Smoking tobacco "Basma"

Tobacco is a light-loving and heat-loving plant that grows well on soils seasoned with organic matter (2-3 buckets per 1 m2).
Botanically, it is a relative of tomatoes and potatoes, i.e., it belongs to the nightshade family, and like these crops, it has early, mid, and late ripening periods. Seeds are sown in early February. To do this, light and loose soil is prepared in advance in the fall.
In a box 5-6 cm high, 4-5 cm of soil is poured, slightly compacted and watered, then the seeds are scattered and covered with slightly moist soil with a layer of no more than 1-2 mm.
The box is placed in a plastic bag and put in a warm place. Seedlings appear on the 6-15th day (depending on the room temperature). During this time, no watering is done, since the young plants can be disturbed and even killed.
After the first shoots appear, the box is removed from the bag and placed on the window without opening it, since early hardening (in the opinion of some practitioners, just like tomatoes) is not strictly necessary for them. Approximately a week later (depending on the condition of the soil), watering is carried out by spraying from a spray bottle. If you water from a kettle, you can simply kill the seedlings, because they are still very small and tender.
At the same time, it is necessary to make sure that they do not stretch, and add soil up to the cotyledon leaves, otherwise they may fall and die.
After the appearance of 1-2 true leaves, the seedlings are pricked out into separate pots, and the central root is pinched off at the same time.
Caring for plants after pricking out comes down to watering and maintaining the temperature within +18+20°C, which is quite achievable on an ordinary windowsill.
At first, the seedlings grow very slowly, so they must be sown 4-4.5 months before planting in the ground.
Seedlings with 4-6 leaves are planted in early June (after the threat of return frosts disappears).
Planting scheme: 100x150 cm in a checkerboard pattern.
Care comes down to watering, weeding, and loosening. Tobacco is a very moisture-loving plant, so it should be watered daily: initially 5 liters per bush, and when it grows above 1 meter - 10 liters. If you do not water tobacco, it holds back growth, loses its aroma, and becomes too strong when smoked.
Three feedings are done during the tobacco growing season: the first is carried out immediately after planting in the ground, combined with watering, the second and third with an interval of 2 weeks. Any complex fertilizer can be used for feeding.
The vegetative period of this plant lasts until frost. In Northern conditions, tobacco sometimes blooms until mid-October.
About the intricacies of growing.
If tobacco is grown for smoking, then when flowers appear, they must be cut off (topping) and the appearing side shoots (suckers) broken out, which will allow all the sap of the plant to go precisely to the growth of the leaf.
Tobacco ripens gradually: from the bottom to the top. Wilting and yellowing of the leaves on the bush should not be allowed, i.e., if they dry on the vine, they must be thrown away, since there is nothing in them - neither strength nor aroma - they are good for nothing.
Therefore, up to five breakings (cuttings) of leaves are done. The first breaking is at the very ground; if the leaves have sand, they must be washed in water. The second and third breakings produce the largest leaves (sometimes up to 70-80 cm). The fourth and fifth breakings produce smaller leaves, but they are the most aromatic and strong.
To make the leaves fleshy and large, and the tobacco strong and aromatic, in addition to daily watering, it is strictly necessary to remove flower stalks and suckers.
The leaves are dried in the attic without access to sunlight: they are strung on twine in such a way that the leaves do not touch each other.
For a smoker who consumes a pack of cigarettes a day, it is enough to grow 10-12 plants to provide himself with this pleasure for a whole year (and the crushed stem can be added to the leaf to reduce the strength, while the aroma is not lost).

SOWING SEEDS.
In industrial and old practices, 2 days before sowing, the seeds are treated in a 40% formalin solution, which protects them from seedling disease pathogens.
To prepare the solution, 50 parts of water are added to one part (by volume) of 40% formalin. Processing 1 kg of seeds requires 2/7 of this solution, and the seeds are treated only once in the same solution.
Bags made of dense fabric, filled to 2/3 of their volume with seeds, are immersed in the prepared solution for 10 minutes, continuously shaking them.
Then the seeds are washed well in running water for 10-15 minutes and dried.
To accelerate the appearance of sprouts, the seeds are germinated in wooden boxes (the bottom of the box is dense burlap, tightly stretched over the frame).
The seeds are placed in loose cotton bags, filling them to 2/3 of their volume, tied, and immersed in warm water (30°C) for 18...20 hours.
When the seeds swell, they are thoroughly washed, excess water is removed by vigorously shaking the bags, and poured into a box in a layer 2...4 cm thick. The seeds are mixed daily, and moistened when drying out. The air temperature is maintained at +27°C.
If freshly harvested seeds are germinated, the temperature should be alternated: 6 hours at +27-30°C, and the remaining 18 hours at +16+20°C, while the seeds are mixed in the light. On the 4th-5th day, sprouts appear in the form of white dots.
The timing of sowing seeds is linked to the timing of planting seedlings in the field. It takes 35-65 days to obtain seedlings ready for planting.
Seeds are sown in approximately 5 terms with intervals of 4-5 days to ensure an even supply of seedlings.

GROWING SEEDLINGS.
Tobacco seedlings are grown in hotbeds and on soil beds (heated with biofuel and solar-heated).
In biofuel-heated hotbeds, up to 2500 high-quality seedlings are obtained from 1 m2, in solar ones - up to 2000 pieces, from soil beds - about 1500 pieces.
Small-leaved tobacco varieties include Samsun, Dubek, American; medium-leaved - Trapezond; large-leaved - Ostrolist, Peremozhets.
Hotbeds are placed on a flat area with a slight slope to the south or southwest, well illuminated by the sun and protected from cold winds. The soil should be light, with a loose subsoil.
Manure (horse, sheep, cattle), straw, and tree leaves are used for the heating layer.
Biofuel is prepared at the rate of 0.25...0.35 m3 per 1 m2 of the hotbed.
8-10 days before stuffing, horse manure is brought to a moisture content of 60...70% and loose heaps are formed for heating.
Cattle manure is laid 12-15 days in advance, adding chopped straw and 3-5% ground quicklime or ash.
If straw or leaves are used, the heaps are moistened with slurry or nitrogen fertilizer solution.
Only well-heated biofuel is loaded into the hotbeds. After stuffing, they are covered with frames. After 3...4 days, when the temperature reaches +30°C, the biofuel is leveled. Then it is sprinkled with lime or ash, the soil is loaded (10 cm), and a day later - the nutrient mixture (8...10 cm). The hotbed box is oriented from east to west.