First time grow blog: Rustica and little Dutch - @HalflingsLeaf

[HalflingsLeaf]

Hi all! Yesterday I was given a few small plants that I’m going to try and nurture. A couple of Rusticas and little dutches. I transplanted them to bigger containers as soon as I got home using some multi purpose compost and gave them a little tomato feed.

Last night we had some heavy rain, I tried to get them covered but looks like the soil still got pretty soaked.

Here are some photos from before and after transplanting them.

I’m really stoked to be trying this out, it’s been a long time goal. I’ll keep you all updated as things progress and would welcome any advice.

 

[HalflingsLeaf]

I should probably update with my goals:
I’m hoping to process at least one of each plant to smoke. I’d like to get seeds from one too.

I have a bit of a crackpot scheme, too:
I want to try grafting a tomato plant to the rootstock of one of them to make a more fruitful, high nicotine tomato.

 

[deluxestogie]

Welcome to the forum. Feel free to introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself forum. You may want to read the New Growers' FAQ, and scan through topics that may be of interest in our Index of Key Forum Threads. Both are linked in the menu bar.

A first grow is always fun. You may have enough time (before first frost) to collect matured N. rustica seed pods. Expect at least 90 days from transplant to be able to harvest seed pods from the Little Dutch. There is usually matured leaf ~60 days after transplant. It should adequately air-cure by late November.

Bob

 

[SnuffmeisterUK]

Good to see you here @HalflingsLeaf !

I recognise those plants was great to give my spares a loving home. Keep the pics coming on here.

 

[HalflingsLeaf]

Can’t thank you enough man! I’ll be sure to

 

[Old Gasman]

I should probably update with my goals:
I’m hoping to process at least one of each plant to smoke. I’d like to get seeds from one too.

I have a bit of a crackpot scheme, too:
I want to try grafting a tomato plant to the rootstock of one of them to make a more fruitful, high nicotine tomato.

I think they tried that in an episode of The Simpsons if i remember correctly. They called it Tomacco.

 

[HalflingsLeaf]

Hey all, little update here! I dug up a little patch for them and got them in the ground. Maybe a little close together because of space constraints. The compost goes probably 8 or 9 inches deep, could be overkill? There’s one more plant that still to small to go in.

In general, I saw very little growth in the first week. I hope they’ll be happier in the ground rather than containers. The spot here only gets 5 hours or so of direct sunlight as opposed to the 8 they’d get in containers.

One of the plants isn’t doing so hot, I think the leaves got in the damp soil and fried a little in the sun. I’m debating pulling them off now or waiting until the healthy leaves are stronger.

 

[Knucklehead]

The plants look good. I would leave the damaged two leaves for now. The growth tip looks good and there is enough healthy portion of the leaves undamaged to be used to gather sunlight. Later on you can clip them off or not after more healthy leaves appear that can take on the solar load. They will end up as mud lugs anyway. No harm done.

 

[johnny108]

I should probably update with my goals:
I’m hoping to process at least one of each plant to smoke. I’d like to get seeds from one too.

I have a bit of a crackpot scheme, too:
I want to try grafting a tomato plant to the rootstock of one of them to make a more fruitful, high nicotine tomato.

You might have better luck with eggplant:

Reducing the nicotine content of tobacco by grafting with eggplant - BMC Plant Biology

Background Nicotine is a stimulant and potent parasympathomimetic alkaloid that accounts for 96–98% of alkaloid content. A reduction in the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to achieve a non-addictive level is necessary. We investigated whether replacing tobacco root with eggplant by grafting can...

bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com

Reducing the nicotine content of tobacco by grafting with eggplant​

I know you are trying for higher nicotine levels, but the grafting tech is already sorted for you with eggplant

 

[HalflingsLeaf]

weather has been super favourable and the plants are getting huge! The rustica is flowering, too.

I’ve still been giving them tomato feed too, and mixing used coffee grounds in with water to raise the soil acidity and keep pests away.
This wasn’t working great and slugs were still taking a lot of interest in the smaller leaves, so I ended up making a little beer trap for them (sorry slugs!)

 

[HalflingsLeaf]

Re. Tomacco- the little dutches I have just don’t have enough stem to do any grafting sadly… I think it’ll be a job for next year when I have more rustica seeds

 

[HalflingsLeaf]

Hello! I have something of a predicament at the moment, I have to be out of my current house in just under 2 weeks and the plants aren’t ready to harvest yet. Do I harvest all the leaves and try and dry them as green as they are, or uproot them, get them in pots and move them to my new place?

 

[ariev]

I would uproot them but it will be tricky due to the size and the roots. Tobacco is pretty resistant to transplant though.

Worst case scenario the plants will die but then you can just try to dry them green as you were going to anyway. So I'd say there's nothing to lose with trying to transplant them

 

[deluxestogie]

Given the apparent maturation of the plants in the photo, I would suggest stalk-cutting them, and then hanging the whole stalks for color-curing in your new location.

Bob