Good day, dear reader. Today, we will talk about the rules of growing tobacco at home. A native of the Krasnodar NGO for tobacco products will help us find out how whimsical tobacco is and what conditions are needed to grow it.
So, as you know, in terms of climate, tobacco is more whimsical than the well-known shag. A favorite product among smokers, it loves the sun and mild southern climate. Makhorka, on the contrary, can grow in any climatic zone. You can view the supplemented and updated manual at. There I described my experience as simply and in detail as possible.
Usually, Russian lands become fertile soil for the growth of Holly 215, Trebizond, Trebizond 15, and Yubileiny. And also for shag varieties: Pekhlets, AS 18/7, local Pekhlets, local Datura.
It is known that per year one would-be smoker consumes from seven and a half to eight kilograms of tobacco.
One hundredth of a hectare of land favorable conditions can produce up to forty kilograms of dry mass of tobacco. (considering that the weight of a dried tobacco leaf can vary from eight tenths of a gram to one and a half grams, and up to thirty-three usable leaves can be formed on a tobacco plant per season).
The period from planting seedlings into the ground until harvesting is 135 days, for shag - up to 80 days. Forcing seedlings takes up to 45 days. Typically, there are four tenths of a gram of seed per square meter of field, and about seven tenths of a meter of greenhouses or greenhouses per hundredth of a hectare. Just such an area produces up to nine hundred plants.
How to grow tobacco seedlings at home
You can grow tobacco and shag seedlings at home; this is usually done in flower pots or wooden boxes.
Before sowing, the seeds need to be soaked in water. The soaking process takes only a day, and the temperature in the room should not fall below twenty-five degrees. The heat in the room catalyzes the process of seed ripening, which will shorten the period of seedling forcing and increase the tobacco/shag population.
As a rule, you need to take about three milliliters of solution per gram of seeds.
After 24 hours, the seeds are washed, dried and laid out in several layers in a special container.
When germinating, seeds should be covered with damp gauze or cloth on top and left either in a thermostat or in a constantly ventilated and blessed room.
A little about the process of planting seedlings.
The sprouted seeds are evenly distributed over the surface of the soil, lightly pressing them into it. Then you should moisten the soil with a spray bottle.
One square meter of greenhouse territory contains thirteen hundredths cubic meter nutritional mixture, which includes two hundredths of a cubic meter of powder: humus - 50%, earth and sand - 25% each.
The average nutrient layer can reach ten centimeters in length. Optimal periods The third ten days of February and the first ten days of March are considered sowing.
Raw materials for sowing are used in the following proportions:
- One bucket contains up to four grams of tobacco (shag - up to twenty grams).
Tobacco seeds are planted at a depth of up to five tenths of a centimeter, shag seeds - up to eight tenths. Before and after planting seeds, it is customary to irrigate, with one liter of water per square meter of land.
After sowing has been carried out, It is very important to ensure that the moisture level in the soil does not drop. The process of seed growth is divided into certain phases:
- “Cross” phase
This phase requires a liter of water per square meter per day; - "Ears"
There are three to five liters of water per square meter.
Also, each phase requires maintaining its own special temperature regime. For example, before the “cross” phase from sowing, the temperature in the greenhouse should be 23-25 degrees, in subsequent phases - 20 degrees Celsius.
Fertilizing tobacco seeds
In the process of growing tobacco at home, like other plants, tobacco and shag require mandatory feeding. So, during cultivation, seedlings should be sprinkled up to four times and fertilized.
Usually used as a top dressing mineral solution fertilizers, which is prepared in the following proportions: ten liters of water, thirty grams of ammonium nitrate, up to sixty grams of superphosphate and either twenty grams of potassium sulfate or twenty grams of forty percent potassium salt.
Tools:
- For feeding experienced gardeners use a watering can with a special nozzle, the holes of which are a quarter of a centimeter in diameter. For four square meters The nursery has approximately ten liters of water.
Fertilizers:
- As organic fertilizers Infused chicken manure works well. To prepare it, place a kilogram of droppings in a ten-liter container of water and leave to infuse for ten days. Don't forget to stir periodically. After the expiration of the time, the mixture will ferment and the resulting “result” can be filtered. Add water to the strained manure solution: to one part of the solution there are five parts of water.
A week before planting, the seedlings need to be hardened by reducing the amount of water supplied; a couple of days before planting the seedlings, the water supply should be stopped altogether. This procedure will help you increase the resistance of plants to adverse external factor, will give immunity to growing in the ground in the open air.
Well-hardened seedlings do not break even when twisting their stems around your finger.
A few hours before sampling, you should water the seedlings generously. It is usually selected individually, thereby reducing the risk of selecting sick or not yet fully developed plants.
Basically, plants that are suitable for planting are those that reach a height of fourteen to sixteen centimeters, with a stem thickness of up to three to five hundredths of a centimeter and with a number of leaves of at least five.
