Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/ru/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19 Category: Garden plants Published: February 27, 2019Last edits: November 03, 2020
- When to plant
- Growing conditions
- Wild tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris)
The fragrant tobacco flower has long become a favorite of gardeners, thanks to its original aroma and the wide palette of shades in which its flowers can be painted. This plant attracts bees to the garden with its smell, and the variety of its varieties is simply amazing. The birthplace of fragrant tobacco is South America, and Christopher Columbus brought it to Europe. In nature, fragrant tobacco is a perennial, but in our climate it is grown as an annual crop.
Description.
The homeland of winged tobacco is Central America. In warm climates, the flower is grown as a rhizomatous perennial, but in our latitudes it is used as an annual plant. Winged tobacco, or ornamental tobacco, is a genus of plants that belong to the Solanaceae family.
Several species of this fragrant flower are cultivated, while the rest remain wild. Cultivated varieties of ornamental tobacco are grown all over the world, and in the wild it is most common in the Americas.
Perennial ornamental tobacco shrubs have a pyramidal shape and can grow from 50 to 80 cm in height. The branched stems, like the leaves, are covered with fine hair, which can protect the plant from the scorching sun and promotes additional moisture by absorbing dew.
Winged tobacco bushes are abundant in leaves. The leaves are simple, lanceolate in shape. The leaves are arranged on the stems in opposite order. The basal ones are large, and the apical ones are 2 times smaller. Tubular flowers bloom on medium-length peduncles, formed from 5 regularly shaped petals with pointed ends.
Tobacco blooms for quite a long time - from June to late autumn. There are different color options for the petals - tobacco can be pink, white, red, yellow. In addition, there are several more color options for hybrid varieties.
Growing sweet tobacco
Choose soil that is high in nutrients. If there are not enough of them in the place chosen for planting, then dig up the area and apply organic fertilizers. Drain if necessary.
Planting fragrant tobacco
The bush grows in the wild in places with a humid and warm climate, so types of fragrant tobacco are heat-loving. A common way to grow this flower is from seedlings.
- To grow fragrant tobacco seedlings, first prepare containers with an earthen mixture of humus, peat and leaf soil.
- In early March, the seeds of the plant are placed in damp material or a napkin to swell for 4-6 days.
- After this time, they are sown on the soil, without deepening, and carefully sprayed with water.
- The box with seeds is covered with transparent material and placed in a place with a temperature of +20 degrees.
- After the first shoots appear, which occurs after two weeks, the material is removed and the boxes are placed in a place with sunlight.
- The sprouts are periodically watered, and the soil is also carefully loosened for better air access.
- As soon as the sprouts have their first formed leaves, they are transplanted into a separate pot, handling the roots with extreme care.
Sprouts are planted in open soil at the end of spring, after the end of night frosts, when the ground has warmed up. Before this, the seedlings are subjected to hardening: daily moving the pots with sprouts to the air.
They start by keeping the seedlings in the air for one hour; over the course of fifteen days, this time gradually increases. This happens until the plants sit outside for a day. Only after this procedure are the seedlings placed in a place of permanent growth.
The planting site is chosen to be shaded and protected from the wind. The sprouts are planted in prepared holes, previously fertilized with phosphate mineral fertilizers.
Leave 30 cm between planted plants, and at least half a meter for varieties with tall bushes. The growth of the bush first goes upward, only then will it strengthen the peduncles and grow in breadth. After planting, the area is watered abundantly, but carefully.
Landing.
Ornamental tobacco prefers sunny or slightly shaded areas. The shrub grows well and produces abundant flowering when planted on fertile soil that has drainage properties and can allow air to pass through. Winged tobacco does not tolerate acidic soils, so before planting it is recommended to level the Ph to neutral or slightly alkaline using lime or ash.
To grow tobacco, the seedling method of planting is predominantly used. It is necessary to prepare seedlings starting from the end of March, and transplant the sprouts to a permanent place in mid-May. In order to grow seedlings, you need to sow the seeds in boxes with fertile soil mixture, water them abundantly and keep them warm. After picking and hardening, decorative tobacco is planted with an earthen ball in a permanent place, maintaining a distance of 35-40 cm.
Seeds can be sown in open ground, having previously treated them with a solution that stimulates growth. Seeds kept in the refrigerator for several months give good germination. Seeds germinate in open ground within 2 weeks.
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Dates for sowing fragrant tobacco seeds for seedlings in 2022
Every gardener and summer resident who decides to start growing crops at home may probably have a question about when to sow fragrant tobacco seeds for seedlings, in what month. Optimal planting dates are the second half of February, March, April.
When choosing the right time, it is very important to focus on the climatic conditions and characteristics of the region in which you plan to grow:
- In the central zone (including the Moscow region) - you can plant in the second half of March;
- In Siberia, the Urals, and the Leningrad region - in early April;
- In the south of Russia - in mid-late February or early March.
You can also choose the optimal timing for sowing fragrant tobacco seedlings according to the 2022 Lunar calendar:
- Favorable days: in January: 1, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20;
- in February: 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15;
- in March: 10, 11, 15, 20, 21, 24, 25.
- Unfavorable days: in January: 2, 18th;
- in February: 1, 16;
- in March: 2, 16, 17, 18, 31.
Care.
Ornamental or winged tobacco is an unpretentious plant. By following the minimum growing rules, you can enjoy flowering for a very long time. Firstly, the flower needs to be watered, and done often. Due to the fact that the above-ground part of the plant is quite voluminous, the bush quickly loses moisture, especially during dry periods. Watering is carried out in the evening, preferably after sunset.
