In our country, up to 75% of the male half of the population and about 21% of women smoke. Depressing statistics, you can’t say anything... And this is against the backdrop of active propaganda healthy image life and the gradual rise in price of cigarettes. It is the latter fact that pushes many smokers to master self-cultivation smoking tobacco. But does this make practical sense? It all depends on how much garden space and effort you are willing to spend on this activity, as well as on your desire to understand all the nuances of tobacco agricultural technology.

Pros and cons of growing tobacco in the garden for smoking

The harm of smoking is undeniable, and addiction to this potion occurs very quickly. Scientists have found that smoking is second only to addiction to such a hard drug as heroin! But you can and should give up cigarettes: this way you will increase your life expectancy by 15–20 years. I’ll tell you a little secret - I also suffered from this addiction until I was 18 years old. Among our friends, everyone indulged in cigarettes, but there were times when there weren’t much other entertainments (and if there were, we couldn’t afford them).

I quit easily, overnight, due to the fact that the addiction was more psychological than physiological.

Well, we've gone a little off topic. If you are still a heavy smoker and you “use” at least a pack of cigarettes a day, then you should certainly consider from all sides the possibility of cultivating tobacco on your property.

So to benefits the presence of a tobacco bed on the site can be attributed to:

Firstly If you follow all the subtleties of the technology for growing and harvesting tobacco leaves, you will get excellent homemade tobacco. They can be used to stuff smoking pipes, as well as wrap them in cigarettes (cigarette paper can now be purchased in many online stores);

Secondly, shag is successfully used in the fight against countless army of garden pests. You can read how to use tobacco dust and tobacco to repel harmful insects.

Third, the presence of nicotine in tobacco makes it medicinal plant. Let me remind you that it is not the tobacco leaves themselves that cause harm, but the smoke generated from their combustion. Accurate dosage and proper application- and, lo and behold, nicotine turns from a poison into a remedy against headaches, burns, constipation, gynecological problems, asthma and a number of skin diseases.

But in general, growing smoking tobacco on a plot is not best idea, and that's why:

• If you are not a tobacco specialist, then it will be extremely difficult to standardize the nicotine content in rolled-up cigarettes. If this substance is not enough, then you will not get any high from smoking. If, on the contrary, the tobacco turns out to be too strong, then sooner or later you will simply lose the rest of your health (do you need it?).
• excessive passion for tobacco dust in the war against garden pests It may also be by no means harmless to humans and plants.
• If you smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, then to fully provide yourself with smoke for the whole year, the area of ​​your tobacco plantation should be about 40 square meters, which corresponds to about 300 (!) plants of this crop. I think you will agree that for the owner of a plot of six acres, this is too unreasonable and wasteful.

Types of tobacco

Tobacco belongs to the nightshade family and comes in two types - ordinary tobacco and ordinary shag (country tobacco). Their main difference is that ordinary tobacco is more heat-loving and whimsical, but at the same time it is more productive and produces higher quality raw materials (plants of this species can reach up to three meters in height, but shag usually does not reach 1.2 meters) .

How to grow tobacco correctly, step-by-step instructions

Next, I will tell you the main points of agricultural technology for ordinary or real tobacco. It is much easier to grow shag - just sow the seeds in open ground in the second half of May and after a few months it will be possible to harvest the fragrant leaves.

1. Sowing seeds for seedlings is best done in February. Tobacco seeds are simply super small - one gram contains about 12 thousand pieces. They are sown in bowls in a loose and moist substrate (compost, garden soil, sand 2:1:1) to a depth of no more than 7 mm.

   

   Tobacco seeds are very tiny

2. Until germination, the containers are kept in bags at a temperature of +27...28 degrees. Next, the tobacco seedlings are grown on a light windowsill (lighting is simply necessary in March!) at a temperature of +18...20 degrees.

   

   If the tobacco seedlings stretch out, then you need to carefully add soil to their stems. Otherwise they may die.

3. Watering is needed regularly, but moderately, using a syringe or spray bottle. When the plants throw out the first pair of true leaves, they need to either be torn out or planted in separate cups with depth down to the cotyledons (if the seedlings have stretched out). At first, I recommend leaving only 5-6 bushes to understand how profitable and interesting it is for you to keep this crop on your plot. As a result, on permanent place 2-3 of the strongest plants will move (the rest can be distributed).

   

   Small, but remote!

4. Caring for tobacco in the “nursery” period is elementary: light, warmth and water in abundance, but not in excess. Don’t forget about periodically loosening the soil in pots.
5. Tobacco seedlings are transferred to a permanent place at the age of 40 to 45 days in the second half - end of May. By this time, the plants have time to acquire 5-6 true leaves and reach a height of about 15 centimeters. To make plants less sick from transplanting, they are hardened off for 5-7 days and not watered for two to three days before this stressful procedure.

   

   In the garden, tobacco plants develop very quickly and increase their vegetative mass.

6. Tobacco shows maximum yield on sandy loam, manured soil, and it is preferable to grow it after winter crops or after fallow. But beets, potatoes and all nightshade plants are bad precursors for tobacco.
7. The optimal distance between bushes when planting is 40-50 centimeters. One liter of water should be poured into the planting holes with the addition of one teaspoon of complex fertilizer.

   

   Flowering tobacco is very decorative

8. This crop cannot tolerate even short-term drought, so at first it needs weekly watering (usually only two or three times per season is enough). However, in adult plants root system penetrates the soil to a depth of two meters and successfully supplies them with moisture even during dry periods. In this regard, some tobacco growers even believe that too frequent watering reduces tobacco yields.
9. Fertilizing is combined with irrigation, adding one or two complete mineral fertilizers per 8-10 liters to the irrigation water. If you are not a fan of “mineral water,” then you can feed the bushes with nettle infusion and add ash between the rows 2-3 times during the summer.
   
