Before you start sowing tobacco seeds for seedlings, you need to purchase soil and containers. I use food containers as a container, and I buy soil. Remember to make holes in the bottom of the containers. There is one more important point, the purchased soil can throw out an unpleasant surprise in the form of mold or an excess of mineral fertilizers, and mold at the initial stage is detrimental to tobacco seedlings, since its seeds are very small. From an excess of fertilizer, the seeds will sprout, but will stop growing. Therefore, to prevent this from happening, I recommend doing a test sowing a month and a half before the main one. At the same time, you will gain the first experience in germinating and accustoming seedlings to the open air.
We fill up the earth in the container, gradually ramming it, to the edge we should have a little less than a centimeter of free space. Pour with settled water so that it seeps out to the middle. I spill it not just with water, but with an infusion of onion peel. I pour a handful of husks into a liter jar and pour boiling water, then into the microwave for a couple of minutes. Then I let it cool to room temperature and use it. Onion hulls contain many macro and micro elements.
We start sowing
Sowing tobacco seeds is best done as follows: first, pour a pinch of seeds onto a sheet of white paper, then press lightly on the seeds with the pad of your finger and shake off those that stick evenly over the surface of the soil.
ATTENTION you do not need to sprinkle the seeds with anything, they should lie on the surface.
Then cover with a lid, we get a mini greenhouse. Don't sow too many seeds in a small area. Do not forget to sign each variety if you have several.
Well, we sowed the seeds. We remove the containers with seeds in a warm place of 26-30 degrees. By the end of the second day, the seeds hatch, provided that the quality of these seeds is good. During these two days we perform four airings as much as possible, for five minutes. On the third day, we move the lid of our mini greenhouse by half a centimeter for air circulation and every day we increase this gap. On the seventh eighth day, we remove the lid completely. These manipulations are needed in order for our seedlings to smoothly get used to the drier indoor air. If you open it right away, on the third or fourth day, the seedlings can simply collapse and dry out (cases in apartments with central heating), since the air humidity during the heating season is very low.
We do not water the seedlings for the first 7-10 days after sowing, the ground will be wet anyway. Next, we look at the state and water it through the pallet, i.e. into the bottom lid, which contains the container. Two weeks after sowing, we feed the seedlings with infusion of onion husks, before diluting it in half with water.
seedling container
a week has passed since sowing
2 weeks from sowing
Timing of sowing tobacco seeds
And the main thing is the timing of sowing tobacco seeds. They are different for each region, so you need to focus on the age of the seedlings, it should be 45-50 days from sowing to planting in the ground. Consider your sowing time from this period. Take your time with sowing. As practice shows, seeds that are sown on time in favorable conditions (longer daylight hours, more sun) catch up and overtake early crops. We sowed seeds, in the next article we will talk about for our seedlings of tobacco.
Importantly, mold on tobacco seedlings!
If you still have mold on the seedlings, or rather on the surface of the soil, you need to immediately break it with a match or a toothpick and treat it with potassium permanganate from a spray bottle or syringe. The color of potassium permanganate should be the color of rich borscht. Stop watering so that the top layer of the soil dries up.
One of the causes of mold is waterlogging and poor ventilation of your mini greenhouse in the first 5-12 days after sowing the seeds.
Mold can kill up to 90% of your crop or even your entire strain. So be careful and do not flood the seedlings, ventilate more often.
Unfortunately, there is a huge percentage of people who smoke in Russia. People cannot give up their bad addiction in any way, which harms not only the person who smokes, but also his environment. According to VTsIOM, about 1/3 of all Russians smoke. 75% of men and 21% of women smoke regularly. These are terrifying statistics. The worst thing is that the percentage of women who smoke has increased in recent years.
We urge you to quit smoking. This is a habit that is killing you from the inside out.
This article is dedicated to people who smoke who cannot quit smoking in any way. Who have already tried to quit repeatedly and have tried all the methods. There is a great solution for you - growing tobacco at home. This business is extremely exciting and interesting. Subject to all the rules of cultivation, the finished product is of very high quality. This is not comparable to what we buy in stores under the guise of tobacco and cigarettes.
Tobacco companies openly poison smokers by adding toxic chemicals to cigarettes to reduce the final cost of the product. At the same time, the price of tobacco products in stores is increasing every month.
For reference . The cost of 1 pack of cigarettes is from 1 to 5 rubles per pack.
From all this, we can conclude. Tobacco companies poison smokers for a lot of money, making just fabulous capital!
A bit of math. In 2016, the average price for a pack of cigarettes is 75-80 rubles. The average smoker smokes 10-20 cigarettes a day (0.5-1 packs). 80 * 365 = 29,200 rubles. That is, the average smoker spends on cigarettes per year 15-35 thousand rubles ... But this money can be spent with considerable benefit.
The benefits of growing tobacco at home.
Growing and processing tobacco in the garden does not incur any costs (other than the initial cost of purchasing seeds). After you have received the first harvest, you no longer need to buy cigarettes in the store every day, spending a lot of money on it. You yourself will have a very huge amount of tobacco, which is not only enough for yourself, but you can also treat your friends.
But the most important thing is that the product will be natural, which means it will not be so harmful.
Growing tobacco is a hobby during which a person rests. There is something sacred in this. You will feel like a Cuban tobacco baron. In this article we will tell you everything about growing tobacco, you will learn the whole process - from A to Z. Everything will be accompanied by visual videos, it will be very easy to figure it out.
How to start growing tobacco in the garden?
How to start growing tobacco in your garden? This question is asked by many novice tobacco growers. Let's try to figure it out. It is necessary to decide on the variety, prepare containers for planting seedlings, prepare the soil for planting seedlings.
The choice of the variety.
First of all, you need to decide which variety or varieties to grow in your garden. There are a huge number of different varieties. For beginner tobacco growers, universal varieties, such as Virginia 202 or Herzegovina Flora, are best suited.
Virginia 202.
Photo: Tobacco Herzegovina Flor. Herzegovina Flora tobacco is Stalin's favorite tobacco. Iosif Vissarionovich himself spoke about this while smoking his pipe. Herzegovina flora is a very common variety. Possesses very good taste and aroma qualities. The leaves are of moderate strength. Perfect for beginners.
Planting tobacco seeds for seedlings.
The homeland of tobacco is South America. The plant is thermophilic and ripens quite late. Therefore, on the territory of Russia, tobacco should be planted first on seedlings. The timing of planting seedlings is early spring. Seedlings can be planted throughout March.
Seeds should be planted in small containers. Disposable cups are very suitable for these purposes. A hole is made in the cups from the bottom to create drainage. Place a small layer of small pebbles or eggshells on the bottom.
After preparing the container, it is necessary to prepare the soil. Tobacco grows well only on fertile soil. It is advisable to buy a special universal soil for seedlings in the store. With this soil, you need to mix the usual disinfected soil from the garden in a ratio of 1 to 1. A little wood ash should be added to the resulting mixture. The earth must be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Will go directly to planting agricultural technology. There are several points here. Tobacco seeds are very small and inconvenient to work with. You need to be very careful. Before sowing, water the soil well with warm water in a glass. Then gently pour the seeds evenly out of the bag into the container. Sprinkle with earth on top with a layer of no more than 1 millimeter.
Cover the container tightly with polyethylene and place in a warm place. The tobacco grows within 3-5 days. As soon as the first bores begin to appear, the film must be removed and placed in a bright place, for example, on a windowsill.
Tobacco seedling care.
Let's talk about caring for tobacco seedlings at home.
Leaving before the pick.
Before picking, caring for tobacco seedlings is extremely simple. Immediately after the first shoots appear, you need to remove the film and put the container with seedlings on a light windowsill, preferably on the south side. If this is not done, then the seedlings will be very stretched and will grow very poorly.