Planting tobacco in the ground
Planting in the ground is carried out at maximum favorable temperature and plant plants at least ten centimeters deep.
Tobacco planting begins on the twentieth of April and ends on the twenty-fifth of May. during strong thaws, when the risk of frost has passed completely.
The ideal planting density for tobacco is 70 by 30 centimeters, shag - 70 by 20. When planting seedlings along a drawn furrow, usually the holes are placed at a distance of at least thirty centimeters from each other for tobacco, and twenty for shag. After planting, pour half a liter of water into the holes.
Remember: seedlings need to be laid out along the furrow, with the leaves facing to the left of the planter.
The planter positions the body so that he can deepen the hole with his left hand, and plant the plant with his right hand and cover its roots with soil. If you are planting more than a hundred square meters, it will be much faster, I already got the hang of it with a friend.
To help plants adapt to new environment and increase their growth, the roots of the seedlings can be dipped in mullein solution. It is prepared from cow dung and a corresponding amount of clay. Excess solution is shaken off the roots, and the roots themselves are sprinkled with humus mixed with superphosphate. (1:4)
As soon as the tobacco (or shag) blooms, break off the top inflorescences and side shoots.
Watering the plant depends on humidity. Typically there are six to eight liters of water per plant.
Diseases and difficulties during the growing process of tobacco
There are several main diseases that should be actively combated:
Downy mildew. A solution of 0.3 percent polycarbacin or a 0.4% suspension of zineb is usually used against it. Five liters of such products are sprayed onto one hundredth of a hectare of land;
Aphid. When fighting aphids, experienced gardeners usually use actelik or rogor. The first of them adds 20-10 grams per ten-liter vessel, the second 10-20 grams for the same amount of water. When aphids appear, plants are sprayed with actelik (20-30 g per 10 liters of water) or rogor (10-20 g per 10 liters of water).
Harvesting and drying tobacco crop
The collection of tobacco leaves begins from the lower tiers of the plant, focusing on the degree of yellowing of the leaves, distributing the collection into five or six doses.
Tobacco leaves should not be removed in an unripe or overripe state, nor should they be collected wet. The collected leaves are distributed in layers thirty centimeters thick and piled in the shade. After about twelve hours, the dried leaves are attached to cords and hung on a drying structure. Naturally, we should not forget that the leaves will not dry out either in the rain or in a strong wind.
Sun drying should not last more than seventeen hours. By the way, it is after this that we receive the final raw materials for the product.
In cloudy weather, the raw material dries slowly and acquires a darkish color.
Dried tobacco must be removed carefully so that it does not crumble. The strings with tobacco leaves are folded into fours and attached to a cord in bundles of six laces. (such a set of low tobacco will be called gavanka). Havanki, as usual. They are hung on poles in a special storage room and left until autumn. Then, in the fall, the tobacco leaves are removed, smoothed and packaged.
Fermented tobacco is suitable for making cigarettes. In addition, this same fermentation can be carried out at home.
Approximate Fermentation Algorithm:
- Place the tobacco in a container and heat it for several days at temperatures up to fifty degrees Celsius, while the air humidity should be kept between sixty and sixty percent;
- After the expiration of the period, the air humidity must be increased to seventy-five percent (the temperature remains unchanged) and the raw material must be left to infuse for five days;
- Gradually reduce the air temperature over forty-eight hours and at the same time increase the air humidity to eighty percent;
- Cooling the tobacco to twenty to twenty-five degrees and reducing humidity to eleven percent. The tobacco cooling process lasts up to three days, after which the raw materials are allowed to rest for a little less than a month.
Tobacco is cut into fibers whose width reaches five to seven tenths of a millimeter. The length of cigarettes is usually eighty-five millimeters and the diameter is eight millimeters. One cigarette accounts for from eight tenths of a gram to one gram.
High-quality cigarettes are usually made by mixing different types of tobacco.
Selling tobacco is not a priori a problem, since due to the widespread use of cigarettes, tobacco business is a profitable business.
How much tobacco does a smoker need for a year?
I plant seedlings with a reserve of 200-220 bushes, usually about 10% do not sprout and die (a lot depends on what, but mainly on the seeds and climatic vagaries), I usually plant Burley and Virginia 30% to 70%. I agree with the author of the video, one hundred square meters is enough.
I’ll definitely write about the seeds again, a couple of subtleties.
During the season, about 150-200 tobacco bushes (less than 1 hundred square meters) are enough even heavy smoker.
Who grows the most
Tobacco is cultivated in the most unexpected corners of the world due to its high adaptability to different conditions existence.
The appearance of tobacco depends on the conditions environment in which he resides. Nicotiana tobacum began its commodity production in Virginia at the beginning of the 17th century.
It will later become clear that the climatic conditions of the southeastern United States are ideal for growing tobacco.