10. To improve the quality and quantity of leaves, topping is used on tobacco plants, that is, flowers and shoots formed in the axils are regularly removed from the bushes.
11. The first wave of tobacco harvest is harvested within a month and a half after the seedlings are planted in open ground. The readiness of the leaves is indicated by a slight yellowing of the leaves, their slightly glossy appearance and smoothing of the tubercles.
    

At this point, the path to obtaining homemade tobacco is far from over, because the most interesting thing lies ahead - drying and fermentation of the collected raw materials. All the nuances of these two procedures are well described in two videos.

Well, if you decide to thoroughly study all the secrets of growing tobacco in your garden for smoking, then I advise you not to regret an hour and a half watching the film. By the way, on this channel you will find a detailed analysis of all the issues related to the cultivation of tobacco on the site.

It is not difficult to grow tobacco or shag; these crops have no more secrets than vegetables. True, you will have to tinker with the post-harvest processing of tobacco - fermentation so that it becomes fragrant. But it's no more difficult than canning cucumbers.

If you smoke, feel free to follow the path of the ancient Indians, from whose “garden plots” tobacco came to us. If shag grows everywhere: from the south of Russia to the Arctic, then tobacco is more heat-loving. It works well south of 55° northern latitude, approximately this line passes through Ryazan, Smolensk, Ulyanovsk, Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo.

Tobacco varieties for growing

It is better to choose zoned varieties. Thus, Trepezond Kubanets and Trepezond 162 are recommended along with the North Caucasus for the West Siberian region. Cigarny 17 and Bryansky 91 are considered the best for the Central, and Trepezond 15 for the Central Black Earth region.

Most varieties have been created and zoned for the North Caucasus, where tobacco is a traditional crop. I advise you to plant Trepezond 15 and Trepezond Kubanets on your garden plot. They ripen in 100 days, a month earlier than many other varieties. Plastic - quickly adapt to different climatic conditions, maintaining good smoking properties.

Beds and seeds

The average smoker smokes up to 8 kg of tobacco per year. Based on this, we determine the landing area so that whole year do not look into a tobacco kiosk. When favorable conditions from one plant you can get about 30 g of smoking tobacco, and six to seven plants can be placed on 1 sq.m.

The planting density for large-leaved varieties is 70×30 cm, and for tobacco with medium-sized leaves and shag - 70×20 cm. It turns out that you need to grow 270-300 plants, occupying approximately 40 square meters. m. plot. The seeds of the crops in question are small, like dust.

In one gram there are about 12.5 thousand pieces of tobacco seeds, shag - 4 thousand pieces. To get the annual “norm” of a smoker, you need to sow only a quarter of a gram of tobacco seeds or three-quarters of a gram of shag seeds.

Sowing and planting tobacco

Tobacco and shag are grown through seedlings, with or without picking. The seedlings are 40-45 days old. It works well in a greenhouse, greenhouse, on a sunlit window sill in a room - in a flower pot or wooden box, where nutritious soil is poured in a layer of 8-10 cm. It is easier to sow dry seeds, but better - sprouted ones.

In this case, 4-5 days before sowing, the seeds in a cloth should be soaked in warm, clean water; you can add a few drops of tartaric acid or a few crystals of potassium nitrate to it. Soaking time is 24 hours. This accelerates seed germination and reduces the time of forcing seedlings by 5-7 days.

It develops better and yield increases. Then rinse the seeds, remove excess water and place for germination in an enamel or earthenware container in a warm place, preferably not covered. Moisten the cloth periodically.

Cigarette factory at home!!!

Usually on the 3-4th day the seeds hatch: white “dots” appear. You should not allow the formation of a sprout longer than the seed: such sprouts easily break off.

When two-thirds of the seeds have sprouted, they must be dried until they flow, mixed with well-disinfected fine sand or crushed humus. If the germinated seeds cannot be sown immediately, they can be stored for a day or two at a temperature of plus 1-2° in the refrigerator. Important!

The seeding depth is no more than 0.3-0.5 cm for shag, 0.7-0.8 cm for tobacco. Sprinkle the seeds with humus and sand (3:1). Water the soil before and after sowing through a thick strainer. Watering small-seeded crops is a delicate matter. It is impossible to over-water or over-dry the seedlings.

It is better to water a little almost daily. Before the “cross” phase (cotyledons and two true leaves growing transversely), they usually spend only 0.5 liters of water per sowing box; keep crops where it is warmer -23-25°.

Then it is advisable to reduce the temperature to 20°, and double the watering until the “ear” phase (3-4 true leaves usually stick up). It is better to plant seedlings at the “ear” stage. Sprinkle the seedlings two or three times with fertile soil and feed them with a solution of mineral fertilizers (30 g of ammonium nitrate, 20 g of potassium sulfate or chloride per 10 liters of water).

You can use an infusion of chicken manure: pour 1 kg into 10 liters of water, leave for 10-12 days to ferment, stir from time to time. Strain the fermented mass and add 4-5 parts of water to 1 part liquid. Seedlings are planted 14-16 cm high, having 5-6 developed leaves, not counting the cotyledons, a stem 0.3-0.5 cm thick and a well-developed root system. 7-8 days before planting, seedlings need to be hardened off, reducing watering and accustoming them to the open air.

2-3 days before planting, completely stop watering unpicked seedlings. Water the seedlings generously 2-3 hours before planting. Planting in the ground begins when the danger of spring frosts has passed and the soil temperature at a depth of 10 cm rises to 10°, approximately from April 20 to May 25.

Make holes along the previously prepared furrow, pour 0.5 liters of water into them and spread out the seedlings. Right hand Use a peg to deepen the hole, place the seedlings vertically in it with your left hand, press wet soil to the roots, and sprinkle dry soil on top so that the moisture evaporates less.