You constantly need to monitor the moisture content of the soil, as soon as it is dry, it should be watered with settled water at room temperature. It is highly discouraged to water the plants with cold water.
Periodically, containers with seedlings need to be turned to the sun with the other side. This will ensure uniform growth and prevent stretching.
Picking tobacco into separate cups.
Tobacco pick Tobacco pick is the process of planting seedlings at a normal distance from each other.
Growing tobacco without picking is simply impossible. The seeds are very small and the seedlings are very frequent. Tobacco grows quickly enough and the seedlings begin to interfere with each other's growth. As a result, the seedlings are very weak and elongated.
Leaving after a pick.
It is necessary to dive tobacco seedlings when 2-3 true leaves appear. By this time, the plants will grow tightly in one container. Plants dive into disposable cups, 1-2 pieces in one cup.
Photo After picking, it is advisable to water the tobacco every day until it takes over in a new place.
Photo Two weeks after the pick, the tobacco seedlings should be fed. You can use both organic and mineral fertilizers. The most important thing is that they contain a lot of nitrogen. Liquid chicken manure is great. Use it in proportions of 1:10 with water. If the growth of the seedlings does not satisfy you, then you can make another feeding with chicken droppings a week after the first. If there is a risk that the seedlings will outgrow, then the second feeding is not necessary.
Photo: Growing tobacco for smoking Before planting in open ground, the seedlings should be hardened a little. At first, just open the window in the room with seedlings more often, and take it out to the balcony or veranda a week before disembarkation. Do not water for a week.
Growing mode of tobacco seedlings
Tobacco is a rather thermophilic crop, therefore, when growing, you should adhere to a certain temperature. The ideal temperature is 18-24 degrees. It should be adhered to.
Planting tobacco in open ground.
Photo: Growing tobacco from seeds in the garden for smoking An important procedure is the planting of tobacco in the open ground.
Seedlings of tobacco are grown on windowsills until the threat of frost is completely over. Then it must be planted in a permanent place. Seedlings of tobacco are planted either under a film, or directly into open ground. When planting, it is very important to comply with all agricultural measures so that the plants begin and immediately begin active growth.
The first step is to decide on the location. It is best to make the bed on a slight slope to avoid excess water accumulation. Also, the place should be protected from strong winds.
If you have a small plot and it is not possible to allocate a whole garden bed for tobacco, then you can plant the plants right along the fence in one row. You will get a kind of living fence that will look very beautiful.
It is not at all necessary for tobacco to plow the soil. The site will only need to be well cleared of weeds and loosened a little with a Fokin flat cutter.
Previously, the site for tobacco needs to be fed. Rotted compost is best suited for these purposes. 0.5-1 bucket of compost is added to 1 square meter of area.
After selecting and preparing the site, you can proceed directly to planting in open ground. The tobacco is planted at a distance of 20-50 centimeters from each other, depending on the variety. You need to dig holes in the garden. They should be quite deep - 20-30 centimeters. Pour a little rotted compost at the bottom and pour it very abundantly with warm water (at least 0.5 buckets of water per hole).
Watering tobacco in the open field.
Watering after planting in open ground. Immediately after planting the seedlings in the open ground, tobacco is abundantly watered with warm water. Then watered about 1 time per week.
Watering, a month after planting. Plants that are most demanding on moisture become one month after planting in open ground. It is after this time that a very active formation of organic plant tissues begins. During this period, tobacco should be watered every 3-4 days at the rate of 10 liters per 1 square meter of land.
Watering 2 months after planting. From this time on, watering should be minimized. Moisture becomes less important, and the weather outside becomes more humid, especially at night. Watering should be done only if the soil is noticeably dry.
These tips are not universal, they are only general guidelines. You should always be guided by the weather conditions and the climate of your area.
Top dressing of tobacco in the open field.
Fertilizing tobacco after planting in open ground should be done with nitrogen-containing fertilizers. Plants need a large amount of nitrogen immediately after planting to start growing a large amount of green mass, and this directly depends on the yield. It is very important not to skip this growth phase and feed them on time.
Tobacco is fed 7-10 days later. Any complex fertilizer with a priority nitrogen content can be used as a fertilizer. Perfect for these purposes. For feeding, 1 tablespoon of fertilizer is stirred in 10 liters of water and watered at the root.
Tobacco picking and punching.
Photo: Shaping tobacco in the garden Stepsons grow between the leaves. As a rule, a stepson grows between each leaf. They should be removed when they grow by about 1.5-2 centimeters. If you perform this procedure earlier, then there is a high probability that they will grow again. Doing double work is unnecessary, especially if you have planted a lot of plants.
The most convenient way to remove stepchildren is with scissors.
Tobacco usually begins to let stepchildren start from the moment of flowering. You need to watch and not miss the moment.
Tobacco shaping is the removal of flowers at the bud stage. This procedure is also done in order to get a larger list of goods. The tobacco leaves become much stronger due to edging, and the nicotine content in them increases.
Peduncles should be removed at an early stage of budding.
Harvesting tobacco.
Photo: Ripe tobacco leaves It is very easy to determine the ripeness of a tobacco leaf. The central vein turns white. The edges of the leaf turn slightly yellow, and the middle takes on a dull green color. It is very important not to miss this period and rip off the leaf, otherwise it will overripe, its quality will greatly deteriorate.
The tobacco is harvested from the bottom up as the leaves ripen.
Growing tobacco in the garden for smoking is a very entertaining and exciting business. Once you've harvested and tasted it, you no longer want to buy poison in the store.
Video.
Video: Growing tobacco from A to Z. A very visual video about growing tobacco at home from seeds:
This is a whole film dedicated to the cultivation of tobacco.
Another video:
Unfortunately, there is a huge percentage of people who smoke in Russia. People cannot give up their bad addiction in any way, which harms not only the person who smokes, but also his environment. According to VTsIOM, about 1/3 of all Russians smoke. 75% of men and 21% of women smoke regularly. These are terrifying statistics. The worst thing is that the percentage of women who smoke has increased in recent years.
We urge you to quit smoking. This is a habit that is killing you from the inside out.
This article is dedicated to people who smoke who cannot quit smoking in any way. Who have already tried to quit many times and have tried all the methods. There is a great solution for you - growing tobacco at home. This business is extremely exciting and interesting. Subject to all the rules of cultivation, the finished product is of very high quality. This is not comparable to what we buy in stores under the guise of tobacco and cigarettes.
Tobacco companies openly poison smokers by adding toxic chemicals to cigarettes to reduce the final cost of the product. At the same time, the price of tobacco products in stores is increasing every month.
For reference. The cost of 1 pack of cigarettes is from 1 to 5 rubles per pack.
From all this, we can conclude. Tobacco companies poison smokers for a lot of money, making just fabulous capital!
A bit of math. In 2016, the average price for a pack of cigarettes is 75-80 rubles. The average smoker smokes 10-20 cigarettes a day (0.5-1 packs). 80 * 365 = 29,200 rubles. That is, the average smoker spends on cigarettes per year 15-35 thousand rubles... But this money can be spent with considerable benefit.
The benefits of growing tobacco at home.
Growing and processing tobacco in the garden does not incur any costs (other than the initial cost of purchasing seeds). After you have received the first harvest, you no longer need to buy cigarettes in the store every day, spending a lot of money on it. You yourself will have a very huge amount of tobacco, which is not only enough for yourself, but you can also treat your friends.
But the most important thing is that the product will be natural, which means it will not be so harmful.
Growing tobacco is a hobby during which a person rests. There is something sacred in this. You will feel like a Cuban tobacco baron. In this article we will tell you everything about growing tobacco, you will learn the whole process - from A to Z. Everything will be accompanied by visual videos, it will be very easy to figure it out.
