I searched the forums and may have missed it. How would one go about storeing tobacco products as a barter item and or medicinal purposes??

powerstrokin06 wrote:I searched the forums and may have missed it. How would one go about storeing tobacco products as a barter item and or medicinal purposes??

What we do is.

Seal in vacuum seal bags and store in freezer.

You could also use mylar bags and vacuum seal them as well with oxygen absorbers.

Now if you currently smoke now one could also take the small amount of tobacco left at the end of the cigarette and dump into a container, then when you think you have enough do the above steps. <------This is what we do since we buy and roll our own tobacco, and believe me you would be surprised how much you can add up doing this.

Here is our post on rolling your own cigarettes.
www.shtfm.com/how-lessons/how-to- ... t5336.html

I have stored enough in my freezer for my own personal use(for about 3-4 months)....and I have stocked up on seeds for growing my own tobacco..if you are going to grow your own,get a vairiety of seeds in ..I have about 8 different kinds...This year it was tough getting any, alot of the seeds had "crop failure" written on them.

Last year I was able to grow tobacco on my patio in the apt I lived in, this year I have the house(but seedlings have not come up yet) weird weather we have been having...

This is were I ordered my seeds from

http://www.newhopeseed.com/
It will save you alot of space..for prepping and right now while the world is still hagning on it is fun to try and grow it

I have a couple of pics of the tobaco plants that I grew inside the house in large pots..I did not get the opportunity to cure the ones I grew, as we moved out of the apt so fast(bought a house) the plants got stuffed in the shed here in Dec and never had a chance..lol

I have been known to smoke a pipe occasionally, especially when I'm fly fishing or sitting around a campfire so I also vacuum packed mine and have pulled some out that's 2 years old with no issues. If it ends up a bit too dry for you take a sponge and cut it into a 1" square, soak it in your favorite hard alcohol (I use JD because of the charcoal flavor), throw it in the bag with the tobacco and within about 24hrs it will be very lightly rehydrated.

Kelee, can you give me more specifics about growing the tobacco? Soil type, how much water, growing time and how to dry for use.

I pulled this off of the place I order my seeds from; there are pictures at the link also..this year I am trying to grow kelly green leaf but my plants have not starte..so in couple days i will try another kimd..I am pooped today had yard sale,mowed my lawns and built 3 more raised beds and filled 2 of them and planted some corn


"Starting seeds"

Tobacco is a relatively easy plant to grow and can be grown as far north as Canada and Alaska with the proper planning and preparation.

Tobacco seeds are extremely small (Fig. 1) not much larger than a pin prick and care should be taken when sowing seed as to not sow to thickly. Tobacco seed require warm temperatures for germination of about 75-80 degrees. Seed should be started indoors 4-6 weeks before your last frost date. Start by sprinkling the tobacco seed onto the surface of a sterile seed starting mix and lightly water in. Do not cover the seed with any soil as they need light for germination and covering can slow down germination time or if covered too deeply the seed won't germinate at all, watering in lightly is all that is needed.

Seed will begin to germinate in about 7-10 days with some tobacco varieties taking a few days longer to begin germination (Fig. 2). If your seed don't germinate right away be patient, it can take up to 2 weeks for some tobacco varieties to germinate.

The soil should be kept damp but not too soggy and should never be allowed to dry completely out. Care should be taken when watering freshly emerging tobacco seedlings because the force of the water can uproot the tiny seedlings causing them to die.

"Transplanting into trays/flats"

The next step is to transplant the tobacco seedlings into a larger container such as a pot or transplant cell tray as seen in Fig. 3. so that they can develop a good root system.
Under normal conditions the tobacco seedlings will be large enough and ready for moving into pots or cells after 3 weeks from the beginning of germination.
I normally prefer to wait until the plants largest leaf is close to the size of a dime before transplanting into cells because it is easier handling for me but seedlings can be moved anytime after they reach a size you are comfortable working with.

Transplanting into containers is easily accomplished by making a small hole into the soil and inserting the roots of the tobacco seedling and backfilling the hole with a little soil mix. Once you have them potted in, water in with a plant starter fertilize solution such as miracle grow or seaweed/fish fertilize emulsions.

Fig 1 Fig 2 Fig 3

Tobacco seeds Seedlings beginning to germinate. Potted seedlings.

The initial fertilizing you gave at the potting stage should be sufficient food for the plants until they reach transplanting stage, (Fig. 4) which normal takes approximately 3-4 weeks. If your plants begin to yellow or look stunted another dose of fertilize may be needed but do so sparingly, over fertilization while in pots or trays may burn the plant's roots and may also lead to overgrown spindly plants.

Tobacco plants are considered 'transplantable plants' meaning they, like tomato plants, can be planted bare root with out the need for any soil attached to the roots. If you have large containers or seedling flats you can sow the seed very thinly and leave the seedlings there until they reach the size for transplanting outdoors and pull the plants and transplant directly into your garden.

