Fragrant tobacco: planting and care, photos in the garden, description, height, reviews

Fragrant tobacco - how to grow?

Despite the fact that, in the homeland, tobacco usually grows as a perennial plant, in Russia it is cultivated as an annual. Fragrant tobacco has soft oval leaves, which are located on the stems, up to one meter high. At the tops of the stems, paniculate inflorescences are formed with flowers that can have different colors (white, yellow, crimson, red). The flowering period for tobacco is almost all summer - from June to September. Fragrant tobacco does not belong to particularly capricious plants. It can be grown in both sunny and shaded areas.

Breeders have introduced varieties of scented tobacco, which are divided into the following types:

• dwarf - up to 30 cm in height;
• medium-sized - from 45 to 60 cm;
• tall species that can grow up to one and a half meters.

Due to the fact that scented tobacco is a heat-loving plant, it is planted in open ground with seedlings. Planting seeds directly into the soil is possible only in the southern regions. You can sow seeds for seedlings from mid-March.

Seed sowing stages:

1. The soil needs to be prepared. Sand should be added to the potting mix to ensure it is loose and well drained.
2. Before planting, tobacco seeds can be soaked in a cloth until they swell, and then spread over the soil surface in a planting container. Since the seeds are rather small, they should not be pressed deeply. It is enough to lightly sprinkle with earth.
3. The containers are covered with foil or glass and placed in a warm (up to 20 degrees) and well-lit place, until shoots appear.
4. After the first shoots have appeared (after 10 days), the temperature can be lowered by a couple of degrees and the seedlings can be watered abundantly.
5. From the moment two real leaves appear (about a month later), picking of seedlings is carried out in separate containers.
6. A month later, after the pick, the seedlings are usually fully gaining strength, the root system is strengthened, and real large leaves grow. Watering is done as needed, ate very dry soil.
7. Planting on the site begins in June, in separate holes, the distance between which is up to 50 centimeters, since the tobacco bushes grow strongly.

Fragrant tobacco grows well on loamy soils. If the soil is too dense, then humus must be added to loosen it. Frequent watering is not required, once a week is enough. If the weather is dry, then moisten as the soil dries up. Top dressing of fragrant tobacco is carried out with fertilizers intended for garden flowers. The first time, it is necessary to feed during the period of active growth of the plant, then - during the formation of buds and the third time - during the flowering process.

For the lush flowering of the bushes and the formation of new flowers, it is necessary to remove the already faded buds. Also, you should ensure regular loosening of the soil, removing weeds. Fragrant tobacco is a plant that is practically not susceptible to diseases and is not affected by pests. On the contrary, fragrant tobacco, due to the presence of phytoncides, scares away pests from neighboring plants. Fragrant tobacco, growing from the seeds of which is not difficult, despite its name, has no smoking qualities, but is a purely ornamental crop.

Caring for scented tobacco

Growing scented tobacco in your backyard is not difficult. He is able to grow in any conditions, easily adapts. To obtain beautiful greenery, a persistent smell and long-term flowering, you need competent care.

Watering

This is a moisture-loving plant; greens consume a lot of water.For lush flowering (especially in hot weather), high-quality watering is needed. The soil should always be moist.

The best time for this is morning and evening hours.

Lighting

The fragrant flower is unpretentious, it does not require special conditions. The plant will get used to shading from spreading trees and bright sunlight. For its unpretentiousness, landscape designers love it. But tobacco grows poorly in a deep shade. The flowerpots are moved during the growth stage to form an even and beautiful bush.

The soil

The composition of the soil is not important to the plant; for seedlings, you can simply take garden soil. Fertility and drainage contribute to good development. To form a large number of buds, it is necessary to regularly loosen the soil, use organic mulch, add it throughout the season.

Top dressing

Fertilizers are applied twice a season: when buds appear and at the beginning of flowering. Top dressing is not needed in fertile soil. For depleted soil, mineral complex fertilizers with a low nitrogen content are suitable. Because of it, foliage will grow rapidly, but flowering will be bad. Fertilizers are mixed with water for irrigation.

Pruning

Inflorescences that have faded do not interfere with the formation of new buds. But the plant looks sloppy, neglected. Flowering continues continuously, so there can be a lot of wilted buds. It is better to collect them so that the decorative appeal remains at a high level.

Diseases and pests

Fragrant tobacco contains a large amount of phytoncides in its greenery, so the plant is resistant to being eaten by pests and disease. It protects other plantings that are nearby.

In rare cases, flowers are affected downy mildew... A yellow bloom with a green tint forms on the leaves. They dry out, the edges curl. To combat the disease, it is recommended to remove and burn the affected bushes. Spray the ground under them with formalin solution (7.5%). For 1 sq. m. consumes 30 liters. The tools that were used also need to be processed with formalin (3%). Sprinkle nearby plants with Tsineba (80%).

