For a long time, the flowering plant fragrant tobacco has been very popular among gardeners. And he deserved it because he has an original smell, and the color of his flowers is very diverse. The aroma of such a plant is able to attract bees to the garden plot, and it also has a huge number of different varieties. This culture comes from South America. Thanks to Christopher Columbus, fragrant tobacco came to Europe. Under natural conditions, it is a perennial plant, but in the middle latitudes it is cultivated as an annual.
Content
Features of scented tobacco
A herbaceous flowering plant, scented tobacco is a member of the Solanaceae family. The height of the bush can vary from 0.2 to 0.9 m. The shoots are erect, the leaf plates are large, and the small flowers are star-shaped. On the surface of the entire bush, there are glandular hairs. The color of the flowers depends on the species and variety and can be white, red, yellow, raspberry or pink. It is noteworthy that the flowers with a pale color are more smelling. As a rule, the opening of the flowers of such a plant is observed immediately after sunset in the evening. This plant blooms in June and fades in September. In the evening, the aroma of the flowers becomes even stronger. Cultivated since 1867.
Growing scented tobacco from seeds
What time is sowing
Fragrant tobacco, which is an annual, is a fairly thermophilic plant. In this regard, experienced gardeners recommend growing it exclusively through seedlings. Sowing of seeds falls on the last days of February or the first days of March.
Sowing features
For sowing scented 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). Before sowing, for swelling, the seeds must be wrapped in a moistened cloth for several days, but it must be remembered that the seeds should not hatch.The seeds are quite small, so they are carefully distributed over the surface of the soil mixture, while they are not required to be embedded in the substrate or sprinkled with soil mixture. Crops must be moistened from a sprayer, and then the container is covered with glass or film. Then they are removed to a sufficiently warm place (20 to 22 degrees). The first seedlings, as a rule, appear after 1.5-2 weeks, as soon as this happens, the shelter must be removed, and the containers must be transferred to a well-lit window sill.
Growing seedlings
Seedlings will need systematic moderate watering, and you will also need to very carefully loosen the surface of the substrate. The picking of seedlings is carried out after a pair of true leaf plates have formed.
Picking
After the seedlings are well watered, the seedling is very carefully pulled out of the container along with a lump of earth and planted in an individual cup. After rooting of the unpicked plants, it is necessary to pinch their tops, which will allow a more lush bush to form.
Planting scented tobacco in open ground
It is possible to plant seedlings of fragrant tobacco in open soil from about the second half of May, but it is worth considering that by this time the soil should have time to warm up well, and return spring frosts should be left behind.
Before proceeding with planting, the seedlings must be hardened. To do this, for half a month, she is transferred to the street every day. At first, the plants should be in the fresh air for no longer than 1 hour, but then the duration of this procedure should be gradually increased until the seedlings can stay in the garden constantly. After the seedlings are well hardened, they can be planted in open ground.
Landing features
To plant scented tobacco, you should find an area that will be protected from direct sunlight and strong gusts of wind. Ornamental species do not impose special requirements on the composition of the soil, however, it is very important to take into account its moisture and nutritional value. If the soil is poor, then even in the autumn time it is necessary to dig it up, while humus or compost must be added to it, as well as drainage material, if necessary.
When planting seedlings in open soil, it should be borne in mind that the distance between the bushes must be at least 0.2–0.3 m. If you grow tall varieties, then the distance between plants must be increased, since these plants are large enough and in height they can reach almost 100 centimeters. At first, the seedlings will stretch to their full height, after which they will creep 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 gently poured into it together with a lump of earth, the hole is covered with soil, the surface of which must then be compacted. The planted plants must be watered.
Caring for scented tobacco
There is absolutely nothing unusual or complicated in the cultivation of scented tobacco in the garden. This plant only needs to be watered, weeded, fed, loosened, and protected from pests and diseases if necessary. To make the bushes always look fresh and well-groomed, you need to regularly cut off the flowers that have begun to fade.
Such a culture must be provided with abundant and relatively frequent watering. In the hot and dry period, this procedure is carried out daily. But if summer time turned out to be rainy, then you do not need to be overzealous with watering.
If fragrant tobacco grows on fertile soil, then it will not have to be fed at all. If it was planted in poor soil, then the flowers will need to be fed 2 times throughout the growing season: immediately after the beginning of budding and as soon as the bushes bloom.Too much nitrogen should not be added to the soil, as this will cause the bushes to intensively grow green mass to the detriment of flowering. Fertilizers are dissolved in water, with which flowers are watered.
Pests and diseases
This crop is highly resistant to various diseases and pests. It contains in its composition a large amount of phytoncides, which have a deterrent effect on harmful insects. Fragrant tobacco can protect not only itself from pests, but also plants that are grown in the immediate vicinity.
After flowering
In the autumn, it is necessary to select several of the most spectacular bushes. They should be removed from the soil and transplanted into pots, which are then brought into the house. It is necessary to shorten all the stems by 1/3 part. The pots are removed in a well-lit place, watering is carried out as the soil dries up. When warm weather sets in in spring, the bushes are transplanted back into open ground.
