Chase's 2024 Grow

[poplarshepherd]

I have just placed a seed order from North West Tobacco Seeds:

• Little Dutch
• Little Cuba
• Habano 2000
• Cuban Criollo 98

I do not have an official plan yet, but stay tuned. Right now I am on a waiting list to rent a plot at my local community garden, so hopefully I will have my first outdoor grow this year. I am also planning to set up a small 2.5ft x 2.5ft x 5.25ft grow tent this week to grow either Little Dutch or Little Cuba in. More to come.

Chase

 

[deluxestogie]

my local community garden

"What are you growing?"
"Nicotiana. It has beautiful flowers." [Pronounced nick-CO-shee-ANNA]

And don't top them.

Bob

 

[poplarshepherd]

"What are you growing?"
"Nicotiana. It has beautiful flowers." [Pronounced nick-CO-shee-ANNA]

And don't top them.

Bob

"The flowers are great for attracting pollinators and hummingbirds."

I should clarify, I am not interested in growing a patch of tobacco in the community garden . The plot will contain mostly vegetables and other solanaceous crops like tomatoes and peppers. I plan to have at most 4 baccy plants.

Chase

 

[poplarshepherd]

Seeds arrived today. Thanks, Paul!

I plan to get my grow tent set up this weekend. I have decided to go with Little Cuba for this tent grow, which I will be starting this week.

Depending on how my outdoor plans go, I may just do multiple tent grows this year.

Chase

 

[poplarshepherd]

Grow tent is set up!

Specs:

• Vivosun 36” x 36” x 72” Grow Tent
• AgroRAW 65W Full Spectrum LED
• Vivosun 4” Inline Exhaust Fan
• 4” Insulated Duct Tubing
• 3L Levoit Humidifier regulated by a Vivosun Humidistat (not installed yet)
• Vivosun 6” Clip-on Fan (not installed yet)

This setup is ideal for growing one full-sized tobacco plant; ideal for varieties that mature early. Also perfect for tinkering and experimentation and curing! I have full control over my humidity and have plenty of ventilation, which is critical for growing healthy plants and preventing mold during curing.

I’m not sure if this LED is sufficient for growing flavorful tobacco. I would recommend using at least a 300w LED but this is what I have on-hand after moving. If this harvest turns out bland, I’ll give a stronger LED a try.

I started my Little Cuba seedlings at work in our greenhouse. I checked on them yesterday and their radicles (roots) are starting to emerge from the seeds. Once I establish my young plants I’ll bring them home and put them in my grow tent. I’ll update this post in a few days. Note that if growing indoors, I recommend starting plants where you intend to finish them, but I’m impatient.

Chase

 

[deluxestogie]

This setup is ideal for growing one full-sized tobacco plant

If I guestimate ~$250 for the setup, and ~¼ pound of cured leaf from one tobacco plant, that's almost Canada prices! $1000 per pound.

Bob

 

[poplarshepherd]

If I guestimate ~$250 for the setup, and ~¼ pound of cured leaf from one tobacco plant, that's almost Canada prices! $1000 per pound.

Bob

$250 for a one-time start up fee, $5-7 per month in electricity, $50 per year for soil, fertilizer, and pots. If growing early-maturing varieties, let’s say 60 days to maturity from seed, then I can run 6 plants per year and produce my own (pure) seed.

6 plants at 0.25lb of cured leaf for a liberal yearly estimated cost of $200 per year ends up being more like $132 per pound when you ignore the barrier to entry. Still, that’s more than 65x the price of US tobacco.

Indoor gardening has also been a passion of mine since I was 15 years old, so growing my own tobacco to support my new-found love for cigar smoking brings me that much more joy.


Chase

 

[deluxestogie]

Seriously, I usually estimate 60 days from transplant to maturity (±15 days). Part of that transplant to maturity duration is the result of transplant shock, which is typically 1 to 2 weeks waiting for growth to resume. So adding my ~2 months producing the seedlings, from seed to transplant size, that would very optimistically be at least 90 days from seed to maturity. "Maturity" is judged as 50% of the plants with at least one open blossom. The leaf itself may often require several additional weeks beyond "maturity", in order to reach leaf maturation.

I too find that growing my own tobacco brings me joy.

