My tobacco seedlings have grown wildly over the last two weeks. Dig this evolution.
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| Two weeks ago, right before I did the final culling, they looked like this. When I pulled the small ones, they had single main roots with a few, spindly branch roots coming off the tap. |
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| By this weekend, when I planted them in a raised bed, they had grown substantially. |
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| The branch roots had grown even more than the leaves, making it all the way to the bottom of their cups and then looping back up the sides. The root structure was so complete that when I pulled the seedlings from their cups, not a single bit of dirt fell off. |
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| The tobacco in the raised bed. A couple of the seedlings withered a bit. Both of them were Cuban varieties. I blame this on socialism and atheism. My Southern redneck seedlings were far more rugged and self-reliant. |
Now comes the real test. Am I so late in the year that the seedlings will only grow to about 30% of their natural size and then quit because there isn't enough sun or heat? We'll see.
6 comments:
They certainly seem to be doing well. When you worry about there "not being enough sun or heat", just how cold and dark does it get around San Diego in the fall?
Tim - Climate data says that by the end of October San Diego will have average daily high of about 72, low about 58. There will be about 11 hours of daylight. I have no idea if that’s enough for KT’s horticultural efforts. Do you?
My guess is that you don’t have enough dirt.
Since their growing season is spring to fall in the Carolinas, where it's hot and humid all the time, I'm afraid that San Diego in November isn't going to cut it for them.
I will admit that I haven't researched tobacco as a winter crop. I need to do that. Maybe they'll be fine.
Ohioan: I don't really know either, but given that high 72/low 58 is pretty much "high summer" for us, and is adequate for growing tomatos (which are close relatives of tobacco), I'd say KT certainly has a good shot at getting *something*, at any rate.
This person claims that dry weather above 68 F is ideal, what that might be worth:
https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Tobacco
"Where will tobacco grow?
Tobacco will grow in all 50 states, basically anywhere where you have about 100 frost free nights after setting out the tobacco plants."
https://www.seedman.com/TobaccoQA.htm
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