Nicotiana, winter and repotting

[SaBReT00tH]

Does anyone know if Nicotiana species still grow throughout winter? I've read on google they're an annual but local growers tell me they grow through winter also.

And is Nicotiana able to be repotted? I've read that similar to papaver species, they have a very sensitive root system and can't be repotted? If this true? If so, would a nicotiana plant still grow well in a medium sized pot when it's beginning to grow large? Or would it need more root space and compensate with its leaves just dying off?

[XipeTotec]

Does anyone know if Nicotiana species still grow throughout winter? I've read on google they're an annual but local growers tell me they grow through winter also.

And is Nicotiana able to be repotted? I've read that similar to papaver species, they have a very sensitive root system and can't be repotted? If this true? If so, would a nicotiana plant still grow well in a medium sized pot when it's beginning to grow large? Or would it need more root space and compensate with its leaves just dying off?

not sure about root space... i have a tobaccum that came in a small pot, I repotted with no hassles... although... I only had a medium pot available, so I have been considering repotting again... therefore I am also interested in the root space issue. I was told fby the person I bought it from that although it is classified an annual, she has found it to be bi-annual. This would especially be the case if grown in a hothouse over winter.

Edited April 13, 2007 by shroomytoonos

[Rev]

N tabacum is suprisingly frost tolerant as an adult

not sure about rustica but in perth (no frost but winter rain)

it grew best self seeded in the compost heap over winter

LARGE leaves, no bolting

of course these days you arent alowed to grow so its all hypothetical right

[Rev]

on that note the best way to get big leaves is to be diligent with good compost dug in prior and side dressed through season

these plant like it rich but well composted

like cannabis im sure they were drawn to our wastes

and gave us something in return

by keeping soil mositure up - best by slow trickle to soak subsurface rather than a light sprinkle everyday

most solanaceae (cept B sanguina) i know of like roots moist but not the tops

and especially in all cases by pulling any flower buds. just like basil youll get an anormous amount of leaf off a plant so long as you are diligent in plucking every few days

youll be amazed how a tiny leaf will continue to enlarge if the energy inst sucked into flowering

[Vertmorpheus]

I found tobacco in either the ground or large containers to be fairly tolerant of being basically chopped back to a 6 inch stump when weather is looking a bit drastic. Seen plants 4 and 5 years old, over time the leaves seem to get smaller and thicker, juicer, and more prone to bolting, but if you're just after a hobby / pesticide supply they produce ok. But with seed being that abundant once you have any at all , maybe easier to just compost the remains over winter and plant next years into it?

For a pesticide things certainly like chewing the arse out of it though.

[Evil Genius]

All of mine died short after flowering though i kept them inside. Other varietys might survive. No Idea.

Edited April 14, 2007 by Evil Genius

[Rev]

did you pluck?

[Evil Genius]

I didnt because i wasn´t sure if they´d been treated as seedlings. I bought them because i wanted to have my own tobacco and didn´t wanted to wait. But because i wasn´t sure, i used them as a botanic experiment.Oh, but i removed the pods containing the seeds. Apart from this, they died a natural death. bye Eg

Edited April 14, 2007 by Evil Genius

[Rev]

try plucking in future

its easy to get harvestable leaves

much harder to get a good smokeable chop chop

[Evil Genius]

Thanks Rev! The German spring is about to begin atm. Next week i am going to make a gigantic garden bed with organic nicotiana to satisfy my addiction! I´ve heard that green leaves don´t contain nitrosamines. I´ll try to pasteurize the tobacco, just like the swedish gothiathek for snus.

[Rev]

you know this one?

http://www.coffinails.com/

even plans for a curing device

but thatd be illegal in oz

Edited April 14, 2007 by Rev

[Evil Genius]

Thats an interisting website. I want to pasteurize the tobacco because of the nitrosamines. Pasteurization seems to kill all nitrosamine producing bacteria. Because of this technique, the swedish snus has a lower rate of mouth cancer. It´s probably going to taste worse than normal tobacco but as i just care about the nicotine, it doesnt matter to me. I don´t know why swedish match ísn´t also producing pasteurized tobacco for smoking purposes. I´d love to take a good tobacco hit with my hurricane pipe again. bye Eg

Edited April 14, 2007 by Evil Genius

[Vertmorpheus]

No idea what strain mine were ,seed sourced thru old school qld chopchop boys... leaf needed a fair amount of curing before being vaguely smokeable . I was either dumping a helluva lot of brown trim around them about a month before wanting to chop, the N drawdown helped with overall yellowing prior to picking... otherwise some folks just pick em as they yellow off, or take em green a wait ab it longer.

The bloke from coffinails isn't real keen on me since i posted there for a lil while then asked him So... what does AQIS think about you sending seed to aus? His reply...well...they won't give me a permit so I'm sendin anyway, despite the fact that he got some geezers out from some brit gov mob to test his soil etc and they said nup, aus won't take your gear. So after a few brief words re: importance of quarantine, I left him to it. Like all the people ordering MJ beans in from holland or wherever... hate to think what nasties are comin in with those secret seed orders. (thats ok, once a lot of those "designer" genetics get outside in the sun they tend to grow balls or fall over...grow local!)

I find if you nip off seedheads, old flowers and the 6 inches or so of "Stalk" and tiny leaf below the flower head , then give copious amounts of N (tobacco lives for human urine, works out well ) they seem to keep soldering on for a while longer.

the TSNA thing has a lot to do with LPG curing etc... but then anyone trying to bring out an "organic natural" tobacco would have a hard time of getting approval for it. I was curing by bundling leaves into stacks about an inch thick, with a bit of newspaper around em, somewhere dark wit hairflow, and restack the pile now and then so the outside is the inside, ditch any mouldy leaf. Otherwise if you get the whole plant to yellow off and then hang it somewhere dark with flow for a while the results can be ok.

[XipeTotec]

can they be transplanted into larger pot without problems?

[Rev]

they are tiny fragile seedlings but once they are up they can be transplanted, decapitated, n rustica even grows from cuttings!

they are after all a solanaceous plant

virii and nematodes aside they are all tough as

[Vertmorpheus]

yeah they're fiddly little guys, best method seems to be using cell trays, take the time to sow ONE seed at a time and use something with good cohesion, cocopeat or jiffy blocks etc...then you can trans em intact and not stress the roots out. They don't mind a repot but can look a bit miserable for a few days if they get knocked around...these plants have a great ability to look tragic one hour and then gorgeous the next... heat stressing seems to make the plant want toget more "hard" minerals etc into the leaf cells to help them cope, makes for stretchier leaves good for wrappings etc.