June 27, 2016 Tobacco Growing and Humidity
READ THIS. These are baby tobacco plants at 6 weeks old, planted on June 1, 2016. Ideally, if you are going to grow outdoors, you should start the seeds indoors just after the last frost has come, which signals the start of your growing season. To plant the seeds, make sure your soil mixture is thoroughly moist, all the way through, and it will help to "water that soil" BEFORE adding the seeds. I mix in fertilizer with the water, to ensure a thorough dispersion of the fertilizer throughout the soil, which the seedlings will need.
Then, lightly tamp down the soil, and sprinkle the seeds on top of the soil - then spray them with a mister, using the same water, with the fertilizer already mixed in. Be sure to mist them every day, as they will not germinate without full sunlight and a heavy mist on top. DO NOT tamp down the seeds... just let the light spray of the mist weight them down, to make contact with the soil on their own.
Tobacco is a tropical plant, so it grows and germinates best in very warm and humid environments, similar to Cuba... where we find some of the best tobaccos in the world. You should have a warming mat underneath the soil (do not get the warming mat wet), to create this needed warmth from below. If you are starting the seeds indoors, this is especially critical, as most home environments are kept around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a little cool for the seeds.
Most heating mats will raise the soil temperature by 10-20 degrees Fahrenheit, which should put you in the ideal range. Be sure to mist the soil every day, as the seeds will not start at all, if they are allowed to dry out. Use a plastic dome cover over the soil, to keep the humidity in, and allow the dome to form lots of condensation on the interior, throughout the day. To be sure that they get direct sun for at least part of the day - not sunlight which is filtered through those condensation droplets - I remove the dome in the evening, after sundown, and remove the condensation then... but allow it to form again the next day, and repeat the process. The dome is always on, but this way, the seeds get direct unfiltered sunlight in the morning. Then, as the ambient room temperature rises in the day, the water in the soil will evaporate somewhat, and be trapped within the plastic dome, to maintain a humid environment.
If you are using indoor grow lights, make sure they mimic mother nature as closely as possible, by turning them on during the day, and leaving them off at night while your home cools. The seeds in this video were started much later than ideal. But tobacco only needs 90-120 days of sun, warmth, and water, if you grow it outdoors. Thus, it can be grown nearly anywhere in the world, including Alaska - and most varieties will grow well in cooler climates, once they have been transplanted outdoors. Give them lots of sun, and plenty of water.
In the Pacific Northwest of the United States (with a climate similar to Eureka California, Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver, BC), my seedlings will still turn into wonderful full-grown 7 foot tall plants by early fall. In fact, once they are firmly established outdoors, they will often survive until the first frost of winter... although temperatures in the low 40s Fahrenheit will stress them a bit, and your harvest won't be as good. However, if you live in a warm climate, where it never drops below freezing, they may even winter over, and survive through a 2nd year... although in most cases, you will find that tobacco is an annual, which must be started again from seed the following year.
If I had "done it the right way," by starting my seeds indoors in early April, I could have transplanted them into progressively larger pots, and then put them in the ground outdoors in early May. That would mean they would be ripe for harvest in August, with the potential to dry and cure my freshly cut leaves outdoors, when it's still between 70 and 90 degrees during the day. Maybe next year, I'll be able to do that. (Note that in the American South, where commercial tobaccos are grown, the leaves cure well in barns, where they can be left to go through the process naturally, in temperatures between 75 and 85, with the humidity at 70-80 percent each day. I am not an expert on curing, but I'm sure you can find more information by searching online. It's both an art and a science... so don't be discouraged if you have to try curing several times, and several different ways, to find the right balance. If you don't, your tobacco may have a harsh taste... so it's imperative that you cure the leaves properly, and practice until you get it right.)
All of this being said, since my seeds were started June 1st, we are already into summer... so the natural full sunlight outdoors provided a better environment than indoors, for germination. I kept the soil well misted daily, with the dome cover always in place. I removed the condensation each night, and allowed it to form again the next day.