Cangrow's 2026, first ever

[cangrow]

Hello all,

As a rookie to most gardening and especially to tobacco, I thought I'd share my experience so far to see if all is normal.

Ordered seeds a few weeks ago out of Lethbridge, 1.5 hrs drive to the south. They only had 3 varieties, so I got burley, virginia gold and bolivian black criollo. Man, those seeds are small!

Followed directions on the package and from another website tobaccoseedscanada.com, which has a lot of information about growing tobacco, though not as much as here.

On Sunday May 24, Used a 72 cell seed started tray, seed starting mix, saturated the mix, let drain, then placed 1-3 seeds in each cell, and placed the plastic cover on. It took about 4 days to see a little bit of white trying to escape the sand-grain-colored seeds, then some green appeared about a day or two after that. 18 cells per variety.

Now, we're 9 days in and my little seedlings are tiny but luckily are easily observable with the naked eye.

It's been raining and cold since day 7, so I bought a grow light here on day 9 as I was worried that these little guys could use a boost.

Looks like the sun might return tomorrow evening and highs of 18 C so maybe I'll take these guys outside then. Hopefully they're not too small.

Bought some fish emulsion tonight, apparently I could throw some one when they start showing their first true leaves.

Eager to see them grow more, seems they've stalled in the last few days. Thanks for reading. By the way, the tall plants on the right of the photo are of basil. Can't tell any of the tobacco varieties apart yet.

 

[johnny108]

Welcome!
What is your outside humidity like?
Putting seedlings this small outside can dry them out in a few hours. An indoor windowsill is a good alternative.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

I agree, they are too young and tender to go outdoors. I would wait for them to have their 2nd set of true leaves before "hardening" them. When you do take them out, give a good watering from below with the emulsions. The water will help them keep hydrated and minimize the wilting. A sunny windowsill will do them good at this stage. The grow lihht will keep them from being "leggy" (tall, thin stem, large distance between leaves). The basil will help you know if the grow light is too high and needs to be lowered. I've noticed my plants to be outdoor ready around week 3 (21 days) after sprouting; Plantable by week 4 or 5 (28 - 35 days).

The seedlings are "stalled" because they're growing their roots. Everything is doing well. Having bought "local", they hopefully will "mature" quickly (start flowering less than 70 days after transplant).

 

[cangrow]

Welcome!
What is your outside humidity like?
Putting seedlings this small outside can dry them out in a few hours. An indoor windowsill is a good alternative.

Hi there, not much humidity around here; 600km from ocean, dry side of rockies, 1100m elevation. Good call, will keep indoors for now! Thanks for your advice!

 

[cangrow]

I agree, they are too young and tender to go outdoors. I would wait for them to have their 2nd set of true leaves before "hardening" them. When you do take them out, give a good watering from below with the emulsions. The water will help them keep hydrated and minimize the wilting. A sunny windowsill will do them good at this stage. The grow lihht will keep them from being "leggy" (tall, thin stem, large distance between leaves). The basil will help you know if the grow light is too high and needs to be lowered. I've noticed my plants to be outdoor ready around week 3 (21 days) after sprouting; Plantable by week 4 or 5 (28 - 35 days).

The seedlings are "stalled" because they're growing their roots. Everything is doing well. Having bought "local", they hopefully will "mature" quickly (start flowering less than 70 days after transplant).

Thanks for that advice, that explains things a lot, really appreciate it! Big relief

 

[cangrow]

Hello all,

As a rookie to most gardening and especially to tobacco, I thought I'd share my experience so far to see if all is normal.

Ordered seeds a few weeks ago out of Lethbridge, 1.5 hrs drive to the south. They only had 3 varieties, so I got burley, virginia gold and bolivian black criollo. Man, those seeds are small!

Followed directions on the package and from another website tobaccoseedscanada.com, which has a lot of information about growing tobacco, though not as much as here.

On Sunday May 24, Used a 72 cell seed started tray, seed starting mix, saturated the mix, let drain, then placed 1-3 seeds in each cell, and placed the plastic cover on. It took about 4 days to see a little bit of white trying to escape the sand-grain-colored seeds, then some green appeared about a day or two after that. 18 cells per variety.

Now, we're 9 days in and my little seedlings are tiny but luckily are easily observable with the naked eye.

It's been raining and cold since day 7, so I bought a grow light here on day 9 as I was worried that these little guys could use a boost.

Looks like the sun might return tomorrow evening and highs of 18 C so maybe I'll take these guys outside then. Hopefully they're not too small.

Bought some fish emulsion tonight, apparently I could throw some one when they start showing their first true leaves.

Eager to see them grow more, seems they've stalled in the last few days. Thanks for reading. By the way, the tall plants on the right of the photo are of basil. Can't tell any of the tobacco varieties apart yet.

Day 17. These little guys are growing slowly, still, but growing. Looks like Saturday, weather will finally settle to sunny and warm, so I will probably plant most of them outside. I have various locations, so I want to try them all to see the effect of different soil types, containers, exposure.

I started giving the seedlings a fish emulsion solution instead of pure rain water. I mixed it at half of what the recommended concentration was. Smelly stuff; another reason to get these guys outside!

I've also taken the whole 72-cell tray outside to bask in the afternoon sun for a few hours after coming home from work. The rest of the time, the tray is sitting under grow lights, following the photoperiod here, which is more than 16hrs currently.

 

[cangrow]

Day 17. These little guys are growing slowly, still, but growing. Looks like Saturday, weather will finally settle to sunny and warm, so I will probably plant most of them outside. I have various locations, so I want to try them all to see the effect of different soil types, containers, exposure.

I started giving the seedlings a fish emulsion solution instead of pure rain water. I mixed it at half of what the recommended concentration was. Smelly stuff; another reason to get these guys outside!

I've also taken the whole 72-cell tray outside to bask in the afternoon sun for a few hours after coming home from work. The rest of the time, the tray is sitting under grow lights, following the photoperiod here, which is more than 16hrs currently.

 

[cangrow]

Day 24 since starting seeds:

3 days ago, last weekend, I decided to plant a bunch of seedlings outside, pictures to come later. Most are still alive but a few kicked the can. Not sure if they've grown much since, but I'm sure they will eventually. Weather last week was quite cool and unsettled, but last weekend was sunny and warm, which is why I decided to pull the trigger and get most seedlings outside. This week, more unsettled and cool weather.

As insurance, I counted my collection of small 3-4 inch pots and put one to two seedlings in these, keeping them indoors under LED lights and still feeding them the solution of fish emulsion. My biggest seedling of this bunch has almost a 2cm "wingspan" and the big leaves are starting to look like true tobacco leaves; very exciting!

I've taken out the potted seedlings to bask in the sun as much as possible, avoiding solar noon +/- 1.5 hours.

These potted guys will have to be planted in the garden no later than June 23ish, as I'm leaving town on the 30th and having friends and family take care of my plants until my return three weeks later. Not ideal, but it is what it is. I'll be so glad to get back to my plants and hope some are still alive and better yet, tall and healthy!!