>>2247985So far I've done 2 years of grows in pots in leafland, so adjust my advice to suit your climate.
-start them in trays indoors early, especially if you live in a cold area. I find February-March is good for my region, any later and they won't be mature by the time winter hits. Pick the biggest bunch of sprouts and replant them in bigger pots, and then pick the best of those for your final big pots.
-like tomatoes started indoors, let them gradually acclimatize to real outdoor sun or else they'll wilt and lose some leaves while they adjust, and that cuts into your yield
-fertilize often. Tobacco strips soil like a motherfucker, even if you're using potting soil with those fertilizer beads already in it. The first year, some of my older sprouts ended up being bleached from a lack of nutrients, it was really annoying. Only 3 out of the 6 pots actually grew to full size by the end of the year, the rest were unusable.
-they pump out suckers nonstop, so keep on that shit so they don't waste energy on useless extra leaves
-let one of each variety go to seed, so you have free seeds for the following year
-if you live in a dry climate, let them color cure on the stalk or else you have to fuck around with keeping them humid while they yellow
And I found this forum was a very useful source of info, they cover anything you could think of.
https://fairtradetobacco.com/forums/how-to-grow-tobacco.17/ 