Identify plants

[CaptainAubrey]

Hello again helpful folks,

Since I have horrible black gumbo clay soil here in Dallas all of my plants are in hypertufa pots. I use hypertufa because it keeps the soil 10 degrees cooler than plastic pots. I have moved some around to get the plant into or out of the sun. Unfortunately a lot of my pop sickle sticks have faded and I cannot tell some of them apart. I know that with trees one can use leaf identification factors like palmate vs pinnate, etc, but to my untrained eye tobacco leaves all look a lot alike. So is there some sort of tobacco plant identification guide available?

Thanks,
John

 

[deluxestogie]

There is no key that I know of.

There are well over 3000 named tobacco varieties, and many hundreds that are commonly planted. Potted plants sometimes do not reflect the typical morphology of the variety, compared to traditional planting methods. Post pics of the mystery plants, and list what possible varieties they could be. We can take a crack at it.

Bob

 

[CaptainAubrey]

Thanks for the offer Bob,

Sorry for the delay, had a hard time transferring from phone to PC. (And I call myself an embedded firmware engineer, good thing I am retired, mostly).

The candidates are:
Ahus
Bafra
Black Mammoth
Corojo
Connecticut Broadleaf
Connecticut Shade
Punche
Shirazi
Va Bright

The contestants, struggling in 106 degree heat today are:


I caught bits of other plants but as I sure you figured it is the plant in the center of each frame that is of interest.

Thanks,
John

 

[deluxestogie]

The final image is likely Bafra, which is a heart-shaped leaf with a fringed petiole. The second image shows a plant with signs of severe frenching. So I can identify only the final one.

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

They all look the same to me.

 

[deluxestogie]

I just noticed that Punche has a leaf similar to that of Bafra. If the blossoms are yellow, then it's Punche. If pink, then it's Bafra. One thing you might do for the others is to look them up on the Northwood Seeds site, and compare the photos of the plants and leaf shapes / sizes.

Bob

 

[polygon55]

The first one to bloom will be the ahus. He is very early. In the last photo, I agree with Deluxestogie, this is a baffra. I did not see Punche in the photo. But you will immediately recognize it by its yellow flower.

 

[CaptainAubrey]

I de Frenchensteinted the Frenched plant. Here it is with those leaves removed.

 

[deluxestogie]

One additional clue: leaves of dark air-cured varieties tend to be stickier and appear fuzzier than cigar varieties.

Bob

 

[CaptainAubrey]

I just noticed that Punche has a leaf similar to that of Bafra. If the blossoms are yellow, then it's Punche. If pink, then it's Bafra. One thing you might do for the others is to look them up on the Northwood Seeds site, and compare the photos of the plants and leaf shapes / sizes.

Bob

Well, dang my diligence. I have already picked off the buds. But I just checked and see a sucker starting to form. Maybe I will leave it alone and see if it will form a bud for me.

 

[deluxestogie]

N. rustica blossoms have yellow petals. But the entire blossom is squat and dumpy, like a spittoon. N. tabacum blossoms are, by contrast, like long trumpets with pink or pink-rimmed petals.

Bob

 

[CaptainAubrey]

Thanks again.

Just noticed you are near Blacksburg. My brother attended VPI. I grew up in the furniture town of Bassett, VA and recently sold a house in Amherst. We were at the eastern foot of the Blue Ridge, 9 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The last summer I was there we could turn off the AC and open the windows on summer nights, all except three nights. Stuck in Dallas now. Sure wish I was back in VA. People around here think 90 pounds is a big buck.

 

[deluxestogie]

attended VPI

When in high school in the early 1960s, I proudly wore my oldest brother's gray, VPI track shirt. "VPI" was officially changed about 25 years ago to "Virginia Tech". "Polytechnic Institute" was too many syllables for football cheers, and "VPI" too non-specific.

The best thing I can say about the climate here above the Blue Ridge is that, when looking at a national weather map, we seldom get the pizza toppings. My old farm house is not air conditioned, and I have turned down several offers of a free window air conditioner.

Bob

 

[CaptainAubrey]

Pizza toppings?

I remember that tornadoes were unheard of in our area.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob

 

[CaptainAubrey]

I just noticed that Punche has a leaf similar to that of Bafra. If the blossoms are yellow, then it's Punche. If pink, then it's Bafra. One thing you might do for the others is to look them up on the Northwood Seeds site, and compare the photos of the plants and leaf shapes / sizes.

Bob

The mystery plant came out with long pink flowers, so Bafra it is.

Thanks again.