This is a much easier way to to do it but also has it's drawbacks. Once planted, bare root the plants will go through a sort of 'transplant shock' where some or most of the largest leaves may yellow and wilt and the plant may appear it is going to die, but it will not, the main stem and bud of the plant will continue to strive and in a week or so will begin to grow and flourish. By growing your seedlings in containers or celled trays there is no transplant shock and plants begin to grow immediately.

If you are growing your tobacco seedlings in a greenhouse or indoors they should be "hardened off" before you transplant into your field or garden, but is not always necessary as long as your plants are not spindly and weak and weather conditions are favorable. This period allows the plant to adjust to outdoor weather conditions. A week of hardening off should be ample time but 2 weeks is even better.
General note if planting more than one tobacco variety

Tobacco is considered a self pollinating plant meaning it has the ability to fertilize it's own flowers without the aid of insects. But different tobacco varieties planted close to one another can and will become crossed by insects such as moths, etc. that commonly visit the plants flowers. Tobacco can also become cross pollinated by wind although at a much lesser degree than by insects. To keep tobacco varieties pure, isolation of one mile is needed between different varieties to insure continued variety purity is maintained or other preventive cross pollination methods should be used if isolation distance is a problem.



"Transplanting into garden"

Tobacco is a heavy feeder and if grown continuously in the same spot will deplete the nutrients in the soil. So to counteract this it is wise to employ a 2 year rotation in your growing space by planting 2 years in a specific location and waiting a year or more before you plant your tobacco back into that location again. Tobacco also requires good amounts of nitrogen and potash both of which can be achieved with a good compost but we recommend a good garden fertilizer if you do not have or use compost.

Space the tobacco plants 2-3 feet apart in the row and space rows 3 1/2 - 4 feet apart when it is practical. Water the plants thoroughly once transplanted and if no rain or dry weather is forecast, water each evening for a few days till plants become established.

The roots of tobacco grow quickly and the root structure is quite large with thousands of small hair like feeder roots that grow close to the soil surface. Care should be taken when cultivating as not to till or hoe too deep and damage the roots.
Keep the tobacco clean and free of all weeds and a few good hoeings by pulling up soil around the base of the plant will help in strengthening the plant. The structure of a tobacco plant's leaves enables the plant to make use of light rains and heavy dews by collecting and funneling the water down to the base of the plant as can be seen in Fig. 5 by the wet soil.

After 3-4 weeks from planting heavy deep tilling should be stopped (Fig 6) and only light scrapings to control weeds should be done.
Fig 4 Fig 5 Fig 6

Plants ready for transplanting in the field. Tobacco plant after about 2 weeks from planting in the field. Nice healthy Burley tobacco plant.


Diseases and Insects

There are many insects and diseases that can attack tobacco.
Here in Tennessee, two of the prominent insect pest are the hornworm and aphid.
More information on insects and diseases can be found on our tobacco links page
http://www.newhopeseed.com/tobacco/seed_culture.htm

Thanks kelee, hopefully this summer I can get a greenhouse built. It's the only way I can grow anything up here due to temps and a 3 month growing season so I've been picking up seeds when I can, I'll just have to add these to the list.

If you need pics of the size of pots I used and a couple of pics of the plants...pm me and I will post them here

I don't think it's necessary, I'm limited to a 10'x10' enclosure or I have to buy a permit from the thieves in my County which I won't do. The plans I have drawn up are basically raised beds on 3 walls and 1 running down the middle with low growth plants in beds rigged with pulleys from the ceiling. Theoretically I'll end up with about 140 sq ft of raised boxes. There's also no limit on the number of 10'x10' sheds I can build so I could daisy chain them together if everything goes well. The biggest issue I'm going to have to deal with is keeping the temp up inside, we are still in the 20's with frost at night and it actually snowed on my way home last night. My "growing season" is from about July to Sept and even then the threat of frost is not gone and from the info I gleaned off the site you posted the tobacco plants cannot handle the cold weather, they need at least 70's.

Very nice thanks guys...I think we all know lil things can be big in certain and uncertian times..Great for barter and even better for moral.......Excellent responses. Now what type of vacum sealers are ya'll using. I need to get one and what bags???? and do you think this will work for snuff??? I know true flavor will prob suffer but in the times which we prepare for I dont think it will matter....

powerstrokin06 wrote:Very nice thanks guys...I think we all know lil things can be big in certain and uncertian times..Great for barter and even better for moral.......Excellent responses. Now what type of vacum sealers are ya'll using. I need to get one and what bags???? and do you think this will work for snuff??? I know true flavor will prob suffer but in the times which we prepare for I dont think it will matter....

I made a post on them www.shtfm.com/storage-canning-dry ... t6530.html