How to start growing tobacco in the garden?
How to start growing tobacco in your garden? This question is asked by many novice tobacco growers. Let's try to figure it out. It is necessary to decide on the variety, prepare containers for planting seedlings, prepare the soil for planting seedlings.
The choice of the variety.
First of all, you need to decide which variety or varieties to grow in your garden. There are a huge number of different varieties. For beginner tobacco growers, universal varieties, such as Virginia 202 or Herzegovina Flora, are best suited.
Virginia 202.
Tobacco Variety: Virginia 202
Description... Virginia 202 is a very common tobacco variety that grows well in Russia in various climatic zones. The advantage of this variety is the low content of various harmful resins. At the same time, it has a very pleasant sweetish taste. Virginia 202 tobacco is one of the most widespread varieties in the world and is cultivated everywhere. It was bred in Russia, in the Krasnodar Territory. Read more: Virginia Tobacco 202.
Tobacco Herzegovina Flora.
Photo: Tobacco Herzegovina Flor.
Herzegovina Flora tobacco is Stalin's favorite tobacco. Iosif Vissarionovich himself spoke about this while smoking his pipe. Herzegovina flora is a very common variety. Possesses very good taste and aroma qualities. The leaves are of moderate strength. Perfect for beginners.
Planting tobacco seeds for seedlings.
The homeland of tobacco is South America. The plant is thermophilic and ripens quite late. Therefore, on the territory of Russia, tobacco should be planted first on seedlings. The timing of planting seedlings is early spring. Seedlings can be planted throughout March.
Seeds should be planted in small containers. Disposable cups are very suitable for these purposes. A hole is made in the cups from the bottom to create drainage. Place a small layer of small pebbles or eggshells on the bottom.
After preparing the container, it is necessary to prepare the soil. Tobacco grows well only on fertile soil. It is advisable to buy a special universal soil for seedlings in the store. With this soil, you need to mix the usual disinfected soil from the garden in a ratio of 1 to 1. A little wood ash should be added to the resulting mixture. The earth must be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Will go directly to planting agricultural technology. There are several points here. Tobacco seeds are very small and inconvenient to work with. You need to be very careful. Before sowing, water the soil well with warm water in a glass. Then gently pour the seeds evenly out of the bag into the container. Sprinkle with earth on top with a layer of no more than 1 millimeter.
Cover the container tightly with polyethylene and place in a warm place. The tobacco grows within 3-5 days. As soon as the first bores begin to appear, the film must be removed and placed in a bright place, for example, on a windowsill.
Tobacco seedling care.
Let's talk about caring for tobacco seedlings at home.
Leaving before the pick.
Before picking, caring for tobacco seedlings is extremely simple. Immediately after the first shoots appear, you need to remove the film and put the container with seedlings on a light windowsill, preferably on the south side. If this is not done, then the seedlings will be very stretched and will grow very poorly.
You constantly need to monitor the moisture content of the soil, as soon as it is dry, it should be watered with settled water at room temperature. It is highly discouraged to water the plants with cold water.
Periodically, containers with seedlings need to be turned to the sun with the other side. This will ensure uniform growth and prevent stretching.
Picking tobacco into separate cups.
Tobacco pick
Tobacco pick is the process of planting seedlings at a normal distance from each other.
Growing tobacco without picking is simply impossible. The seeds are very small and the seedlings are very frequent. Tobacco grows quickly enough and the seedlings begin to interfere with each other's growth. As a result, the seedlings are very weak and elongated.
It is best to dive the tobacco into separate containers. For these purposes, it is best to use plastic disposable cups. For tobacco seedlings, they are spacious; in separate containers, the plants will grow better. It will then be convenient to plant seedlings from plastic cups in open ground. Read more in the article: Tobacco picking.
Leaving after a pick.
It is necessary to dive tobacco seedlings when 2-3 true leaves appear. By this time, the plants will grow tightly in one container. Plants dive into disposable cups, 1-2 pieces in one cup.
Photo
After picking, it is advisable to water the tobacco every day until it takes over in a new place.
Photo
Two weeks after the pick, the tobacco seedlings should be fed. You can use both organic and mineral fertilizers. The most important thing is that they contain a lot of nitrogen. Liquid chicken manure is great. Use it in proportions of 1:10 with water. If the growth of the seedlings does not satisfy you, then you can make another feeding with chicken droppings a week after the first. If there is a risk that the seedlings will outgrow, then the second feeding is not necessary.
Photo: Growing tobacco for smoking
Before planting in open ground, the seedlings should be hardened a little. At first, just open the window in the room with seedlings more often, and take it out to the balcony or veranda a week before disembarkation. Do not water for a week.
Growing mode of tobacco seedlings
Tobacco is a rather thermophilic crop, therefore, when growing, you should adhere to a certain temperature. The ideal temperature is 18-24 degrees. It should be adhered to.
Planting tobacco in open ground.
Photo: Growing tobacco from seeds in the garden for smoking
An important procedure is the planting of tobacco in the open ground.
Seedlings of tobacco are grown on windowsills until the threat of frost is completely over. Then it must be planted in a permanent place. Seedlings of tobacco are planted either under a film, or directly into open ground. When planting, it is very important to comply with all agricultural measures so that the plants begin and immediately begin active growth.
The first step is to decide on the location. It is best to make the bed on a slight slope to avoid excess water accumulation. Also, the place should be protected from strong winds.
If you have a small plot and it is not possible to allocate a whole garden bed for tobacco, then you can plant the plants right along the fence in one row. You will get a kind of living fence that will look very beautiful.
It is not at all necessary for tobacco to plow the soil. The site will only need to be well cleared of weeds and loosened a little with a Fokin flat cutter.
Previously, the site for tobacco needs to be fed. Rotted compost is best suited for these purposes. 0.5-1 bucket of compost is added to 1 square meter of area.
After selecting and preparing the site, you can proceed directly to planting in open ground. The tobacco is planted at a distance of 20-50 centimeters from each other, depending on the variety. You need to dig holes in the garden. They should be quite deep - 20-30 centimeters. Pour a little rotted compost at the bottom and pour it very abundantly with warm water (at least 0.5 buckets of water per hole).
Now we very carefully remove the plants from the containers, put them in the hole and cover them with earth. It is better to plant tobacco a little deeper than it grew in a glass. It is advisable to mulch the land around the plant (although this is not necessary). It remains only to pour the planted tobacco with warm water. Read more in the article: Planting tobacco in open ground.
Watering tobacco in the open field.
Watering after planting in open ground. Immediately after planting the seedlings in the open ground, tobacco is abundantly watered with warm water. Then watered about 1 time per week.
Watering, a month after planting. Plants that are most demanding on moisture become one month after planting in open ground. It is after this time that a very active formation of organic plant tissues begins. During this period, tobacco should be watered every 3-4 days at the rate of 10 liters per 1 square meter of land.
Watering 2 months after planting. From this time on, watering should be minimized. Moisture becomes less important, and the weather outside becomes more humid, especially at night. Watering should be done only if the soil is noticeably dry.
These tips are not universal, they are only general guidelines. You should always be guided by the weather conditions and the climate of your area.
Read more: Watering tobacco in the open field.
Top dressing of tobacco in the open field.
Fertilizing tobacco after planting in open ground should be done with nitrogen-containing fertilizers. Plants need a large amount of nitrogen immediately after planting to start growing a large amount of green mass, and this directly depends on the yield. It is very important not to skip this growth phase and feed them on time.
Tobacco is fed 7-10 days after planting in open ground. Any complex fertilizer with a priority nitrogen content can be used as a fertilizer. Urea is excellent for these purposes. For feeding, 1 tablespoon of fertilizer is stirred in 10 liters of water and watered at the root.