Types and varieties of scented tobacco with photos and names
Fragrant tobacco is an umbrella term for various types of decorative tobacco. Some of them will be described below.
Forest tobacco (Nicotiana sylvestris)
The height of the bush can vary from 0.8 to 1.5 m. The shoots are straight, and the white drooping flowers are very fragrant. The homeland of this species is Brazil. It is recommended for growing in the background, as well as in mixborders. In recent years, breeders have obtained a variety series of this species for container culture, the height of the bushes is only about 0.25 m.
Langsdorf Tobacco (Nicotiana langsdorffii)
The height of this annual plant is about 1.2 m. The bell-shaped dark green flowers have a very pleasant scent. In natural conditions, this species can be found in Brazil and Chile. There is a rather undersized variety of the Krim Splash species: the bush reaches a height of 0.6-0.9 m.
Winged tobacco (Nicotiana alata = Nicotiana affinis)
This herbaceous perennial plant is cultivated as an annual by gardeners. The height of its erect shoots is 0.6–0.7 m. Small leaf plates are lanceolate or elongated. On the surface of all aerial parts of the bush, there is pubescence, consisting of glandular hairs. Large loose panicle inflorescences consist of tubular flowers of white, cream or carmine color, their length is about 75 mm with a limb 50 mm in diameter. In the main species, flowers unfold only at night. However, thanks to the work of breeders, varieties have appeared that bloom in the daytime, as well as dwarf varieties that do not need support. This species in culture is represented by the varieties and forms of the large-flowered variety (Nicotiana alata var. Grandiflora), the flowers can be painted lilac-pink, purple, dark red, pink, white or scarlet. The bushes of some varieties can reach a height of 150 cm.At the same time, the varieties that are part of the Cana group have low bushes, so their height is no more than 0.4 m.The following varieties are most popular:
- Evening Breeze... The height of the bush is about 0.6 m. The color of the flowers is red-crimson.
- Red Davil... The height of the compact bush is about 0.4 m. Flowers, which do not close during the day, are colored dark red.
- Crimson Rock... The height of the bush is 0.45-0.6 meters. The flowers are colored crimson red. This variety has won a Fleuroselect award.
- White Bedder... The height of the bush is about half a meter. The flowers, painted white, remain open during the day.
- Lime Green... Bushes reach a height of 0.75 meters. The flowers are greenish in color.
- Domino Saman-Pink... The height of small bushes is about 0.3 meters. The flowers are colored salmon pink.
Still quite popular are such varieties as: Night Bonfire, Green Light, Havana Appleblossom, Lunevsky, etc.
In specialized stores, you can also buy varieties of scented tobacco, for example:
- Series Sensation... The height of the bushes can vary from 0.6 to 0.9 meters.
- Nicky series... The height of the bush is about 0.3 m. Flowers can be painted in various shades, from crimson to white.
- Havana Series... Flowers can be painted in a wide variety of colors. The height of the bush is about 0.35 m.
- Avalon Series... The height of the bushes can vary from 0.15 to 0.3 m. Flowers can be painted in a variety of colors.
- Perfume and Roll series... The composition includes undersized varieties.
Sander tobacco (Nicotiana x sanderae)
This garden hybrid was born in 1903, it was obtained by crossing the wild tobacco Forget and winged tobacco. The flowers are larger than winged tobacco, but they are completely odorless. As a rule, they are painted in carmine-red color shades, but there are also white-flowered varieties. Thanks to this hybrid, a large number of different varieties have been bred. The first generation of hybrids of this species, included in the Taksido series, are undersized bushes, so their height does not exceed 0.2 m. They can be grown both in flower beds and in containers. Popular varieties of this series: Taxido Lime - yellow-lemon flowers; Taksido Samen-Pink - This variety with salmon-pink flowers is the most popular.
Thank you very much for the interesting material, especially about the love of aphids for scented tobacco. There is also an interesting observation: they wrote to me that “my mother always planted scented tobacco next to cabbage and there were no pests on cabbage”. I planted 6 plants of scented tobacco on cabbage (white cabbage and kohlrabi). By that time, some of the cabbage leaves were already slightly gnawed by pests. A week later, someone chewed the roots of all the sprouts of fragrant tobacco and had to plant new ones. So far, they grow well and there are no new lesions on the cabbage. I will try again next year. And most importantly, the Colorado potato beetle very actively attacks the fragrant tobacco, but it is poisonous to the beetle and the beetle dies. A friend from the Nizhny Novgorod region says that the plantings of scented tobacco are dotted with dead Colorado potato beetle larvae. I have not had a beetle on my potatoes for about 10 years. Judging by the fact that the neighbors have stopped complaining about the beetle, it goes to the fragrant tobacco from a distance of up to 50 meters. I highly recommend and think that it makes sense to tinker for 3-4 years, clearing the site of the beetle, so that then with a dozen stems to protect a hectare of potatoes.
Very interesting about the beetle.