Hello from upstate NY

[dburrell3871]

Hi everyone. So I recently started rolling my own cigars and being a diy nutjob in all things (brewing, wine making, cannabis growing, bio diesel making) I figured why not try growing my own tobacco. So here I am. My primary interest is figuring out the feasibility of hydroponic tobacco. I look forward to learning and sharing my own experiences.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Be sure to read the New Growers' FAQ, and scan our Index of Key Forum Threads for topics of interest. Both are linked in the menu bar.

Bob

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT

pier

 

[Rauchermann]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome. Thank you for joining us.

 

[deluxestogie]

I'm curious why you would want to grow tobacco hydroponically. A glance of Gloversville in Google Earth reveals hardly a single home that lacks a yard. Your growing season is similar to mine. In the dirt is way easier and way less expensive than hydroponics--which others on this forum have done successfully, though I can't attest to the quality of the finished leaf that the indoor growing produced.

Bob

 

[MarcL]

Welcome to Fair Trade Tobacco.

 

[Biglizard1]

Welcome to the mix!

 

[cincydave]

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing your hydroponic grow if you go that way.

 

[Oldfella]

Welcome from me in NZ. I know you will have fun here.
Oldfella

 

[Homegrowngoodnes]

Welcome to the forum and good luck on your journey!

 

[smallwanderings]

Welcome!

 

[dburrell3871]

I'm curious why you would want to grow tobacco hydroponically. A glance of Gloversville in Google Earth reveals hardly a single home that lacks a yard. Your growing season is similar to mine. In the dirt is way easier and way less expensive than hydroponics--which others on this forum have done successfully, though I can't attest to the quality of the finished leaf that the indoor growing produced.

I'm on a hill and our backyards are on a 45° slant on the north side of the property shaded by trees. From the little I know it doesn't seem like it would work. Though if I'm wrong please tell me because I would love to just put seeds in the dirt

 

[Havok]

I think there’s a Connecticut variety that does well in the shade. I haven’t grown myself but I think it’s good for binder and pipe tobacco. Maybe good for a cigarette mix as well?
Other varieties would probably do alright, just might not get as tall or as big a leaf from them as you would expect under better circumstances.
I’d give a couple plants a try at it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Connecticut Shade is wrapper leaf. It is grown beneath 40% shade cloth. Tree shade (~40% of the day) would do the same thing, but only if the Shade tobacco is planted well beyond the zone of tree root intrusion, which is can be as much as double the radius of the tree canopy. Any tobacco grown in an area of tree root intrusion is stunted and usually disappointing.

Bob

 

[dburrell3871]

Connecticut Shade is wrapper leaf. It is grown beneath 40% shade cloth. Tree shade (~40% of the day) would do the same thing, but only if the Shade tobacco is planted well beyond the zone of tree root intrusion, which is can be as much as double the radius of the tree canopy. Any tobacco grown in an area of tree root intrusion is stunted and usually disappointing.

Bob

Thanks for that I'll definitely give it a go in the spring. So I guess Connecticut SHADE isn't one of those hidden meaning type names is it.lol

 

[deluxestogie]

Shade grown tobacco varieties (Connecticut Shade, Carolina Shade, etc.) were intentionally developed wrapper varieties. At the start of the 20th century, they were intended to compete with the very thin wrapper leaf then being imported from Sumatra. At that time, all US grown wrappers were heavier leaf (burley or broadleaf, seedleaf, etc.). Imported leaf was taxed by the pound, so importing thinner leaf cost less tax per leaf. Manufacturers and consumers began to prefer the very thin wrappers of Sumatra.

Bob

 

[wruk53]

Hi everyone. So I recently started rolling my own cigars and being a diy nutjob in all things (brewing, wine making, cannabis growing, bio diesel making) I figured why not try growing my own tobacco. So here I am. My primary interest is figuring out the feasibility of hydroponic tobacco. I look forward to learning and sharing my own experiences.

Welcome to the forum. Were you planning on growing indoors or out? Indoors would require an enormous amount of electricity for lighting, cooling, etc. I imagine. I use a passive hydro system outdoors with good results. If you are interested, review my Spring 2021 Blog for details on how I do it. It could be adapted to indoor use by drilling holes in the bottoms of the containers as well as on the sides and using a drip tray of some sort to contain the overflow. As Bob says though, it is more expensive than growing in dirt. In fact, I would be money ahead by just purchasing whole leaf from WLT, but then, what would I do for a hobby? It gets me outdoors and gives me pleasure.

 

[dburrell3871]

Alright well thank you everyone for your input after doing a whole bunch of research and considering the great advice I received on here I decided to go with growing in dirt. I will use the back yard for some shade varieties and the wife gave me the go ahead to plant about 6 plants (Max I can fit) in my front yard (southern facing unobstructed sun) for more sun hungry varieties. Now I just have to determine what I want to grow. This will all be used for rolling cigars. If you all have any input I'm looking for a medium bodied smoke. Something that would pair well with an oaky Cabernet (my most recent frozen must batch that's doing time in a used oak barrel). Again thanks for all the comments can't wait for spring now

 

[Knucklehead]

Alright well thank you everyone for your input after doing a whole bunch of research and considering the great advice I received on here I decided to go with growing in dirt. I will use the back yard for some shade varieties and the wife gave me the go ahead to plant about 6 plants (Max I can fit) in my front yard (southern facing unobstructed sun) for more sun hungry varieties. Now I just have to determine what I want to grow. This will all be used for rolling cigars. If you all have any input I'm looking for a medium bodied smoke. Something that would pair well with an oaky Cabernet (my most recent frozen must batch that's doing time in a used oak barrel). Again thanks for all the comments can't wait for spring now

You can grow in pots on a sunny porch or other areas with sun. Best of luck.