Sweet tobacco is grown here as an annual plant, although in South America, in the native land of the plant, it is a perennial plant. It is a herbaceous plant with large dark green leaves and beautiful flowers, similar to gramophones. More often our growers grow tobacco winged, tobacco Langsdorf, tobacco Sander and tobacco forest. The flowers of fragrant tobacco, depending on the variety, are painted in white, red, carmine, salmon-pink, lemon-yellow and other colors. They have a very strong and pleasant (stupefying) smell, which intensifies towards evening, because the flowers of some varieties of tobacco open in the evening, and close in the morning. This does not apply to winged tobacco, in which the flowers are colorful and not particularly fragrant. Gardeners brought out several varieties of fragrant tobacco, which are divided according to the height of the plant on:
- tall ones - up to 1.5 m;
- medium height - 45-60 cm;
- dwarf - only 20-30 cm.
Tobacco fragrant: planting and care
- Location . Sweet tobacco loves warmth and light, so recommend to drop it on a sunny place.
- The soil . Tobacco is planted in loamy, evenly moistened soil, if the soil is clayey or strongly compacted, it must be digested and composted or humified.
- Watering . Water should be moderate, once a week, but if it is too hot, then water more often.
- Top dressing . To feed tobacco it is necessary during the growth of seedlings, before the appearance of buds and during flowering, a complex fertilizer for flowering summer flowers.
- Care . For tobacco to bloom for a long time, it should be well watered, weeds removed, the soil loosened and dried wines dried regularly, this promotes the formation of new buds.
Tobacco, fragrant - growing from seeds
After the fragrant tobacco blossoms, there remains a fruit with the seeds that are used to grow the next year. Seeds are sown in two ways:
- in the boxes;
- directly into the open ground.
In the south, fragrant tobacco is grown by sowing directly on the surface into the open ground, while slightly nailing the ground (sometimes it grows up by self-seeding). In the regions, a little to the north of the planting first in boxes, and then planted seedlings in the flower garden. Sequence of work stages:
- Seeding of tobacco seeds for seedlings runs from mid-March to mid-April.
- Quite small seeds of tobacco simply scatter on the surface of moist soil, slightly pressing them inward.
- Cover the boxes with a transparent lid or film, put in a well-lit and warm place, with a temperature of 18 to 20 ° C.
- When in 10-12 days the seeds will ascend and very quickly begin to grow, the temperature should be lowered by several degrees and moderately watered.
- Only 21 days after sowing the first real leaf appears at the fragrant tobacco.
- Dive the sprouts of fragrant tobacco can be after the appearance of a pair of real leaves.
- A month after the transplantation, the seedlings have rather strong roots and large leaves. Water it as you dry the soil.
- Plant seedlings of fragrant tobacco in the open ground in June, but not closer than 20-50 cm from each other.
Seeds retain their germination very long, up to 8 years.
Fluffy tobacco: diseases and pests
Sweet tobacco refers to plants-phytoncides, which are resistant to various diseases and pest damage, but also deter them not only from themselves, but also from neighboring plants. There are cases of damage to his Colorado beetle , provided that the potatoes are already harvested.
Sweet tobacco has a lot of positive qualities, thanks to which gardeners like to grow it in their flower gardens. But when you are going to plant fragrant tobacco in combination with other plants, you need to consider that it grows very wide and it will take a lot of space later.
There is one question that very often people ask about sweet-smelling tobacco: can you smoke it? Despite the fact that it is called tobacco, this flower does not have smoking qualities (there is no nicotine), but it remains just a flower that can please us only with its beautiful and long flowering.