Tobacco

Looking to try a few tobacco plants in the garden this year. I have picture of my great grandfather growing it, figured it would be neat to give it a try. I don"t smoke or chew so no real use other than to experiment growing it.

Problem, here in Michigan I have never seen it other than pictures, nor have I found it in the seed catalog I get.

Do you typically start tobacoo from seed or transplants? Anyone have any leads on where to order it from.

Thanks,
Rick

My friend buys it as seeds and they grow great for him. You need to find a animal feed store that handle all differtent feeds, this is how he found his. You can start the seed early in a green house and then transplant. Good luck They grow very big, heat and water

If you want to play with something try gelegnite, grow sunflowers instead, Your father grew his in the days of ignorance.Times have changed.Check out the Local laws first, may not be a simple matter of just throwing a few seeds in the ground.

The nearest place to you according to my old encyclopedia that tobacco is grown is west of Dayton Ohio and the southeast corner of Indiana.
It seems to follow major rivers north of Louisville Kentucky.
Here in Maryland we would start out with seed, and prepare a bed for planting after the last frost. The plants would come up crowded, in part so they would be the correct size for transplanting.
Plants that are about 8 inches tall and as thick as a pen are good for planting. Some farms sell unused plants to smaller farms. That may be your best source.
Did you or anyone have any questions about tobacco farms? I can tell you about here locally when I as growing up. There are few tobacco farms left, I read my county is down to 1 acre for historical purposes.

I think the good lord that i no longer have to grow tobacco to make the farm payment! I haven't touched a plant in five years.

Did you mean gelignite as in blasting caps for dynamite?
Ignorance is a neighbor hiding his broken plasma TV in the cornfield or tossing his bed into the cow pasture when the county picks up such things for free.

A hard job that takes up all 16 months in the year. It seems you never get finished.

A lot depends on what type you want to grow. I grew up raising burley tobacco. Still grow a little for what I chew and for making a little medicine. Some other types have different cultural practices. For burley, or light air cured, start from seed 6-8 weeks before transplanting which is done soon after the risk of frost has past. Transplant using fairly high levels of fertility. Since you arent planning to consume it or sell it this really doesnt matter but its critical not to using muriate forms of potash as it messes up the buring characteristics and makes for a bitter flavor.

When the plant buds to begins to bloom the flower needs to be pinched or broken out to allow the plant to spread. Its not practical on a few plants but suckers grow out from the leaf axils. Commercially, maleic hydrazide or other compounds are used to control the suckers. For a few plants, just break them off. Harvest and air cure 21 to 28 days later. Air curing takes 6-8 weeks followed by stripping the leaves from the stalk on a humid morning so the leaves arent brittle.

Growing up every farm here had 2000-5000 pounds of quota or more. Other types had acreage quotas but burley changed to poundage in the early 70's. Quotas could be leased farm to farm. My last crop I raised 15000 pounds on 7 acres in 2000. There isnt a cool fall morning that I dont miss the smell of the curing tobacco in the barn.

FWIW- here in central MN, roughly just North of MPLS latitude, ie, St. Cloud, there is a history of growing tobacco, albeit for cigars, not the "backy for cigs. For the Southerners, that might be hard to figure, but Stearns County in central MN, had a tobacco growing history for decades, including acreage allotments, and there are still some drying buildings around-, characterized by vertical siding with spacing between the boards. Our local town still had the tobacco buying building in it when we moved here 38 years ago, but the industry was centered around a little burg by the name of St. Nicholas, just a few miles North of here. Current population might be 50, if the kids come home to visit. Typical central MN Catholic community, one church and a couple of bars, or more.

google the term F W Richard seed

You can get seed on ebay pretty cheep ,search tobacco and burley

I m in Franklin County S.E. Indiana and dont think there is anyone left putting out a crop anymore , if any it s 1 or 2 . I never was a big grower 5-6000 lb. and hav nt touched it after the buy out . There is NOTHING I miss about it . The labor situation was getting bad , ya about had to get the Mexicans to help . The locals would skatter like a covy of quail when ya went to town to be sure you could not ask them for help then run ya down the road for bringing in some mexicans . Had a few guys around that would get several mexicans for the season then pimp them out .

They still grow some tobacco in Wi. in Dane county and Vernon county. I do not know where they get there plants but I do know you can grow them from seed that is sprouted. I think that if you use google you could find some seed or if you know someone in Wi. they may be able to get you some seed or plants.
Bob

I also quit raising tobacco when the buyout program came along. Only a small time operator only having about 5 or 6 acres. It was hard work, took all year to make a crop, really depended on the weather as to yield and quality but... that income paid many bills, put food on the table and 3 kids through school.

KYHAYMAN, A while back you mentioned in a post that you had a PHD gearbox and it sounded like you might part with it. I am interested in buying it. Have been slow to contact you, hoping I would see your email open sometime. Anyway, mine is open, please connect with me if it is for sale.
John

Now it is really open;
KYHAYMAN, A while back you mentioned in a post that you had a PHD gearbox and it sounded like you might part with it. I am interested in buying it. Have been slow to contact you, hoping I would see your email open sometime. Anyway, mine is open, please connect with me if it is for sale.
John

have fun I did I tried the same thing and hac it do fairly well the second year after i got all the info from this site the first year it did't do well at all and now it doesn't seem to be doing well-- makes pretty plants for ornamental gardens and also tastes real good when smoked in a pipe burley I mix it with the commercial tobacco I buy lots of luck you will have fun doing this

Let Tom tell you about tobacco.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6EiYbRTv4M

(quoted from post at 02:15:10 02/08/11) FWIW- here in central MN, roughly just North of MPLS latitude, ie, St. Cloud, there is a history of growing tobacco, albeit for cigars, not the "backy for cigs. For the Southerners, that might be hard to figure, but Stearns County in central MN, had a tobacco growing history for decades, including acreage allotments, and there are still some drying buildings around-, characterized by vertical siding with spacing between the boards. Our local town still had the tobacco buying building in it when we moved here 38 years ago, but the industry was centered around a little burg by the name of St. Nicholas, just a few miles North of here. Current population might be 50, if the kids come home to visit. Typical central MN Catholic community, one church and a couple of bars, or more.

Click to expand...

Ancestors on my Dad's side were instrumental in the Mn tobacco industry. Grandpa and other ancestors are buried in the St Nicholas cemetery. Even many Minnesotans don't realize there was tobacco raised here years ago.

Most people here in Southern Maryland took the buyout program, from the ones who raised a few acres to 80 acres. My one uncle got too old and it was difficult finding help. At the peak we grew 65 acres (10 of that sharecropped out to my father) of tobacco and my father had 15 acres of corn and 206 free range chickens. Prior to the 1970s, the farm also had pigs and before that both dairy and beef cattle. There was also a gravel mine, lumber business, rye for whiskey and a fish farm... It is currently rented out to someone who is growing wheat, that is helping to keep everything from growing up in trees.