It makes sense to plant elongated seedlings deeper - additional roots will grow. During the growth period, regularly loosen the soil, remove weeds, feed and water. You can feed based on the fertilizer rates for tomatoes.

Usually they limit themselves to two or three waterings per summer, spending 6-8 liters of water per plant. It will tell you: if the leaves are slightly wilted, watering is needed.

But it is better to under-water than to over-water. In flowering plants, break off the inflorescences (topping) and regularly remove side shoots (pinching). S. Cherkasov, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences. Magazine "Homestead farming".

Growing tobacco in the garden - video

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Important point

Before you start growing tobacco, you should know that the properties of this product depend on the type of soil in which it grows. This plant can adapt to any conditions, regardless of climate. But the plant itself prefers warmth.

The selected variety for growing tobacco at home may well not live up to expectations, because these basic characteristics depend on the condition of the soil, temperature and excess air.

• The properties and type of soil will affect the color, size and even texture of tobacco leaves. Its aroma depends on the moisture content and mineral salts. Excess air will give the tobacco flavor.

The video will help you understand the intricacies of growing this plant, its varieties, necessary conditions and little secrets.

What varieties are there?

To start growing tobacco from seeds, you need to purchase them in special stores. It is there that they will offer two of the most popular varieties: Virginia and Rural.

These varieties best retain the desired characteristics of the tobacco. The most common and popular variety of tobacco in use is Virginia. It has a delicate and mild taste. And although Virginia can adapt to anyone temperature conditions, the best varieties grow in Brazil and Zimbabwe.

Processing of the Virginia variety is simple: to preserve its important properties, a technology called “smoke drying” is used. You can learn more about this method by watching the video above, which details how to grow this plant.

Sowing and planting

So, it’s decided - we grow tobacco at home. You can start with seeds or seedlings to learn the technique in detail on your own. After all, it is not only interesting, but also educational.

To grow tobacco at home, you need to use dry seeds or those that have sprouted. You can get them by soaking them in a cloth with the addition of tartaric acid or a small amount of potassium nitrate a few days before sowing.

This should be done for a day. This method will speed up seed germination, increase productivity and development in general. After this, they must be washed, removing excess liquid, and placed in enamel dishes in a warm place, periodically moistening the cloth.

In no case should sprouts longer than the seeds be allowed to germinate, as they can easily break off. When the sprouted seeds become free-flowing, they need to be mixed with sand or a special mixture. Late February and early March - best time for sowing tobacco at home.

Such plants need to be watered carefully: you should not over-moisten or over-dry the soil, then the tobacco will be fragrant and aromatic. Moisturizing should be done daily in equal amounts so that the moisture level in the soil does not fall or rise.

Feeding, which includes solutions of mineral fertilizers or chicken droppings, is very important in growing.

A week before planting, tobacco seedlings need to be accustomed to the open air by hardening them off.

Landing

The place for planting tobacco should be chosen carefully. It is advisable that this be a specially designated place where moisture does not accumulate. Tobacco should be protected from cold wind. The soil should be loose and well fertilized.

Compost or manure is used as fertilizer. The area should be cleared of weeds before planting. Planting of Virginia smoking tobacco should be done approximately from the end of April until the end of May, when the frosts have passed and warm weather has finally arrived.

Tobacco seedlings are placed at a distance of 20 centimeters, and a gap of 70 cm is left between the rows. This is necessary for the plant to be healthy and large.

It is necessary to break off the inflorescences and side shoots of plants. When planting in the soil, the plants need the first fertilizing, this is suitable for slurry with the addition of superphosphate. A solution of sulfur powder and water is also effective.

Such care will definitely give a good result. When the inflorescences begin to appear, the tobacco bushes should be treated with an infusion made from garlic and onion peels. This procedure must be repeated three times, with a break of almost a week, so that it turns out fragrant. Fertilizers that contain phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium will repel pests.

In order to avoid plant diseases, special chemicals should be used.

Harvesting

Already in August you can start harvesting. The first thing to do is break off lower leaves at tobacco. Then they are kept in the sun for two days, and then dried for a month in a dark and humid room.

A shed is suitable for this, in which you can place a bowl of water to maintain the moisture level. Tobacco consists of 4 tiers of leaves, which should be labeled so as not to be confused. With each tier you need to do the same as with the previous one, only with a break of a couple of weeks.

They always start from top to bottom. First, the entire procedure is carried out with the top leaves, they are the most valuable, and then with the rest. Drying the leaves is already half the job done.

That is, after this there will be the last step to obtain excellent fragrant material for smoking. To make quality cigars, it is necessary to use fermented tobacco. This procedure can also be done at home.

It’s not difficult to make a special cabinet yourself; you can even do it from an old unnecessary refrigerator. They put a heating element and a temperature control device. It is necessary to understand that not every type of smoking tobacco is fermented using the same technologies, so in order to get fragrant and tasty tobacco, learn from video lessons or books how to monitor fermentation. You can only grow high-quality tobacco by organizing this process at home if you take into account all the nuances. Then you will definitely not have to worry about the fact that purchasing cigarettes is a big expense, because by growing tobacco for smoking yourself, you can significantly reduce costs and reduce the harm from smoking regular cigarettes.

Growing tobacco at home

Growing tobacco, in general, the matter is not difficult, you just need to follow the rules of agricultural technology. It is worth immediately noting that tobacco is a heat-loving plant and the southern regions are most suitable for its cultivation. Only a few types of tobacco are quite common, all of them have no decorative value and most of them are grown rarely and only by amateurs. The plant is about a meter high, and as follows from names all parts of the plant are covered with a sticky coating.

This tobacco is very similar to country tobacco. The plant has a very unpleasant smell, both the flowers and the leaves and stems. A very inexpressive plant, usually used in group plantings as a background for other plants.

It blooms with tubular flowers of yellowish-green color, the flowering period is long - from June to September. This plant has pleasant aroma, which can be felt at dusk. It has white tubular, rather large flowers, with red streaks on the outside.

