Will tobacco grow additional roots from the stalk? Yes it will.

[DGBAMA]

At least some varieties will root from the stem. I have to presume from what I have seen today that there is more benefit to "deep burying" starts than just supporting the stem.

While working on replacing some of my Bursa that did not survive transplant I went to remove one of my "benchwarmers" from the cell tray, only to find that where the stem had laid over it was also firmly rooted into the adjacent cell. Figured it was worth sharing.

 

[BigMikeChevy]

hmm like the tomatoe. wonder how deep you can plant tobacco with causing damage.

 

[DGBAMA]

hmm like the tomatoe. wonder how deep you can plant tobacco with causing damage.

From discussions I remember here, deep planting is fine, with the primary benefit being additional support for the plant; weather or not the plant would grow additional root system as a result has always been inconclusive. Hence I figured sharing this experience might be useful to others.

 

[johnlee1933]

From discussions I remember here, deep planting is fine, with the primary benefit being additional support for the plant; weather or not the plant would grow additional root system as a result has always been inconclusive. Hence I figured sharing this experience might be useful to others.

Certainly useful to me. I had assumed to the contrary. Thanks

 

[deluxestogie]

Nice. That's an interesting observation, and well documented.

Most tobacco plants don't seem to form roots from the stalk in the field. This season (2013), I have quite a few crookedy plants with a few inches of the lower stalk permanently resting on the soil. After reading your post, I went out and checked every crooked plant. Of my 20 varieties (well over 200 plants), only four Jalapa plants put out new roots from the crooked stalk, and nothing more than a few fine roots. BUT some did. Most did not. This may be because of near continuous movement from wind, or a matter of constant soil moisture.

It may be that stage of growth (how young the plant is) may play a role. It may be that some varieties are prone to root from the stalk, and most are not. We can judge from BigBonner's observations that his burley varieties don't root from the stalk.

But I'm glad you discovered and reported it. My conclusion is the same as yours, that sometimes a tobacco plant may indeed put out roots from the stalk. It gets curiouser and curiouser.

I'll check when it's time to remove the stalks from the ground, and see how much rooting actually occurred in my Jalapa.

Bob

 

[workhorse_01]

I plant in rows and run the middles with the plows behind the tractor to cover the new grass. Every time I run the middles the dirt goes higher and higher on the stalk. By the time the tobacco grows to high for me to get the tractor over it, the dirt is up to the lowest leaves. I've never had a problem with this and they do grow new roots out of the stalk.

 

[Boboro]

I have seen a lot of my plants grow roots and the knots that grow roots. They never get big like mator stem roots. I have thougt about puttin rootin compound on them but have not. I have no doubt you could root them.

 

[deluxestogie]

This is a great topic. Any photos you can get during the season would be a useful addition to the matter.

Bob

 

[Fisherman]

Did the plant have a set of leaves where it rooted? Sometimes planting the first set of leaves seems to help most any crop type plant set roots from stalk.

 

[leverhead]

The other day I ripped up a ground sucker that had roots on it, I didn't think to take a picture.

 

[Boboro]

I think Ill root one and see if it will make it. I used to get mator plants like that.

 

[Knucklehead]

I just snapped this picture in my patch. It's a Smyrna #9 that was tall and leggy and got beat down by the rain several times. (not the wind) The new roots are about 8" from where the stalk originally came out of the ground.

 

[rainmax]

hmm like the tomatoe. wonder how deep you can plant tobacco with causing damage.

yes, like the tomato. Up to the first leaves (at least I do it this way). And it will make new roots up on the stem, not like corn, but similar.

 

[istanbulin]

Thank you very much for the photos DGBAMA. I wrote this before, tobacco can do it. As in the past, some members are still hemming and hawing. The same variety may show different behaviour in different climates and soil types. As you know, this root issue is highly related with plant hormones. If somebody says "my tobacco didn't do this", this is not a binding observation.

 

[deluxestogie]

I agree with istanbulin. My impression is that fully vertical tobacco is not very likely to sprout additional roots when mounded with soil--this is just my observation. It also seems that a horizontal portion of stalk in constant contact with moist soil may sometimes (only sometimes) sprout fine hair roots. I'll have a better notion of how meaningful these new roots become at the end of the season.

Since this root behavior may be dependent on variety, reports from various growers may differ.

Bob

 

[JessicaNicot]

i dont have any pics of it, but tobacco plants in the float trays are very prone to sprouting adventitious roots on their stems, similar to the ones often seen on the lower stalks of tomato. you can plant tobacco as deep as you want so long as the bud isn't covered up. i think planting them a little deep is actually preferable if your transplants are spindly. it should help ward off things like Knucklehead's pic in #12.

interestingly enough, you can cut off the entire root system of tobacco, put it in water and it'll sprout all new roots. its very easily propogated by cuttings.

 

[Fisherman]

Most all my turkish seedlings that got leggy showed upper stem growth of roots. Not so much so the burleys etc. Of cource they didn't get leggy on me in the last few weeks of neglect due to working for a living.

 

[deluxestogie]

Rooting of Stalk in Contact with the Soil

As promised at the time I transplanted some crooked plants into the ground, I've now dug up one such plant from each of three different varieties. The dirt was knocked off when dry, then the root ball was hosed.

You can see that all of them produced roots from the stalk along the area of contact--some more than others. These seem to be concentrated at the angle in the stalk from horizontal to vertical, rather than distributed evenly along the horizontal portion. I have no doubt that these small roots assisted with stabilizing the stalks against the wind. In each instance, all of the major roots still originate from the bottom of the stalk.

Bob