Scented tobacco from seeds

The best time to sow

Fragrant tobacco: planting an annual should take place in a well-established warm weather, since the plant be among the rather thermophilic. In this regard, professional gardeners are advised to grow it only through seedlings.

Sowing of seeds takes place in the last days of February or the first days of March.

How to sow seeds

To sow flavored tobacco, you need to prepare not very deep containers. And also take care of the soil mixture, which should include peat, humus and garden soil (1: 1: 1). On the eve of sowing, for swelling, the seeds need to be wrapped in a moistened cloth for a couple of days, but you must not forget that the seeds should not hatch. The seeds are very tiny, for this reason they are jewelry distributed over the plane of the soil mixture, while they do not need to be embedded in the base or sprinkled with soil mixture.

Crops should be moistened from a sprayer, and then the container is covered with glass or foil. Then they are removed to a rather warm place (from 20 to 22 degrees). The first seedlings, as a rule, emerge after 1.5–2 weeks, as soon as this happens, the shelter must be removed, and the containers must be dragged to a well-lit windowsill.

Growing seedlings

Seedlings will need regular, moderate watering, and it is also required to scrupulously loosen the surface of the substrate. The picking of seedlings is done after they have formed a pair of genuine leaf plates.

Picking

After the plant is well watered, the seedling is very carefully pulled out of the container along with a lump of earth and planted in a personal cup.

After rooting of the cut plants, their tops should be pinched, which will allow a more lush bush to develop.

Landing in the ground

It is possible to plant seedlings of fragrant tobacco in open ground from about the second half of May, but it must be calculated that by this time the earth should have time to warm up effectively, and return spring frosts must be left behind.

Before embarking on planting, the seedlings must be hardened. To do this, for half a month, it is moved daily to the street. At first, the plant can be in a fresh open space for no more than 1 hour, but after the duration of this procedure should be gradually increased until the seedlings can stay in the garden continuously. After the plant is well seasoned, she can be planted into open ground.

To plant scented tobacco, you need to find a place that will be protected from the direct rays of the sun and from large gusts of wind.

Ornamental species do not show special requirements for the composition of the soil, but it is very important to take into account its moisture and nutritional value. If the soil is scarce, then even in the autumn it is recommended to dig it up, while humus or compost should be added to it, and, if necessary, also drainage material

When planting seedlings in open ground, it is necessary to take into account that the distance between the bushes should be at least 0.2–0.3 m. If you are growing tall species, then the distance between the plants should be increased, since these plants are quite large, and they can reach a height of almost 100 centimeters. At first, the seedlings will stretch out to their full height, after which they will begin to stretch along the surface of the earth.

Before planting, a small amount of superphosphate must be added to the hole, which must be combined with the soil. Then the plant is carefully transferred into it along with a lump of earth, the hole is thrown with soil, the surface of which must then be compacted. The planted plants should be watered.

Description of the plant

There are many varieties of scented tobacco with different colors of flowers:

• white;
• purple;
• yellow;
• red and others.

Nowadays, a lot of hybrid varieties are grown, with a wide palette of shades and their combinations. The flowers themselves are star-shaped, in diameter they can reach up to 8 cm.

Not all varieties of scented tobacco have a strong aroma, some do not smell at all. This feature is more inherent in hybrid varieties. In addition to the weak expression of aroma, or its complete absence, many hybrids still do not close during the day.

The flower is highly decorative. Fragrant tobacco on the balcony is a picturesque decoration of city apartments. When choosing a specific type, it is necessary to take into account the height of the plant. This will allow you to create the most organic compositions.

There are such types of tobacco:

Care rules

Plantings need good watering

Caring for scented tobacco includes measures that are standard for all horticultural crops - watering, loosening the soil, fertilizing, preventing, and, if necessary, treating diseases.

1. The main condition for the normal growth and flowering of plantings is proper watering, which should be done about once a week, if the weather is not too dry. Otherwise, the plants need to be watered additionally so that the soil does not dry out.
2. Together with watering, the soil around the bushes must be slightly loosened to ensure normal access of oxygen to the roots.
3. During the period of tobacco growth, it must be fertilized twice - during the period of the appearance of the first buds and the appearance of a large number of flowers.For these purposes, complex fertilizers for flowering crops or nitrophoska are suitable, which are used as written in the instructions. It is better not to use nitrogen-containing mixtures, otherwise, instead of flowering plants, a mass of green leaves is formed.

It is important to monitor the soil to avoid drying out.