Read more in the article: Top dressing of tobacco in the open field.
Tobacco picking and punching.
Photo: Shaping tobacco in the garden
Stepsons grow between the leaves. As a rule, a stepson grows between each leaf. They should be removed when they grow by about 1.5-2 centimeters. If you perform this procedure earlier, then there is a high probability that they will grow again. Doing double work is unnecessary, especially if you have planted a lot of plants.
The most convenient way to remove stepchildren is with scissors.
Tobacco usually begins to let stepchildren start from the moment of flowering. You need to watch and not miss the moment.
Tobacco shaping is the removal of flowers at the bud stage. This procedure is also done in order to get a larger list of goods. The tobacco leaves become much stronger due to edging, and the nicotine content in them increases.
Peduncles should be removed at an early stage of budding.
Read more: Grassroots and tobacco growing.
Harvesting tobacco.
Photo: Ripe tobacco leaves
It is very easy to determine the ripeness of a tobacco leaf. The central vein turns white. The edges of the leaf turn slightly yellow, and the middle takes on a dull green color. It is very important not to miss this period and rip off the leaf, otherwise it will overripe, its quality will greatly deteriorate.
The tobacco is harvested from the bottom up as the leaves ripen.
Read more: Harvesting tobacco.
Growing tobacco in the garden for smoking is a very entertaining and exciting business. Once you've harvested and tasted it, you no longer want to buy poison in the store.
Video: Growing tobacco from A to Z. A very visual video about growing tobacco at home from seeds:
This is a whole film dedicated to the cultivation of tobacco.
Another video:
The topic is immense, read also:
Growing tobacco or makhorka is not difficult at all. We are often asked about this process, and, combining personal experience with the advice of experienced ones, including our readers, we decided to publish this material. I must say that the process of growing tobacco is not much different from growing, for example, tomatoes. But still, growing tobacco, you need to know certain features of this plant. This is what our publication is about.
The tobacco is blooming. © Dinesh Valke
- Should you grow tobacco?
- Tobacco pests and diseases
- Tobacco drying and fermentation
General information about the tobacco plant
Tobacco (Nicotiana) is a genus of perennial and annual plants of the Solanaceae family. Grown to obtain raw materials used in tobacco products. In culture, the following types are most often found:
- Ordinary tobacco, or Virginia Tobacco, or Real Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). The plant is up to 3 m high with pink flowers, a tubular corolla with sharp lobes, leaves are oblong-lanceolate, sessile. Real tobacco is quite thermophilic, therefore it is especially productively grown in hot regions. In our country, ordinary tobacco is grown south of 55 ° north latitude (this is approximately the latitude of Ryazan, Smolensk, Ulyanovsk, Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Kemerovo). Ordinary tobacco is cultivated in many countries of the world and has many varieties.
- Common shag, or Rustic tobacco (Nicotiana rustica) - a plant much lower than ordinary tobacco (up to 120 cm high), yellowish flowers, corolla with a short tube and rounded blades, ovoid leaves, narrow, obtuse at the end. The leaves of this more unpretentious plant contain half as much nicotine.
In the 19th century in Russia, makhorka was cultivated on an industrial scale everywhere (even in the Urals and Siberia). Even now, some villagers traditionally grow this plant from their own seeds.
Bolivia and Peru are considered the homeland of tobacco; it was brought to Europe by the expeditions of Christopher Columbus. Traditional areas of cultural cultivation - North America, China, India, Asia Minor. On the territory of the former USSR, ordinary tobacco is cultivated in the Transcaucasia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine, Crimea and Krasnodar Territory. Tobacco is a thermophilic plant, the optimal summer temperature for it is about 30 ° C. Moist, light, free-flowing sandy soils are suitable for it. Tobacco is propagated by seeds, growing seedlings from them, which are then planted in the ground.
All parts of the plant contain nicotine (nicotine leaves most of all - 0.75-2.88%). Nicotine is a potent neurotoxin and cardiotoxin that causes short-term euphoria. The use of tobacco in various forms and in various ways (smoking, chewing, sniffing) causes physical and psychological dependence. Nicotine is extremely toxic. Some of the substances in tobacco are carcinogenic. That's why smoking tobacco is dangerous to health.
Should you grow tobacco?
Suppose you are a smoker, and you had the good fortune to live somewhere in the south of Russia or in Ukraine. You have at your disposal several acres of land. Why not try on the role of Philip Morris or at least Jack Vosmerkin, an American?
First, some fun arithmetic. One cigarette contains about a gram of tobacco. And the cheaper the cigarettes, the less it is there. That is, the pack contains about 20 grams. If a person smokes a pack a day, he will need about 6-8 kilograms of tobacco per year.
Tobacco. © Andreas Rockstein
Under favorable conditions, about 30 g of smoking tobacco can be obtained from one plant, and six to seven plants can be placed on 1 square meter. The planting density of large-leaved varieties is 70 × 30 cm, and the planting density of medium-sized tobacco and makhorka is 70 × 20 cm.It turns out that you need to grow 270-300 plants, occupying about 40 sq. m. plot. Moreover, if the tobacco turned out to be too "evil", it can be diluted with the stems.
Therefore, from the point of view of economy and finances, it is definitely profitable for a smoker to grow tobacco.
Features of growing tobacco
Further in the article we will talk about the cultivation of ordinary tobacco. If you decide to grow shag (Nicotiana rustica), then you will not need many of the tips given, shag is much easier to grow and less thermophilic. For the middle lane, it is sown in May in the ground under a film or covering material, and it has time to grow and give a crop.
So, the first thing to attend to is the seeds and their planting. Seeds are now sold on the Internet on many sites, you just need to choose a store convenient for you and a variety of tobacco.
Tobacco varieties
There are many varieties of ordinary tobacco. It is worth saying that for the period from 1990 to 2010. in the All-Russian Research Institute of Tobacco, more than 20 new productive and disease-resistant varieties of tobacco with excellent characteristics have been bred.
As with vegetables, it is better to choose local varieties for your site. Therefore, we list some popular varieties that are zoned for the territories of the former USSR:
- Refectory Kubanets. The growing season from planting seedlings to the last breaking is 103-134 days. Technically suitable leaves on average 27 pcs. Nicotine content 2.6%.
- Refectory 92. The variety is resistant to numerous damaging factors, viral tobacco diseases. It has a short growing season. On average, leaf breaking occurs 98 days after planting.
- Samsun 85. The variety belongs to intensively ripening varieties, mid-season - the number of days from planting to leaf breaking will be approximately 105-110 days. The number of technically ripe leaves from one tobacco bush is about 50 pcs.
- Jubilee new 142. The growing season from planting seedlings to ripening of leaves of average breaking is 78 days, to the last breaking 82 days. The nicotine content in the leaves is 2.0-2.1%. The variety has a complex resistance to tobacco diseases.
- Holly 316. Late-ripening form, intensive type of leaf maturation. Low in nicotine. From planting to maturation of the leaves of the last breaking 120 days.
Planting seeds
We recommend growing just a few bushes for the first year. So you will test your strength and find out all the nuances of the process. Therefore, you need very few seeds to get started. Tobacco seeds are as small as dust. There are about 12 thousand tobacco seeds in one gram, and about 4 thousand pieces of makhorka. To get the annual "norm" of a smoker, you need to sow only a quarter of a gram of tobacco seeds or three-quarters of a gram of tobacco seeds. You don't have to buy seeds anymore. Two or three bushes will give them more than needed for sowing a hectare.
Tobacco seeds remain viable for a long time, so sowing with old seeds is also possible, although it must be borne in mind that their germination decreases over time.