Today, the USA is one of the largest producers and tobacco exporters around the world.
The first place among producers of tobacco products is China, which itself consumes a significant part of its own harvest. Tobacco is also actively grown in India and Brazil.
Every day more and more people smoke, in order to save money they are trying to grow tobacco at home. Some people, of course, do not do this for long, but others begin to take a more detailed interest in how to plant tobacco correctly. Quite often it is grown not for consumption, but for decoration. During cold weather, it is recommended to grow it on a windowsill, and only when it is warmer should tobacco be transplanted to where it will grow all the time, without replanting it from place to place. During seedlings, do not neglect the correct method of planting the plant, otherwise it may not take root.
Before you start planting the beds, you need to make sure that moisture will not constantly collect there. The place where tobacco will grow must be protected from drafts.
In order for tobacco to grow well, you do not need to pre-prepare the soil, you just need to get rid of the weed in a certain area and loosen it.
Before planting tobacco, the area must be fertilized, preferably with rotted compost in the following proportions: one bucket of compost per square of land.
After you have done everything, you can start planting tobacco. The gap between seedlings should be at least twenty centimeters and no more than fifty centimeters. The distance directly depends on the type of tobacco. The hole in which you are going to plant tobacco should be at least twenty centimeters and no more than thirty centimeters deep. Before planting, pour some compost into the hole and water with water, but not cold. You don’t need to pour a lot of water; half a liter will be enough. Then you transplant the tobacco into open ground, trying not to damage it and do not forget to water it later.
Virginia tobacco 202
The most popular tobacco variety in Russia is Virginia 202. It is very popular because the content of rare resin in it is the smallest, and its smell attracts even non-smokers. This variety is popular not only in Russia, but all over the world.
Due to the fact that he was bred on the territory Russian Federation, then he was brought into State Register varieties of the North Caucasus region. Virginia 202 tobacco has oblong leaves oval shape light green color. On average, one hectare of planting produces up to fifteen hundred kilograms of product. On average, one seedling produces twenty-two leaves, the length of which can exceed thirty-five centimeters if grown correctly.
Planting usually begins at the end of the first spring month; it is grown using seedlings. Usually, transplant tobacco to permanent place accepted in early May. Seedlings should be located no closer than fifty centimeters to each other.
In order for the harvest to be good, do not forget to care for the plant, or rather, periodically water it, plant it, remove inflorescences, and fertilize it.
The only drawback Virginia 202 is that the variety contains a large amount of chlorophyll, which imparts to the leaves green color. The process of their leaching takes for a long time.
How to properly care for tobacco seedlings
Growing tobacco is not a difficult and interesting task; you will spend a minimum of effort and a little more time. First of all, tobacco is planted on seedlings, after some time the tobacco is pruned. At the same time, it is necessary to pay Special attention soil moisture content, indoor microclimate.
Care before picking
At this stage, caring for the plant is not difficult. After the shoots have appeared, remove the film and move the seedlings to the windowsill on the sunny side. Otherwise, the growth of tobacco will be greatly retarded. The soil should not dry out and the plant should not be watered cold water. It is also necessary to occasionally turn the tobacco towards the sun. reverse side, thanks to this the plant will grow evenly.
Caring for the plant after picking
After more than two leaves have sprouted, you can safely begin picking. This must be done so that the plant grows freely, because it will be cramped in a small container. Usually, tobacco is poured into small plastic glasses, with no more than two plants in one glass. Don't forget about watering, do it daily.
Tobacco fertilizers
After a couple of weeks, the plants will already need fertilizer. When choosing fertilizer, be careful; the nitrogen content should not be too high. Fertilizer proportions are one to ten. warm water, no more. If after a week you do not notice much growth of the plant, then use chicken manure as fertilizer.
Before transplanting, begin to move the plants to Fresh air so that it does not freeze after transplantation. Also note that a week before transplanting should pass without watering.
Optimal temperature for cultivation, which must be maintained at least eighteen degrees. But you also don’t need to keep tobacco in extreme heat; the maximum temperature should be twenty-four degrees.
At the moment, many people have started growing tobacco themselves, this is due to the fact that buying cigarettes in stores has become too expensive. Growing tobacco takes a long time. Only from two weeks to a whole month should be spent on allowing the plant to sprout, then it must be pruned.
The optimal time to start transplanting tobacco is when the plant puts out a few leaves. If you don't do this, the plant won't grow. This is due to the fact that small seeds sprout frequently and the plant interferes with each other.
It is best to replant tobacco, one or two plants at a time, in one plastic cup. They will germinate much better there, because nothing will hinder their growth. It is also best to transplant tobacco from such containers to a permanent place.
The soil for picking is the same as for planting. They create it from a small amount of soil from their own plot, purchased land, and a small amount of wood ash.