The flowers close during the day and open only at dusk. photo: departments.washington.edu Smoking or virgin tobacco This type of tobacco is annual plant, grows naturally only in South America. Here it can reach a height of 3 meters.

No. 25 Tobacco Fermentation of tobacco Leaf moistening

Plants are not branched or weakly branched, depending on the variety. The size and number of leaves on the plant also depend on the variety. The flowers of this species are tubular, pink or red, collected in paniculate inflorescences.

The main value of the species is the size, thickness and number of leaves on the plants. There is quite a large number of varieties and hybrids of this species. It is also worth noting that this type of tobacco undergoes a fermentation procedure before use in order for the leaves to reveal their aroma.

Country tobacco

This species is popularly called shag. Plants are annuals and grow in nature only in North America. The height of the plants usually does not exceed 100-120 cm, the flowers are yellow-green, the stems are more branched than those of smoking tobacco.

Shag more unpretentious appearance and its leaves contain more nicotine than virgin tobacco. Varieties of smoking tobacco The most common types of tobacco are: Virginia, Bryansk Krupnolistny, Ostrolist, Samsun, Cigar and Yubileiny. The cultivation technology for Virginia tobacco and for shag is the same; both types are grown in seedlings.

Both a greenhouse and a greenhouse are suitable for growing seedlings, and also a warm window sill; here you can grow seedlings in a well-drained seedling box or just a flower pot. To grow tobacco seedlings, you should prepare a nutrient substrate, it is best to take natural fertilizers, such as horse or cow dung. But fresh fertilizers should not be used; humus will be ideal.

An ideal substrate can be considered a substrate consisting of two parts humus, one part regular soil from your site and one part sand. Before sowing, the substrate must be moistened. You can sow dry seeds, but you will get better germination if the seeds are germinated.

To germinate, seeds should be wrapped in a clean cloth or gauze 4-5 days before sowing and soaked in clean warm water. For better germination, you can add several crystals of potassium nitrate to the water.

The seeds should be kept in this solution for about a day, then rinse them well with water and place on the same cloth. Place the cloth in an enamel or earthenware bowl, place the container in a warm place, do not cover the seeds or dishes.

The cloth must be moistened promptly. On about the third or fourth day, the seeds will begin to hatch, wait another day and the seeds can be planted in the soil; you should not allow the sprouts to grow too much, otherwise they may break off.

Seeds can be sown one at a time, or they can be dried and mixed in dry sand and sown en masse. The depth of sowing seeds should not exceed 0.5 cm. After sowing, the seeds are covered with a layer of sand mixed with humus in a ratio of 3:1.

Watering the seeds should be done very carefully so as not to erode the top layer of soil. For watering it is best to use a spray bottle.

You should also not allow water to stagnate and the soil to overflow. If you use a planting box or flower pots, and also if the seeds are sown too close to each other, you will need to carry out a procedure such as picking. Picking should be done when 3-4 true leaves appear on young seedlings. Before picking, water the seedlings thoroughly and when the soil is well wet, you can carefully transplant the plants into a greenhouse or individual pots for further growth and development.

The tobacco plant is like all the others cultivated plants For better growth should be fertilized. The following fertilizers can be used for fertilizing:

You need to dissolve 30 grams in 10 liters of water ammonium nitrate, 20 grams of potassium sulfate or potassium chloride and water the plants with this solution. Dissolve 1 kg of chicken manure in 10 liters of water and leave the solution to ferment for two weeks, stirring occasionally. After the solution has fermented, it can be used to fertilize young plants, but only before watering it should be diluted. Add 4-5 liters of water per 1 liter of solution.

Transplantation to a permanent place in the ground should be started only when the threat of late spring frosts has passed and the soil has warmed up well.

If you grow tobacco in a greenhouse after picking, you don’t need to replant it anymore. Already strengthened plants with a height of 14 to 16 cm, already having 5-7 true leaves and a stem about 0.5 cm thick, should be planted in the ground. A week before the planned transplantation, the seedlings need to begin to be hardened off, reducing watering and accustoming the plants to open air and sunlight. Before transplanting, stop watering the seedlings approximately 2-3 days before, and water them abundantly only 2-3 hours before transplantation.

The plants are carefully removed from the soil and placed in pre-prepared holes. You should first pour about half a liter of water into these holes.

Using a peg, make a hole in the center of the hole and place the plant in it, then sprinkle the roots with moist soil and press it down thoroughly, and sprinkle the plantings with dry soil on top. This procedure helps retain moisture near the roots much longer.

For the entire season, it will be enough to carry out three feedings. The first feeding is carried out immediately after transplanting the plants into the ground. The second feeding is needed two to three weeks after the first, and the third, respectively, two to three weeks after the second.

For fertilizing, you can take a solution of chicken manure or any complex fertilizer. How to dilute the fertilizer is indicated on its packaging. Caring for tobacco plants comes down to regular weeding and loosening the soil near the plants. Good day, dear reader.

Today, we will talk about the rules of growing tobacco. A member of the Krasnodar NGO for tobacco products will help us find out how demanding tobacco is and what conditions are needed to grow it. So, as you know, in terms of climate, tobacco is more demanding than the well-known shag.

A favorite product among smokers, it loves the sun and mild southern climate. Makhorka, on the contrary, can grow in any climatic zone. It is known that per year one would-be smoker consumes from seven and a half to eight kilograms of tobacco.

One hundredth of a hectare of land under favorable conditions can produce up to forty kilograms of dry mass of tobacco. (considering that the weight of a dried tobacco leaf can vary from eight-tenths of a gram to one and a half grams, and up to thirty-three usable leaves can be formed on a tobacco plant per season). As a rule, Russian lands become fertile soil for the growth of Holly 215, Trebizond , Trapezonda 15, Yubileiny. And also for shag varieties: Pekhlets, AS 18/7, local Pekhlets, local Durman. The period from planting seedlings in the ground to the period before harvesting is 135 days, for shag - up to 80 days.

