Hi y'all from MD

[joemac]

Wanted to give a quick introduction. I live in Southern MD and come from a long line of tobacco growers. My family has been growing tobacco since the 1700s I presume. Problem is they stopped before I was born. In the 70's I'm thinking.

Anyway, I have a small organic market garden enterprise that my biz partner and I are expanding. We are interested in diversifying into organic tobacco. I'm exploring the possibilities of selling it by the leaf. I was hoping to grow several Maryland varieties and some of the darker Virginian varieties if I understand the nomenclature correctly. It appears that I can sell it through a website without much hassle. It seems like the other option is contracting with American Spirit. Does anyone have any experience growing the rustica variety?

 

[Aaron]

Welcome to the forum Joemac! Sounds like a great idea to offer some organic whole-leaf tobacco to your customers. You're in the right place to learn. Best of luck to ya.

 

[BarG]

Welcome joemac.
What exactly would be the guideline as far as organic tobacco. I used no chemical fertilizers this year and the only bug deterrent was thuricide[BT]. Would that classify.

 

[DonH]

Welcome joemac.
What exactly would be the guideline as far as organic tobacco. I used no chemical fertilizers this year and the only bug deterrent was thuricide[BT]. Would that classify.

Thuricide qualifies in other countries but not in the US because they say there are other alternatives. Spinosad however does qualify for organic in the US and it works against the same pests as Thuricide. The problem is it is a lengthy, difficult process to get your land certified organic. For starters you can't have used non organic pesticides for the past five years minimum and you can't have used chemical fertilizers. You can say that it was grown using organic methods but not that it is certified organic.

 

[BarG]

Iv'e been meaning to look into the spinosad, I know very little about it. I went to buy bt and all they had was the spinosad but I have not learned what it is. So until I do I'm sticking with my BT. I'm not into organic but thought I might be close this year just the same. I don't think I could stand the headaches or the fines.

 

[deluxestogie]

Here's a general discussion of the Organic Certification process: https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/download.php?id=163. It's 8 pages.

Bob

 

[Chicken]

if your going to sell it at a farmers market type setting,

you may want to research, all the different types of baccy, and find what would be suitable, for making a good cigg.

and perhaps, make a couple, plants suitable, for making cigars, and sell it as a combo pack,

binder, wrapper, and filler,

 

[DonH]

Iv'e been meaning to look into the spinosad, I know very little about it. I went to buy bt and all they had was the spinosad but I have not learned what it is. So until I do I'm sticking with my BT. I'm not into organic but thought I might be close this year just the same. I don't think I could stand the headaches or the fines.

My understanding is that spinosad is very similar to BT. Both come from bacteria and work on all "worms." Both have a short half life and can be used two weeks before harvest for vegetables that are going to be consumed right away.

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Spinosad has a much broader range of insects that it kills compared to BT. I gave up using BT about 5 years ago when I started using Spinosad. One of the real advantages I like about it is that it does not stink like BT.

 

[indianjoe]

I gave spinosad a try this year and was very dissapointed with its results. BT is the way to go here.

 

[BarG]

Spinosad has a much broader range of insects that it kills compared to BT. I gave up using BT about 5 years ago when I started using Spinosad. One of the real advantages I like about it is that it does not stink like BT.

I gave spinosad a try this year and was very dissapointed with its results. BT is the way to go here.

I'll wait till next year and do a test row to see for my self I reckon.
Does the spinosad have a longer effect before deteriorating than the BT?

They were selling 8 oz. bottles of bt for $12.00 in organic section at loews. I've benn paying $9.95 for 16 ozs at local feed store whereas spinosad is $14.00 16 ozs.

 

[joemac]

Organic production is a method or system but to be certified organic you must take your land and production plan through a certification process. We are already certified on the small 1 acre market garden, and the bigger place which has 50 acres of tillable land we should be certified by end of next year.

In organic production there is a "toolbox" of methods that are used for different things. The bottom line though is that if the plant is strong, the disease and pest pressures will be reduced. A strong plant comes from strong soil.

There are a handful of insect sprays. Bt has already been mentioned. This is most effective against caterpillars. It messes up their gut. Diatomaceous earth is sprinkled on the ground to limit snail and slugs. There are several approved insecticides, but they usually kill all the bugs, including benefiicals and pollinators.

One simple method to reduce insect pressure, especially on cucurbits (pumpkins, squash, cucumbers) is to use a floating row cover. This works particularly well.

Disease prevention is mainly about crop rotation and cover cropping. There has been some experimentation with mustard greens as a cover crop tilled under as a biofungicide.

Many people think organic production means adding nothing, but that is simply not the case. We put a lot of work into the soil to grow strong plants.

 

[Chicken]

it would generate you a lot of money,

i mean a pack of cigg's is higher, than most stuff on the market/ vs the volume they are sold as, a '' gallon'' of milk,,a gallon of gas,,,
5 lbs. of sugar,, e,t,c,

vs a pack of smokes or the cost of 5 good cigars,???? a pack of smokes is higher, than most consumers, pay for another '' single'' item,

and i'd like to see your organic garden, i try to go organic myself, 2 years now, i have tilled in 1 ton, of chicken-manure/sawdust [ the clean-out from a chicken farm's raising house }

and i use BT, ALLTHOUGH THIS YEAR I HAD SUCK-FLIES REAL BAD so i went with a poision, that may not have been suitable for the baccy, but it killed the flies dead, and leaves the leaf in 2 weeks, but i sprayed just before a good heavy rain, so hopefully it kills the bugs and then gets washed away,

and i was sucessfull. that was 2 weeks ago, and im SUCKFLY free<<<