Seed preparation
The seed is dust-fine, well under 1 mm long. Mix a pinch with a spoonful of dry fine sand to spread it evenly. Seed keeps for more than 10 years when stored dry and cool, according to PROSEA, so a packet lasts many seasons.
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Nicotiana growing guide
Nicotiana rustica is a short, tough, yellow-flowered Nicotiana with far more nicotine than ordinary Nicotiana. Its dust-fine seed needs light to germinate, so it is sown on the surface of a nursery bed or tray and transplanted after five to six weeks.
The seed is dust-fine, well under 1 mm long. Mix a pinch with a spoonful of dry fine sand to spread it evenly. Seed keeps for more than 10 years when stored dry and cool, according to PROSEA, so a packet lasts many seasons.
Not needed. The seed has no hard coat.
Not needed. Nicotiana rustica has no dormancy once its short after-ripening period is over.
Not needed. Soaked dust-fine seed clumps and is impossible to sow evenly; sow it dry onto a moist surface.
Aim for about 30 °C (86 °F) by day and 20 °C (68 °F) at night. NC State Extension notes that Nicotiana germinates faster and more evenly with this daily swing, and that temperatures below 20 °C (68 °F) slow it. Rustica is a cooler-season Nicotiana: ICAR-CTRI notes it is grown in the cooler north and north-east of India (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam), and its nursery calendar places sowing for most Indian Nicotiana types in August.
Scatter the seed-and-sand mix over the surface and press it in with a board or your palm. Do not cover with soil.
A fine, well-drained seedbed or seed-tray mix. ICAR-CTRI raises Nicotiana nurseries on raised beds 1-1.2 m (3.3-4 ft) wide with drainage channels, and adds sand to heavy soils.
Constantly moist at the surface. ICAR-CTRI calls the first ten days the most critical: missing a single watering on a hot afternoon can ruin germination. Use a fine rose or mist, and a light cover of straw, mat or shade cloth to slow drying.
Seed needs light to germinate, so it must stay on the surface. Remove or thin the cover once seedlings appear, or they grow thin and weak.
About 5 days at warm temperatures for after-ripened seed; longer in cool weather.
Thin crowded seedlings and gradually remove shade as they grow. ICAR-CTRI hardens Nicotiana seedlings by reducing water for 7-10 days before planting out.
Plant out at 35-45 days, when seedlings are 15-20 cm (6-8 in) tall with a rosette of 4-5 leaves (PROSEA). Water in well and plant on a cloudy day or in the evening.
Rustica flowers 50-60 days after planting out. Break off the flower head (topping) if you grow it for leaf, and remove the side shoots (suckers) that follow.
PROSEA gives a nicotine content of 4-9.5% for rustica, higher than ordinary Nicotiana. Nicotine passes through the skin from wet leaves and can cause green Nicotiana sickness: nausea, vomiting, dizziness and weakness. Wear gloves and long sleeves when topping, suckering or harvesting, especially when leaves are wet with dew or rain, and keep plants away from children and pets.
Nicotiana tabacum is tall with broad leaves and pink flowers. N. rustica is short, with round, puckered leaves and yellow flowers, prefers a cooler season, and is used for chewing, hookah, snuff and coarse curing Nicotiana.
Rustica is mainly self-pollinated, with 4-10% cross-pollination by insects. Bag a few flower heads before they open if other Nicotiana species grow nearby, and leave them untopped to set seed.
Growing, curing, selling and even keeping Nicotiana can be regulated, licensed or taxed depending on the country. Check the rules where you live before you plant.
Sow Nicotiana seed on the surface of a fine, moist seedbed for a hardy, high-nicotine Nicotiana.
No. Nicotiana rustica seed needs light to germinate. Press it onto the surface of moist mix and keep the surface damp.
Rustica (N. rustica) is shorter, with round, puckered leaves and yellow flowers, and has much more nicotine, 4-9.5% in PROSEA's figures. Ordinary Nicotiana (N. tabacum) is taller, with broad leaves and pink flowers.
Wear gloves. Nicotine is absorbed through the skin from wet leaves and can cause nausea, vomiting and dizziness. Change out of wet clothing after working with the plants.
At 35-45 days after sowing, when seedlings are 15-20 cm (6-8 in) tall with 4-5 leaves. Harden them off with less water for a week or so first.
