@skychaser I sent you an email @NWT

 

[Oldfella]

Yes, this is a perfect time to transplant them to individual cups. Also, those are looking a little water logged; may want to cut back on the water moving forward to prevent rot / damping off disease.

My thoughts are that they are too far down in their container and are looking for the light. Might be wrong, cheers Oldfella

 

[koceff]

CT Shade root system. I think it looks good. Five hours of Spring sun for a week doubled the size of the plants, and leaf number 11 is starting to show.

 

[Knucklehead]

CT Shade root system. I think it looks good. Five hours of Spring sun for a week doubled the size of the plants, and leaf number 11 is starting to show.

They look really nice.

 

[Danny M]

@koceff, you do know that tobacco plants put off heat correct? While they may feel cool to the touch, they’re emitting heat. I say this because as long as the temps aren’t dropping below frost, you could simply set your plants in the sun and drape some plastic over some concrete block, open it up so they can breath during the day, close it off at night. They’ll store their own heat. If you don’t believe it’s possible yet just try a few and see what happens. I think you’ll find the few that you experiment with are going to eclipse the rest.

 

[deluxestogie]

Your average last frost date for Skopje is about 1 month from now.

Bob

 

[koceff]

@deluxestogie Yes, give or take. Last year we had snow for the whole first half of April. We are "tobacco nation" but only planting Prilep and I think it was Jaka (yaka) varieties, and they are putting them outside sometimes in May, just to be sure
@Danny M I am going to do that but starting a month from now, we are still having nights with bellow freezing temperatures.

 

[rainmax]

Hello koceff. I wouldn't hurry with planting outside even in Macedonia. Temperatures can still be unpleasant for tobacco. Specialy when ground (soil) temperatures are to low plants can suffer or can be exposed to different diseases.
Wait until May. Good luck with your grow. It is nice to have you on board.

‍

 

[koceff]

@rainmax You are absolutely correct. I still haven't planted the seeds, so it will be well in May till I plant them outside. The ones above are for growing in pots inside.

 

[koceff]

So this happened. Watered last Sunday. A little liquid fertilizer. Enough light and sun.

 

[Oldfella]

So this happened. Watered last Sunday. A little liquid fertilizer. Enough light and sun.

Hi,
Did you plant it in the glass?
If mine looked like that I would be inclined to give them a drink of water. I also see a lot of exposed roots, not enough soil?
Perhaps they're hungry. Someone else may have a better idea of what is wrong, but if its only the one plant put in a bucket of good potting mix, water well add fertilizer if necessary and see what happens.
Cheers Oldfella

 

[koceff]

@Oldfella They needed a drink They are great now. The only downside is I have about 50 seedlings ready for transplant and I only have space for 20 at most.

 

[deluxestogie]

I have about 50 seedlings ready for transplant and I only have space for 20 at most

That's a good problem. Stay within your available space, and discard the extras after two weeks.

Bob

 

[koceff]

So, the weather is getting warmer here and planting season is about to start. I have a few questions though that I can't find answers to.
I have several varieties:
CT Shade
CT Broadleaf
PA Red
H2000
Corojo (don 't know what string of corojo)
Bolivian criollo black

My questions are:
Which of these can I grow under shade?
How tall would they get under shade?
What if the shade is provided by trees?
So yeah, all shady questions

 

[Knucklehead]

Shade leaf is grown in full sun under 40% shade cloth. I wouldn’t grow under trees, not only because of the lack of sun but also because of the penetration and competition from tree roots. I would personally recommend growing CT Shade under 40% shade cloth in full sun and the others with no cloth in full sun. The shade grown plants get tall and spindly and need to be attached to the upper framing by strings to prevent them from falling over.

Photos from the internet. I did not read the articles.

Connecticut Tobacco Crop Report | Cigar Aficionado

After a disappointing 2018 season plagued by heavy, consistent rains, cigar tobacco farmers in the Connecticut River Valley are optimistic that this year’s crop will yield some of the best leaf in years. | Cigar Aficionado

www.cigaraficionado.com

The Flavor-Color Connection: do we taste cigars with our eyes? - Robustojoe

To Cigar Geeks like us, browsing cigar catalogs can be a lot of fun. With full-color photos of glistening cigars and text that can make your mouth water, even run-of-the-mill cigars can seem desirable. Using phrases like “nestled in Cuban-seed binders”…and “informed by complex notes of dried...

robustojoe.com

https://flic.kr/p/2NGJRw View: https://www.flickr.com/photos/schummi/1184864224/

 

[Danny M]

So, the weather is getting warmer here and planting season is about to start. I have a few questions though that I can't find answers to.
I have several varieties:
CT Shade
CT Broadleaf
PA Red
H2000
Corojo (don 't know what string of corojo)
Bolivian criollo black

My questions are:
Which of these can I grow under shade?
How tall would they get under shade?
What if the shade is provided by trees?
So yeah, all shady questions

All those can be shade grown but the CT Broadleaf is said to do better in the sun, stalk cured and barn hung. The rest can be primed. As far as shade trees go, it gets debatable as to how much shade is good. Being in the northern hemisphere, if you could find a piece of bottom land running east to west with a hill on the south, you can crank out some good leaves. That’ll provide just the right amount of sun/shade. We raised tobacco in bottoms just like this for years and always had bumper crops. The leaves were always thin and velvety but I didn’t ever pay attention to why until I started looking into rolling cigars. If you don’t have that, I advise remay(sp) it’s a cotton sheet that used to be used for tobacco seed beds before they went to seeding in trays. It’s still used for some things like covering plants for frost, and of course shade growing. Trees in excess will draw too much of the sun unless you set your pots at the outer limits of the shadow. One other option is an actual shade cloth. It’s black with holes in it to allow sun penetration.