Why do some plants lean?

[BaccaChew]

It seems random. Some are tall and do not lean at 45 degrees, others are tall or short and lean pretty bad. What is going on?

Is this genetic and can be selected against?

I need input from the elders!

 

[indianjoe]

Couple of questions about your leaning plants:
What type tobacco plants?
In the ground or pots?
Full sun or partial shade?
Recent wind or weather events, blowing rain?

 

[SmokesAhoy]

that doesnt seem to matter. in my patch i have many varieties and some are leaning, others not. leaning varieties: zimmer, 503b, pn red, maybe another i'll check when light.

actually, they are all cigar varieties, but them come to think of it thats pretty much all im growing. none of my primitive duales are leaning. leaf to stock ratio maybe?

 

[BigBonner]

I would say it is the way the plants are. I have two rows of Havanna . A few plants even fell all the way down while others stood traight up like normal . We had alot of rain right after it was set out and one 4 inch rain after that . I was thinking the leaning was from too much water . One variety may like more water than others .

I do know that if you have wire worms that causes the plants to drop crook and stunt some . One way to check for this is to cut the stalk close to the ground . Take a knife split the stalk from the bottom up . You will see a trail up from the roots and a small hole coming out the side of the stalk where the worm came out .

Check out this link http://ipm.ncsu.edu/AG271/tobacco/wireworms.html

 

[deluxestogie]

My impression is that whole stalk leaning is often the result of wind at a time when the soil is wet. Sometimes they blow down, and can be stood back up, if done promptly, but will retain some bend in the stalk. Most tobacco will move the upper part of the stalk during a single day, to follow the sun, until the stalk becomes too rigid. I experienced some top leaning when the sun appeared from the clouds only during the morning for several days in a row.

Nearly horizontal plants won't grow normally, and you'll get muddy or sandy leaf. Otherwise, I haven't noticed any impact of minor leaning.

We should embrace diversity.

Bob

 

[Daniel]

My first guess, Guided by what I have seen others commonly doing over the past 7 months as well as experience with plants in general. The plants may have been started with to little light and the leaning is just one result of leggy plants. Legginess is not correctable by simply transplanting the sprout deeper. It is a deformity, a deformity caused by not being provided what it needed. Put another way it is the result of starvation. Once the plant does have access to adequate light. It does not necessarily physically respond. If you watch light starved plants when they are placed in plenty of light. some will begin to respond quickly while others never do. I have no idea just what physical triggers have been set int eh various plants. but it does seem to me that at some point enough triggers have been hit that a plant is simply in survival mode permanently. I clearly saw this in many of my plants this year caused by various reasons.

Anyway it is a guess and most likely completely off base in this particular case. maybe the comment will help others that are experience a problem this post applies to.

I will say that leaning to me has always been caused by a weak stalk on any plant. the causes of a weak stalk can be many though. and no it will nto show up in every plant equally regardless of every plant having been subjects to the same conditions. they are individual living organisms.

 

[BigBonner]

If the plants that others have are like some of mine , they don't crook in the middle it is at the base of the plant . Some of these will leg over at the bottom . I Used no chemical for worms on this tobacco . I will check to see if my problem may be wire worms .Wire worms will come up through the roots and come out the side of the stalk about 4 inches more or less from the ground more or less .

 

[BigBonner]

Here is a couple of pictures . I think is was wire worm related when the plants were less than 16 inches tall .I believe they were damaged young and grew out of it there is small holes on the bottom of the stalk .
The plants crook at the soil surface curve over about 5 to 6 inches and straighten up to the leanning position they are now .This could possibly be genetics .

Here is one with the hole . This doesn't look exactly like the hole I have seen befor from the wire worm .

 

[FmGrowit]

Yeah, it seems as if even if you do everything right, there's still something that will mess with the plants. Everyone has idea's of what it could be...and they're all right. ,but I'd like to add a couple of more options.

Proper early root formation is key to minimizing the possibility of leaning. Always till your soil very well.

Double dig or for bigger operations, use a subsoiler (A subsoiler breaks up the ground 18" deep, this allows for proper drainage and allows the roots to grow deeper).

Set your plants deep. A sustained source of moisture will promote proper (deep) root growth.

Nematodes. If your plants are leaning in one or several areas of your field, the problem is likely nematodes. Nematodes attack the root structure of the plants.

Just bad luck, Like I said earlier, even if you do everything right, a well prepared bed/field will have loose soil. Loose wet soil during a wind storm will cause plants to lay down every time. Sometimes you can't do anything about it. At least it isn't hail damage...there's not a whole heck of a lot you can do about that short of tenting your crop.

Heirloom varieties are subject to leaning also. Today's commercial crops have all been bread to eliminate spindly stalk, but I've grown heirlooms that grow every direction but straight.

 

[BaccaChew]

You are right, I forgot valuable info:

These are in the ground with large stalks, Chobie Gold is the strain (virginia type), full sun, no strong winds all summer, Maybe a half inch of rain this summer, but not blowing.

I will plant selfed-seeds of a leaner and a "stiffer" next year, and watch for trends.

Thanks for your comment!