Havana Gold, Nicotiana Tabacum

[BeccaBuds]

Found these seeds on eBay for $1.50. Never grown tobacco before but no doubt all the tobacco addicts will be beating a path to my door after the zombie apocalypse, lol! Farmers Almanac sez it's a good day to plant above ground crops. Threw 3 tiny little seeds into each of 6 Root Riot cubes this morning, literature says ready to harvest in 65 days, so September 5 ready to hang dry, then a year cure. Probably won't get enough light on my patio but we'll see.

 

[garybo]

@BeccaBuds, hope your day has been going well for you. That should be a fun thing to do, growing some tabacco. Being a Kentuckian I've seen plenty of tabacco patch's throughout my childhood. Your a tad late in the season but what the heck, life is too short to worry about little things.
I remember when I was a wee lad, my brother and I raided our uncle's tabacco barn, where the tabacco was handing to dry, and took enough to make a nice cigar. The tabacco was dry and ready to take to town the following day.
We smoked that cigar later that evening and we both got sick, the worst kind of sick one could have.

Anyway after ageing, you may have a good smoke. Good juck with that project and hope you have fun.

 

[BeccaBuds]

@garybo wow, that takes me back. I remember a certain afternoon where we helped ourselves to my Mom's Benson & Hedges cigarettes (one of the strongest brands made back then). Suffice it to say, less than halfway through one cigarette and I got so dizzy and queasy I had to sit down and felt sick for a good 45 minutes. 44 years later, I finally quit for good after trying on and off for 15 years.
Anyway, I'm working on a new SIP rig and can't start any cannabis right now, so I thought hey, try growing some tobacco in it, so that's what I am going to do.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I had hoped to have the first SIP prototype done and filled with soil today, but the hole saws and grommets I need didn't arrive yesterday like they were supposed to. Now that is pushed out to Wednesday.
Anyway, I'm working on a thread in the DIY forum, detailing the SIP build, that I'll publish after drilling the 1-1/8" and 1-1/4" holes and getting a few more pictures. Here's a sneak preview checking the planter height above the bottom of the reservoir (the goal is a 1 gallon capacity):

 

[Odjob]

Peach aphid gets wired on nicotine i think because they seem to really like tobacco. Curing has to be an art because mine wasn't fit to smoke so I was told.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Nicotine is actually the basis for many modern pesticides and is insecticidal itself. I may try making some insecticidal tea. Don't have to wait for curing to make tea...

Tobacco needs to cure longer and at a higher humidity than pot. It needs air flow as well. Around 70% RH for a year with 15cu.ft/min airflow is good. I've also read it has to be harvested when mature also to get the highest nicotine.

 

[Odjob]

I try to stay away from most insecticides, but at times a necessary evil.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Me, too. Knock on wood!

Got some close-ups of the seeds in the cubes. No sign of germination but one end of a couple seeds have developed bright white protrusions.

 

[garybo]

If I remember correctly, the barns that cure the tabacco were painted black and had about half an inch gap between the barn's wood siding, My guess black was to draw the sun and the gap was for air flow.

I'll just stick to cannabis, though I use to enjoy a good Cuban cigar from Ybor City.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I've seen photos of curing barns. Don't think I am going to be able to duplicate a proper curing shed here though. Not hot or humid enough so a closet and a shoe box will have to do. I mainly just need a big, fast growing plant to test my new SIP rig and if I get some leaves I can make bug spray with, cool.
In the process I'll probably stuff some in a pipe and see how bad it makes me gag, lol!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Germination day! Here's a birthday photo-shoot of a bunch of baby Havana Gold seegars...

Lookit the funny little hairs.​

 

[BeccaBuds]

Day 2, observing and recording their development. Still in the plastic bag until they are all fully rooted into the cubes.

​

I attempted to move the one in the 4th photo into the small seed hole in the cube, but the tiny downward radiating threads of root were already burrowing in. Decided to let it be and keep them all in the humidity bag another day. Today will be their first full day of light from a 5000 kelvin 15W Cree LED about 10 inches above the tray.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Just to put the little plants in perspective:

 

[BeccaBuds]

Sprinkled each plant with some myco today then spritzed some distilled H2O. I think they can come out of the humidity bag now. More pics when they've gotten bigger. I use Blue Planet Root Magic Mycorrhizae+, so the cubes are now inoculated with beneficial microbes as well as the myco fungi.

 

[Azimuth]

Don't know nothin' about tabacky but can't resist a SIP grow, so I'm in!

 

[BeccaBuds]

I've never grown it before either, @Azimuth, lol, so you know as much as I do. Welcome!
The cubes started to get a little dry so I gave each 5 spritzes with the sprayer (filled with distilled water). I can see the next set of leaves starting to develop now.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I love these little rooting cubes. No roots are showing on the outside of the cubes yet, so I used a toothpick to pull and weigh each to see how wet they were. The lightest was 12.69 grams and the heaviest was 14.12, so I watered them up till they each weighed 14.2g. Won't be able to do that for long.

 

[Azimuth]

Are there drainage and air holes in the outer plastic holders? I've not seen those before and wondering how they allow air to get to the sides and bottom of the cubes.

 

[BeccaBuds]

There are drainage holes in the tray. You can see condensation form on the inside walls of the clear plastic so there is some air flow around the cubes as well. I'd be more concerned if I had to keep them enclosed longer but the plants are doing fine now in open air. They ought to be ready for small 4" pots soon.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I've come to the conclusion that I've been under-watering these rooting cubes. Just short of saturation they weigh 20 grams so I topped them all up to that level this morning. I tried to trim out 2 plants from one of the cubes that had 3 seedlings and the third one then wilted and died. Didn't expect that! Couldn't resist and put a pot seed I found in a bud into the cube and it has sprouted already.
The rooting cubes seem to shed around 2.7g per day to evaporation alone. Slowly getting dialed in on using these rooting cubes to their best potential. I just weighed them again and the average after 11 hours is 18.6 grams.
The cannabis has already gotten bigger than the tobacco and grown through it's cube. I'm surprised none of the tobacco plants have grown through yet. Possibly because I've been under-watering?