New to TN/KY area...

[Longshanks]

Good day everyone! Not sure my initial attempt to post came thru... pardon if it comes through twice.

Pipe & cigar enthusiast here with a strong interest in organics, non-GMO heirloom seeds and permaculture. I relocated temporarily to Nashville, TN area to find a real estate job but may end up near Knoxville, TN or up in Radcliff, KY area when all is said and done.

After researching and locating potential homesteads with at least a couple acres of land, and after meeting a girlfriend who grew up helping her dad grow Burley in KY, I got to thinking about growing an unadulterated tobacco crop for my personal use. I bought Ray French's book 'How to Grow Your Own Tobacco From Seed to Smoke' and figured I'd look for a forum with experts who love to share their hints, tips and advice on the matter. And I ended up here.

Since it grows well in this area, I believe I'll start a Burley crop if I can find seeds soon enough. I look forward to researching your posts about growing Burley in the TN/KY area and welcome any seed variety recommendations for this climate and soil.

Thanks in advance!

-- Longshanks

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome to the forum. You can grow any tobacco variety in your area. Cigar varieties do well there. A forum member, Skychaser, sells tobacco seed as well as other seed at Northwood Seeds Retail

 

[Hasse SWE]

Welcome and good luck with your grow. When you looking at Northwoods huge seed-list I can tell you they growing everything"self"..

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. If you start seed on May 1, it won't be ready to be transplanted to the ground until nearly July. That probably allows enough time to get leaf, but possibly not produce seed.

A forum member, BigBonner, may be offering transplants, which would be a much quicker way to go. You can send him a PM to inquire. He's in eastern Kentucky, and will definitely have burley. In past years, he has a number of other varieties as well.

Be sure to check out the Growers' FAQ (link at the top of each page), and the index of Key Forum Threads: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/3868-Key-threads-in-the-FTT-forum.

Bob

 

[leverhead]

Welcome!

 

[DGBAMA]

Welcome. Growing is both a lot of fun and a lot of work.

 

[chris m]

Welcome this is a great group and you will have fun

 

[indianjoe]

Welcome to the forum, as said above, get you some Bigbonner's transplants and you will be off.

 

[ProfessorPangloss]

If you happen to be coming to the Lexington area, I have a tray with some Perique and Catterton started that you're welcome to.

 

[Longshanks]

Welcome to the forum. You can grow any tobacco variety in your area. Cigar varieties do well there. A forum member, Skychaser, sells tobacco seed as well as other seed at Northwood Seeds Retail

Awesome, thx!

 

[Longshanks]

Welcome to the forum. If you start seed on May 1, it won't be ready to be transplanted to the ground until nearly July. That probably allows enough time to get leaf, but possibly not produce seed.

A forum member, BigBonner, may be offering transplants, which would be a much quicker way to go. You can send him a PM to inquire. He's in eastern Kentucky, and will definitely have burley. In past years, he has a number of other varieties as well.

Be sure to check out the Growers' FAQ (link at the top of each page), and the index of Key Forum Threads: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/3868-Key-threads-in-the-FTT-forum.

Bob

Excellent. Thx!

 

[Longshanks]

If you happen to be coming to the Lexington area, I have a tray with some Perique and Catterton started that you're welcome to.

How generous! I was planning a trip to Radcliff to view properties possibly next week. May be I can pay you a visit then? Perique adds a nice flavor to pipe blends. I'll have to research Catterton, but then I'm sure it's tasty if you're growing it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Perique adds a nice flavor to pipe blends. ...Catterton...

Catterton is a relatively mild Maryland type. It will make a nice black Cavendish: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/637-Making-Black-Cavendish-Pipe-Tobacco.

Perique variety tobacco won't become the Perique-processed leaf that you know from pipe blends, until it is pressure-cured: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/2873-Really-Easy-Perique-Press.

Bob

 

[Longshanks]

Catterton is a relatively mild Maryland type. It will make a nice black Cavendish: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/637-Making-Black-Cavendish-Pipe-Tobacco.

Perique variety tobacco won't become the Perique-processed leaf that you know from pipe blends, until it is pressure-cured: http://fairtradetobacco.com/threads/2873-Really-Easy-Perique-Press.

Bob

Excellent. Thanks for info and the links!

 

[Longshanks]

I'd just like to add to my intro a recommendation that you avoid reading Ray French's book "How to Grow Your Own Tobacco From Seed to Smoke" at all costs. If this guy knows anything about growing tobacco, you'd never know it from reading his book!

I hate negativity, as contradictory as that statement sounds. But Ray's book is the worst written, most uninformative 151 pages of crap I've ever read in my life. I'm still trying to figure out what information Ray gleaned from his Bibliography and References page because, whatever it was, the information surely didn't find its way into his book.

Take it or leave it. This is a two-thumbs-down and do-NOT-read recommendation.

 

[deluxestogie]

Interesting comments on the book. I would guess that the most knowledgeable home tobacco growers are members of FTT or HTGT. None of the authors of the handful of how-to books available are members of either forum.

On this forum, each of us has learned bits and pieces of valuable information from the efforts of other forum members. My own understanding of successful ways to accomplish the various stages of tobacco germinating, transplanting, growing, suckering, harvesting, curing, finishing, as well as approaches to pest control has evolved over the past five years. This new knowledge comes from the forum community as a result of group learning.

The books on the market appear to have been written in haste, and based on minimal experience, maximal myth, and very little exploration of the wealth of information available in the 19th century literature (freely available at www.archive.org). They seem to be mostly cash grabs.

None of this is surprising, since over a million books are published each year in the US alone (according to Bowker). Of course, most of them are forgettable.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

I'd just like to add to my intro a recommendation that you avoid reading Ray French's book "How to Grow Your Own Tobacco From Seed to Smoke" at all costs. If this guy knows anything about growing tobacco, you'd never know it from reading his book!

I hate negativity, as contradictory as that statement sounds. But Ray's book is the worst written, most uninformative 151 pages of crap I've ever read in my life. I'm still trying to figure out what information Ray gleaned from his Bibliography and References page because, whatever it was, the information surely didn't find its way into his book.

Take it or leave it. This is a two-thumbs-down and do-NOT-read recommendation.

I was every bit as disappointed with the book as you are.

 

[MarcL]

Welcome to Fair Trade Tobacco.

 

[ProfessorPangloss]

Interesting comments on the book. I would guess that the most knowledgeable home tobacco growers are members of FTT or HTGT. None of the authors of the handful of how-to books available are members of either forum.

On this forum, each of us has learned bits and pieces of valuable information from the efforts of other forum members. My own understanding of successful ways to accomplish the various stages of tobacco germinating, transplanting, growing, suckering, harvesting, curing, finishing, as well as approaches to pest control has evolved over the past five years. This new knowledge comes from the forum community as a result of group learning.

The books on the market appear to have been written in haste, and based on minimal experience, maximal myth, and very little exploration of the wealth of information available in the 19th century literature (freely available at www.archive.org). They seem to be mostly cash grabs.

None of this is surprising, since over a million books are published each year in the US alone (according to Bowker). Of course, most of them are forgettable.

Bob

You know, maybe the forum should collaborate on a book. I've edited and written before for several venues. Would be happy to donate abilities to compile articles and string it all together. I'm not kidding. It's not beyond the capabilities of this forum to write an exhaustive guide to what we know, geared toward the smallish grower of heirlooms and oddities for personal consumption and trading.

totally serious here.

 

[POGreen]

Welcome to the forum Longshanks !