Tobacco should be fertilized frequently. Potassium and phosphate mixtures have a beneficial effect on growth and flowering. Tobacco absolutely does not tolerate nitrogen compounds. Fertilizing with complex fertilizers during the flowering period is carried out at least 2 times a month, or more often.
In order for the shrub to bloom profusely and maintain freshness, faded flowers should be pruned. After the end of the season, in late autumn, you can move the shrubs into pots and leave them in a cool room for the winter.
Reproduction methods
Despite the fact that winged tobacco is mainly propagated by seeds, there is another method of planting. In this case, for the winter it is necessary to transplant the plant into a pot and place it in a cool place.
Large-scale tobacco cultivation - photo
In the spring, if the plant has overwintered well, the tobacco is cut, and then the resulting material is rooted.
Whatever method is chosen for propagation and planting, it is important to properly cultivate the seeds, as well as make cuttings.
Diseases.
Winged tobacco is considered a hardy plant that is resistant to diseases and pests. But practice shows that the plant is sometimes still susceptible to diseases. The most common are rot and viral infections.
Tobacco mosaic affects the leaves, and rot affects the root system. The most dangerous pest of tobacco is the fall armyworm caterpillars - they can destroy the foliage of a bush in a matter of days. If detected, caterpillars must be immediately destroyed with insecticides.
Fragrant tobacco is a wonderful decoration for your garden, as well as an excellent plant for growing in pots!
Planting in open ground
On the evening of May 28, I planted seedlings on a small, shaded plot of land next to the apple trees. The space was small, so I planted only 20 plants.
I did not use fertilizers when growing seedlings! If you look closely at the plants, their condition is excellent even without fertilizing. The leaf is dense, bold, bright green.
August. 115 days from germination
A little more than a month has passed, and it’s August 29th. The fragrant tobacco is already more than 110 days old. During the summer period he was not sick with anything, and no pests attacked him.
Although there were many pests in the garden such as aphids and whiteflies.
The only thing was that when it rained heavily, the bushes were knocked to the ground, but after a couple of hours they recovered.
How to grow winged tobacco
These plants require warm weather and warm soil to grow. Cold, wet spring soil can cause root rot and other diseases. So wait at least two weeks after your average last frost period to plant, and choose a planting location that gets plenty of sun.
The only pruning necessary for winged tobacco is to trim off dead leaves (removing fallen flowers), which will encourage additional flowering. Limit pruning towards the end of the season if you want the plant to self-seed next year.
Interesting varieties and other garden species
The most interesting varieties include dwarf hybrids of winged tobacco (Starship, Havana, Metro series), which, although they do not smell intensely, are pleasing to the eye throughout the day. Each of these hybrids has its own original charm that will complement a classic garden. It is possible to grow tobacco at home, for example, in containers; for this you should choose low varieties.
Some interesting varieties and hybrids of tobacco:
- The Saratoga series is the lowest hybrids (25 cm high) with white, pink and red flowers.
- "Crimson Rock" Crimson Rock - a variety with crimson flowers, height 50-60 cm.
- “Mazhi noir” is a tall variety (150 cm) with snow-white, very fragrant flowers.
- "Grandiflora" Grandiflora is a variety with white fragrant flowers.
- "Lunevsky" - a variety of Russian selection with white and pink flowers.
- “Lime Green” Lime Green is an old variety 80 cm high, profusely blooming, with large acid-green flowers, very bright.
- “Sensation Mix” or “Sensation Mix” Sensation Mixed - flowers of the variety: white, cream, yellow, pink, red. Height – 0.9 m. Flowers open all day.
- “Fragrant Harbor Lime” - a variety 60 cm high, yellow-green flowers.
- “Pleasure” is a tall hybrid (120 cm) with white and pink flowers, blooms profusely.
- "Roulette F2" - a low-growing mixture (20-30 cm) with multi-colored flowers
- “Pefume mix” Perfume mix is a colorful, aromatic hybrid, 50 cm high.
- Domino series Domino - includes dwarf, profusely flowering varieties with large flowers. They are 30 cm high, 40 cm wide, and are available in various colors.
Often the seeds are available as a mixture of varieties.
Almost all new varieties have flowers that are open all day, unlike old varieties and species in which the flowers open in the evening throughout the night and close in the morning.
In addition to fragrant, the following types of tobacco are also grown in the gardens:
- Sander or garden tobacco (Nicotiana × sanderae), which produces lower, dense plants with numerous but odorless flowers. Low-growing varieties grow up to 30 cm, suitable for growing in pots and flower boxes. The most popular varieties from the series are: “Domino” in seven color options and the “Starship” series in five color options. Both series are also available as color mixtures. Medium-sized varieties reach 45 cm. The “Niki” series includes five color options, and the “Vip” series includes four color options. "Havanna Appleblossom" Havanna Appleblossom is a beautiful variety with white and pink flowers. Tall varieties include the red "Crimson Rock" Crimson Rock, which grows up to 60 cm high, and the white "Daylight" Daylight, which grows up to 80 cm.
- Forest tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris) - reaches impressive sizes; under favorable conditions, it grows up to 2 m in height. The flowers have an unusual shape of a long tube ending in small petals. The flowers are oblong, slightly drooping, fragrant, white.
Toxicity of winged tobacco
Like all types of tobacco, winged tobacco contains nicotine, which can be toxic to all animals, including humans. In sufficient quantities, it can cause rapid heartbeat, vomiting, and even coma and death. Although this plant is not often accidentally ingested except by grazing animals, you should keep pets and children away from it.
Bloom. 71 days from germination
Having successfully taken root, after another 2 weeks the fragrant tobacco bloomed. It was unusual for me to see a long tube emerging from a rosette of leaves, on which were located inflorescences shaped like a pipe
