Guerilla tobacco planting - sticking a finger up to the EU!

[squeezyjohn]

Hello people,

A year or so ago, Ansel suggested seeding the very strong wild version of tobacco Nicotiana Rustica all through the EU the same way as the guerilla gardening fraternity use public waste-land to grow food crops and flowers.

Having grown this variety myself - I can testify that it is as strong as any weed in the British climate ... and would probably be better further south. Once you germinate the seeds it is as easy as pie to grow and would be fine along the road-sides, public flower beds and just waste ground.

I saved some seeds from last year - thousands! If there's anyone in the EU who would like to get around the snus ban by growing their own either in their gardens or in the local land - it's not too late to grow it for your area so you can come back at the end of the summer and harvest the leaves to make snus or twist from. It's an almost legal and definitely moral way to stand up to the EU and get some tax-free snus despite the ban.

I have 6 packets of seeds left with 200-300 seeds in each bag - I could split them up if lots of people want them.

Let me know if you want to give this a try and I'll send you a packet of seeds.

Cheers

Squeezy

[whalen]

I do that here, nobody knows what it is, grows well.

[Skell18]

Sounds intriguing!

[squeezyjohn]

It is very easy indeed! You either buy a pre-made tray of modules or re-use food containers/cardboard tubes or old plant pots and fill them with compost or soil.

Then you do the following:

1) Germinate - sprinkle a few seeds in each pot on the surface / keep it damp / cover it with a plastic bag / put somewhere warm
2) Grow on - when the seedlings emerge take the plastic bag off and put on a sunny windowsill - keep watering or spraying the surface
3) Thin - reduce the number in each pot to one strongest seedling.
4) Grow it on to about 6 inches / 15cm high takes about 8 weeks - keep watered
5) Plant them out where you want them - if it's a grass verge dig out a bit of grass around where you're going to plant it to give it a chance.
6) Watch them grow! If you want big leaves - go around occasionally and pinch out the side-shoots (stems that want to grow sideways from the main stalk) - but don't worry for snus - you can use the whole plant for snus.

Once they have flowered and the flowers have died they are ready for harvesting - pick the whole plants and hang them to slowly dry somewhere not so hot that they dry green (they need to go brown first) and not so cold and damp that they go mouldy (that is the hardest part)

Make them in to stuff.

You could try your chances and dispense with instructions 1-5 and just sprinkle the seeds where you want the plants to be ... but I haven't tried this - it might work!

Cheers

Squeezy

[Ansel]

man this rocks!

[squeezyjohn]

But who wants the seeds?

[Ansel]

I do that here, nobody knows what it is, grows well.

the UK is smaller... let's got this crop all up and down the UK. Buah ha ha.

[squeezyjohn]

I haven't had any response at all so I can only assume that people are too busy :-D It is the easter weekend after all!

I will be experimenting with transplanting some seedlings in to the grass verges and wastelands around where I live this year - and also try just scattering seeds to see if they germinate in place ... if they do grow from seed that easily then they could just be left to self-seed year on year.

[Skell18]

Too much snow about here to do anything with them, but I wouldn't mind some. Plenty of places to grow them here and no-one would notice!

[Ansel]

But who wants the seeds?

The trouble with me is i'm going to be leaving the UK shortly so i don't think i'm going to get enough time to grow them. But i support the idea.

[Faylool]

Mother may I? I'm USA though. Do I count? I have two acres and am going to grow tobacco in a small area, with a borage, wallflower lower and creeping thyme plus a a couple veggies. This will be my first garden in decades! Its ok if you don't include US I can buy seeds. Don't know from where or what kind really. Better get that done this week. Then I saw this thread this morning

But who wants the seeds?

[GoVegan]

This is a fantastic idea! It makes me want to toss sides out the window on my way to work.

[tattooer601]

Rustica seeds..
Squezzy, good of ya to offer them to UK brothers

[Snus6930]

Id love to try this, iv often thought of planting around here though Iv always struck off tobacco as a picky verity for some reason.

I used to own an allotment before my life got as hectic as it is now, I travel quite a bit so I couldnt keep on top of it all. Though this sounds a brilliant idea, I often take walks around my local area, mainly farm land and woods so I suppose this gorilla malarkey would work. I could check up on them once a week or so.

Whats germination like on these seeds squeezy? Do the majority sprout?

[Faylool]

Drying will be the hardest part. I'll read up. I live in Oregon. Depends on when they are ready to pick, time of year here. We shall see. I'm looking forward to this. And my first carrots borage kale tomatoes thyme etc in friggen decades. It's called retirement. Yay!

It is very easy indeed! You either buy a pre-made tray of modules or re-use food containers/cardboard tubes or old plant pots and fill them with compost or soil.

Then you do the following:

1) Germinate - sprinkle a few seeds in each pot on the surface / keep it damp / cover it with a plastic bag / put somewhere warm
2) Grow on - when the seedlings emerge take the plastic bag off and put on a sunny windowsill - keep watering or spraying the surface
3) Thin - reduce the number in each pot to one strongest seedling.
4) Grow it on to about 6 inches / 15cm high takes about 8 weeks - keep watered
5) Plant them out where you want them - if it's a grass verge dig out a bit of grass around where you're going to plant it to give it a chance.
6) Watch them grow! If you want big leaves - go around occasionally and pinch out the side-shoots (stems that want to grow sideways from the main stalk) - but don't worry for snus - you can use the whole plant for snus.

Once they have flowered and the flowers have died they are ready for harvesting - pick the whole plants and hang them to slowly dry somewhere not so hot that they dry green (they need to go brown first) and not so cold and damp that they go mouldy (that is the hardest part)

Make them in to stuff.

You could try your chances and dispense with instructions 1-5 and just sprinkle the seeds where you want the plants to be ... but I haven't tried this - it might work!

Cheers

Squeezy