Tobacco Growing BLUES.

[Brown Thumb]

Looks like Half the crop is starting to bud.
They are about one to two feet tall.
Havana Gold
VA509
VA309
The VA Gold looks ok so far.
Should I let them go to flower to keep them growing.
Thanks, Tom

 

[dkh2]

Same thing happened to a lot of people last year for some reason.
I just let mine grow after topping them they still got pretty tall.

 

[LeftyRighty]

let the buds continue for another week or two, until a few buds start to flower - the stalks will extend higher, more spacing between leaves, giving you a better definition of which leaves to keep on the plant when you top them..

 

[FmGrowit]

Try a little experiment...

Allow the flowerhead to grow, but cut 90% of the branches off. Try to leave what is closest to the terminal bud in tact. My thought is the plant won't start throwing suckers out because it hasn't been topped and it might continue to grow in height.

What have you got to lose?

 

[LeftyRighty]

Interesting idea, Don.
While this appraoch may limit suckers, will it inhibit or delay leaf ripening.?
I really don't want to prime leaves that are not ripe.

 

[FmGrowit]

My guess is it will not, but with a drastically reduced amount of energy otherwise spent on flower/seed production, the energy will now be available for leaf growth.

Just a theory.

 

[LeftyRighty]

I'm thinking one would strip/remove the upper small leaf that would normally be removed when topping.
No point in wasting plant energy on these leaves.

I got major budding occuring now - I may try this concept on a row of Virginia Bright Leaf, and compare with an adjacent row of VBL.

got to remember to take photos.

 

[Chicken]

ive had allmost all of my plants try to seed out,

but i ve been topping the flower heads,,,

im not ready to bag just yet,

and when i bag,, i'll just bag 2 of each strain,

and top all the rest of the plants,

 

[Brown Thumb]

Try a little experiment...

Allow the flowerhead to grow, but cut 90% of the branches off. Try to leave what is closest to the terminal bud in tact. My thought is the plant won't start throwing suckers out because it hasn't been topped and it might continue to grow in height.

What have you got to lose?

I tried that with the Rustica and seems to be working. But lots of suckers also.
I am gonna oil them suckers up soon when i find some time from weeding.
Thanks Tom

 

[Brown Thumb]

Interesting idea, Don.
While this appraoch may limit suckers, will it inhibit or delay leaf ripening.?
I really don't want to prime leaves that are not ripe.

My thought was less flowers more leaf, I took off all the flowers up to the top , but left the last two on some Rustica and they are still growing.
The ones I topped stopped growing Vertically , Just Losts Of Suckers. But the Leaf is getting bigger.

 

[Brown Thumb]

Same thing happened to a lot of people last year for some reason.
I just let mine grow after topping them they still got pretty tall.

I thought that they did not grow after cutting there Heads Off ??

 

[BarG]

I thought that they did not grow after cutting there Heads Off ??

Brown thumb, keep an eye out for any good shoots starting at stem junction where topped and maybe let continue to grow into new stalk. It may still let the small leaves get bigger and add some height but this is just a guess.

 

[dkh2]

This picture is from August 19th 2011
Some plants are bagged the rest are topped and lower leaves were primed.
The fence is 62 inches tall 5 foot 2

 

[LeftyRighty]

Brown Thumb.....
When the plants are topped, the terminal bud is cut off, no new leaf is added - what's on the plant is what you get. However, the stalk will extend or grow some, the spacing between leaf increases, and the remaining leaf will continue to grow to full size and eventually mature. Yes, the plant continues to grow some, but no new leaf.

That is, unless you let the suckers take over!

 

[Brown Thumb]

Brown Thumb.....
When the plants are topped, the terminal bud is cut off, no new leaf is added - what's on the plant is what you get. However, the stalk will extend or grow some, the spacing between leaf increases, and the remaining leaf will continue to grow to full size and eventually mature. Yes, the plant continues to grow some, but no new leaf.

That is, unless you let the suckers take over!

Thanks for the answer to my dumb question.
That is what I was looking for.
Thanks, Tom

 

[BigBonner]

Topping tobacco also make plants ripen and the leaf will spred .