Tobacco can be planted on the seedlings on the windowsills, with or without a pick. The required age of seedlings is 40-45 days. But this technique is good only for small (up to a quarter of a hundred) volumes. However, for the first experiment we don't need more. When growing tobacco in large volumes, it is either immediately planted in the ground (in warm climates), or greenhouses and nurseries are used.
Tobacco seeds are sown superficially, scattering them over wet soil.
An important point. The seeding depth of tobacco seeds is no more than 0.7-0.8 cm (0.3-0.5 cm for shag). After sowing, they are only slightly pressed into the ground and watered very carefully so that the seeds do not go deep.
You can sow not dry seeds, but hatched seeds. In this case, 4 days before sowing, the seeds are soaked in warm clean water and placed on a damp cloth. This will speed up the germination of the seeds and shorten the time to distill the seedlings by a week.
The optimum temperature for germination of tobacco seeds is + 25ºC… + 28ºC. If the temperature is lower, then this can delay the emergence of plants, or even destroy them altogether.
It is impossible to overmoisten, as well as overdry the seedlings. It is best to water a little, almost daily.
Transplanting
Seedlings are planted when it reaches a height of 15 cm, has 5-6 developed true leaves and a well-developed root system. At this moment, the danger of spring frosts should be avoided outside the window, and the soil at a depth of 10 cm should warm up above 10 ° C. In different regions, this period is different, but, approximately, it is from the end of April to the end of May.
A week before planting, it is necessary to start hardening the seedlings, reducing watering and accustoming them to open air. 2-3 days before planting, watering the seedlings is completely stopped, watering abundantly only 2-3 hours before planting.
Plants are planted one at a time in the holes, after pouring 1 liter of water into them. In general, the process is very similar to planting tomato seedlings. And of course, every transplant is a shock for the plant. Therefore, it is advisable to preserve on the roots the soil in which the seedlings grew.
Care
During the growing period, it is necessary to regularly loosen the ground, remove weeds, feed and water. You can feed the plants based on the fertilization rates of tomatoes. Watering is usually limited to two to three waterings per summer, consuming 6-8 liters of water per plant. It is better to water the tobacco insufficiently than to water it.
A rooted tobacco bush can have roots up to several meters, and many tobacco growers find watering mature bushes harmful. However, it would be nice to water the tobacco a few days before harvesting.
In flowering plants, inflorescences are broken off (vershoking) and side shoots are regularly removed (pinching).
Tobacco flowers. © daviol948
The soil
Tobacco is planted on fresh soil, in the absence of such, it is placed either after steam, or after winter crops or other plants that impose other nutrient requirements on the soil. For this reason, tobacco should not be planted, for example, after beets and potatoes.
Like all immigrants from the New World, tobacco is rapidly depleting the soil. But the remedy is known - fertilizers perfectly solve this problem.
The best fertilizer for tobacco is cow dung. Bird droppings and oilcakes are also considered useful fertilizers for tobacco. On soils poor in lime, liming is used, it has a beneficial effect not only on the culture, but also on the completeness of combustion of the tobacco plant.
Harvesting begins when the color of the tobacco leaves changes from green to yellow-green or light green. Since even one bush will have leaves of varying degrees of color, the harvesting can take several weeks.
Tobacco pests and diseases
Tobacco drying and fermentation
Well, the most important part of getting smoking tobacco is drying and fermentation. Let's make a reservation right away: if you do not smoke, have no previous experience with tobacco, it will be quite difficult for you to determine the degree of readiness. You can either not dry it out, or rot. However, let me remind you that our grandfathers grew and dried makhorka without a higher education.
Drying
After collecting, the tobacco leaves are hung to dry in a ventilated room, while it is advisable to place containers with water there to increase the humidity. The leaves dry out in about a month.
Then the dried leaves must be moistened with clean water from a spray bottle and folded into piles, covered with polyethylene, and kept for up to a day for uniform moistening. The leaves should feel soft, but not soggy. After that, the leaves, either whole or cut, are hidden in sealed glass containers (jars) for fermentation.
Tobacco. © Forest and Kim Starr
Fermentation
Fermentation is a biochemical process that takes place at a constant temperature of 50 ° C for several weeks. Tobacco is fermented to reduce the strength, change the taste for the better, and reduce nicotine and tar. This can be done, for example, in electric ovens at a temperature of + 50ºC… + 60 ºC. Sometimes it is more convenient to dry cut leaves rather than whole leaves.
The resulting tobacco can be smoked in pipes, wrapped in cigarettes, fortunately, wrapping machines and tissue paper are now sold in many places. Finally, you can try making a cigar - it's easy and fun.
Of course, our material does not claim to be a detailed textbook, and many subtleties remained unaffected. And if you are serious about growing tobacco, you will need to study this issue more. But in order to get the first harvest, you already know enough.
We'd love to read your tips and secrets for growing, drying and fermenting tobacco.
And in conclusion, we remind you once again: smoking is addictive and harmful to your health. If you don't smoke, don't start. If you smoke, maybe it's time to quit? Nerd against smoking!
Before you start growing smoking tobacco in your country house, answer yourself this question: why do you need it? In order to get a shag or an insecticide to repel garden pests? Both the first and second goals of growing tobacco are hardly advisable.
It is not safe to grow homemade rolls for rolls. Having grown tobacco, dried its leaves, can you independently determine the nicotine content in them? Of course not. And it, depending on the variety, cultivation agricultural technology, raw material processing technology, can range from tenths to four percent and more.
If the nicotine content is low, smoking homemade cigarettes will not bring satisfaction to heavy smokers, and a high percentage of nicotine will be detrimental to health. The uncontrolled use of tobacco dust, tobacco infusions for pest control in the garden is also unsafe for people.
It is worth remembering that tobacco belongs to nightshade crops and therefore it is not easy for it to find beds on which potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, physalis, petunia have not been grown for several years.
Belonging to this family is fraught with viral diseases that can spread from tobacco to your favorite garden crops and vice versa.
But having warned about the negative consequences of growing tobacco, it's time to talk about the agricultural technology of this crop.
Growing smoking tobacco through seedlings
There are over fifty types of tobacco, but only two are considered cultural. Plants of one are raw materials for obtaining shag, plants of the other - tobacco. Makhorka can be grown throughout Russia, but tobacco is only to the south of 55º parallel.
From such small seeds, such a huge bush grows.
An adult plant grows up to one and a half meters. The stem is straight. The leaves are whole, oval. Flowers are collected in a paniculate inflorescence at the top of the stem. The fruit is a polyspermous capsule. The seeds are very small: there are 10-15 thousand of them in one gram. The root system is branched, penetrating deeply into the soil.
Most varieties belong to long-day plants: they move to the flowering and fruiting phase at 15-16 hours of daylight.
At what temperature to grow. Tobacco is thermophilic. Even in the southern regions of the country, it is grown through seedlings. Sowing begins in early March in a mixture of humus, garden soil and sand (2: 1: 1). In the pre-emergence period, the temperature is maintained at 27-28 degrees. For emerging seedlings, it is lowered to 18-20 degrees. Provide good lighting.
Seedling care. Water the seedlings without waiting for the soil to dry. But a week before transplanting into open ground, watering is reduced, and two days before it is stopped. By the time of planting in open ground, the seedlings should have 5-6 true leaves, be 12-15 cm high.
Landing in open ground
In open ground, hardened seedlings are planted after the threat of frost has passed. The site is prepared in advance, choosing a place protected from the wind. Tobacco grows well after green manure (cereals, legumes).
It is not recommended to grow it after potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, physalis, return it to its original place earlier than after 2-3 years. Tobacco responds positively to humus and compost introduced before planting (2-3 kg per sq. M).
