Hello from Bay Area, California! @thejtrain

[thejtrain]

Hello fellow tobacco enthusiasts,
I ended up going down the tobacco growing rabbit hole over the last couple years; this year is the year I finally got myself some plants in the ground!

I became interested in growing my own rusticas to process into mapacho, dokha (or something like it) and snuff/rapeh/hapé. I was also thinking that rusticas may be a better choice for my growing conditions - I’m in the east bay, zone 10a or 10b, with a year-round growing season and very cool summers (extremely rare dips below 38F in winter, 70F highs all summer).

If anyone has experience growing rusticas in similar conditions, or if anyone has tried growing tabacum cultivars in similarly cool summer areas; I’d love to connect!

I will follow up with some posts in rustica threads on my growing progress, and am excited to learn about curing it later this summer when i start to harvest!
Cheers,
JT

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Read the New Growers' FAQ, linked in the menu bar. You may wish to scan through the topics in our Index of Key Forum threads, also linked in the menu bar.

You can grow any tobacco variety in your area. The native tobaccos grown in that region are mapped in the following thread:

Tobacco Varieties Before Columbus

Ancient carving found at Tiahuanaco, Bolivia. Where did the various species of tobacco come from? Some are wild, others were cultivated and traded over thousands of miles, before the European discovery of America. Nicotiana rustica, which I had always assumed was wild, is apparently a...

forum.wholeleaftobacco.com

Bob

 

[thejtrain]

Welcome to the forum. Read the New Growers' FAQ, linked in the menu bar. You may wish to scan through the topics in our Index of Key Forum threads, also linked in the menu bar.

You can grow any tobacco variety in your area. The native tobaccos grown in that region are mapped in the following thread:

Tobacco Varieties Before Columbus

Ancient carving found at Tiahuanaco, Bolivia. Where did the various species of tobacco come from? Some are wild, others were cultivated and traded over thousands of miles, before the European discovery of America. Nicotiana rustica, which I had always assumed was wild, is apparently a...

forum.wholeleaftobacco.com

Bob

Hey thanks for the welcome, bob!

I tried propagating some clevelandii before we had our rains but none of it came up. I started a few more but something chomped most of the seedlings.

The rustica has been much more resilient. Even seedlings that got fully chomped have bounced all the way back.

 

[johnny108]

Welcome!

What varieties of rustica seeds do you have?

The general rule for growing rusticas are:
-do not starve them for water- it stunts growth and nicotine content.
-do not let them become a bush- remove all suckers (side branches) at least every 2 weeks, so growth focuses on the main stem and only the leaves growing directly from it.
-bigger containers and lots of nitrogen: they will flower if they become root bound, and they strip nitrogen from soil, pretty intensively.
They can handle full strength tomato fertilizer after the first true leaves appear on the seedlings.
-for nicotine strength, flavor development, and leaf yield, remove ALL flowers (top them), and give them at least 30 days after topping, before harvesting, to mature the leaves.
-stalk curing in the sun tends to give the best results and flavors. Like regular tobacco, don’t let them get rained on during this curing process.
-“Yellow” varieties developed in the Soviet Union color cure the easiest, while the Aztec strain is difficult for just about everyone.

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT

pier

 

[StoneCarver]

give them at least 30 days after topping, before harvesting, to mature the leaves.

Good luck with that. The variety I grew last year began pushing out new flower buds within a week after pinching the initial buds. I eventually gave up and just let the plants do their thing. The variety I grew last year was labelled as Hopi N. rustica that I bought from an Etsy vendor. How your plants will grow will be highly dependent on the microclimate you plant them in. This year, I am also growing the Hopi variety and, although they are planted a mere 50 ft from where I grew them last year, they are growing very differently. Same plants/seeds, different microclimate only a few feet away. Where I have them this year, they may have cooler soil temps, soil with better water retention, and I don't know what all else is making the difference. So experiment.

thejtrain,
It sounds like you were trying to direct sow your seeds in the garden. If so, I'm not surprised you had low success rates. Next time, I'd recommend sprouting the seeds in a seedling tray indoors first. I tried direct sowing N. quadrivalvus this year and nothing came up.

 

[jclif43]

Welcome!

