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formulating tobacco fertilizer

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Jitterbugdude

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Am I reinventing the wheel? Probably, but I am having fun doing so.:)

And that's the most important thing.. You're having fun doing it!
Your statement about tobacco needing some chloride is true. Tobacco grows best with about a 2% chloride level. Once you get to about 2.5% you have burning issues.
 

SmokeStack

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Update: I have discontinued fertilizing for about two weeks now since plants are beginning to bud and flower. I have noticed a big difference in growth between fertilized and unfertilized plants. You can see the difference from this photo of my Yellow Orinoco patch.

2012-08-02 I-C #2.jpg
For the most part: the plants to the left were fertilized, whereas the ones to the right were not. The first row across had a mild dosage. I will still need at least another season to collect more data - I can see this being an ongoing project. There are many variables to consider since each grower has different soil:


  • pH
  • amounts of macronutrients N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium)
  • levels of micronutrients (boron, iron, manganese, zinc, etc.)
  • and several other things...

Because of this, I have come to the conclusion that there is no single formula that could be used as an all-purpose "tobacco specific" fertilizer. However, I am now focusing on producing a nitrogen-rich formula (with a neutral pH and no chloride) to promote leaf growth. I will also exclude the micronutrients - I feel that these can be supplemented separately if soil tests indicate a deficiency.

The only downside of using ultra-high grade compounds in quantities necessary to fertilize is cost. In fact, this has become the limiting factor in my project. It is not economically feasible to pay $800 a year to fertilize a hundred plants! Oh well, I'll keep you guys posted when I learn more.:)
 

BarG

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If I take my whole tobacco patch where every plant was treated the same I get similar results.

The high spots do better and the plants on the ends of the row are always runts compared to the rest it seems.

I get the same type of results in my vegetable gardens also. Some spots in the garden are simply better.

I think I may need to add some calcium to mine next year, I started getting a bit of leaf curl on some varietys and I believe thats the cause.
 

SmokeStack

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If I take my whole tobacco patch where every plant was treated the same I get similar results.

The high spots do better and the plants on the ends of the row are always runts compared to the rest it seems.

That's true, some plants do better than others and I have noticed this to a small extent. But by doing the math, I found that there is a big difference between the fertilized and non-fertilized plants. I have a few outliers as is the case in many statistical analyses. But the rest seems on target. If you check my most recent photos of my other patches on my grow blog, you will notice that the variation is small compared to my Yellow Orinoco plants.

BarG, you bring up a good point though - there are variations and this may be something I will consider studying next season. Maybe I should grow a patch of Yellow Orinoco without any fertilizer just for measuring the variations as you mentioned.
 

BarG

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Smokestack, Your the more dedicated scientist than I'll ever be. I appreciate your observations, And I just added a a few of my own, LOL. My main point was if as you say check the grow logs which I'll do on yours, is in mine the high ground has the best plants which in my opinion is best soil suited for the several different varietys all treated the same with no fertilizer other than black Kow manure and a previous dolomitic limeing a month or so before planting. I would suggest that some areas of my garden were lacking in something.
[I'm thinking depth of sandy loam]
 

SmokeStack

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varietys all treated the same with no fertilizer other than black Kow manure and a previous dolomitic limeing a month or so before planting. I would suggest that some areas of my garden were lacking in something.
[I'm thinking depth of sandy loam]

BarG, I am curious to know why you are adding dolomite to the ground. Is it to increase Calcium or Magnesium? Dolomite can also increase the pH of the soil and make it less acidic - are you trying to increase the pH? I have read that some growers add something like lime to their soil, but I don't know why. If you could enlighten a new grower like me, I would be most grateful.:)

Thanks,

Marco
 
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