In order for the seedlings to get out of the ground better, they need to be watered thoroughly. After the plant has been carefully removed, plant it in a glass, carefully sprinkle it with soil and tamp it down.
Many people today are interested in growing tobacco in the garden for smoking, whether it is realistic and how to do everything correctly so that the work is not wasted. This process is not very different from growing tomatoes, but there are some subtleties. Grow on your own personal plot a hundred or two will not be difficult.
It is a source of raw materials for tobacco products. Belongs to the Solanaceae (nightshade) family. It can be perennial or annual. The most common are several types that will be discussed.
Common tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)
Sometimes it is also called real or virgin. It grows up to 3 m. It blooms with delicate pink flowers and has a tubular corolla. The leaf shape is oblong. It loves warmth very much, so it is cultivated in hot countries, although it is grown quite successfully in Russia. There are a lot of varieties of this species.
Also known as Country Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) is much shorter than its southern counterpart, only 1.2 m. It blooms yellow, the blades are round, while the Virginia one is sharp. The leaves are weaker in nicotine content and have an ovoid shape with blunt ends. Does not require special attention.
Just 20 years ago, collective farmers in large quantities They grew terry in their gardens for sale and personal use. Today, few people do this. Nicotine is found in any part of the plant, the most saturated are the leaves.
Growing tobacco
For one heavy smoker, it will be enough to have about 8 kg of tobacco for a year. Each plant will give about 30 g. Per sq.m. fits 6 plants. If you plan to plant a large-leaved variety, then you need to plant it according to the 70×30 cm pattern; small-leaved ones will require less space— 70×20 cm.
Everything is simple with shag. In the middle zone, it is sown under film, and then pulled apart and manages to bring a good harvest. You can sow directly into prepared holes, covering each with a jar or plastic bottle, maintaining moisture inside. After germination, the strongest ones are left.
Features of growing ordinary tobacco
This is a bit more complicated. First, the seeds are selected. The choice of variety is up to the gardener.
It’s better to take new, more productive ones. There are currently about two dozen of them. Here are the most popular:
Trebizond Kubanets
(nicotine 2.6%)
From the day the seedlings are planted until the final breaking, 104-134 days pass. There are about 27 suitable sheets.
Trapezond 92
The leaves break off after 99 days, there is almost no pain.
Samsun 85
Actively maturing. From planting to breaking no more than 110 days. You can take fifty technically suitable leaves from a bush.
Anniversary new 142
(nicotine 2.1%)
The growing season is 78-82 days. Good disease resistance.
Holly 316
Considered late ripening. There is little nicotine compared to the above varieties. The last leaf breaking is carried out on the 120th day.
Having decided on the variety, you can proceed further. If you have never had to deal with tobacco before, it is better to concentrate your efforts on a small number of bushes for the first year. This will make it possible to correctly calculate your strength in the future and understand the essence of the process of growing on summer cottage tobacco
You will need very little seeds by weight, because 1 gram contains 12 thousand pieces. In shag, they are larger (up to 4 thousand per g). A quarter of a gram will be enough for the smoker to make the necessary supply for himself. whole year. In this case, a couple of bushes are left for seeds, and there will no longer be a need to buy them.
Before planting, some try to soak the seeds (4 days before work, place them on a damp cloth) so that they hatch, but you can also sow dry ones.
Planting methods
Rassadny
Like some vegetables, you can sow the seeds in boxes first to get strong seedlings. She should be about 1.5 months old, then dived, or planted immediately. The disadvantage of this method is that it is not suitable for large-scale cultivation, but for your own needs it is just right.
Sowing in the ground
If the climate is warm, then sow directly into the ground. If it’s cold, then first go to the greenhouse. Seeds are sown wet surface, without backfilling with soil. You just need to press them in slightly so that the wind doesn’t blow them away.
Tobacco germinates at +25ºC. Lower temperatures slow down or prevent seeds from growing at all. Watering is daily, but moderate.
Transplanting
So, if the plant is up to 15 cm and has 5 leaves, then it is ready for a new place of residence. The soil should be warm, usually this happens from the end of April and throughout May. In order for the seedlings to take root well and not get sick, gradually accustom them to more low temperatures. Within seven days it must be taken out, if it is on the windowsill, outside. Trying to avoid sunburn, leave in direct light for a short time. It is also worth watering less often. After a couple of days, watering is stopped. On the day of planting, 3 hours before the final planting in the open air, pour tobacco generously.
There is one root per hole. Spill the holes with water (one liter) in advance. It is desirable that the roots of young plants be in a ball and not exposed during transplantation. Before seedlings begin to grow, it is necessary to maintain moisture, but do not overwater the young plants.
How to care for tobacco
For good growth leaves, loosening the soil, weeding and, of course, fertilizing are necessary. In the latter case, the norms are the same as for growing tomatoes.
