For successful plant growth, you need to provide them with optimal conditions for development. It is necessary to choose the right planting material, place of cultivation, apply fertilizers on time, perform watering, thinning, and loosening. This is especially true for plants that actively grow green mass. That is why it is important to know what you need to feed smoking tobacco after planting in the ground so that it grows and produces large and fragrant leaves.
How to feed tobacco seedlings
Tobacco has small seeds that may not sprout when planted in open ground. The seedling method is used for its cultivation.Small seedlings require a lot of nutrients, otherwise they will begin to stretch, weaken and turn yellow. To speed up the development of seedlings, it is necessary to feed them in a timely manner.
The seedlings are fed for the first time 14 days after sowing. But feeding alone is not enough for active growth and strong and healthy plants. You will need proper watering without excessive waterlogging (this can lead to fungal infections and rot), a temperature range of 23-30 degrees Celsius and additional lighting.
It is especially important to do this when growing at home, since if there is a lack of light, the seedlings will stretch and weaken. When transplanting such plants into the ground, they will suffer for a long time and will not produce a full harvest.
Nitrogen is necessary for seedlings to grow, but before planting in the ground, seedlings can be fed with a complex fertilizer containing a balanced formula of macro- and microelements. This will give the crops a great start and will not allow the plants to overgrow and weaken.
Budget feeding option
You can properly feed tobacco even in the absence of special fertilizers and the opportunity to purchase them. You can use onion peels for this purpose. It is collected in a liter jar, filling a third of the volume, but without compacting it, pour boiling water over it, seal it tightly and insulate it.
The cooled infusion is used to feed tobacco on the day of preparation, since it is not stored. In addition to serving as a fertilizer, this product also repels pests and helps resist diseases, since onions contain phytoncides.
Fertilizers after picking
After picking smoking tobacco, the seedlings need feeding for enhanced growth.It is performed 10 days to 2 weeks after the plants are picked. For this purpose, it is better to use a complex fertilizer such as “Fertiki” (“Kemiry”).
Fertilizing tobacco in open ground
After tobacco seedlings fall into open ground, the tobacco grower faces new problems. To obtain high-quality raw materials, plants cannot be “starved” or overfed. Therefore, during this period it is important to monitor the condition of the plants. Depending on what symptoms appear, you need to choose the type of fertilizer.
Basic Rules:
- You can feed tobacco with available natural fertilizers, for example, an infusion of cut grass, burdock greens, and a solution of chicken manure.
- Under no circumstances should tobacco be overfed, since excess fertilizer will certainly negatively affect the aroma and taste characteristics of the resulting raw material.
- On well-fed, rich soils such as chernozems, in most cases, there is no need to feed tobacco at all.
- On thinner soils, it is worth adding potassium fertilizers and superphosphate before digging in the spring, and adding ammonium nitrate after planting seedlings to stimulate growth in the early stages of development. In total, no more than 3-4 feedings will be required during the growing season.
Possible problems during cultivation
When choosing what to fertilize tobacco with, you need to take into account possible negative consequences. For example, an excess of nitrogen can cause the aroma of tobacco to be distorted to an extremely unpleasant odor and begin to irritate the throat when smoking, and a lack of potassium will cause smoking tobacco to burn poorly.
In order not to make mistakes when applying fertilizers, you need to obtain information about the stages of tobacco development. For example, if the leaves of a plant turn yellow, especially at the bottom, this means that it is time to harvest. Completely different actions are needed if the seedlings turn yellow. This may mean that it is being watered too heavily or that it is not getting enough nutrients. In the latter case, fertilizer will be required.