Seedlings ready for planting.
Seedlings are planted in pre-watered soil, deepening the stem by 3-4 cm. It is possible and deeper, but not to fill up the growth point. 4-5 large-leaved plants or 6-7 medium-leaved varieties are placed on a square meter.
In the initial period of growth, the soil on the site is moistened, increasing the rate of water consumption as the plants grow. On light soils, watered more often than on heavy ones. By the time of harvesting, the intensity of watering is reduced. After each watering, the aisles are loosened.
Tobacco is thermophilic, but temperatures over 35 degrees are unfavorable for it: young plants may die, and adults retard their development.
Top dressing of tobacco
In the first half of the growing season, tobacco needs enhanced nitrogen nutrition. But overfeeding with nitrogen reduces the quality of raw materials: it turns out to be rough, burning, and smells unpleasant. Nitrogen fertilizers are applied before planting seedlings - 2-3 tbsp. spoons per sq. m.
Phosphorus and potassium are needed throughout the growing season. Phosphorus promotes earlier flowering, maturation of leaves. Excess phosphorus leads to premature aging of the leaves. Tobacco also needs good potassium nutrition, but again without excess.
Tobacco plantation.
Excess potassium reduces the quality of the tobacco: its smell becomes unpleasant. Usually potassium sulfate, superphosphate is brought under the autumn digging - up to 0.5 cups per sq. m.
When planting, you can add complex fertilizers dissolved in water (2 tablespoons per square meter) containing equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium.
For top dressing, you can use organic infusions. They are brought into the grooves made by the hoe in the middle of the row spacings.
To get good raw materials, plants during the growing season are pinned (remove lateral shoots) and plucked (cut off the inflorescences).
When tobacco is harvested - samosad
Harvesting begins when the leaves acquire a slight yellowish tint. The lower leaves are broken out first - 3-4 from each plant. The second collection is increased to 3-5, the third - to 5-7 leaves. Then the number of harvested leaves begins to be reduced.
Drying of tobacco leaves.
The leaves are removed in the morning after the dew dries and in the evening. Before harvesting, the lowest (seedling) leaves are removed. Broken leaves are laid blade to blade, petiole to petiole. Then, using a large needle, the leaves are strung on the twine so that they do not stick to each other.
The first phase of leaf drying is carried out at a temperature of 25-35 degrees and an air humidity of 75-90 percent. After the leaves turn from green to yellow, they are dried in the sun.
Infusion for pest control
Pour 0.5 kg of dry tobacco leaves with 10 liters of hot water, insist for two days. Before spraying, add 40 g of laundry soap dissolved in water, dilute it by half with water and treat the plants against aphids, leaf rollers, spider mites, onion and cabbage moths, slugs.
In our country, up to 75% of the male half of the population and about 21% of women smoke. A depressing statistician, you can’t say anything ... And this is against the background of active promotion of a healthy lifestyle and a gradual rise in the price of cigarettes. It is the latter fact that pushes many smokers to master the independent cultivation of smoking tobacco. But does it make any practical sense? It all depends on how much garden space and strength you are willing to spend on this activity, as well as on your desire to understand all the nuances of tobacco agricultural technology.
Pros and cons of growing tobacco in the garden for smoking
The harm of smoking is undeniable, and addiction to this potion comes very quickly. Scientists have found that smoking by force of habit is second only to addiction to such a hardest drug as heroin! But you can and should give up cigarettes: this way you will increase your life expectancy by 15–20 years. Let me tell you a little secret - I also suffered from this addiction until I was 18 years old. Among friends, everyone dabbled in cigarettes, but there were times when there were no other entertainments (and if there were, then we could not afford them).
I quit easily, overnight, due to the fact that the addiction was more psychological than physiological.
Well, we're off topic a bit. If you are still a heavy smoker and you “go away” at least a pack of cigarettes a day, then you should certainly consider from all sides the possibility of cultivating tobacco on the site.
So to advantages the presence of a tobacco bed on the site can be attributed to:
Firstly, if you follow all the intricacies of the technology of growing and harvesting tobacco leaves, you will get excellent homemade tobacco. They can be stuffed into smoking pipes, as well as wrapped in cigarettes (cigarette paper can now be bought in many online stores);
Secondly, makhorka is successfully used in the fight against an uncountable army of garden and vegetable pests. You can read how to use tobacco dust and tobacco to repel harmful insects here.
Thirdly, the presence of nicotine in tobacco makes it a medicinal plant. Let me remind you that the harm is caused not by the tobacco leaves themselves, but by the smoke generated from their combustion. Accurate dosage and competent use - and, you see, nicotine turns from a poison into a remedy for headaches, burns, constipation, women's ailments, asthma and a number of skin diseases.
But in general, growing smoking tobacco on the site is not a good idea, and that's why:
- If you are a non-tobacco expert, it will be extremely difficult to normalize the nicotine content of roll-ups. If this substance is not enough, then you will not get any buzz from smoking. If, on the contrary, the tobacco turns out to be too strong, then sooner or later you will simply part with the remnants of health (do you need it?).
- excessive enthusiasm for tobacco dust in the war against garden pests may also be far from harmless to humans and plants.
- if you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, then in order to fully provide smoking for the whole year, the area of your tobacco plantation should be about 40 square meters, which corresponds to about 300 (!) plants of this crop. I think you will agree that for the owner of a plot of six acres, this is too unreasonable and wasteful.
Types of tobacco
Tobacco belongs to the Solanaceae family and is of two types - ordinary tobacco and ordinary tobacco (rustic tobacco). Their main difference lies in the fact that ordinary tobacco is more thermophilic and whimsical, but at the same time it is more yielding and gives better quality raw materials (plants of this type can reach up to three meters in height, but makhorka usually does not hold up to 1.2 meters) ...
How to grow tobacco correctly, step by step instructions
Next, I will tell you the main points of agricultural technology for ordinary or real tobacco. Mahorka is much easier to grow - it is enough to sow seeds in open ground in the second half of May, and in a few months it will be possible to harvest the fragrant leaves.
- Sowing seeds for seedlings is best done in February. Tobacco seeds are simply super small - one gram contains about 12 thousand pieces. They are sown in bowls in a loose and moist substrate (compost, garden soil, sand 2: 1: 1) to a depth of no more than 7 mm.
Tobacco seeds are very tiny
- Until the emergence of shoots, containers are kept in bags at a temperature of + 27 ... 28 degrees. Further, the tobacco seedlings are grown on a light windowsill (in March, illumination is simply necessary!) At a temperature of + 18 ... 20 degrees.
If the tobacco seedlings stretch out, then you need to carefully add soil to their stalks. Otherwise, they may die.
- Watering needs regular, but moderate, using a syringe or spray bottle. When the plants throw out the first pair of real leaves, they must either be broken through, or they must be planted in separate cups with a deepening to the cotyledons (if the seedlings are stretched out). At first, I recommend leaving only 5-6 bushes in order to understand how profitable and interesting it is for you to keep this culture on the site. As a result, 2-3 of the strongest plants will move to a permanent place (the rest can be distributed).
Small but smart!
- Caring for tobacco in the "nursery" period is elementary: light, warmth and water are in abundance, but not in abundance. Do not forget about the periodic loosening of the soil in pots.
- Seedlings of tobacco are transferred to a permanent place at the age of 40 to 45 days in the second half - end of May. By this time, the plants have time to acquire 5-6 true leaves and reach a height of about 15 centimeters. To make the plants less sick from transplanting, they are hardened for 5-7 days and not watered for two to three days before this stressful procedure.
In the garden, tobacco plants develop very quickly and build up vegetative mass.
