BC Canada - Rustica and Virginia crop 2026 - First time grower: @Nicotiana rustica

[Nicotiana rustica]

This is my first time growing tobacco. I've got N. rustica and N.tabacum (Virginia). Looking for criticism, tips, trick and any help you can offer. I just topped a few of the rusticas that were flowering and pinched off the suckers. I've heard of also putting chemicals on to prevent suckers, how much does that help, what are the upsides and downside of doing that? Some of the rusticas are getting long internodes and small leaves, is this just genetic variance or something I'm doing? It doesn't seem to be correlating to more or less soil which is what I noticed with other plants I have grown before.

Also, are leaves from suckers and topping worth using for snus this early in the season?

 

[deluxestogie]

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Bob

 

[johnny108]

Welcome!
Very pretty crop you have!
Sucker control chemicals, for the home grower, aren’t worth it. Additionally, there is almost no tobacco industry information on rustica growing- it hasn’t been done since just after WW2- and that was for chemical nicotine production, not smoking products.
There is no real easy way to get “home amounts” of sucker chemicals.
As tough as it is, suckering for rusticas is done by hand (maximum every 2 weeks).
As for keeping the suckers for use- I don’t believe anyone has tried it- it might be worth a shot.
Your rusticas appear to be the Aztec variety?
I’ve noticed similar leaf/internode variance in that plant, as well- some with leaves the size of dinner plates, some are the size of a hand, so I don’t think it’s anything you are doing.
Again, welcome!