Tobacco plants can be quite beautiful.
Even if you don't approve of smoking tobacco or using it in any
form, you can still grow a tobacco plant for ornamental purposes
in your garden. Since most varieties of tobacco plants have large
attractive flowers and nice green foliage, you will probably receive
quite a few comments on it from neighbors and people passing by.
My grandfather kept a garden for many years and during that time
he grew only one tobacco plant which easily received the most comments
out of everything in his garden.
One of the qualities that make tobacco
plants (members of the Nightshade family) so unique is that their
size and characteristics will vary according to the climate and
type of soil in which they are grown. Or in other words, wherever
you decide to grow your tobacco plant will greatly affect how it
looks; and the differences between the same plant grown in two different
regions can be quite dramatic. For example, the commercial plant
known as nicotiana tobacum will ripen to a yellow color when grown
in the sandy soil of Virginia, yet the same variety when planted
in the black soil of Louisiana will mature to a dark brown color.
The size of the plant also varies from two to seven feet depending
upon its environment.
Growing tobacco is not difficult,
but the plants will require a little extra care at the beginning.
Because tobacco seeds are very small, you will need to keep them
covered up and indoors for the first eight to ten days. Start them
about five weeks before the final frost, and use a seed tray with
a soil mixture of half potting soil and half peat humus. Sprinkle
the seeds evenly over the soil (moistening it first) without covering
them up since they will need a lot of light. Next, place them in
a cupboard having a constant temperature of 70 to 80 degrees. After
about eight to ten days you should see them sprout. Next, keep them
indoors but put them somewhere with a lower temperature of around
55 degrees. A few more weeks and they will be ready for replanting
outside, but make sure they are put in thoroughly cultivated and
fertilized soil - if your soil is full of clay you will need to
add some peat moss. Keep plants spaced about two feet apart and
give them lots of water since tobacco plants are always thirsty.
Once outside your plants will do best if they have a lot of nitrogen
and potash. Wood ashes and charcoal grill ashes are good sources
of this. (There are usually easy-to-follow planting directions on
the back of every package of tobacco seeds.)
Tobacco plants are susceptible to
a few diseases such as root rot and mosaic disease, but as far as
insects go, usually the sphinx moth will be its only pest. This
moth (also known as the "hawk moth" or "tobacco worm")
while in its caterpillar stage is green with white diagonal stripes
and has a hornlike tail. Hand picking is the safest way to remove
these pests. Use pliers or gloves if you don't want to touch them.
And if you want to make a caterpillar 'gas chamber,' simply put
the caterpillars in a jar, pour in some rubbing alcohol, and screw
on the lid. Cruel but effective! Sevin dust is your best bet for
fighting any insects. But if you plan on curing and using the tobacco,
never use insecticides that will penetrate the surface area of the
plant.
Tobacco's resistance to most insects
makes the plant a natural insect repellant (with the Mountain Tobacco
variety generally considered to be the most effective). At the end
of the season you can cut the stalk off above the root system and
save the leaves to soak in water. Use this water to spray down your
other plants to repel any insects. Then the next season a new stalk
will grow from the root system.
If you want to grow tobacco to make
your own cigarettes or pipe tobacco, you should have an area at
least 8 meters by 1 meter. This will be enough to grow approximately
fifty tobacco plants, which will allow you to make about 5000 or
more cigarettes. (But remember that smoking is hazardous to your
heath and we do not recommend it!)
Three more tips for growing tobacco
plants:
1. Make sure your area isn't too cold
for tobacco. It will grow fine in hotter climates, but too much
cold will kill the plants.
2. If you are mainly looking for ornamental
tobacco plants, the Jasmine Tobacco and the Rose Tobacco varieties
grow especially large and attractive flowers.
3. Watch your hoe around the bottoms
of tobacco plants since the roots do not grow deep in the ground.
Tobacco plants are quite fun to grow
since the process can be seen as an experiment to determine what
kind of plant you will receive from your soil and climate.- Jason
Earls
I have grown tobacco for several years now. While what I have cured is fine for cigar and cigarette smoking, it is not for pipe smokeing. I wonder if you could point me towards any info on how to cure tobacco for pipe smoking. Thanks........