To save the plant for next year, you need to select several of the most powerful bushes, get them out of the soil, shorten them by about a third, plant them in pots and grow them indoors. The rules for caring for the plant do not change, but in winter they need to arrange a dormant period by reducing watering.

Seeds can be harvested and stored until next season

Another way to grow tobacco is to harvest the seeds after the last flowers have fallen.

It is important to pick the right moment for harvesting, since the fruits of scented tobacco quickly crack, and the seeds spill out. They must be carefully peeled, dried, placed in bags made of natural material and placed in a dry place.

The next year, the seeds can be sown again.

Diseases.

Winged tobacco is considered a hardy plant that is resistant to diseases and pests. But, practice shows that the plant is sometimes still exposed to diseases. The most common are rot and viral infections.

Tobacco mosaic - affects the leaves, and rot - the root system. Of the pests of tobacco, caterpillars of the winter moth are dangerous - they can destroy the foliage of the bush in a matter of days. Caterpillars, if detected, must be immediately destroyed with insecticides.

Fragrant tobacco is a wonderful decoration of the site, as well as a great plant for growing in pots!

Reproduction methods

The plant propagates by seed. Since the annual blooms all summer, self-seeding will be abundant. But due to the harsh weather conditions, scented tobacco rises late. Therefore, gardeners prefer to propagate flowers at home using seedlings. Features of sowing seeds for reproduction are as follows:

1. a suitable container is taken, drainage holes are made;
2. soil is poured inside, mixed with humus, peat and river sand;
3. at the beginning of March, the seeds are laid out on a wet napkin so that they swell; this process will take 4–6 days;
4. after swelling, the sprouts are planted in pots or boxes, but they do not need to be deeply buried in the ground; watering should be moderate;
5. the container is covered with a transparent film, placed in the room so that the temperature is + 20 ° C;
6. the first shoots appear after 14 days; the film is removed, and the container is placed on a window with sunlight;
7. sprouts need to be watered carefully, periodically loosen the soil so that air can flow;
8. leaves should appear on the bushes, after the plants are transplanted into separate pots; this is done carefully so as not to damage the roots.

Caring for scented tobacco

The summer plant is not a drought-resistant crop. Requires moderate watering. That is why it has earned a reputation for being a rather capricious flower. The rest of the care consists in fairly simple procedures.

scented tobacco seedlings

Watering

Fragrant tobacco needs daily maintenance, with frequent or regular watering. Flowers respond well to soil conditions. Long periods of dryness should be avoided. The frequency of watering is regulated depending on weather conditions and the degree of dryness of the soil. To maintain light moisture, watering is recommended both in the morning and in the evening.

Top dressing

Plant fertilization should be moderate. For abundant and long flowering before the onset of cold weather, two-time feeding is required.

The first time is carried out with the appearance of buds, the second - at the initial stage of blooming. A standard portion of mineral fertilizer for flowering plants is added to the irrigation water.

Removing wilted flowers

During flowering, in addition to colorful flowers, you can see fading inflorescences on plants, which do not have any undesirable effect on the appearance of new buds. From the standpoint of the abundance of flowering, there is no particular need to remove them. However, from an aesthetic point of view, large inflorescences are clearly visible, and wilted flowers are also clearly visible, which spoil the appearance of the plants. Because of this, the culture seems neglected and not at all beautiful. Such flowers are easily removed from the plant.

Protection against diseases and pests

Fragrant tobacco is not susceptible to diseases and attacks of pests, unlike other representatives of summer plants. Its beneficial effect on the soil and neighboring crops has a fungicidal effect, and acts as a prophylactic agent against various garden parasites.

Types and varieties

Fragrant tobacco is loved by gardeners because of the variety of varieties and species. Everyone will be able to choose a suitable bush for their site and decorate a garden or a gazebo near the house. Consider several popular plant species.

Forest tobacco is a tall plant. It is chosen for planting in a flowerbed in the background. The stem height reaches 80–1.5 m. The aroma is pronounced, and the leaves look drooping. The homeland of forest tobacco is Brazil. A subspecies with a height of 25 cm was recently bred.

It is worth dwelling in more detail on the main varieties.

Dwarf

Bushes tall no more than 30 cm... They are suitable for breeding in a house or conservatory. This class includes the following:

• "Domino Samen-Pink" - small curtains up to 30 cm, and pink inflorescences;
• "Roll and Perfume" - the height of the bush is no more than 25 cm, and the buds delight with a variety of colors;
• "Saratoga red" - a dwarf type of plant, grows no more than 30 cm, the leaves are wide and bright green, and the flowers are large funnel-shaped, open at night or in cloudy weather;
• "Niki" - the height of the bush reaches 30 cm, and the inflorescences can be white or dark crimson;
• Rosa Gnom - grows up to 25 cm, flowers are bright red;
• "Taxido lime" - lemon-yellow color, tobacco height is only 20 cm, often used to decorate a balcony;
• "Avalon" - the variety is known for different colors, perfect for growing at home.