There is no need to water the grown tobacco often. This is usually done 3 times during the summer. Overmoistening is dangerous for the tobacco root, which grows very long and copes with water production on its own. Some tobacco growers still water mature plant just before cleaning. To get a quality leaf, you need to remove all flowers and side shoots as they appear.
Soil requirements
Smoking tobacco loves to grow after steaming or even on fresh soil. If this is not possible, it is better to choose the right predecessors, avoiding potatoes, beets, eggplants, and tomatoes.
The tobacco plant needs nitrogen and potassium. The land is depleted after it, so appropriate fertilizers are appropriate: cattle manure, cakes, bird droppings.
Cleaning
In order not to overexpose your harvest, you should monitor the change in color of the leaves. The signal is yellow-green. Sometimes not all the leaves are ready at the same time, then you should wait and tear off the yellowing part. Sometimes it happens that harvesting can be delayed.
Common tobacco (lat. Nicotiana tabacum), or real tobacco, or virgin tobacco is a species of herbaceous plants of the Tobacco genus of the Solanaceae family. On an industrial scale, this type of tobacco is cultivated for its leaves, from which tobacco products for smoking are produced.
Tobacco is native to Peru and Brazil. The first description of tobacco and its uses was given by Bernardine de Sahagún in the 16th century in " General history Affairs of New Spain". The scientist relied on information received from the Aztecs, who called tobacco herb pisitel and used it to treat headaches, festering wounds, colds, runny nose, tumors, bloating and other ailments. Tobacco received its scientific name in honor of the French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot, who sent the seeds of this plant to Paris in 1560.
Today, tobacco is grown to make cigars, cigarettes, cigarettes and other smoking products, and niacin is widely used to treat diseases such as diarrhea, dermatitis, glossitis, stomatitis and other diseases. However, it should be remembered that nicotine is very toxic, and some substances contained in tobacco are carcinogenic.
Planting and caring for smoking tobacco (in brief)
- Bloom: within 25-40 days from mid-summer.
- Landing: sowing tobacco seedlings - at the end of February or early March, planting seedlings in the ground - from the end of April to the end of May.
- Lighting: bright sunlight.
- The soil: lightweight, breathable and well-drained.
- Watering: regular as the top layer of soil dries.
- Feeding: a few days after planting the seedlings, then two more times with an interval of 2-3 weeks. As fertilizers use a solution of complex mineral fertilizer or chicken manure (1:10).
- Topping and pinching: half of the flower stalks should be broken off: this measure improves the quality of tobacco. Stepchildren that intensively form after topping (breaking out peduncles) should also be removed.
- Reproduction: seed.
- Pests: peach aphids, tobacco thrips and wireworms.
- Diseases: black root rot, dry root rot, blackleg (seedling rot), powdery mildew, downy mildew (downy mildew), white dry spot (alternaria blight), grouse and viral diseases– tobacco, or ordinary mosaic, cucumber mosaic, bronze (apical chlorosis) and white mosaic.
Read more about growing smoking tobacco below.
Smoking tobacco - description
Tobacco is an annual herbaceous plant, which reaches a height of 3 m. The tobacco stem has almost no branches. Regular whole leaves different varieties Virginia tobacco can be either narrowly lanceolate or broadly ovoid in shape, and their number on one plant can range from 16 to 60. Lower leaves decurrent, leaf base semi-petiolate, surface resinous, fleecy. Reddish or pink funnel-shaped tobacco flowers are collected in narrow apical paniculate inflorescences. The main economically valuable characteristics of tobacco are the surface size and thickness of the leaf plate. Tobacco is grown in 84 countries around the world.
Growing smoking tobacco
Sowing smoking tobacco seeds for seedlings
Seeds of smoking tobacco have good germination, which lasts for years. You should know that shag (country tobacco) can grow in conditions middle zone and even in areas with a cooler climate, but tobacco is a heat-loving plant. How to grow smoking tobacco from seeds? For this, both seedling and non-seedling methods are used. Seedling method used for growing tobacco in cool regions, and in areas with a warm climate, seeds are sown directly into the ground.
In the photo: Flowering of smoking tobacco
Tobacco seedlings are sown at the end of February or beginning of March. The seed must first be kept for 24 hours. wet wipe until swelling, adding a few drops of tartaric acid or crystals of potassium nitrate to the water for soaking the fabric. This measure will speed up the emergence of seedlings by a week. After swelling, the seeds are washed, dried, placed on a damp cloth in an enamel or ceramic container and placed in a warm place for germination, keeping the cloth moist all the time. On the third or fourth day, small seedlings appear on the seeds.
Don't wait until the sprouts on the seeds become too long, because they break off easily.
