M14 Forum

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 07:38 AM

Hope to have seeds started in about two months. Will start seeds when potting soil in the coffee containers reaches 80 degrees.

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 08:32 AM

$15 including shipping for 250 each of kelly burley, silk leaf, & yellow orinoco all of which I'd grown in 2011 plus Florida sumatra which is suppose to be a stronger tobacco but not harsh like iranian or turkish.

HH

XSabers · January 25th, 2012, 11:00 AM

HH, where'd you get the seeds? I got some, I don't remember the variety, in a seed swap on another forum a couple years ago. I didn't know you could buy different varieties commercially. I don't smoke or chew, but I know some folks do and I know they'd do some serious trading for smokes if things got tight.

Swamp Rat · January 25th, 2012, 11:37 AM

What kind of regulations/paperwork are there to grow it?

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 02:32 PM

XSabers, noone is going to be able to ID the seeds as they all look alike. Even grown, could be hard to ID the variety.

Here's where I bought my seeds:
http://www.newhopeseed.com/tobacco_seeds.html
On the 11 subcategories, click on each to see the varieties in that category.

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 02:44 PM

Swamp Rat, anyone can grow as much as they want for their own use. Sale it & get caught & you will probably be looking at prison time. Barter with a neighbor or friend & probably be OK.

Tobacco companies buy by permit. Permits are done first of the year. You get a permit for X amount of dried & cured certain variety. You can't sale more then the permit allows & if you don't produce enough that company isn't coming back next year to you. And that means you also need a large drying & curing barn that is climate controlled for the finished product. And sorry if inspector grades your tobacco as B & your permit was for grade A tobacco. Means they buy nothing from you. That's what little I know about it. Except what is known as "pegging" is some back breaking work. Its putting the 6-8" shoots into the ground.

HH

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 02:48 PM

And just to clarify, there is no one variety that makes a good smoke be it cigarettes, pipe, cigars, chew, etc. Everything is a mix of different varieties. Last year I did three varieties & smoke for cigarettes came out as a "light". So this year trying a fourth variety to make it more of a "full flavor".

HH

lowell66dart · January 25th, 2012, 03:58 PM

Google Perique tobacco. This is a very strong variety grown where I live, St James Parish, Louisiana. My dad grew it when I was younger and I worked in all stages of it. 95% manual labor. It's really made a huge comeback because of the demand/price. My Dads old barns had tobacco hanging in them this summer for the first time in 40 years.

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 04:42 PM

I did look up the perique but didn't find any listing of anyone growing it in Florida so went with the Florida sumatra.

HH

lowell66dart · January 25th, 2012, 04:48 PM

Let me know if you want to try. I can probably get you some seed.

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 05:22 PM

Would be interesting to try some perique since I hadn't found any references to any being grown in Florida.

HH

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 05:31 PM

BTW, anyone like me that has to buy way more seeds then I could use in a year the rule of thumb is if stored properly you will loose about 10% germination per year.
So the buying of 250 seeds per variety I figure the absolute most I will use is 50 seeds. So might have enough for the next 4 or 5 years depending on size of crops I go with. My intention is to expand size of my crop as I learn.

HH

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 08:12 PM

I start the seeds in the blue coffee containers & 4-6 weeks later transfer the plants to the 5gal buckets. Then new soil in the coffee containers & start another batch of seeds. Full term on the second batch in the coffee containers but won't grow to full size. Most of my harvest will come from the 5gal buckets.

That's my basic plan but know will have to be able to alter as things change. I'll have to buy atleast 10 more buckets to match up with the number of coffee containers I have. And the potting soil for the coffee containers & soil for atleast twenty 5gal buckets.

Just maybe finances will permit purchase of more buckets & soil by time the second set of plants are 6 weeks old.

HH

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 08:25 PM

Something that seems to be coming as a new trend is growing one mild variety such as orinoco or burley & once dried & processed mixed with pipe tobacco to get a full flavor blend. This would definately save some money over the taxes on commercial cigarettes.

HH

huntinghawk · January 25th, 2012, 08:35 PM

Don't plant more then you can take care of. Though the pants only need water once a week, you need to inspect the plants daily. I'm serious. Things like horn worm can kill a plant in two days. Pick them off the plant & stomp them dead. What will really hurt you is missing them that they reproduce among your plants.
Some bacteria is controlled with soapy water. While a spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide & water works on other pests.