The Tobacco Plant Project

[ashauler]

That is a beautiful picture there. Nice looking plants.

How far apart did you space your plants?

Thank you. I spaced them about 18" apart. From the looks of it that may not have been far enough....we'll see.

Unfortunately, I, too, have been neglecting everyday care over the plants. But for the most part, they've been doing just fine without me. I haven't had much problem with pests since my initial aphid infestation. Something that helped me was spraying not only on the top of the leaves, but also on the underside of the leaves. I think I did that every other day for about a week - that seemed to do the trick.

Yes, I do spray top and bottom of the leaves with each application. With the limited damage that is evident so far, I don't think I'll put much more effort into pest control than I am currently.

My newest thing now is keeping the leaves in prime condition - a few fallen twigs (my garden is underneath the outstretched arms of a pecan tree in our neighbor's yard) have punctured holes in a few leaves. Nothing too bad, but not desirable, either.

Yes, this was my intention also, especially with the Sumatra since they will be the primary wrapper leaves in this crop. I'm not so concerned with the others as they will be used as filler and binder....well, Long Red will be the binder with small stock and argentine being the fillers.

The weather here last week was hot and wet. This week so far has been overcast and still hot. The humidity level is ridiculous. I think the plants are loving it. I've been watering almost every morning if it didn't rain the day/night before. I'll feed them again this weekend.

Hot and humid here as well....not so much overcast, partly cloudy at best. We are expecting rain this evening or tomorrow. I feed the plants, miracle grow for tomatos, weekly during one of the watering sessions. Seems to be working just fine.

I'll also get some pictures up this weekend.

Does anyone have any idea about when to harvest these leaves? If I let them go, will they just keep getting bigger? It won't get cold here until December, and even then, it won't freeze until probably the end of January. I seem to remember reading something somewhere that tobacco plants are actually perennials - you can cut them down to a stub, and supposedly, they'll grow back. I do know they drain much of the nutrients out of the soil, so I wouldn't imagine that would work for long.

Look forward to your photo's.....I'll try to get measurements on my next batch.

As far as harvesting goes, I'm just really starting to read up on that. From what I understand, the leaves "ripen" in stages. When they ripen, they get much thicker and may even "bubble" a bit or start to turn colors....this is when you would make the decision to either stalk harvest or harvest the ripe primings one at a time, from the bottom up. I haven't learned enough about it to make a decision on which way to go yet, but I'll keep reading and let you know what I decide.