Bob

 

[poplarshepherd]

Seriously, I usually estimate 60 days from transplant to maturity (±15 days). Part of that transplant to maturity duration is the result of transplant shock, which is typically 1 to 2 weeks waiting for growth to resume. So adding my ~2 months producing the seedlings, from seed to transplant size, that would very optimistically be at least 90 days from seed to maturity. "Maturity" is judged as 50% of the plants with at least one open blossom. The leaf itself may often require several additional weeks beyond "maturity", in order to reach leaf maturation.

I too find that growing my own tobacco brings me joy.

Bob

I agree. Perhaps claiming 60 days to maturity was naïve of me. In any case, I really enjoy growing and learning about plants (I am starting a Ph.D. in plant biochemistry in August), so growing and curing my own tobacco has been really exciting for me, which makes the yearly fee of $150-200 trivial.

Also, growing something other than Arabidopsis for me is quite nice!!

Chase

 

[deluxestogie]

Not too many years ago, federal research grants in botany focused on Nicotiana tabacum. Easy to grow; thousands of varieties; massive USDA germplasm bank. Arabidopsis looks much more acceptable in today's botanical research grant applications.

Best wishes for your biochemistry graduate work.

Bob

 

[poplarshepherd]

Not too many years ago, federal research grants in botany focused on Nicotiana tabacum. Easy to grow; thousands of varieties; massive USDA germplasm bank. Arabidopsis looks much more acceptable in today's botanical research grant applications.

Best wishes for your biochemistry graduate work.

Bob

That’s interesting. Anecdotally, I can tell you that Nicotiana tabacum is still widely used in research, especially in plant pathology, although tomato, maize, wheat, sorghum, soy, and poplar are some of the crop species often used in USDA grant proposals. I worked with poplar (Populus alba x Populus tremula) during my undergrad (hence my username).

Nicotiana benthamiana is also beloved by plant scientists. I have colleagues that use Nicotiana benthamiana to study protein expression by transfecting the leaves with Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

Arabidopsis seems to be more widely used in plant genetics and biochemistry. I have heard from previous mentors that it can be very difficult to obtain funding from the USDA to do research with Arabidopsis because of how much it has been studied. They would rather see results in crop species than in a model organism.

Thanks for the insight!

Chase

 

[ProZachJ]

I enjoyed the heck out of tent growing for many years before I had property. The evidence can still be found on my YouTube channel.

 

[poplarshepherd]

I enjoyed the heck out of tent growing for many years before I had property. The evidence can still be found on my YouTube channel.

I love it! What’s your channel again?

Chase

 

[ProZachJ]

https://youtube.com/@ProZachJ

 

[poplarshepherd]

Little Cubas are up! I’m going to wait a few days to remove excess seedlings and allow the most vigorous one to grow.

Chase

 

[johnny108]

Little Cubas are up! I’m going to wait a few days to remove excess seedlings and allow the most vigorous one to grow.

Chase

If you sprinkle the seeds a little farther apart (in a line down the middle of the pot, is what I do), you can scoop the seedlings up with a small spoon, and plant them in another pot, for use as extras.
More work, but less painful than thinning them out.

 

[Old Gasman]

What I do is sow the seeds in a little seed tray and when they're large enough to handle I put the whole lot (minus the tray) in an old washing up bowl. Agitate gently and the soil drops to the bottom and the little seedlings are left bare rooted, clean and easy to transplant.

 

[deluxestogie]

washing up bowl

My waist-high, walnut, tobacco humidor is a converted "wash stand". Prior to the days of indoor plumbing, a washing up bowl sat atop the wash stand, alongside a pitcher of water.

"Splash a bit on your face...and don't forget to wash behind your ears!"

Bob

 

[poplarshepherd]

Life has been busy and I have completely neglected this grow log.

A sad update: Unfortunately, my 'Little Cuba' plants started attracting thrips in our research greenhouse, so, to prevent bringing thrips back to my grow tent, I decided to toss the plants. Bummer. I will start some new plants at my work's greenhouse to be transplanted outdoors in late May. These will probably be 'Criollo 98' and 'Habano 2000'.

This is a picture of the 'Little Cuba' plants right as I started seeings thrips appear. You can see some damage starting to appear on the plant on the left.


Looking ahead: I will be starting a new indoor grow soon. Once I have time, I plan to purchase some quality potting soil and start fresh 'Little Cuba' plants in the grow tent. Thanks for staying tuned.