A seed, some sun, a roller and it’s done. By AndyD Published: Sat December 8, 2007 2:18pm PrintEmail
The plant starts with a seed, so that where I’ll begin. You plant a seed, water it, and let it grow. Simple enough, I guess, but without any care you’re going to have a poor plant. There is a wide variety of tobacco types bred to isolate particular characteristics, from the classic Cuban seed, to the Habano 2000, to the Connecticut broadleaf. So what affects a plant? How bout everything… including the light it receives, and not only the intensity, but the length of the photoperiod. Also, the water must have just the right balance of PH, the nutrient levels you give the plant have to be perfect, and even the local traffic can affect the plants.
Ok, so deciding on the variety of tobacco our mock farm will grow. lets say we're going to grow some beautiful Connecticut seed for a gorgeous wrapper, and the seed has been planted. The once dormant seed has now begun to draw moisture from the surrounding soil. As the moisture content grows, the seed’s shell softens and begins to produce a sprout. We have now entered the "seedling" stage of growth. The small little seed (approximately 300,000 seeds per ounce of seeds) has to work its way though the soil.
So, we have our seedling now growing in our soil but must have the right soil. Tobacco is a plant that does well in the kind of sandy soil that most plants would do poorly in. Tobacco, while a friend to water, doesn’t like too much water, so the soil must be sandy and light. Given this soil, the roots can easily grow, keeping in mind that the plant can't grow up if it has no roots to hold it up. At all cost we must avoid clay type soils as these hold too much water. Beds of soil where volcanic ash has had time to settle are superb, as they hold many nutrients the tobacco plant likes, as well as good moisture content.
So we have chosen the variety, and have our seedling in the proper soil. We now need to figure out where to plant it. I like something stronger, so I may decide to leave these plants in full sun. Light plays many rolls in the growth of the plant. Commonly, Connecticut seed for wrapper leaf would be grown in partial shade under a cloth like cheese cloth, limiting the intensity of the sun. The intensity of the sun will determine how much character a leaf will have. A leaf grown in full sun will produce a much stronger flavored leaf, as well as a leaf that has more character (e.g. more pronounced veins, toothy, and thicker). A leaf grown under cheese cloth will be milder, have less pronounced veins, and be slightly thinner. Different regions also have different intensities of sunlight as well as photoperiods. Varying altitudes and distances from the equator will influence the affect of the sun and its intensity, as well as photoperiod. A longer photoperiod can lead to more growth, but in Cuba, for example, the photo period is only about 13 hours at its longest period.
Now, temperature is the next thing we want to look at. Seeds like to be started at temperatures around 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. After this it prefers a short period, while things get started, at a slightly lower temperature, mainly between 60 and 70 degrees, ultimately wanting to get back in the 70 to 80 range for the rest of its growth.
Now we come to soil maintenance. This includes fertilizer and soil ph. Watering the plant is crucial, but you have to give it the right water. Tobacco plants hate chlorine, so if your starting your own garden, let your water sit for 24 hours as this will let some of the chlorine evaporate. PH is also important. We must maintain the soil to adjust to things like acid rain, which can really throw off ph levels. The best PH to be maintained for proper growth of tobacco is 5.8, but you can have some leeway, as no one is perfect. Plant life as a whole relies on 3 macro nutrients: nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Tobacco plants don’t need as much potassium and phosphorus, as these assist in the growth of flowering, which is a stage we wish to avoid. Flowering will affect the final flavor. Nitrogen and magnesium are 2 nutrients the tobacco plant really likes, especially nitrogen, as this assists in growth of new cells, as well as production of chlorophyll. As the plant grows it will eventually begin to flower, but we are trying to avoid this, as the flower will want to produce seed which will take away from leaf production. The flowers, also called "sucker", will begin to grow close to the stem at each node. These flowers can be hand removed. Removing the flowers will keep the plant vegetating to allow more leaf growth.
Well now we’ve grown the plant, and we need to harvest, cure, and age the leaf....but that’s another article. This is really only scratching the surface of the tobacco plants growth. I know there are a few things that I’ve missed, like how different nutrient levels effect flavor, but this is just a slight overview for those who wanted a little better look at the life of the tobacco plant. - 654 Views - View Comments (0)
