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Question on how to kill a tobacco plant

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MakBeth19

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That has to be the oddest question I've ever seen on this site..lol.

I recently bought a home on 2.3 acres, and plan to grow food for myself and my family. But the garden (52' X 74' - which had been plowed flat before we took possession so I had no clue that the entire garden was FULL of tobacco!) keeps re-growing tobacco. I've heard this leaches nutrients from the soil, and inhibits food production. I need to find a way to get rid of the tobacco completely and permanently, while still having soil that will grow food plants such as lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, melons - stuff we can eat. It may seem bizarre to you, but I seriously need to kill the tobacco, and then stop it from taking over my garden. WAAAAY open to suggestions. Please.
 
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ArizonaDave

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I recently bought a home on 2.3 acres, and plan to grow food for myself and my family. But the garden (52' X 74' - which had been plowed flat before we took possession so I had no clue that the entire garden was FULL of tobacco!) keeps re-growing tobacco. I've heard this leaches nutrients from the soil, and inhibits food production. I need to find a way to get rid of the tobacco completely and permanently, while still having soil that will grow food plants such as lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, melons - stuff we can eat. It may seem bizarre to you, but I seriously need to kill the tobacco, and then stop it from taking over my garden. WAAAAY open to suggestions. Please.
Ask DeluxeStogie. My way would be harsh. I'd have someone spray the yard with that stuff that kills seeds for 1 year, then grow the following year.
 

Jitterbugdude

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Tobacco doesn't deplete nutrients anymore than corn does so I wouldn't worry too much. You can spray a pre-emergent weed killer early in the season. That should kill any tobacco sprouts and weeds. You could also till your garden this spring and plant the veggies of your choice. The first time you hoe or cultivate you will take out almost all of the tobacco. It will not grow back unless you let it go to seed.
 

SmokesAhoy

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Likely the previous owner just had a ton go to seed last year. Tobacco is very easy to identify and doesn't have characteristics allowing it to remain an issue for long.
Till your soil, plant your veggies. You might pick a few out this year but likely that'll be the end.

I wouldn't bother with herbicides, we're not talking about crabgrass.
 

Jitterbugdude

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I don't think just tilling will work. All tilling will do is mix the seed into the soil. As soon as conditions are ripe, it will sprout.
 

deluxestogie

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Welcome to the forum, MakBeth19. Unlike Shakespeare's Macbeth, you should feel no guilt about murdering the tobacco. Tobacco is a "broadleaf weed," and is highly susceptible to herbicides, such as glyphosate (Roundup). With Roundup, wait until the tobacco comes up again, then spray the Roundup. Wait a couple of weeks, then plant with food.

http://www.roundup.com/smg/goART3/H...undup-weed-and-grass-killer-products/44100010

roundup.com said:
After you apply Roundup® Weed & Grass Killer products to the leaves, glyphosate works its way through the plant, all the way down to the root.
If your region is subject to hard freezes (you didn't include a general location in your profile), then the tobacco is likely germinating from residual seeds. If you wait for the new seedlings to sprout, then you can just nuke them all with a propane garden torch. In subtropical areas, the roots can survive the winter, since tobacco is a perennial, in which case you either have to dig up the roots (they're shallow, usually less than 1 foot deep), or spray the sprouted plants with herbicide.

As for robbing the soil of nutrients, fully matured tobacco plants are about as nutrient hungry as sweet corn. So that's not a big issue.

Bob
 

SmokesAhoy

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By tilling I mean, just go about your business and start the garden. I didn't catch where he lives but chances of it going invasive are pretty remote I think.

If it sprouted this year, that was probably it.


Well I guess depending on how much seed fell into the garden.
 

ekul

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can you just leave them in and get a new plant? Or does the second plant not do as well?
You'd think it would boost with the head start it gets from the giant root
 

deluxestogie

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The "new plant" that you get is called a sucker. Sometimes it may grow quite large, and produce abundant leaf. Generally, though not always, the leaf from suckers is not as good a quality as leaf from the primary stalk.

After growing tobacco for years, I still can't clearly understand why the suckers usually produce lower quality leaf. The succession of nutrients and alkaloids that are produced by the roots, and delivered by the stalk to emerging leaf surely changes over time, from the beginning of the season to late summer. The concentrations of nutrients remaining in the soil also change. The average weather changes. And the pest burden increases from spring to late summer.

On the other hand, I have grown tiny, potted tobacco, clipped the stalk numerous times, taken it indoors during cold weather, and then...after several years of maintenance in this fashion, transplanted the dwarf thing into the ground at the beginning of a new season. Some of these immediately died from transplant shock. Others grew into full size plants from their 4th or 5th generation suckers, and yielded excellent leaf. This suggests that fresh soil, and setting-out time in the spring allow the established tobacco plant to grow normally and produce normally--when it doesn't kill it.

During colonial times in North America, many tobacco growing colonies established laws that forbade the growing of suckers, fearing that inclusion of sucker leaf into the tobacco exported from the colony would lower the reputation of that colony's tobacco. Enforcers would visit farms, and destroy any sucker crops they discovered.

My own opinion is that sucker leaf is usually not worth the time and labor and curing space, given the typically low quality of the resulting leaf. For a home grower, "free" leaf is not free. Growing and managing and housing and curing and finishing tobacco cost a great deal of personal effort and attention.

Bob
 

OldDinosaurWesH

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Bob:

According to my source, who deals with customers from tropical and sub-tropical places where it never freezes, tobacco will regrow annually from the same rootstock. But to ever decreasing yields and quality. This statement concurs with what you have just said. Again, per my source, they only way to produce the best yields and quality is to start over each year with fresh seedlings. My source is well versed in tobacco, and I take his word on its face, just as I do yours.

Speaking of suckers, I took all the leaf off of my Ismir Osbas main stems last Sunday. I left the sucker leaf on the plants. Those suckers are just booming. Even in the cool wet weather. I've never encountered such rapid growth in such a short period of time, only four days. I'm guessing that since I removed all the main stem leaf, all the nutrients and energy are now moving to the sucker leaf giving them an extra boost. Or maybe the wee beasties have realized that the season is short and that they had better get with it. I'm not sure which. But I'm more inclined to go with the former rather than the latter.

Be that as it may, the sun is shining and the humidity is dropping like a stone, so I'd better get with it myself. Have a good day!

Wes H.
 
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