Grow your own

[bluenoser]

Wondering if any of you have tried growing your own tobaccos. I'm thinking about taking a small section of the garden we're planning this spring and giving it a try. Not sure yet on what or how much to grow but seem to be taking a liking to burley tobaccos so thinking maybe I'd give a couple plants a try.

[OnePyroTec]

Blake, thanks for starting the topic. I have a LOT of Virginia and Perique/Burley seeds from my last years crop I can send you to plant. As well as a few Monte Calme Yellow, Adonis, and Conn.Shade seeds I got from George. Send a PM if you are interested.

Growing is pretty simple. Curing is the hard part for me, I don't have room for it. You will need to start growing about 8 weeks indoors before you plant outside. If you want more seeds for the future, let the flowers stay on the plants all summer. At the end of summer harvest the dried or almost dried pods. Some will say to not let the plants flower in order to have a better crop....I like the flowers and let them grow.

[Nature]

Pictures! We want pictures.

[bluenoser]

Thanks Wayne I really appreciate it. I'll definitely do a thread up and continue it as I go through the process for anyone else that wants to follow.

[Haebar]

I have some rustica seeds if you want them.

[OnePyroTec]

Pictures! We want pictures.
I started pictures of last year's crop but had to work out of state for so long I didn't keep up. I'll give it a whirl with the photo log again this year.

[bluenoser]

Blake, thanks for starting the topic. I have a LOT of Virginia and Perique/Burley seeds from my last years crop I can send you to plant. As well as a few Monte Calme Yellow, Adonis, and Conn.Shade seeds I got from George. Send a PM if you are interested.

Growing is pretty simple. Curing is the hard part for me, I don't have room for it. You will need to start growing about 8 weeks indoors before you plant outside. If you want more seeds for the future, let the flowers stay on the plants all summer. At the end of summer harvest the dried or almost dried pods. Some will say to not let the plants flower in order to have a better crop....I like the flowers and let them grow.

I think my semi enclosed deck will work great for curing, as it faces the north and gets little to no direct sunlight, but gets a good air flow through,
How do you go about fermenting?

[Lynn]

I think my semi enclosed deck will work great for curing, as it faces the north and gets little to no direct sunlight, but gets a good air flow through,
How do you go about fermenting?


put it to your lips tip head back

[OnePyroTec]

I think my semi enclosed deck will work great for curing, as it faces the north and gets little to no direct sunlight, but gets a good air flow through,
How do you go about fermenting?
YouTube is your friend on this one.

I may or may not try to ferment some leaves this year. I want to try and press the Perique leaves just to see what happens.

[Lynn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS-XjazimcI

bluenoser project, with smokin time included

[Bruck]

Not to drive traffic to other sites, but there are a couple good forums I know of for growing:

How to Grow Tobacco (http://www.howtogrowtobacco.com/forum/)

Fair Trade Tobacco - How to grow, cure and process tobacco. (http://fairtradetobacco.com/)

[bluenoser]

The seeds arrived today OnePyroTec. Thanks again Wayne, I look forward to giving this a go.

[jhedrick83]

The seeds arrived today OnePyroTec. Thanks again Wayne, I look forward to giving this a go.

I expect updates with photos!

[Haebar]

The seeds arrived today OnePyroTec. Thanks again Wayne, I look forward to giving this a go.

Did you get mine yet?

[OnePyroTec]

I expect updates with photos!

Jesse, do you want to grow some for comparison reasons? :poke:

[jhedrick83]

Jesse, do you want to grow some for comparison reasons? :poke:

Sadly, I barely have time to take care of day to day life! I'm pumped to be off at 2:30 today and get to my first cigar in 3 weeks.

[bluenoser]

Did you get mine yet?

Not yet. Probably be here soon

[bluenoser]

I expect updates with photos!

I'm planning on chronicling the whole thing on here with pics, probably starting around the end of next month. Our usual last frost comes in may so I figure on about 2 months to get them germinated and ready to transplant outside.

[bluenoser]

Haebar the seed showed up today, thanks again. Looking forward to getting things going

[bluenoser]

Well today's the first day I've had off in about a month. Between work and trying to keep up with school I've neglected the gardening so this morning before the rain stsrts I'm heading out to harvest the tobacco. I'm assuming it's fine, but are the leaves near the bottom I was too late to harvest when yellow still fine to harvest now that they've turned brown?

[Emperor Zurg]

Well today's the first day I've had off in about a month. Between work and trying to keep up with school I've neglected the gardening so this morning before the rain stsrts I'm heading out to harvest the tobacco. I'm assuming it's fine, but are the leaves near the bottom I was too late to harvest when yellow still fine to harvest now that they've turned brown?

I'm no expert but I would guess they're no good. The way I understand it, the idea is to pick them off the plant while still yellow because sugar content is at the max. Then you kill the leaf by heating it somehow in order to preserve the sugar before the leaf can consume it. That's the case with Va anyway. Maybe if it's burley you'd be ok... AFAIK, burleys are usually just air cured anyway. Possible it can air cure on the stalk just as well as hanging in a barn. Only one way to find out.
:pipe:

[bluenoser]

Well the weeds stunted the growth a fair bit. All plants stayed under 3 feet so the leaves are a bit smaller than I hoped but harvest done. 2 in the chair are Adonis on the left, Virginia on the right and the table is Perique on left and Monte Calm Yellow on the right.

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww347/Gsxblaze/Mobile%20Uploads/20160908_200922.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/Gsxblaze/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160908_200922.jpg.html)

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww347/Gsxblaze/Mobile%20Uploads/20160908_200929.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/Gsxblaze/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160908_200929.jpg.html)

[Chad Vegas]

How long did it take for them to be ready to harvest?

[bluenoser]

I started them from seed about 5 months ago, in the garden for about 3 1/2. I probably could have started harvesting the odd leaves about a month or so ago but between school and unexpected work issues having me working 7 days a week I was neglecting the garden for the last month or so.

[BryGuySC]

Nice first effort!
Perhaps one day I'll be able to try growing my own.

[bluenoser]

Might not get me anything worth smoking but looking forward to loading one of my home made pipes with some homegrown tobacco.

[bluenoser]

Couple update photos. Have them all hung and ready for color curing. Hoping the root cellar will make an adequate spot, warm but not too warm, and slightly more humid than the rest of this dry old house.

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww347/Gsxblaze/Mobile%20Uploads/20160913_162751.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/Gsxblaze/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160913_162751.jpg.html)

http://i734.photobucket.com/albums/ww347/Gsxblaze/Mobile%20Uploads/20160913_162759.jpg (http://s734.photobucket.com/user/Gsxblaze/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20160913_162759.jpg.html)