When 2/3 of the seeds germinate, they are dried, carefully mixed with disinfected dry sand and sown on the surface of well-moistened soil made of humus (three parts) and sand (one part), and sprinkled with a layer of the same substrate on top. The thickness of the covering layer for shag should be 3-5, and for tobacco – 7-8 mm. It is advisable to sow seeds in separate containers. - cups, peat pots or cassettes, since tobacco, like other nightshade crops, does not like transplanting, and therefore picking. After sowing, the surface is watered through a thick strainer so as not to wash away the covering layer of the substrate. Then the crops are covered with film and placed in a bright place where direct sunlight does not reach.
Caring for tobacco during the seedling period
Keep the container with the crops at a temperature of 23-28 ºC. Care consists of almost daily meager watering and mandatory airing twice a day. When the hatched seedlings develop the first pair of true leaves, the temperature is lowered to 20 ºC, and the water consumption when watering is increased. At the development stage of 3-4 leaves, if you planted in a box or container, the seedlings are dived into a large container. Subsequently, fertile soil is added 2-3 times under the seedlings.
Feeding tobacco seedlings solution 30 g ammonium nitrate and 20 g of potassium sulfate or chloride in 10 liters of water. For organic fertilizers, it is better to use a solution of chicken manure: 1 kg of fertilizer is poured into a bucket of water, allowed to ferment for 10-12 days, stirring from time to time, after which the infusion is filtered and 4-5 volumes of water are added to it.
In the photo: How tobacco blooms
Seedlings will be ready for planting in open ground at the age of 40-45 days, when the seedlings reach a height of 14-16 cm, acquire 5-6 true leaves, their stem becomes 3-5 mm thick, and root system will develop enough. However, 7-10 days before planting, the seedlings must be hardened, for which they must be taken out into the open air for some time every day, gradually increasing the duration of the sessions. 2-3 days before planting, watering the seedlings is stopped, and 2-3 hours before planting, the seedlings are moistened abundantly.
Planting tobacco seedlings in open ground
When the return frosts have passed and the soil at a depth of 10 cm has warmed up to 10 ºC, the seedlings can be planted in the garden bed. Usually the necessary conditions take place in the period from April 20 to May 25. The area for tobacco should be sunny, and the soil on it should be light and breathable. First you need to add ash or mullein to the soil for digging.
Before planting, you need to pour half a liter of water into the holes located at a distance of 50 cm from one another. When the water is absorbed, make a hole in the hole with a peg, place the seedling in it and sprinkle its roots first with wet soil and on top with dry soil so that the moisture from the soil does not evaporate so quickly.
Caring for tobacco in the garden beds
How to grow smoking tobacco
Growing smoking tobacco is a simple process, but there are certain subtleties in it. Tobacco care involves regular watering, loosening the soil around the bushes, removing weeds and timely feeding, which ideally should be at least three.
The first time tobacco is fed a few days after planting the seedlings in the ground, then after 2-3 weeks the second feeding should follow, and 2-3 weeks after the second - the third. As fertilizers, use a solution of chicken manure (1:10) or a solution of complex mineral fertilizer prepared according to the instructions.
In the photo: Blooming tobacco
To obtain higher quality smoking tobacco, the bushes should be topped, that is, approximately half of the flower shoots should be broken off. After this procedure, tobacco will begin to actively form stepsons, which also need to be removed.
Pests and diseases of smoking tobacco
Diseases of smoking tobacco
Tobacco can develop fungal diseases such as black root rot, dry root rot, blackleg (seedling rot), powdery mildew, downy mildew (downy mildew), and dry white spot (alternaria). Tobacco is also affected by bacterial grouse and viral diseases - tobacco, or ordinary mosaic, cucumber mosaic, bronzing (apical chlorosis) and white mosaic.
Disease control measures. Concerning viral infections, then it is useless to fight them: you just need to remove and burn the diseased plants. Fifty percent wettable Benlat powder is used against root rot. And against bacterial grouse, peronosporosis, powdery mildew and other fungal diseases, preventive spraying of seedlings with a suspension of Zineb or Polycarbacin is effective. In general, the most reliable protection- This preventative treatment soil and seeds before sowing. For fungal and bacterial diseases, tobacco seeds are treated for 15 minutes with a solution of Formalin: 20 cm³ of forty percent Formalin is dissolved in 1 liter of water. Two liters of this solution are consumed per 1 kg of seeds. The soil is also shed with Formalin solution.
In the photo: Growing smoking tobacco on the site
Pests of smoking tobacco
Among the pests that pose a threat to tobacco are peach aphids, tobacco thrips and wireworms.
Peach aphid, giving up to 18 generations per season, sucks the juice from tobacco leaves and leaves in them its excrement, skins after molting and corpses. In addition, it is a carrier of such dangerous incurable diseases as white moth and cucumber mosaic. Aphids deplete the plant, slow down its development, reduce productivity and worsen the taste of tobacco. The fight against aphids is carried out with the drugs Rogor and Metathion, and in for preventive purposes Regular and thorough weeding of the beds and daily inspection of tobacco leaves are very important.