Forcing seedlings takes up to 45 days. Usually on square meter fields account for four tenths of a gram of seed, and per hundredth of a hectare there are about seven tenths of a meter of greenhouses or greenhouses. Just such an area produces up to nine hundred plants.

You can grow tobacco and shag seedlings at home; this is usually done in flower pots or wooden boxes. Before sowing, the seeds need to be soaked in water. The soaking process takes only a day, and the temperature in the room should not fall below twenty-five degrees. The heat in the room catalyzes the ripening process of seeds, which will shorten the period of forcing seedlings and increase the population of tobacco/shag. As a rule, about three milliliters of solution should be taken per gram of seeds. After 24 hours, the seeds are washed, dried and laid out in several layers in a special container. Seeds When germinating, the top should be covered with damp gauze or cloth and left either in a thermostat or in a constantly ventilated and illuminated room. The germinated seeds are evenly distributed over the surface of the soil, lightly pressing them into it.

Then you should moisten the soil with a spray bottle. One square meter of greenhouse territory contains thirteen hundredths cubic meter nutrient mixture, which includes two hundredths of a cubic meter of powder: humus - 50%, earth and sand - 25%. The average nutrient layer can reach ten centimeters in length. The optimal sowing periods are considered to be the third ten days of February and the first ten days of March.

Raw materials for sowing are used in the following proportions: up to four grams of tobacco per bucket (up to twenty grams of shag). Tobacco seeds are planted at a depth of up to five tenths of a centimeter, shag seeds - up to eight tenths.

Before and after planting seeds, it is customary to irrigate, with one liter of water per square meter of land. After sowing has been carried out, it is very important to ensure that the moisture level in the soil does not fall. The process of seed growth is divided into certain phases:

1. “Cross” phase. This phase requires a liter of water per square meter per day; 2. “Ears.” There are from three to five liters of water per square meter. Also, each phase requires maintaining its own special temperature regime.

For example, before the “cross” phase from sowing, the temperature in the greenhouse should be 23-25 ​​degrees, in subsequent phases - 20 degrees Celsius. Like other plants, tobacco and shag require mandatory feeding.

So, during cultivation, seedlings should be sprinkled up to four times and fertilized. As a top dressing, a mineral solution of fertilizers is usually used, which is prepared in the following proportions: ten liters of water, thirty grams of ammonium nitrate, up to sixty grams of superphosphate and either twenty grams of potassium sulfate or twenty grams of forty percent potassium salt. For top dressing experienced gardeners use a watering can with a special nozzle, the holes of which are a quarter of a centimeter in diameter.

There are approximately ten liters of water per four square meters of nursery. organic fertilizers Infused chicken manure works well. To prepare it, place a kilogram of droppings in a ten-liter container of water and leave to infuse for ten days.

Don't forget to stir periodically. After the expiration of the time, the mixture will ferment and the resulting “result” can be filtered.

Add water to the strained solution of manure: one part of the solution is five parts of water. A week before planting, the seedlings need to be hardened by reducing the amount of water supplied; a couple of days before planting the seedlings, the water supply should be stopped altogether. This procedure will help you increase the resistance of plants to adverse external factor, will give immunity to growing in the ground in the open air.

Well-hardened seedlings do not break even when twisting their stems around your finger. A few hours before sampling, you should water the seedlings generously. It is usually selected individually, thereby reducing the risk of selecting sick or not yet fully developed plants.

Basically, plants that are suitable for planting are those that reach a height of fourteen to sixteen centimeters, with a stem thickness of up to three to five hundredths of a centimeter and with a number of leaves of at least five. Planting in the ground is carried out at the most favorable temperature and the plants are planted at least ten centimeters deep. Planting of tobacco begins on the twentieth of April and ends on the twenty-fifth of May.

The ideal planting density for tobacco is 70 by 30 centimeters, shag - 70 by 20. When planting seedlings along a drawn furrow, usually the holes are placed at a distance of at least thirty centimeters from each other for tobacco, and twenty for shag.

After planting, pour half a liter of water into the holes. Remember: seedlings need to be laid out along the furrow, with the leaves facing to the left of the planter.

The planter positions the body so that he can deepen the hole with his left hand, and plant the plant with his right hand and cover its roots with soil. To help plants adapt to their new environment and increase their growth, the roots of the seedlings can be dipped in a mullein solution.

There are several main diseases that should be actively combated: A solution of 0.3 percent polycarbacin or a 0.4% suspension of zineb is usually used against it. Five liters of such products are sprayed onto one hundredth of a hectare of land. - Aphids;

When fighting aphids, experienced gardeners usually use actelik or rogor. The first of them adds 20-10 grams per ten-liter vessel, the second 10-20 grams for the same amount of water.

Seedlings are planted in the ground during severe thaws, when the risk of frost has completely passed. When aphids appear, the plants are sprayed with actelik (20-30 g per 10 liters of water) or rogor (10-20 g per 10 liters of water). The collection of tobacco leaves begins from the lower tiers of the plant, focusing on the degree of their yellowing, distributing the collection to five or six receptions. Tobacco leaves should not be removed in an unripe or overripe state, and they should not be collected wet.

The collected leaves are distributed in layers thirty centimeters thick and piled in the shade. After about twelve hours, the wilted leaves are attached to cords and hung on a structure for drying.

Naturally, we should not forget that the leaves will not dry out either in the rain or in a strong wind. Drying in the sun should not last more than seventeen hours. By the way, it is after it that we receive the final raw materials for the product. In cloudy weather, the raw materials dry out slowly and acquire a darkish color. Dried tobacco must be removed carefully so that it does not crumble.

