(PRWEB) February 6, 2004--If every large family finds itself having to apologise occasionally for certain of its more embarrassing members. the the potato family (Solanaceae) must fare worse than most. For despite such worthies as tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and even petunias, there is a bunch of dangerous cousins, including deadly nightshade, angel's trumpets and - the notorious black sheep of the family - tobacco.
I am not talking about the little border annual nicotianas and grown in many parts of the world and bred to be ever more short and stumpy and less fragrant, nor the taller, perfumed Nicotiana sylvestris, but the big bruiser itself, Nicotiana tabacum; the one which can look you in the eye or even look down at you.
If Mal. Bailey of the Mitchell Park, South Australia has his way, a lot more people will be looking up in admiration at the evil weed. He is starting to sell seeds of Virginia tobacco for cigarettes, Havana for cigars, pipes and snuff to smoker-gardeners, via his website. (http://www.you-re-doing-it-wrong.com/ts.html)
Mal is a pensioner and he's keen for others in the same situation to produce their own. It's a bit like saying "I love the smell of Naplam in the morning!" I do love the smell and taste of tobacco in the morning fresh air.
Tobacco, after all, is a striking plant, man-high, with big banana-like leaves like a soft-leaved canna, and rosy, pinkish-purple tubular flowers at the top. It is the kind of plant you might grow with dahlias and cannas for a late season semi-tropical display, as a green foil for more colourful plants.
The 5ft tall Nicotiana sylvestris is already used in that way. It has leaves almost as big as tobacco if grown luxuriantly. The flower trumpets are long, pure white and deliciously scented, especially at night, as is the shrub Cestrum parqui, also in the same family. While it is perfectly legal and tax free (See http://www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au/taxes/tobaccotx.html) to grow (but not sell) tobacco at home or on an allotment, it is not legal to grow cannabis, despite its attractive, fingery foliage.
Like all nicotianas, tobacco seed should be propagated on the surface of the potting mix. In the case of tobacco it needs all the summer sun it can get in our climate and so seed should be sown at 70-80F (22-27C) no later than early Febuary to produce strong plants ready to put out in late May before the frosts are arrive and the weather is reliably warm. Generous watering is required in dry seasons.
Naturally, all that paddle foliage takes some supporting and it is important to dig the ground deeply before planting, so the plants get enough grip on the soil and do not lurch over mid season. That is no joke when it is a dozen fine Havanas biting the dust.
Mal is keen to show smoker-gardeners how much money they can save by growing their own tobacco.An example is Cigarette Rolling Tobacco is approx AUD$400.00 / Kilogram and 'Chop-chop' - illegally harvested tobacco - sells on the black market at about a quarter of the average price of cigarettes. Chop-chop is often bulked up with hay, straw or even cotton, and is sold by tobacco farmers on the black market for up to double the price paid by tobacco manufacturers for raw tobacco. Tobacco Seeds to grow into plants sell for AUD$1.00 each, This cost indicates a gross saving of AUD$39.00 per 100 grams! A pack of 50 certified virus-free seeds, for instance, will produce 6K of tobacco if you have space to grow it all. By planting on a rotational basis - "X" amount per month it should be easy for a back-yarder to grow this amount
He even suggests that home-grown tobacco may be healthier and more acceptable to "organic" smoker-gardeners (if that is not a contradiction in terms), when so many additives are used in commercial tobacco, and goes on to say "Most of the harmful effects from smoking come from everything but the nicotine itself"
