Tobacco

By Tools for Gardeners

Planting tobacco

Tobacco is a tender, fast-growing nightshade relative grown as an annual everywhere the winters freeze. Start seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost; it is dust-fine, so press it onto the surface and do not bury it. Transplant out after frost once nights are settled, spacing plants 2 to 3 feet apart since each becomes a small shrub. One honest caution before sowing: every part of the plant is poisonous to people and pets, and wet leaves can pass nicotine through skin, so wear gloves when handling fresh foliage.

Planting details

• Start indoors: 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost; seed needs light to germinate
• Transplant: after the last frost into warm soil
• Spacing: 24 to 36 inches; plants reach 3 to 6 feet in a season
• Seed depth: surface sown, barely pressed in
• Leaves ripen for picking roughly 90 to 120 days after sowing

Growing requirements

Rich, moist, well-drained soil and full sun grow the biggest leaves; plants in shade go spindly and thin. Tobacco feeds heavily, so work in compost before planting and keep moisture steady through midsummer. It shares the nightshade family's diseases and pests, so keep it off ground that grew tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, or potatoes in the last few years, and skip beds with known nematode or soil-disease problems. A grass-family crop is the friendly predecessor.

Harvesting and care

For leaf production, pinch the flower stalk the moment it forms and snap off side shoots, so the plant pours size into the leaves. If you are growing it for the fragrant evening flowers instead, skip the pinching and let it bloom. Pick leaves as they ripen, starting low on the stalk when they yellow slightly and feel leathery. Be honest about curing before you plant for leaf: air-curing takes weeks of warm, humid hanging and months of aging, which is the part home growers underestimate.

Common mistakes

• Burying the seed; it is nearly dust and needs light at the surface
• Setting transplants into cold nights, which stalls the fast growth that makes the plant worthwhile
• Growing it beside tomatoes or peppers and sharing mosaic virus and soil diseases
• Handling wet leaves bare-handed; nicotine absorbs through skin and causes the nausea known as green tobacco sickness
• Assuming a few plants become usable leaf; curing and aging take weeks of controlled conditions

Companion plants

Tobacco's best companion role is distance. Tobacco mosaic virus and shared root diseases move freely between it and tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes, so give it its own corner away from the nightshade bed. On the plus side, the tubular, night-scented flowers pull in moths and other dusk pollinators, and deer leave the toxic foliage alone.

Varieties worth growing

• Virginia types: the bright-leaf, flue-cured class; the common garden seed packet
• Burley types: air-cured leaf and the more forgiving curing route for beginners
• Havana types: cigar-leaf class with broad, dark foliage
• Nicotiana sylvestris: the ornamental cousin; tall and sticky with cascading white evening flowers

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Nicotiana tabacum
• University of Florida IFAS, tobacco in the home garden
• University of Wisconsin Horticulture, flowering tobacco