Hello from new member Shelgeyr!

[Shelgeyr]

Hello to everyone on the Fair Trade Tobacco forum!

I just joined the forum for two main reasons:
1) I am interested in exploring growing tobacco in an "aquaponics" system, and
2) I am generally curious about the entire tobacco growing industry since my grandfather and his ancestors were tobacco farmers just outside of South Boston, Virginia, but I was too young to learn anything from him about the trade before he sold what was left of the family farm in his retirement years (and my childhood) roughly forty years ago.

Regarding my first reason, I have my own thread in the forum at Backyard Aquaponics (http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12285), and while I've had some good success growing some types of produce, I have never tried growing tobacco yet.

If anyone is curious about what exactly "aquaponics" is, it's the combination of hydropnics and aquaculture (fish farming). The fish waste, with the help of nitrifying bacteria, becomes the plant food.

I've only been at this for a little over a year, but it's time to branch out, thus my joining this group.

Also, I am not not associated with Backyard Aquaponics, other than being a member of their free forum, but if anyone is intrigued then I'd recommend you check out their free ancillary site (or free downloadable manual) called "The IBC of Aquaponics" (http://ibcofaquaponics.com/) which covers how to build a system using an "IBC Tote", which is one of those typically 275-gallon "Intermediate Bulk Containers" used for shipping liquids. I have found their advice and the compiled examples from other users' systems invaluable.

I've build three of these systems in the Dallas, TX area; my own, one for my mother, and one for a local public school (you'll see that at my first link above), and now it is time to try tobacco in at least one of them.

Any and all advice is welcome!

Thank you very much,


-Shelgeyr

 

[Chicken]

welcome, and as far as i know you'll be the only one growing that way,,,

you should do a journal on your grow, and we all may learn something,

and welcome to the site,

 

[Aaron]

Welcome Shelgeyr! I'm looking forward to following your experiences growing tobacco this way. I've been doing a lot of reading lately about Permaculture a general self-sustainability and this Aquaponics stuff looks interesting. Looks like I have some more reading to do.

Aaron

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome sir. There should now be enough Texans on this site to defend the Alamo. A good place to begin your tobacco journey is to read the Tobacco Growing FAQ's on the header at top of page. What is your preferred method of tobacco ingestion? Cigars, cigarettes, pipe< chew,etc? Also put your general location in your profile, that will help us help you as many answers depend on where you live and your prevaling weather and humidity. We all look forward to learning your growing methods.

 

[johnlee1933]

Welcome Shelgeyr. I think you will find this forum a wealth of facts and opinion. Look around, use the search function and if you don't find what you want just ask. OH Yeah, Have Fun! -- John

 

[Shelgeyr]

Thank you all for the amazingly quick replies, full of advice that I will certainly be following. And yes, I'll document the experience once I add tobacco to my grow beds.

As to my favorite method of ingestion, strangly enough there isn't one. I haven't smoked since the mid 1980s, but I'm surrounded by people who do. If I was growing just for myself I'd be mostly interested in cigar and/or pipe tobacco - and I'll certainly be growing that - but since my primary interest at the moment could be classified as academic or exploratory, I'm open to growing (or attempting to grow) a wide variety of varieties, just so long as they're all legal. I must admit that I haven't yet put any effort so far in finding out if there are restrictions involved (again, any advice you care to offer would be most welcome), but I want to make certain that everything I'm doing is legal. I have two reasons for this:
1) I want what I'm doing to actuallly BE completely legal, and
2) I want what I'm doing to be *easily demonstrated* as such.

One of the drawbacks with growing things through aquaponics is that most people don't know what that means. And when you explain it involves a type of hydroponics, most people automatically assume you're growing pot. I'm not. I never have and never will, and am so far removed from that world that when I started doing aquaponics the assumption really surprised me because I didn't know that a lot of people (apparently) grow pot hydroponically. Let me assure you that no one I'm associate with (which is only a couple of people) grows pot.

I'm thrilled to have found this forum (thank you, Google).

I have a couple of questions about tobacco seed catalogs, if anyone cares to field them... Even though there seems to be an impressive seed distribution program here - which sounds wonderful, but as a newbie I understandably hardly qualify - I am interested in locating some commercial source from which I can outright purchase seeds (albeit in small quantities). A few months back I started Googling around to locate some good general seed catalogs. I ordered several of them before Christmas, and they all arrived last week, but to my surprise none of them carry tobacco seeds. Today I Googled the terms "tobacco seed catalog" (without the quotes) and got a little over two million hits. I'm not going to try to wade through that without asking for experienced help first. So here's my questions:
1) Do any of you have any tobacco seed catalogs that you highly recommend, and if so would you please let me know their website address and/or ordering information?
2) Do you know of any catalogs that, for whatever reasons, you recommend STAYING AWAY FROM? In every industry there are fly-by-nights and ripoff organizations, and I have effectively zero knowledge in the area of tobacco seeds to be able to tell one from the other.