The strings with tobacco leaves are folded into fours and attached to a cord in bundles of six laces. (such a set of low tobacco will be called gavanka). Havanki, as usual. They are hung on poles in a special storage room and left until autumn.

Then, in the fall, the tobacco leaves are removed, smoothed and packaged. Fermented tobacco is suitable for making cigarettes. In addition, this same fermentation can be carried out at home. Approximate fermentation algorithm:

Place the tobacco in a container and heat it for several days at a temperature of up to fifty degrees Celsius, while the air humidity should be kept between sixty and sixty percent. After the expiration of the period, the air humidity should be increased to seventy-five percent (the temperature remains unchanged) and leave the raw materials leave for five days. The third stage will be a gradual decrease in air temperature over forty-eight hours and a parallel increase in air humidity to eighty percent.

The fourth stage of fermentation will be cooling the tobacco to twenty to twenty-five degrees and reducing the humidity to eleven percent. The tobacco cooling process lasts up to three days, after which the raw material is allowed to rest for a little less than a month. Tobacco is cut into fibers, the width of which reaches five to seven tenths of a millimeter.

The length of cigarettes is usually eighty-five millimeters and the diameter is eight millimeters. One cigarette accounts for from eight tenths of a gram to one gram. High-quality cigarettes are usually made by mixing different types of tobacco.

Selling tobacco a priori is not a problem, since due to the widespread use of cigarettes, tobacco business is a profitable business. Tobacco cultivation is carried out in the most unexpected corners of the world due to its high adaptability to different conditions existence. Appearance tobacco depends on the conditions environment in which he resides.

Nicotiana tobacum began its commercial production in Virginia at the beginning of the 17th century. It later became clear that the climatic conditions of the southeastern United States are ideal for growing tobacco. Today, the United States is one of the largest producers and exporters of tobacco around the world. The first place among producers of tobacco products is China, which itself consumes a significant part of its own harvest. Tobacco is also actively grown in India and Brazil.

Diseases of tomato seedlings at home

Once upon a time, growing tobacco was common among us. In many household plots, this plant was bred for sale. Samosad could be found in any market.

The fact is that the cost of cigarettes at that time was too high for many. Later, when household incomes began to rise and prices for tobacco products dropped significantly, shag and tobacco slowly began to disappear from the markets. This business has withered away. But even today there are many lovers of such tobacco products who are happy to grow this crop at home.

Cigar or cigarette tobacco is a heat-loving crop; it can be grown in open ground only in the south of the country. IN middle lane To grow tobacco you need special greenhouses. But shag will grow anywhere, except in the North, of course.

The calculation here is simple. If on average one cigarette contains 1 gram of tobacco (low-grade ones have less), therefore, there are 20 grams in a pack. A heavy smoker smokes a pack a day, which is 6-8 kilograms of tobacco per year.

Under all favorable conditions, you can harvest about 30 grams of tobacco from one bush. Planting 6-7 plants per square meter according to the norm; if the tobacco variety is large-leaved, the planting density will be 30 x 70 cm, while shag or a medium-leaf variety will require 20 x 70 cm.

From all arithmetic calculations it follows that the crop will occupy approximately 40 square meters for the annual norm of 270-300 bushes.

It is necessary to take into account that tobacco in its pure form will be very strong; stems are usually added to it.

If these calculations prove the feasibility of growing this crop, then it is quite possible to do such a thing.

Step-by-step instructions for growing tobacco

Here it should be clarified that growing the less heat-loving shag (scientifically Nicotiana rustica) is much simpler. In the middle zone, this crop is sown directly into the ground in early May. Then the bed is covered with germination film so that the plants can develop normally and then get a good harvest.

Growing ordinary tobacco is somewhat more complicated. To begin with, you should choose from a huge variety suitable variety tobacco for planting. When choosing, it is better to give preference to local varieties.

The growing process itself has several stages.

Germination of seeds

The method of breeding tobacco and shag has much in common, but the difference is that the ripening of tobacco is much longer. The ripening period for shag is 75-80 days, and tobacco needs approximately 120 days to ripen. Therefore, in the middle zone it is not possible to sow tobacco seeds in a garden bed. Such a long growing season requires suitable conditions. Tobacco is sown at home in pots and seedling boxes or in a greenhouse.

Algorithm of actions:

1. Purchased seeds should be soaked a couple of days before sowing in a solution of tartaric acid in a ratio of 3 ml per 1 gram of seeds per day. Moreover, the temperature should be within 25-30 degrees.
2. Soaking will speed up the ripening of seedlings by a week and increase seed germination by 20%!
3. After a day, the soaked seeds are removed from the solution, slightly dried, and then placed in a prepared container in a thick layer, about 3 centimeters.
4. The planting material must be moistened 5-6 times a day for several days, maintaining a temperature of 27-30 degrees, which promotes germination.

Greenhouse preparation

Since growing tobacco seedlings in a greenhouse is the best option, we need to prepare it for landing.

First of all, a nutrient layer 10 centimeters thick is poured, which will be humus mixed with sand in a ratio of 3:4.

In the last days of February it is necessary to start sowing tobacco seeds. At this time it is usually still quite cold, so the greenhouse must be heated.

Sowing seeds and germinating seedlings.

The prepared nutrient layer must be shed with water at the rate of 1 liter of water per square meter. Subsequently, humidification is increased to 3-4 liters per meter.

After this, tobacco seeds are evenly scattered on the surface at the rate of 4 grams per square meter. Shag is sown more often, at a rate of 20 grams per meter.

Scattered tobacco seeds must be carefully pressed into the ground 30 mm, but if they are shag seeds, then a little deeper - about 70 mm. Finally, the planted seeds are watered with great care so that they do not go deep into the ground.

The required air temperature in the greenhouse at this time is about 20 degrees.

Aftercare is regular feeding plants and proper watering.