Tobacco thrips- a pest as small as aphids, producing up to 7 generations over the summer. Thrips bites through tobacco leaves and sucks out the juice from them, as a result of which the quality of raw materials and the yield of tobacco sharply decrease: the affected leaves ferment poorly, dry unevenly and become brittle after drying. In addition, thrips, like aphids, carry viral diseases. Tobacco infected with thrips should be treated with insecticides.
Wireworms, or drupes- These are yellow-brown larvae of click beetles that are hard to the touch. They live in the ground, damage roots, make passages in the stems of young plants and eat away the core. They are very difficult to fight, so you need to try to prevent them from appearing in the soil. If you find wireworms in the area, then two weeks before planting tobacco, treat the soil for digging with twelve percent Hexachloran dust, and the next day in the evening, pollinate the soil with Metaphos dust and fence the area to a depth of 3-4 cm.
Smoking tobacco collection and storage
Smoking tobacco in the countryside is grown on average from 15 to 17 weeks. When the tobacco leaves stop growing, they begin to be harvested. At this time, the leaves reach their greatest density. Ripe tobacco leaves are lighter in color. Cleaning is done in the evenings, starting from the lowest and most large leaves. Then, when the middle leaves ripen, they are removed.
The collected leaves are dried, kept in a dark, well-ventilated room at a temperature of 25-30 ºC. During the drying process, tobacco fermentation occurs. Many people ferment already dried tobacco into electric oven at a temperature of 50 ºC. Don't be afraid of electricity consumption: it is minimal.
In the photo: How tobacco blooms
What is tobacco fermentation and why is it needed? Fermentation is a process of change physical properties due to biological or chemical influences. Natural fermentation of tobacco leaves is achieved by long-term storage. Dominican tobacco, for example, ferments for 5 years when stored in bales or in oak barrels. At artificially fermentation is significantly accelerated. In order to ferment home-grown tobacco, you must proceed in the following order:
- dry tobacco leaves without traces of greenery (if there are green spots on the leaves, they need to be cut out, because areas with chlorophyll do not ferment) are moistened on both sides with a spray bottle, stacked one on top of the other and covered with polyethylene;
- After a day, the midrib is removed from each leaf, checking the degree of moisture of the leaves, on which the quality of fermentation depends: the leaf ready for further processing should not be raw and at the same time should not break at the bend. It should be dry and elastic, like a thin rag. Leaves that are too wet will have to be dried, and dry ones will have to be moistened and kept in piles under plastic for some time;
- Leaves ready for fermentation are cut into strips. A noodle cutter handles this well and quickly. The crushed tobacco is placed in glass jars, filling them no more than 2/3, so that you can then mix the tobacco by shaking. The jars are closed with twist lids, placed in the oven and the temperature is set to 50 ºC. The fermentation process lasts from 5 to 7 days. Remember to shake the tobacco in the jars from time to time so that it cures evenly. There should be no condensation on the walls of the jars, and if it does appear, the tobacco must be poured out and dried, after which the fermentation process is resumed. On the second or third day of the process, the tobacco begins to emit a honey or fruit aroma, and this sure sign that fermentation is successful;
- The finished tobacco is poured onto a flat surface, slightly dried, and then placed for storage in any hermetically sealed container.
Varieties of smoking tobacco
There are a great many varieties of tobacco, and the work of breeders to develop new varieties continues. Most in demand in household The following varieties are:
- Gold Virginia– tobacco with a fruity aroma and a delicate sweetish taste. This variety is the basis for many smoking mixtures;
- Kentucky Barley– a variety with a pleasant nutty aroma, does not contain sugar, and therefore does not require fermentation. That is, its dried leaves are steamed and immediately cut for smoking;
- Maryland– light, light air-cured tobacco with a wonderful aroma and taste, known since 1828. This is a high-yielding variety of early ripening;
- Walker's Broadleaf- one of the most early varieties, which can be grown even in northern regions;
- American– early maturing, semi-aromatic, disease-resistant tobacco, used both for cigarettes and cigars, and as pipe tobacco;
- Dukat Crimean– easily fermented aromatic tobacco with leaves up to half a meter long;
- Turkish Trebizond– aromatic variety for cigarettes and pipes, easily fermented and resistant to unfavorable conditions. The variety was named after the city of Trabzon;
- Herzegovina Flor– tobacco with a unique taste and aroma comes from former Yugoslavia. This variety is popularly called Stalin's tobacco;
- Virginia 202– early-ripening, strong and aromatic tobacco, resistant to many diseases and requiring virtually no watering when growing. The variety is reliable and unpretentious;
- Barley Original– strong tobacco, which is the basis for most smoking mixtures;
- Oriental Samsun– aromatic tobacco with low nicotine content. It is most fragrant when grown on dry soils. With watering, it loses its taste and aroma, but its yield increases;
- Soviet large-leaved– this disease-resistant variety is distinguished by the productivity and high smoking qualities of oriental tobaccos;
- Silk Leaf– a universal large-leaf aromatic variety used both for cigarette and pipe mixtures, and for the production of cigars;
- Dubek – Turkish variety, which is considered the best aromatic tobacco in the world. This is a tobacco for true connoisseurs;
- Perique is an aromatic oriental tobacco known to smokers all over the world. After drying, the leaves of this variety are fermented in barrels, like cabbage, so that they acquire their unforgettable pungency and aroma.