I just thought of another question... If I'm successful in raising tobacco from seed all the way to reseeding, I'll be more than happy to contribute to the seed bank. That being the case, can anyone tell me what would be the most beneficial for the seed bank? Since I'm not looking to make money off of this it really doesn't matter which type of tobacco I grow first, so I might as well use the time and effort to bolster any seed supplies that might be delinquent.

Please let me know your thoughts, and thank you once again!

 

[Knucklehead]

Here's a list of seed suppliers I'm copying from a post deluxestogie left for another member.
Quoted from the Tobacco Growing FAQ:

• http://www.newhopeseed.com/tobacco_seeds.html [Tennessee - ships to U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Scotland]
• http://nicotianaproject.net/ [Pennsylvania]
• http://www.heirloomtobacco.com/Seed_Bank.html [location unknown]
• http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/SeedlistN.htm#Tobacco [California]
• http://www.nativeseeds.org/index.php.../seeds/tobacco [Arizona]
• http://www.seedman.com/Tobacco.htm [Mississippi]
• http://www.nextharvest.com/tobacco.htm [bulk order branch of Seedman]
• http://www.tabakanbau.de/de/sitemap.php [German Language. "samen"=seed]
• http://b-and-t-world-seeds.com/letters.htm [France, but multilingual]
• http://www.coffinails.com/order.html [UK]
• http://www.thetobaccoseed.com/Tobacc...Varieties.html [location unknown]
• http://www.organicaseedco.com/tobaccoseeds.html [Massachusetts]
• http://www.victoryseeds.com/tobacco.html [Oregon]
• http://sustainableseedco.com/Heirloom-Tobacco-Seed/ [California - ships worldwide]

 

[Shelgeyr]

Thank you very much, AlabamaKnucklehead!

That's more than enough for me to do some comparitive shopping.

I appreciate it!

 

[Aaron]

You should check out the FAQ section at the top. I think it will answer most of your questions. http://fairtradetobacco.com/links.php?ab_s=1
I don't think I've ever heard of any tobacco seed companies that you would need to avoid. The FAQ also has a good list of seed companies that offer Tobacco seed. And YES it is totally legal to grow tobacco.

 

[Shelgeyr]

Thank you, Aaron!

I've now downloaded the Beginners Guide, and have bookmarked the FAQ page.

Much obliged!

 

[johnlee1933]

I think it is pretty well accepted that a given variety of tobacco will have different characteristics as a function of where it is grown vis. soil, fertilization, water, etc.. This being the case you may have some unusual results with any variety you try. It will be interesting to watch. Good Growing to you. -- John

 

[leverhead]

Welcome! It sounds like you have a plan, go for it. I'll be watching your grow!

 

[BigCasino]

Welcome to the forum! are you raising fish in your water supply as well?

 

[Markw]

Hi Shelgeyr and welcome to the forum. I will be following this thread with interest. They use plant filters over here to keep garden ponds clean. There be loots of goodness in fish Poo & P. Some people plant tomatoes in their filters with long grasses, these filters keep the ponds crystal clear. I think your onto something with this method.

I dug the entire sediment content of an old pond into my baccy patch last year and the plants loved it, they grew like there was no tomorrow.
Welcome to the forum and good luck with your experiment I will be following this with interest..

Markw

 

[istanbulin]

Welcome to the forum Shelgeyr !

Your nickname took my attention. I was thinking if it's related with the Persian languages. I learned that "Shelgeyr" means "hunter" in Manx language which has about a hundred competent speakers and locating in Indo-European language family (same family wich also covers Persian languages). Are you a native speaker ?

Sorry, I made some searches, I couldn't prevent myself

 

[darren1979]

Hello shelgeyr, im looking forward to seeing your set up.I was planning on using an ebb and flow system this year but im putting it off until next year.

 

[indianjoe]

Hi Shelgreyr,
you have come to the right place. We will all be waiting with anticipation your grow.

 

[Shelgeyr]

Welcome to the forum! are you raising fish in your water supply as well?

Yes sir, I am! Specifically Tilapia. Although certainly not exclusive, the best online resource that I'm aware of for information about aquaponics is at an Australian site called "backyardaquaponics.com". I'm not associated with them in any way other than being an active poster on the forum board they maintain. I say this to stress that while I recommend them to anyone interested, I don't make any money off of them.

Backyardaquaponics published a FREE outstanding "how to" manual for using Intermediate Bulk Containers (also known as IBC Totes) as the inexpensive basis for building an aquaponics system, and after I started working with one of our local highschools to add aquaponics to their curriculum, the site gave me permission to use this manual (called "The IBC of Aquaponics" as part of the course materials. They have since launched a sister site based on the manual, at http://ibcofaquaponics.com/. The manual is also downloadable from there for free - as well as free 3D Sketchup model templates.

I say all this not only because I'm an enthusiast, but also because the manual/site does a great job of explaining the Nitrogen cycle involved in raising fish and vegetables together.

 

[Shelgeyr]

Welcome to the forum! are you raising fish in your water supply as well?

Sorry, I meant to include a link to my own system's page on the BackyardAquaponics board: http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12285

 

[Shelgeyr]

Thank you very much, Markw!