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Seed to cigar: My journey to grow, harvest, ferment and roll my own cigars!

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Hey BOTL,

I wanted to start a thread to showcase my journey from "Seed to Cigar". I purchased four different strains of seed from Sustainable Seed Company to try out. They are Connecticut Broadleaf, Habano 2000, Cuban 98 and Havana 608. I searched the web far and wide and watched as many tobacco growing videos as I could. I started my seeds in small starter pots then moved them up in size each time the plants got too big. I continuously weeded out the less healthy plants each time I moved them to a new pot. I was finally left with one primary plant in a large pot and a secondary in a smaller pot just in case the primary one didnt initially survive. Im located in Norther Kentucky for those interested in the environmental conditions.

On to what people are care about most. The pictures!



















I do have some questions for the experience growers. Im having some issues with my plants. Ive posted pictures of each plant and the respective leaf that has the issue. Ive done some research online and looks like it could be anything from overwatering, underwatering, PVY disease and a few others. Anyone experience any of these?

Habano 2000 - the leaves on the bottom are starting to show small yellow circles. Which looks like PVY.




Cuban 98 - Also looks like PVY.




Connecticut Broadleaf - this plant is showing the biggest hit on its main leaves. It looks like a potassium deficiency or its a result of over watering. It may be over watering because the leaves are still soft and have color. Or maybe some sort of sun burn. But its in the tip of the plant which also could lead me down the path of potassium deficiency.



 
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Jayson
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Your plants look very healthy overall which leads me to believe you're dealing with a fungus/disease or insect issue. How often are you watering? How are you feeding the plants and how often? If you turn the leaf over, do you notice any small bugs like aphids? They can be very hard to see. If you don't notice any bugs, aren't over watering, and have sufficient nutrients in the soil for the plants, I'd suspect a fungus/disease issue.
 
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Thanks for sharing. I've not grown any but look forward to watching your progress.
Thanks! I appreciate the feedback.

Your plants look very healthy overall which leads me to believe you're dealing with a fungus/disease or insect issue. How often are you watering? How are you feeding the plants and how often? If you turn the leaf over, do you notice any small bugs like aphids? They can be very hard to see. If you don't notice any bugs, aren't over watering, and have sufficient nutrients in the soil for the plants, I'd suspect a fungus/disease issue.
Thanks for the reply. I do not see any bugs on them for the most part. None that I have researched to be the leading cause of tobacco plant issues. The main leaves on all of the plants look healthy to me as well. I think I may be over watering them a bit as the last few days here have been well into the upper 90's (F) and fear they may dry out. I am not feeding them anything really. I sprinkled some plant food in each layer of the soil in the pot. Other than that its just water. Im wondering if I should get a soil test kit. The leaves are not crispy at all so I don't think under-watering is an issue. There is one plant that the soil seems to have some yellow mold growing on it. Maybe its because the soil is too moist? I'm going to try and turn over the around the edges to see if that will help.
 
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Thank you for the share here. I do look forward to watching your progress too. Are you on any other tobacco grow site?
Thanks! I am not on any other tobacco grow site ...yet. Im waiting for my approval from admins on the "Howtogrowtobacco" site.
 
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I would also like to point out that on some of the leaves where the spots are coincide with where the leaf was resting on the rim of the pot. Its been upper 90's (F) the last couple days which could cause the rim to get really hot and "burn" the leaf. Im also wondering if the tips starting to brown is from "sunscalding". We'll see how they look at the end of the day.
 
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Okay, get up in there. you'll fit right in. but don't forget about us. We want it bad too.
Cool! Just a few minutes of searching around and it looks like a cool site. Ill monitor both sites for sure. I wont forget about BOTL :cool: .
 
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I can't help with the problem you're having with the leaves but I can offer a couple pieces of advice.
One, water them often. Being in pots they will dry out very quickly so be aware of that.
Second, tobacco is a heavy feeder so it needs lots of nutrients. The soil in those pots will not be enough to keep them well fed so fertilizer is needed. Tobacco is in the same family as tomato plants so I suggest using the specific fertilizer that is available for tomato plants.
Good luck and have fun. I grew tobacco a few years back and would do it again except the cigars I eventually made were not that great tasting. They were much better after a year of rest. I buy my leaves now.
 
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Bruce, thanks for the input. I appreciate it. I am definitely thinking I am going to need some more plant food. I thought that my pots were big enough to support each plant with layers of plant food in the soil but I believe I am falling short of what they need. I am sorry to hear your cigars didn't taste very good. I've done some reading and it appears that many cigar manufacturers let their leaves rest for a year or so. Who knew tobacco leaves needed a few years like wine does to develop a great taste. I am for sure having fun and learning a lot with these tobacco plants. Learning about soil acidity, pests and diseases is really interesting. I cant imagine being a large crop farmer and dealing with all of this stuff!

I can't help with the problem you're having with the leaves but I can offer a couple pieces of advice.
One, water them often. Being in pots they will dry out very quickly so be aware of that.
Second, tobacco is a heavy feeder so it needs lots of nutrients. The soil in those pots will not be enough to keep them well fed so fertilizer is needed. Tobacco is in the same family as tomato plants so I suggest using the specific fertilizer that is available for tomato plants.
Good luck and have fun. I grew tobacco a few years back and would do it again except the cigars I eventually made were not that great tasting. They were much better after a year of rest. I buy my leaves now.
 
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Bruce thats an excellent idea to grow them in 5 gallon containers. Im going to go tomorrow and snag some for my back up plants. I have a main one growing in the big 24" pot and another one still stuck in a little pot I need to transplant. Thanks for the pictures!

I grew my plants in 5 gal. pails. Here is a photo showing the roots after the harvest.

View attachment 115701
 
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Ive been messing around trying to grow a little tobacco myself. My plants don’t look near as good as yours though. Mind you I have no idea what I’m doing or if I will make it as far as rolling my own cigar with what I’m growing. I’m not even sure of what strain of tobacco I’m growing as I got the plants from a neighbor who puts out about 12 acres of tobacco every year. I just thought it would be fun to give it a try. I have a total of 15 plants growing. A couple of pics of my plants.
12429320-E834-4A9E-A32F-350B69E46943.jpeg 3A114F00-6556-4761-AD8E-885F565FFDFE.jpeg 5C5080C2-6ADD-43A0-BFA8-202D4729C168.jpeg

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Jody, I think your plants look great . The ones in the pots like mine are obviously doing better because they aren't competing with everything for nutrients and water. I put the other plants from my starters in my backyard behind the fence just to see if the would make it. Surprisingly they are still alive, albeit still way smaller than my potted ones. Ill try and snag a picture. Your plants that are in the ground are definitely doing better than my ground ones. Its been a tough few weeks here in NKY for heat and little rain. Im having to water the yard in the evenings to keep it from burning up. What part of KY are you in?
 

Dominican56

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Next year I want to plant a couple of tobacco plants simply to watch them grew. They are really interesting plants. Not sure where to get seeds tho. Only need 3 or 4 probably to get one or two plants.

Great project you have!
 
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