growing new seeds indoors

[cowboyjames74]

Just wondering, out here in Arkansas there is a lot of hydroponics businesses popping up.
Can you use hydroponics to grow seeds indoors during the winter?
Then later transplant to a garden.

 

[Daniel]

I've seen a couple of people grow tobacco using Hydroponics. One comment I saw said the tobacco came out very weak though. Tobaccos flavor is altered by where it is grown the soil and the climate. Don't know that I have heard of anyone starting them and then transplanting them using hydroponics. The same issues of growing indoors would apply regardless of what methods you use to grow them. They get huge and require mountains of light as well as root space. I grew tobacco this last summer in 5 gallon buckets. for full grown plants you need large. maybe twice as large. or you will have stunted plants. People have grown them indoors I am just not sure they are saving much doing so.

 

[Chicken]

i plan on starting next years seeds under lights,,,,

but i gotta agree with daniel....

a baccy plant is huge, and needs a good root network for proper development,

 

[BarG]

Try starting indoors about 4-6 weeks before last frost before hardening off and transplanting to garden or field. Very similar to starting tomatoes or other vegetables vulnerable to frost.

 

[cowboyjames74]

Thanks yall, I may start my seed indoors to get them to sprout and then move them in to the garden after our cold weather subsides.

 

[Daniel]

cowboy, look into float beds. it is a bit of a marriage of hydroponics and starting indoors. At least green house starting of seed. It's how the big boys do it. As far as I know all tobacco seed is started indoors. I consider a green house as indoors by the way. The only thing I have heard of that would be considered starting them outdoors was way back when. they burned brush over a starting bed to warm the soil and kill weed seed. then spread the seed on that bed tending it very carefully. even then the starts where dug up and transplanted to the field.

 

[BigBonner]

Way back when the seeds were sewn in tobacco beds The beds were burned to kill weed seeds . Until recently we used Bromo gas under plastic bed covers to gas the weed seeds and bed . Seed was mixed with a fine dusty fertilizer then hand sewn on top of the prepared seed bed .With these types of bed plants we could pull several acres worth of plants . We would pull the ready to set plants then wait a couple of days then pull the next plants that were ready .We would always have extra plant left in the beds this was good because if a storm destroyed your planting you could go back to the beds and pull more .With float trays what plants you have is what you get you can't re-pull plants .

Now days its easier to use float trays on water .I don't know if you can raise tobacco from start to finish on water .

 

[DrBob]

Howdy Cowboy!
Float trays work great! Big Bonner uses em all the time. The man is so good at it that I buy my seedlings from him. He shipped em to me right in the mail. No muss no fuss. The seedlings ship very well, out of 250 shipped only 1 or 2 didnt make the trip. I already ordered my seedlings for next year.
I grew my own seedlings in float trays before and it worked out well, but I really do not have the proper greenhouse and It was a whole lot easier to just buy them from him. His plants were better than I could grow.
If you would like to try float trays I have a few 200 cell trays and a lot of 288 cell trays that I would like to sell.
Bob

 

[FmGrowit]

Howdy Cowboy!
The man is so good at it that I buy my seedlings from him. He shipped em to me right in the mail. No muss no fuss.
Bob

This might be a good topic for http://www.fairtradetobacco.com/sho...-entrepreneur-s-and-product-developers-wanted
A couple of guys could get together and discuss starting a few varieties each. No need for one person to grow all of them unless nobody else wants to grow the seedlings.

I'll supply anyone (with some history on this forum) with the seeds for growing seedling at no cost.

Post your listing in the "Plants for sale" forum

 

[Smokin Harley]

Howdy Cowboy!
Float trays work great! Big Bonner uses em all the time. The man is so good at it that I buy my seedlings from him. He shipped em to me right in the mail. No muss no fuss. The seedlings ship very well, out of 250 shipped only 1 or 2 didnt make the trip. I already ordered my seedlings for next year.
I grew my own seedlings in float trays before and it worked out well, but I really do not have the proper greenhouse and It was a whole lot easier to just buy them from him. His plants were better than I could grow.
If you would like to try float trays I have a few 200 cell trays and a lot of 288 cell trays that I would like to sell.
Bob

Bob, I realize this was an old post but do you still have any of those trays?

 

[Ben Brand]

I've seen a couple of people grow tobacco using Hydroponics. One comment I saw said the tobacco came out very weak though. Tobaccos flavor is altered by where it is grown the soil and the climate. Don't know that I have heard of anyone starting them and then transplanting them using hydroponics. The same issues of growing indoors would apply regardless of what methods you use to grow them. They get huge and require mountains of light as well as root space. I grew tobacco this last summer in 5 gallon buckets. for full grown plants you need large. maybe twice as large. or you will have stunted plants. People have grown them indoors I am just not sure they are saving much doing so.[/QUOTE
Agree with Daniel on the hydroponics, tobacco roots need lots of space, they can go up to 1M deep.
Daniel were you a naughty boy? Why does it say BANNED by your avatar? Tsk tsk tsk.

 

[Chicken]

This past year I was at a commercial plant starting greenhouses..and they did have bacca started.using floating trays..

 

[Knucklehead]

Float trays would be nice in a greenhouse, but they make an unholy mess inside the house. I tried it my first year and then went to the 1020 trays due to the mess and the difficulty of getting the water back outside once you're finished with the seedlings.