It is necessary to feed the seedlings with a solution consisting of potassium salt, superosphate and ammonium nitrate in the proportion of 20 g, 50 g, 30 g per 10 liters of water. Sprinkle the soil with this fertilizer at a rate of 2 liras per square meter.

You can also use chicken manure in a ratio of 1:7.

Immediately a week before transplanting the seedlings, the frequency of watering is reduced, and the last three days are completely stopped.

It is necessary to replant seedlings that are hardened and have elastic stems. Immediately before transplanting, water with plenty of water to make it easier to remove the plants from the soil.

After a month and a half, when the strengthened and grown seedlings have several true leaves and rise to 15 cm, and their stems are about 0.5 cm thick; - it needs to be replanted in open ground.

Transfer

When replanting, they usually focus on the soil warming temperature. For tobacco, the soil should warm up to 10 degrees at a depth of 10 centimeters (depending on the climate zone).

To transplant plants, prepare small holes, keeping a distance of 25-30 centimeters between them, and a row spacing of at least 70 centimeters.

Approximately a liter of water is poured into the prepared holes, and then the plants are taken out one by one and planted in the prepared place. To reduce the stress of replanting for plants, you should try to leave more of the soil in which they grew on the roots. When planting in a new place, each bush should be dipped in a mixture of mullein and clay. After this, the holes are carefully filled and lightly compacted.

Care

Further care consists of timely loosening and weeding of the ridges and applying fertilizers. During the growing season, tobacco bushes should be watered no more than 2-3 times, spending 8 liters of water on each bush.

In addition, it is periodically necessary to prun the plants and break off the inflorescences in a timely manner.

Diseases and pests

This plant has two main growing problems. The first is aphids. Most effective method fight against this scourge - “Rogor-S”. The second problem is peronosporosis. To get rid of this problem, use a 4% suspension of zineb, which must be applied at the rate of 5 liters per 10 acres. It is also possible to use a 0.3% solution of polycarbocin.

Growing tobacco at home, video:

Harvesting

In general, growing tobacco does not present any difficulties. It will be more difficult harvested handle.

There are some subtleties here. When the tobacco leaves begin to turn yellow, you need to start harvesting. But it is imperative to remove the tobacco leaves, starting from the lowest rows.

It is especially important to ensure that the leaves of smoking tobacco are whole and dry!

Having collected the leaves, you need to transfer them to a shaded place for 12 hours, stacking them in a layer of 30 centimeters so that they wilt. After this, the leaves are strung on cords and hung to dry. It is necessary to find a place protected from the wind for this purpose. In suitable sunny weather, drying will take about two weeks.

After this, you need to take 5-6 pieces of cords on which tobacco leaves are strung, fold them 4 times, and then hang them on a special hook. This design is called a gavanka.

The gavanki are transferred and dried in a well-ventilated area until completely dry, hanging them on the crossbars.

With the arrival of cold autumn days, dry tobacco leaves are removed and then placed in piles, carefully smoothed.

The process is completed and tobacco can be consumed.

Varieties of smoking tobacco for growing

There are several well-known varieties of tobacco that are easy to grow at home.

"Trapezond" - resistant to various diseases variety with a short growing season (only 100 days)

The "Virginia" variety is an early-ripening, strong tobacco with a good aroma. This variety is quite resistant to various diseases and various vagaries of nature.

The “Yubileiny” variety is early ripening and can be harvested after 80 days. Quite resistant to disease.

Variety "Samsun" - ripening occurs in 110 days. This is one of high-yielding varieties, one bush grows up to 50 leaves of tobacco.

"Village tobacco" is frost-resistant. It can be grown both in open ground and on a loggia or window.

If you correctly decide on the type of smoking tobacco, then it is quite possible to grow this crop on personal plot. You just need to use the knowledge you have gained.

Growing tobacco at home, despite the general trend towards quitting smoking, is becoming increasingly popular. The thing is that tobacco ground into dust is an effective natural remedy for pest control. In addition, individual recipes traditional medicine It is recommended to use tobacco leaves in the manufacture of medicinal products for external use. Therefore, for many gardeners the relevant question is: how to grow tobacco at home?

When you decide to grow tobacco at home, you should definitely take into account that the taste characteristics of the product depend on the area and soil where the crop grows. For example, the texture of the leaves of a plant grown in soils with low level humidity and minimal content of mineral salts, it will be very thin, and the shag will be unflavoured. And, conversely, in those who grew up on muddy or clay soil bushes, the leaves will be small, but dense and fragrant.

Growing tobacco from seeds at home

Contrary to the fears of those new to the business, growing tobacco at home is not difficult. It is important to choose the right crop variety. For warmer areas where tobacco is traditionally cultivated, almost all plant varieties are suitable; in temperate climate zones, the varieties “Trapezond 15”, “Cigarny 17” and “Bryansky 91” are recommended for cultivation. The Trapezond 15 and Trapezond Kubanets tobacco varieties are perfect for garden plots; they ripen in 3-3.5 months, which is almost a month earlier than other varieties ripen.

How to plant tobacco seedlings?

As for any crop that requires a long period of growth warm temperature, for tobacco it is more expedient to use seedling method growing.

Tobacco seedlings are planted in late March - early April. You can sow dry seed material, but agricultural technicians assure that hatched seeds grow better. To do this, 4–5 days before planting, the seeds, wrapped in a cloth, are soaked in warm water diluted with a few drops of tartaric acid. Soaking time – 24 hours. The procedure reduces the forcing period by almost a week and has a beneficial effect on further and increased productivity.

Then the seeds are washed and placed on a damp cloth in an enamel (faience) bowl in a warm place. It is necessary to ensure that the cloth is wet at all times. When the seeds hatch on the 3rd - 4th day, they are dried and mixed with clean sand or humus. Sow the seeds in pots or wooden boxes with nutritious soil, with a planting depth of 0.5 - 0.8 cm. After planting, the soil is watered with a spray bottle.

