It's probably not the growing of the tobacco that will trip you up but the proper drying of the harvested leaves...I suspect the damp climate might be an issue.
I figure we either stick them next to the beastie's outside heater vent or just put them in the oven. We may get some kind of drying compound or something to put with them. Though yeah, rainfall will probably be an issue, but we won't know until we try.
You live in such a gorgeous area, I love the Skykomish area. Pictures can never do the glories of nature justice, words even less so, but having been there I can at least call those mountains to mind.
How much space are you going to take to grow tobacco? I talked with Lan about doing that last night, he said he'd be willing to try it, but he didn't sound completely convinced. And I have no idea if we have the room or not.
I'm not entirely sure how much space we'll take, I was planning on repossessing last year's garden, which was about 4x15", but I can expand it. There is another spot that may be allowed us which is about 6x10. I figure successful plants will need about 2 square feet each if they get that big-the leaves are flippin' HUGE! A lot of people grow it as an ornamental for that reason, I'm told.
You have room for ONE plant, at least. Depends how much you want to grow. Some snippet Mike latched onto said that a 2 X 8 meter plot (roughly 7' X 26') will grow 50 plants, enough for 50,000 cigarettes a year.
They need craploads of nutrients, its recommended to grow them where wood or leaves have been burned -I figured we'd just mix ashes in with the soil, as they need a lot of nitrogen.
"Piss and wood ash should do it" says Mike. He's thinking of planting them on the leach field. Which I think is a little eew, but we can't use that area for food crops and we're not going to eat it, so what the hell.
It will be the drying process that will be the trick. It looks like airflow and time is what will get the tobacco to good smoking levels. Maybe securing a storage unit on this side of the mountains might be the trick. It is going to take over a month to cure the leaves to get them smokable.
Oh neat! Thanks for those, I've been looking for tobacco growers a little closer than Tennessee.
It's pretty damp up here, we'll probably try different curing methods, including just putting the bastards in the oven, there's no way the cigarette companies have much patience in the curing process.
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How much space are you going to take to grow tobacco? I talked with Lan about doing that last night, he said he'd be willing to try it, but he didn't sound completely convinced. And I have no idea if we have the room or not.
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They need craploads of nutrients, its recommended to grow them where wood or leaves have been burned -I figured we'd just mix ashes in with the soil, as they need a lot of nitrogen.
"Piss and wood ash should do it" says Mike. He's thinking of planting them on the leach field. Which I think is a little eew, but we can't use that area for food crops and we're not going to eat it, so what the hell.
Reply
It will be the drying process that will be the trick. It looks like airflow and time is what will get the tobacco to good smoking levels. Maybe securing a storage unit on this side of the mountains might be the trick. It is going to take over a month to cure the leaves to get them smokable.
Here is a blog that might help: http://homegrowntobacco.blogspot.com/
Good luck, I really like the idea of sticking it to the tax man.
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It's pretty damp up here, we'll probably try different curing methods, including just putting the bastards in the oven, there's no way the cigarette companies have much patience in the curing process.
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