Today, most of the world's population cannot imagine their lives without smoking. This bad habit confidently binds you more and more more people. Some prefer cigarettes, others would not trade their pipe for anything. A person who smokes a pipe enjoys not only the process of smoking itself, but also caring for his pipe. For such tobacco gourmets, preparing for smoking turns into a whole ritual. They slowly fill it with tobacco and carefully clean and polish it after smoking.
Many smokers grow their own. This interesting activity becomes a real hobby for them. Gardeners often grow tobacco along with other plants that benefit humans, heal and delight the eye.
Tobacco varieties
Due to the fact that growing tobacco has become quite a popular activity, breeders have taken care of a variety of tobacco varieties. The exclusive seeds of this plant allow you to grow tobacco that is difficult to distinguish from real Cuban varieties.
If you do not have a garden plot, but have a great desire to grow smoking tobacco, then this can be done even at home on the windowsill. You can sow cigar tobacco or shag. There are a huge number of varieties of tobacco.
- For those who decide to grow pipe tobacco, the Orinoco variety is perfect. It is a classic smoking tobacco with the taste of prunes and aromatic vanilla. Its cultivation does not require special knowledge or care.
- Another favorite among smokers is Kentucky. It is ideal for cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes and burns well in a pipe. Its taste walnut and chocolate will give real pleasure to tobacco connoisseurs. Kentucky surpasses all other varieties in terms of nicotine content. This tobacco does not require fermentation, is easy to use, and is dried, steamed and cut for smoking.
- The American variety is easy to grow. It is designed for pipes and cigars. Despite the high cost of its seeds, there are many fans of this variety. This classic smoking tobacco is practically disease-free and requires minimal watering. Due to its spicy taste, it is often used as part of smoking mixtures, which allows you to get a magical aroma.
- Unique is the Perique variety, aged in oak barrels.
IN wildlife More than 60 species of this plant grow, but as cultivated plant Only two types are grown in Russia: Verginsky tobacco and Makhorka. The first type loves warmth; growing it is problematic and expensive. Therefore, Makhorka has become a real favorite of gardeners. It is otherwise called Village Tobacco precisely because it is easy to grow on your own plot.
Planting and growing smoking tobacco
Growing tobacco on garden plot, gardeners often face a lot of problems. Seeds are sown for seedlings in winter; only after three and a half months do the first shoots appear. Every day, smoking tobacco plants need weeding, loosening, fertilizing and tying up the stems. The difficulty of caring for tobacco is that it reaches a height of 3 meters. Shag is much easier to grow.
Tobacco seeds are sown for seedlings in flower pots or wooden boxes with nutritious soil, which are installed in a greenhouse or on a sunny windowsill. It is better to soak the seeds first so that they hatch a little. Soak them for a day in a warm clean water. You can add some potassium nitrate crystals or a couple of drops of tartaric acid to the water. This way you can increase the yield of tobacco.
After a day, the seeds are washed and left in a warm place for 4 days for germination. The sprouted seeds are dried and mixed with fine sand or humus and into boxes. When planting seeds in the ground, it is important to monitor the planting depth. Shag should not be deeper than 0.5 cm, and tobacco should not be deeper than 0.8 cm. Before and after sowing, water the soil through a thick sieve.
The seedlings are periodically fed mineral fertilizers or chicken droppings. When it reaches 15 cm in height, you can begin planting it in open ground. A week before planting, seedlings need to be accustomed to open air and less watering.
Care and protection from diseases
So, in the second half of spring, tobacco is planted in open ground. Now it is important to take proper care of it. Like other plants, smoking tobacco needs regular loosening of the soil, removal of weeds, timely watering, etc.
During the growing season, tobacco is watered at the rate of 6-8 liters of water per plant. Two or three waterings per summer are enough. Plants that bloom must have their tops and side shoots broken off.
Various solutions are used to combat diseases. If aphids appear on your plants, treat them with Actelik at the rate of 30 grams of the product per 10 liters of water or with Rogor at the rate of 20 grams per 10 liters. A 0.3 percent solution of polycarbacin or a 0.4 percent suspension of zineb will do an excellent job of treating peronosporosis.
Growing smoking tobacco is a very difficult task, but the result is worth it. After all, tobacco grown with my own hands, has an indescribable special aroma that is not at all similar to cigarettes from the store.