 

[OrlandoJoe]

Hello fellow tobacco enthusiasts,
I ended up going down the tobacco growing rabbit hole over the last couple years; this year is the year I finally got myself some plants in the ground!

I became interested in growing my own rusticas to process into mapacho, dokha (or something like it) and snuff/rapeh/hapé. I was also thinking that rusticas may be a better choice for my growing conditions - I’m in the east bay, zone 10a or 10b, with a year-round growing season and very cool summers (extremely rare dips below 38F in winter, 70F highs all summer).

If anyone has experience growing rusticas in similar conditions, or if anyone has tried growing tabacum cultivars in similarly cool summer areas; I’d love to connect!

I will follow up with some posts in rustica threads on my growing progress, and am excited to learn about curing it later this summer when i start to harvest!
Cheers,
JT

Sowed my first seeds ever down in Central Florida in March. Leared plenty already! This place is a fantastic resource for specific questions like that. I sure wish you much success!

 

[thejtrain]

Welcome!

What varieties of rustica seeds do you have?

The general rule for growing rusticas are:
-do not starve them for water- it stunts growth and nicotine content.
-do not let them become a bush- remove all suckers (side branches) at least every 2 weeks, so growth focuses on the main stem and only the leaves growing directly from it.
-bigger containers and lots of nitrogen: they will flower if they become root bound, and they strip nitrogen from soil, pretty intensively.
They can handle full strength tomato fertilizer after the first true leaves appear on the seedlings.
-for nicotine strength, flavor development, and leaf yield, remove ALL flowers (top them), and give them at least 30 days after topping, before harvesting, to mature the leaves.
-stalk curing in the sun tends to give the best results and flavors. Like regular tobacco, don’t let them get rained on during this curing process.
-“Yellow” varieties developed in the Soviet Union color cure the easiest, while the Aztec strain is difficult for just about everyone.

i have limonka and isleta pueblo that I've already topped and I put in some punche a few weeks ago. im doing an organic/permaculture based grow: i covered a huge pile of rotting wood and fresh pruned branches with my own compost and let the pile cook for a good 4 months before planting, i'll do a post on my growing progress soon

 

[thejtrain]

Good luck with that. The variety I grew last year began pushing out new flower buds within a week after pinching the initial buds. I eventually gave up and just let the plants do their thing. The variety I grew last year was labelled as Hopi N. rustica that I bought from an Etsy vendor. How your plants will grow will be highly dependent on the microclimate you plant them in. This year, I am also growing the Hopi variety and, although they are planted a mere 50 ft from where I grew them last year, they are growing very differently. Same plants/seeds, different microclimate only a few feet away. Where I have them this year, they may have cooler soil temps, soil with better water retention, and I don't know what all else is making the difference. So experiment.

thejtrain,
It sounds like you were trying to direct sow your seeds in the garden. If so, I'm not surprised you had low success rates. Next time, I'd recommend sprouting the seeds in a seedling tray indoors first. I tried direct sowing N. quadrivalvus this year and nothing came up.

all my rustica was started indoors in covered trays, most of my clevelandii was too but the seedlings got munched by critters as soon as i moved the tray outside. i also tried scattering some clevelandii seeds outside in early spring before a long rain period and while i got decent germination, most everything was munched before it got potent enough to protect itself. even my well developed seedlings with 4 true leaves would get completely devoured by slugs; but they had well enough developed roots to bounce all the way back. it also made a big difference after i set a bunch of beer traps to help manage the slugs.

 

[Bigborebob]

I became interested in growing my own rusticas to process into mapacho, dokha (or something like it) and snuff/rapeh/hapé

Have you ever made your way down to Peru? My dad has done 3 different trips to the jungle for some soul searching. He brought back mapacho and many varieties of hapé everytime. It's a very strong and interesting tobacco. I'll be following your progress. Keep updating! Good luck!

 

[StoneCarver]

i also tried scattering some clevelandii seeds outside in early spring before a long rain period and while i got decent germination

I'm impressed you got any seeds to germinate outdoors. I keep trying to direct sow outdoors but nothing comes up.
The slug killer you can get at bigbox hardware stores is effective and it breaks down into a non-toxic fertilizer.