Tips for growing in pots

[bohdan.zaremba]

Hello everybody,

This will be my first season trying to grow tobacco (cigar varieties). Unfortunately I can only grow in pots. They are 5 gallons in volume, which I understand is borderline in size.

Has anybody tried to grow cigar tobacco in pots? How did it turn out? Any tips or advice are appreciated.

Thanks

 

[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, linked in the menu bar. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum.

Many members have grown cigar tobacco in pots. Browse through the current grow logs (in the Grow Blogs forum) for examples.

Bob

 

[Alpine]

Welcome to FTT

pier

 

[johnny108]

Welcome.
I’ve grown cigar varieties in pots (among others), and if you want big leaves, you need big pots.
A ten gallon pot (as wide as it is tall) will give you a plant the same size as if you grew it in the ground. 5 gallons will be about 2/3 size.
You will get very good leaf, but the size of cigars you can roll might be limited.

Comparison:

My window and balcony: 2024

And I sign for my new garden plot on Sunday….next year is going to be an event. Good deal! Looking forward to it!

forum.wholeleaftobacco.com

 

[The Haroo ln]

I'm growing in majority of mine in pots this year. You can keep your eyes on my grow blog to see progress throughout the growing season. Hope it helps. I cant tell you what size the pots are as when i bought them they advertised them as the diameter of the the top. I will use the bags of soil to measure the size when i pot my plants

 

[jclif43]

Welcome!

 

[bohdan.zaremba]

Welcome.
I’ve grown cigar varieties in pots (among others), and if you want big leaves, you need big pots.
A ten gallon pot (as wide as it is tall) will give you a plant the same size as if you grew it in the ground. 5 gallons will be about 2/3 size.
You will get very good leaf, but the size of cigars you can roll might be limited.

Comparison:

My window and balcony: 2024

And I sign for my new garden plot on Sunday….next year is going to be an event. Good deal! Looking forward to it!

forum.wholeleaftobacco.com

Thanks. I'm okay with a smaller leaf, as long as it still comes out flavourful. If it goes well this season, I'll get 10 gallon pots for the next year.

Do you remember how often you had to fertilize the soil in the pots? I skimmed through your growing blog and didn't see it mentioned, I apologize if the answer was already answered and I missed it

 

[bohdan.zaremba]

I'm growing in majority of mine in pots this year. You can keep your eyes on my grow blog to see progress throughout the growing season. Hope it helps. I cant tell you what size the pots are as when i bought them they advertised them as the diameter of the the top. I will use the bags of soil to measure the size when i pot my plants

Thanks, I'll keep an eye on it. How often do you plan to fertilize the soil during the growing season?

 

[deluxestogie]

Pots are always heavy. If you have to move them, then weight is a consideration. If you have to fill them with purchased soil, that may become an issue with increasingly larger pots. The images below are from my 2017 grow. Notice how small the pot is.

Below is a comparison of the plant in the previous photo vs. the same variety planted in a garden bed.

Bob

EDIT: Both the pot soil and the garden bed soil were fertilized prior to planting, using 10-10-10 tilled in at the rate recommended for tomatoes. I do not repeat fertilizer.

 

[The Haroo ln]

Not sure about fertilization schedule yet. The soil ive got has a lot of seaweed extract and it says that it has upto 3 months feed already in there. I might just give a dose of high N fertilizer around 2 weeks after i transplant and then a high potassium feed around 3-4 weeks after the nitrogen. Will probably see how the plugs do once transplanted for a few weeks first though as i dont want to over-fertilize and then have problems curing later

 

[Fleaz]

Pots are always heavy. If you have to move them, then weight is a consideration. If you have to fill them with purchased soil, that may become an issue with increasingly larger pots. The images below are from my 2017 grow. Notice how small the pot is.

That is a pretty good size plant for how small the pot is!

 

[johnny108]

Thanks. I'm okay with a smaller leaf, as long as it still comes out flavourful. If it goes well this season, I'll get 10 gallon pots for the next year.

Do you remember how often you had to fertilize the soil in the pots? I skimmed through your growing blog and didn't see it mentioned, I apologize if the answer was already answered and I missed it

The fertilizer schedule for mine was excessive, because I was growing in a semi-soilless mix. 75% of the “soil” wasnt actually dirt, it was coconut coir, perlite and vermiculite, which have no fertilizer value.
So I fertilized with every other watering.

When I have used real potting soil, i fertilize at transplant into the container, then at one month after transplant, then at 2 months after transplant.
The fertilzer is a full strength 20-20-20 tomato fertilizer with about a teaspoon (5ml) of Epsom salts per gallon/4L)

 

[Tutu]

Have been growing in containers for 10 years and no complaints.
Focus on height of the pots, rather than diameter I would say.

 

[The Haroo ln]

Have been growing in containers for 10 years and no complaints.
Focus on height of the pots, rather than diameter I would say.

Thats good know. Ive always had the dilemma of tall pots or wide pots.
Below, the grey pots are the ones i used last year pic on the left is roughly 15 inches tall and wide, the pic on the right is roughly 2ft tall and about 12 inches wide and the pic in the middle is what i will add for this years grow. Not sure of the size just know they are absolutely humongous but my hand is next to the pots for a rough guestimate.

 

[The Haroo ln]

Plus its hard to tell the sizes in pictures. Photos dont really do justice!

 

[Tutu]

Yeah definitely go for the tall version.
Roots need to develop downward. When they hit a limit and can only grow sideways the plant gets more stressed.
Drainage and flow of water also works much better in taller pots rather than wider ones.

 

[deluxestogie]

Pots with a narrow base will blow over more easily.

Bob