- Tobacco shows the maximum yield on sandy loam, manured soil, while it is preferable to grow it after winter crops or after steam. But beets, potatoes, and all nightshade plants are poor precursors for tobacco.
- The optimal distance between the bushes when planting is 40-50 centimeters. One liter of water should be poured into the planting holes with the addition of one teaspoon of complex fertilizer.
Blooming tobacco is very decorative
- This culture does not tolerate even a short-term drought, so at first it needs weekly watering (usually only two or three times per season is enough). However, in mature plants, the root system pierces the soil to a depth of two meters and successfully supplies them with moisture, even in dry periods. In this regard, some experts - tobacco growers even believe that too frequent watering reduces the yield of tobacco.
- Top dressing is combined with irrigation, adding one or two complete mineral fertilizers for 8-10 liters to the irrigation water. If you are not a fan of "mineral water", then you can feed the bushes with nettle infusion and 2-3 times over the summer to close up ash in the aisles.
- To improve the quality and quantity of leaves, puffing is applied to tobacco plants, that is, the flowers and stepsons formed in the axils are regularly removed from the bushes.
- The first wave of tobacco harvest is harvested within a month and a half after planting seedlings in open ground. The readiness of the leaves is evidenced by a slight yellowing of the leaves, their slightly glossy appearance and smoothing of the tubercles.
On this, the path to obtaining homemade tobacco is far from over, because the most interesting thing lies ahead - drying and fermentation of the collected raw materials. All the nuances of these two procedures are well described in two videos.
Well, if you decide to thoroughly study all the secrets of growing tobacco in the garden for smoking, then I advise you not to regret an hour and a half watching a movie. By the way, on this channel you will find a detailed analysis of all the points related to the cultivation of tobacco on the site.
I'd like to get some tobacco. Please tell us how to grow it from seeds, and why it is needed on the site.
Columbus' caravels were the first Europeans to get acquainted with tobacco. More than 500 years ago, they set foot on the island of San Salvador. They were surprised by the natives, blowing out a lot of smoke from their noses and mouths. They took the dried tobacco leaves into their mouths and called them "tobacco" and "cigar".
For half a millennium, tobacco has not only taken root on our soil. They love and fear him, they cannot live without him, and they want to get rid of the craving for him, he was recognized as an enemy for human health and he was included in the clinic of the "Green Pharmacy".
Experienced gardeners plant tobacco in open ground with seedlings and grow it. This plant is thermophilic, with a long growing season. At first, the seedlings grow very slowly, so the seeds are sown two or three or even four months before it is "relocated" to the site. Seedlings are grown in boxes in a warm place or in a greenhouse.
Tobacco seed.
Tobacco seeds are very small and cultivation requires careful soil preparation in order for them to reach the same depth. The earth is leveled, crushing all the lumps, and slightly compacted. Having scattered the tobacco seeds in bulk, sprinkle them with a layer of one or two centimeters of slightly damp earth. Before the first shoots appear, you can cover it with plastic wrap, placing it on slats.
Seedlings appear in a week or two, it depends on the temperature in the room. Water them carefully so as not to destroy small and delicate plants. You need to look, and not let them stretch, add soil to the cotyledon leaves. When one or two true leaves appear, the seedlings dive into the soil, well seasoned with organic fertilizers.
After a period of frost, tobacco seedlings must be planted in open ground, low-growing varieties (up to 1-1.5 meters) according to the scheme 60 x 60 or 40 x 60 centimeters, tall ones (3-3.5 meters) - 70 x 100 centimeters.
Tobacco care.
Caring for tobacco in the garden consists of weeding, loosening and, of course, watering. Although its leaves protect themselves by pubescence from excessive evaporation, they have a large area, and the plant is of a fair height, so moisture is constantly required. If you do not water, then the growth of tobacco stops, the aroma is lost.
They also do top dressing. With a good filling of the soil before planting seedlings, a bucket - two compost or humus per square meter), two dressings per season are enough. To do this, you can take 5 chicken droppings (1:12 - 15), mullein (1: 8), make an infusion of green herbs.
Tobacco care includes and pinching. In order for the leaves to be large, fleshy, and the tobacco strong and very fragrant, it is imperative to remove stepchildren and flower stalks during cultivation. Lateral shoots are plucked when they grow 5-6 centimeters, the inflorescences are cut off as soon as they form buds. And if seeds are needed, then it is enough to leave the inflorescences on one or two plants, removing the stepchildren.
Matures tobacco gradually from the bottom up, so the leaves are harvested in several times. They should not be allowed to fade, yellow, because there will be no smoking strength, aroma, and will become unusable even when plants are sprayed from pests. They break the leaves with their hands, carefully folding the petiole to the petiole, blade to blade. They are strung on a string and hung in the shade in attics or other ventilated areas. When the plates and leaf stalks are completely dry, all that remains is to grind them. They will retain their properties for two to three years if they are placed in cardboard or paper containers so that they do not collect excess moisture.
The stems are also dried, removing them last and splitting them into several parts. They, like leaves, are used to protect garden and horticultural plants from pests.
Growing tobacco at home.
First of all, you need to figure out what kind of tobacco you are growing. There is tobacco, including late varieties, reaching two to three meters in height with normal care, and there is one that, in fact, forms short bushes.
If you are interested in powerful, tall plants, try to find matching seeds. For example, the late Turkish variety.
It is not easy to care for this plant.
Being one of the light and heat-loving, tobacco claims to be well-lit and protected from cold air currents in the garden. He also reacts sensitively to the composition of the soil: it must be well filled with organic matter (up to three buckets per square meter).
It is preferable to grow it through seedlings.
The earth for her - light, loose - should have been prepared in the fall. But if you have not done this, try to take advantage of the middle of winter and collect good land in the forest (at least in the garden). In early February, cover it with a layer of 4-5 cm in a shallow box, lightly tamp and water, then scatter the tobacco seeds over the surface and sprinkle them with slightly damp earth 1-2 mm.
The box can be placed in a plastic bag and placed in a warm place without watering until the first shoots. And when they appear, get the box out of the bag and put it on the windowsill.
Experts recommend about a week after that (depending on the condition of the soil), water the plants in the form of spraying from a spray bottle. In order for the seedlings not to stretch, they will have to be sprinkled with earth until the cotyledon leaves.
Seedlings will need to be sorted out in packages after the appearance of two true leaves, while pinching the central root. At first, the seedlings grow very slowly, so it is necessary to sow at the beginning of February, i.e. almost 4 months before planting in the ground.
After picking, the plants should be watered and kept at a temperature of 18-20 degrees. When the threat of return frosts has passed (for example, at the end of May), the seedlings can be planted in open ground. By this time, she will already have four or five leaves.
Tobacco likes water therefore, it should be watered daily: at first, five liters under the bush, and when it grows above a meter in height - ten liters each.
Cigarettes are constantly getting more expensive, and the quality of tobacco leaves much to be desired, so many smokers began to switch to self-grown tobacco. Tobacco is not yet planted
Recommendations for growing tobacco on a personal plot are given by a scientist from the Krasnodar Research and Production Association for tobacco, makhorka and tobacco products. Tobacco, in comparison with makhorka, is more demanding on heat. It can be grown south of 55 ° north parallel. Makhorka is more unpretentious. It grows beautifully from the Arctic to the southern regions of Russia.
A smoker consumes an average of 7.5-8.0 kg of tobacco per year. Under favorable conditions, from 0.01 hectares, 30-40 kg of dry tobacco leaves can be obtained. The weight of one dry leaf is 0.8-1.5 g. 25-33 technically mature leaves are formed on the plant per season.
The following varieties of tobacco are cultivated in Russia: Hollyist 215, Yubileiny, Trapezond 219, Trapezond 15, makhorki - M. Pekhlets 4, AS 18/7, Pekhlets local, Datura local.
