Tobacco Plants, Nicotiana tabacum

I sowed some Nicotiana tabacum seeds that I brought from trademe. The seeds were organically grown in NZ so they are acclimatised to this environment. This could account for the success of the germination rate! As with the poppies I have had a massive surplus of plants & therefore I have chosen the most successful plants to be planted out.

I greatly underestimated the size of the tobacco leaves! I thought that a 10cm soil bag would be enough space for the plants. It is now clearly visible that they are going to become very root bound. However I have no other way to grow them due to the lack of space. I am treating this grow as an experiment. I have no way of harvesting & using the tobacco as this requires a lengthy Curing process. I would need to build a special unit/room for this process. I would love to do this in the future sometime.

Here are some pics of my shabby crops. The tobacco plants are in the black soil bags (with the F-OFF sized leaves):







The leaves have also taken a battering from some bastard caterpillars since I planted them out! I was convinced that the tobacco plant deterred almost all pests! Perhaps that is just with the wild version Nicotiana rustica