Bear Face's Small Batch Hydroponic Grow Low

[bear_face891]

Hello everyone and welcome to my grow log!

I have always been fascinated with the idea of growing my own tobacco from a seed and at the end rolling it up and enjoying the fruit of my labor.

Honestly I don't even smoke cigarettes, or a pipe or anything else for that matter.. I stopped smoking in 2010 and worked in the e-cigarette industry for 7 years. I have always had a love for hydroponics/aquaponics and always told myself if i ever smoked tobacco again it would be some i grew myself!

This is exactly what i am doing now!

My first grow will be of 3 different strains. Virginia Bright Leaf, Kentucky 17, and Aztec Makhorka

I have been reading that tobacco is a perennial normally grown annually. My first attempt will be to grow these plants and just cut the leaves off to see if i can keep it as a perennial.. Wish me luck!!

 

[bear_face891]

 

[bear_face891]

 

[skychaser]

This will be an interesting thread to follow. Welcome to FTT.

 

[bear_face891]

This will be an interesting thread to follow. Welcome to FTT.

Thank you!!

 

[2Baccy]

What style of hydro are you thinking?
I don’t know how your starting your seeds but I used a moist paper towel to start the seeds at around 25 Celsius. I think I stole that idea from BigBonner(guy on this site) or someone. I waited till the tap root was about 1/4”-1/2” Worked great. Transferred to a humidity dome type 72 cell tray, then eventually to a 21 cell tray. The first month they will grow pretty slowly. If I were you I’d plant at least 10 for every 1 I wanted to keep. (My seed was extremely cheap) pick the best.
Why are you going to try perennial?

 

[CobGuy]

Very cool! I'm currently setting up a similar room to grow Micro-greens.

Best of luck and keep the updated pics coming!

~Darin

 

[bear_face891]

What style of hydro are you thinking?
I don’t know how your starting your seeds but I used a moist paper towel to start the seeds at around 25 Celsius.
Why are you going to try perennial?

I was told by the person i got them from to just spread them over the top of some soil because they benefit from sunlight during the germination process.

I probably planted 40 or 50 of each type but will only keep 2 of each indoors. the rest will go in some pots outside if they will survive.

Why are you going to try perennial? i will be flue curing so i believe i can keep a decent production cycle going until i want to slow down. then i can pull up a couple and replace them with something else i want to grow.

its either this or pulling it up after its first couple sets of leaves and then growing a whole new one.

 

[bear_face891]

What style of hydro are you thinking?
?

im going to be using hydroton clay pebbles. the pump will be turned on for 5 min every hour and get all the clay / roots wet and cycle all the water it cant hold back into a tank


most the hydroponics ive seen with tobacco is a floating raft system with a bubbler. All the ones i have seen have also been outdoors, so we will see how it works with these lights.

 

[2Baccy]

I was told by the person i got them from to just spread them over the top of some soil because they benefit from sunlight during the germination process.

I probably planted 40 or 50 of each type but will only keep 2 of each indoors. the rest will go in some pots outside if they will survive.

Why are you going to try perennial? i will be flue curing so i believe i can keep a decent production cycle going until i want to slow down. then i can pull up a couple and replace them with something else i want to grow.

its either this or pulling it up after its first couple sets of leaves and then growing a whole new one.

I’m interested to understand how you will do this? I never knew tobacco was perennial. But I don’t know much. Would you be harvesting a leaf and then letting a sucker leaf fill the void?
If i grew a tobacco plant or 2 indoors I would think I would just prime from bottom up as usual and then destroy the plant when I reached the top.
The flu cure will be interesting too, you will have to construct a very small chamber for 4 plants.

I also sprinkled seed over peat/perlite in a tray. It worked but where my cfl bulb dried the soil due to inattention on my part the seed didn’t grow but the tray edges away from bulb further grew fine. Just personal preference but I will use the paper towel method from now on.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I think the fact that it's hydroponic will lend itself to treating it as a perennial. I would top the plants at a manageable height, like 15 leaves. At that point, I would reduce the nutrient levels to improve curability. Prime them as they ripen until done. Then I would cut the bare stalk completely, and let a new stalk begin to grow, and gradually bring the nutrient levels up again. It would grow very quickly because the roots are fully formed.

 

[2Baccy]

My neighbour has a bunch of them purple lights glowing in his basement as well. Probley Brightleaf

 

[bear_face891]

So i went to a hydroponic store and met someone who has grown tobacco in hydroponics and recommended a very specific nutrient for what he used with his grows.

He said tobacco grew VERY well in his system. some too tall and had to be cut back.

he said it will work no problem and said to keep only the bottom of the roots wet and let the medium clay pepples provide air to the upper roots. for the 100ltrs of Hydroton and the nutrients it was about $85

the hydroton will be used for tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and other things in a separate part of the system.

BTW i just picked up my first ever pipe and tin tobacco - Its a Dr. Grabow and the tobacco is 4th generation 1897 Eric Pauls Blend - year feb 2016

 

[CobGuy]

Congrats and enjoy!
How do you like that tobacco so far?

~Darin

 

[deluxestogie]

Best of luck with your grow. It seems mighty expensive for growing a handful of plants. I would guess that I spend between $25 and $75 per year to grow 150 to 200 plants. Maybe when the next space ferry visits New Houston, you can have them bring some dirt from Earth.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Excellent. You can top a tobacco plant at whatever height you want. Most of us base it on when the plant flowers, but as far as I know, it's unnecessary. Topping early results in fewer, but larger, thicker leaves. It also results in more work for you. Once topped, the plant will start to produce significantly more suckers which you should remove.

In a subsequent grow, you might want to consider varieties that are naturally shorter.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Best of luck with your grow. It seems mighty expensive for growing a handful of plants. I would guess that I spend between $25 and $75 per year to grow 150 to 200 plants. Maybe when the next space ferry visits New Houston, you can have them bring some dirt from Earth.

Bob

The cost of our passions is sometimes irrelevant.

 

[deluxestogie]

Seriously, check the chloride content of your proposed fertilizer. Too much, and the finished tobacco will not burn.

Bob

 

[bear_face891]

Seriously, check the chloride content of your proposed fertilizer. Too much, and the finished tobacco will not burn.

Bob

https://hydroponic-research.com/product/vegbloom-ro-soft/ is what im using

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

SECTION 1I: COMPOSITION & INGREDIENT INFORMATION PRODUCTNAME:VEG+BLOOM (ALL FORMULAS) DESCRIPTION : Free owing powdered mineral complex containing monopotassium phosphate, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, borax, iron EDTA, ammonium molybdenum, manganese EDTA, and other non-hazardous ingredients which are trade secret.

Maybe you can email them and inform them about the necessity that there be no chloride in it. I would be concerned that a formula meant for soft water might have added minerals to increase the pH.