The duration of the period from planting seedlings to harvesting for tobacco is 100-135 days, for makhorka - 70-80 days. Forcing seedlings requires 40-45 days. The seeding rate of seeds per 1 square meter is 0.3-0.4 g. For 0 01 hectares, 0.7 square meters of a greenhouse or greenhouse is required, from this area you can get 800-900 plants. At home, seedlings are grown in flower pots, wooden boxes, placing them on windows on the sunny side.
4-5 days before sowing, the seeds are soaked in water or in a 0.01% solution of tartaric acid or in a 1.0% solution of potassium nitrate for 24 hours at a temperature of 25-27 ° C. This accelerates seed germination, shortens the time forcing seedlings for 5-7 days, in addition, the output of seedlings increases by 15-20 percent. The consumption rate of the solution is 3 ml per 1 g of seeds. After 24 hours, the seeds are removed from the solution, washed, excess water is removed and, when wet, placed in a layer of 2-3 centimeters in an enamel or earthenware dish.
From above, they are covered with a damp cloth and placed for germination (at a temperature of 27 ° C) in a thermostat or in a bright, heated and well-ventilated room. Seeds need to be periodically moistened, mixed 4-5 times a day for air access. Usually on 3-4 days the seeds are pecked - sprouts appear in the form of white dots. The formation of a sprout longer than a seed should not be allowed, since such sprouts easily break off and die.
The naklyuchnuyu seeds are dried to a state of flowability, mixed with well-disinfected sand, humus or nutrient mixture, sifted through a screen with cells of 0.25 centimeters and sown in greenhouses. If germinated seeds cannot be sown immediately, then they are stored in a room with an air temperature of + 1 ... + 2 ° C (in the basement, in the refrigerator).
On 1 square meter of greenhouse, 0.13 cubic meters of nutrient mixture is prepared, including 0.02 cubic meters of powder with a ratio of components: 50% humus, 25% earth, and 25% sand (the powder consists of 75% humus and 25% sand ). The thickness of the nutrient layer is 8-10 centimeters. Sowing dates - the third decade of February - the first decade of March. When sowing for 1 bucket of powder, take 3-4 g of tobacco seeds (or 15-20 g of tobacco seeds) per 10 square meters of greenhouse. The seeding depth of tobacco seeds is 0.3–0.5 centimeters, tobacco seeds - 0.7–0.8 centimeters. Before and after sowing seeds and their dusting, the surface of the greenhouses is watered (water consumption is 1 liter per square meter).
After sowing, the soil moisture is monitored. Before the "cross" phase, seedlings are watered once a day, 1 liter per square meter, before the "ears" phase - 2-3 liters per square meter, after the "ears" phase - 3-5 liters per square meter. The temperature regime in nurseries from sowing to the "cross" phase is 23-25 ° C, in the subsequent phases - 20 ° C. During the growing period, seedlings are sprinkled 3-4 times and fed. A solution of mineral fertilizers for feeding seedlings is prepared at the rate of: per 10 liters of water - 30 g of ammonium nitrate, 50-60 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium sulfate or 20 g of 40% potassium salt. Top dressing is carried out using a watering can with a nozzle with small holes (0.25 cm), a consumption of 10 liters of solution per 4-5 square meters of a nursery.
From organic fertilizers, it is better to use an infusion of chicken manure (for 1 kg of manure, 10 liters of water). Leave it for 10-12 days for fermentation, stir occasionally. The fermented mass is filtered. Water is added to the solution - for 1 part of the liquid, 4-5 parts of water.
7-8 days before planting, the seedlings are hardened, the number of waterings is reduced, and 2-3 days before planting, watering is completely stopped. Such hardening increases the resistance of plants to unfavorable conditions in the open field, contributes to better survival and rapid rooting of plants. The stem of a well-seasoned seedling does not break by winding it around the finger.
2-3 hours before sampling, seedlings are watered abundantly. It is undesirable to choose seedlings in bunches, since with such a selection many underdeveloped plants are removed. You should pull out one plant at a time, capturing the two most developed leaves. For planting, take seedlings with a height of 14-16 centimeters with 5-6 developed leaves (not counting cotyledons) with a stem thickness of 0.3-0.5 centimeters with a well-developed root system. They begin to plant seedlings in the ground when the danger of spring frosts has passed, and the soil temperature at a depth of 10 centimeters is set to about 10 degrees.
The approximate date for planting tobacco is from April 20 to May 25. The optimal planting density for large-leaved tobacco varieties (Holly 215, Yubileiny) is 70 × 30 centimeters, for medium-leaved (Trapezond 19, Trapezond 219) and all varieties of makhorka - 70 × 20 centimeters. When planting along a prepared furrow, holes are made at a distance of 30 centimeters for tobacco and 20 centimeters for shag. Water 0.5 liters is poured into each hole, the seedlings are laid out along the furrow with leaves to the left of the planter. The planter deepens the hole with his right hand, places the seedlings vertically into it with his left hand, presses the moist soil from above to the roots with dry earth to reduce moisture evaporation. For better survival and rapid growth, the roots of the seedlings are dipped in a mullein solution, which is prepared from fresh cow dung and an equal amount of creamy clay. The excess solution is shaken off and the roots are abundantly sprinkled with finely sifted humus mixed with granular superphosphate in a ratio of 4: 1.
During the growing season of plants, regular soil loosening, weed removal, top dressing, watering, and disease control are carried out. In flowering plants, the inflorescences break off (the top) and the lateral shoots are cut off (stepchild). Depending on the moisture content of the soil, 2-3 waterings are carried out. The approximate watering rate is 6-8 liters of water per plant. Against peronosporosis, a 0.3% polycarbacin solution or a 0.4% cineb suspension (5 liters of solution per 0.01 ha) is used. When aphids appear, the plants are sprayed with actelik (20-30 g per 10 l of water) or rogor (10-20 g per 10 l of water).
Tobacco leaves are removed, starting from the lower tiers, as they turn yellow (by 1/3 of the plate) in 5-6 receptions. They should not be removed in an unripe or overripe state, wet from dew or rain. Broken leaves are laid out in the shade with a layer of 30 centimeters, after 12-14 hours, when they are tied, they begin to fix the leaves on cords and hang them in a drying structure (greenhouses, sheds). Do not dry the leaves in the rain or in strong winds. Solar drying lasts 15-17 days and gives the final raw material. In cloudy weather, the leaves dry slowly, the raw material turns out to be dark. The dried tobacco is carefully removed. Cords with tobacco are folded in four and 5-6 cords are attached to a specially prepared hook. This garland of cords with tobacco is called havanka. The harbors are hung on poles placed in the storage room. In autumn, the leaves are removed from the cords, smoothed with hands, and placed in bundles.
Fermented tobacco is used to make quality cigarettes. Fermentation can be done at home. Approximate mode: tobacco is heated in a container for 2-3 days to 50 ° C at an air humidity of 60-65 °. After that (the temperature remains constant - 50 ° C), the air humidity is increased to 70-75% within 5-6 days. Then, within 48 hours, the temperature is gradually reduced, and the relative humidity is increased to 75-80%. Next, the tobacco is cooled to a temperature of 20-25 ° C with a humidity of at least 11% and not more than 16%. The tobacco is cooled for 2-3 days. Then he is laid to rest - for 25-30 days.
Tobacco is cut into fibers 0.5-0.7 mm wide. The length of the cigarettes is 70-85 mm, the diameter is 8 mm. Consumption of tobacco per cigarette is 0.8-1.1 g. To obtain high quality cigarettes, a mixture of various tobaccos is required. Well, there will be no problems with the sale of tobacco, this is always a profitable business.
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