When growing tobacco seedlings, it is important to follow the watering regime: you need to water little by little, but every day. It is advisable to pick seedlings at the “ear” stage, when 3–4 true leaves appear. Fertilize seedlings 2 times mineral fertilizers or infusion. A week before planting in the ground, the seedlings are hardened with air and the amount of watering is reduced.

Planting tobacco seedlings

When the height of the seedlings reaches approximately 15 cm, and the number of leaves increases to 5-6 (this number does not include cotyledon leaves), the seedlings can be planted in open ground. In this case, it is necessary that warm weather has already established itself. A furrow is prepared in advance and holes are made in it. Half a liter of water is poured into each hole, the hole is deepened with a peg, and a bush is inserted vertically into it. Wet soil is pressed against the roots, and dry soil is poured on top so that less moisture is lost.

During the growing season, regular loosening of the soil, watering and weeding should be carried out. Fertilizing tobacco is carried out in the same way as fertilizing tomatoes. When flowers appear, the inflorescences are broken off. It is also necessary to systematically carry out pinching - removing side shoots.

Under natural conditions, tobacco grows in South America and Australia, and therefore in the tropical zone. This climate is characterized by high humidity air and lack negative temperatures. In conditions temperate climate it is grown as an annual plant.

It is better to grow tobacco from the seeds of the central inflorescence, since they are less productive from the side pods. On an industrial scale, it is difficult to select high-quality seeds, and they are often purchased from people who grow tobacco in their garden plots.

Tobacco grains complete ripening one year after harvest; Those who are 2-3 years old are considered suitable. Instead of seeds, you can purchase ready-made seedlings.

Setting up a nursery and germinating seeds

For seed to germinate, it needs moisture, warmth and daylight. For this, the optimal temperature is 27–28C°. Seeds are planted either in the ground or in a nursery. The greenhouse method is more reliable, since the weather conditions of the temperate climate zone in spring do not contribute to early germination.

Containers for seedlings can be purchased at any supermarket. Ordinary plastic trays, usually used for food purposes, are also suitable for this purpose.

Sow starting in February - it depends on the duration growing season each type: at such a time that at the beginning of June they can be planted in open ground. Be sure to write on the container with seedlings what variety is in it: young seedlings look the same, it will be difficult to distinguish them during planting.

Universal soil for vegetables is suitable for germinating seeds. It is poured into a container in a layer 5–7 cm thick and compacted slightly. Next, you need to scatter the seeds over the surface of the soil (without pressing them into the ground), sprinkle them with water using a household spray bottle and cover with gauze until the first shoots. My germination experience.

It is not necessary to moisten the seed for it to germinate: a well-ripened dry seed will germinate within 3–5 days without that. After germination, the seedlings need to be separated and planted in separate paper or peat cups.

Feeding and fertilizer

The main quality of the tobacco leaf is its so-called “flammability”. The leaf is filled with resinous substances during the period of growth and ripening. To speed up the process of plant growth and allow the plant to acquire its properties, the soil is regularly fed and fertilized.

A variety of fertilizers are sold in specialized stores and it is more rational to use them on an industrial scale. And on a personal plot, it is enough to feed with ordinary manure, which remains on the farm after chickens, rabbits, goats and other living creatures. Manure is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5 in a deep opaque container and the mixture is left for about two weeks. After this period, the manure becomes fertilizer.

Fertilizers are applied when the stem is just forming: there is no point in fertilizing a stem that is ready for harvesting. The resulting mixture is added to water in a ratio of 1:10 and fertilized with regular watering in the early morning or evening when the sun sets. Water the soil at the base of the stem carefully so that water and fertilizer do not get on the leaves. I rarely use industrial fertilizers, a little manure and humus that I infuse in a barrel, about that.

In addition, it is necessary to remember about problems that may arise, including due to, and have a minimum idea of ​​what to do in such situations.

Harvesting, drying, cutting and storage

The most valuable product of growing tobacco is its leaves. This is why harvesting is called “leaf breaking.” Before collecting the leaves, make sure that they are really ripe: the leaves begin to lighten and lose their elasticity (you should not consider yellowed leaves at the base as ripe - this indicates a lack of nitrogen in the soil). If the leaf is ripe, it is simply broken off at the base.

Breaking is a labor-intensive process, as it is carried out in several stages. You need to walk across the entire area, collect ripe leaves, and leave those that are not ready to ripen. And so on until the entire harvest is harvested.

Green leaves contain 85% water, so they need to be dried. There are two drying methods: solar and shady. After drying in the sun, there is less moisture in the leaves than after drying in the shade, but the leaves may crumble, which leads to loss of yield. At home, the leaves are dried by simply hanging them in a row under a canopy, not forgetting to note the variety and date of leaf breaking. A leaf is considered dry when the central vein becomes dry and brittle (which is subsequently removed).

Before storing or consuming tobacco. In dry form it is unsuitable for use.

Dry leaf processing process includes the following steps:

1. Moisturizing completely dry leaves. To do this, water them generously, cover with a wet cloth and leave for about one hour. After this procedure, the sheet becomes flexible;
2. Densely pack moistened leaves into glass jars. The size of the jar depends on the fermentation method and the volume of the dryer;
3. Prolonged drying of leaves(5–7 days) at a temperature of 50–55С. At home, incubators are used for this. Some gardeners use quick way fermentation by sterilizing jars of leaves in pots of water, ovens and even microwaves. But taste qualities while getting worse. A sign of complete fermentation is a characteristic tobacco aroma;
4. Final drying after fermentation.

Fermented leaves are ground on a mesh (3x3 mm cross-section), sifted through a sieve, and the already dry leaves can be stored in ordinary glass jars. This is a ready-to-use product. Now you know how to grow tobacco at home.