Medium-sized

These varieties can be planted both in the home and in the garden. These include the following:

• "Lime Green" - got its name because of the bright green hue, as on the citrus of the same name, height is 70 cm;
• Samel-Pink is a shade of pink or salmon;
• "Red Davil" - suitable for growing in the house, the height is 40 cm, the color of the inflorescences is dark red, the buds do not close during the day;
• "Evening Breeze" - the bush has red flowers, and the stem reaches a height of 60 cm;
• "Krimzok Rock" - the variety has received an award in the field of gardening - Flowerselect, a shade of raspberry-red, and the height is 60 cm;
• "Green light" - leaves are lush, bright light green color;
• "Italian F1" - the buds of the plant are large, light white, pale green and red shades;
• "Lilac fog" - inflorescences open in the evening, the color is pale purple;
• "Night fire" - buds are large, bright red.

Tall

Tall varieties are suitable for cultivation only in the garden. Some of them are several meters high. These include the following:

• "White Bedder" - the buds do not close during the day, the height of the plant reaches 1.5 m;
• Sensatsiya - the height of the bush is 60–95 cm, the variety has a pronounced smell;
• "Aroma green" - the height of the tobacco reaches 90–150 cm, the inflorescences are bell-shaped;
• "Pleasure" - the bush is resistant to disease, the whole summer season will bloom;
• "Dolce Vita F1" - known for different shades during flowering, bells remain open during the day;
• "Mazhu Noir" - tobacco has an unusual smell, and the color is white;
• "Hypnosis" - a pleasant aroma of the bush, and the inflorescences are lilac, less often green;
• "Evening" - the smell is bright, flowers bloom in cloudy weather or in the evening;
• "Record" - the variety has a variety of buds.

The origin and appearance of the plant

The history of the origin of tobacco began with one of the voyages of the navigator Christopher Columbus. In the unexplored lands that later became America, he and his companions met with the natives. They exhaled dark smoke from the dark sticks in their mouths. At first glance, it seemed very strange, but with proper inhalation and exhalation, such smoking causes a state of pacification, relaxation and vigor in the body. The person could feel as if under hypnosis.

Flowering of scented tobacco

Travelers began to smoke strange sticks with pleasure, or cigars, as the locals called them. Later they were presented as gifts of honor for the royal court, and the first known woman to smoke in Europe was the Queen of Spain named Isabella.

The Spaniards were the first to establish tobacco plantations; they chose the islands of Cuba and Haiti for its cultivation. Since 1540, fragrant, processed tobacco leaves have been transported by sea to European countries.

Interesting! The most successful trader of tobacco seeds was the Frenchman Joan Nicot, who distributes them in France and England. In honor of his name, this plant was named - Nicotiana.

Russia began to use tobacco leaves during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Smoking was allowed only to those who were part of the Russian nobility. But soon, by decree of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich, the use of tobacco was banned. Subsequently, only Tsar Peter I allowed smoking.

Tobacco is an annual, sometimes perennial, plant in the nightshade family. His height reaches up to two meters length, has existed in nature since 6000 BC. It is decorated with large leaves and flowers of pink, red or white color in the form of a funnel, five to six centimeters long.

Homeland of tobacco

Tobacco originally grew in Peru and Bolivia; it ended up in Europe thanks to Christopher Columbus. Currently, it is grown in China, North America, Asia Minor, and India. The countries of the former Soviet Union, namely the Transcaucasia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine, Crimea and Krasnodar Territory, are no exception.

How tobacco grows

Fragrant tobacco is a fairly thermophilic plant that is usually planted in the soil as seedlings. Its seeds are sown in late February or early March.

What tobacco looks like

This ornamental plant is a medium-sized bushes with a thick and strong stem, decorated with large leaves with slightly pointed ends. The length of the root system is usually no more than two meters. Flowering is accompanied by a paniculate inflorescence. The fruits of tobacco bushes are seed pods that can crack when ripe.

How tobacco blooms

Tobacco, the flowers of which are asterisks, looks very beautiful. The diameter of the inflorescences is no more than five centimeters. The inflorescence has a long flower tube and five petals of white, pink, crimson, red, lilac, yellow, burgundy.

Fragrant tobacco blooms only in good light fourteen hours a day. Tobacco grows well on a balcony or window in the sun. This plant will also need four hours of sun daily for flowering.

Interesting! The flower is quite fragrant with a pleasant scent that intensifies in the evening. Pollination of its inflorescences is carried out at night by night moths.