The Tobacco Diaries: Flowers?

The Tobacco Diaries Week 9: Flowers?

It does seem strange to see a flower growing out of the top of a tobacco plant, but before reaching full maturity, they do produce a flower. The flower, however, does need to be removed so that the plant's full energy is going into growing the leaves. We want the plant to grow out, not up. The process of removing the flower is called "topping and oiling". Each flower is broken out of the top of the plant, by hand, and then an oil is dripped where the flower was broken so that it will not grow back again. This is all done by hand. A machine is not capable of performing this task. Every tobacco plant will need to be "topped and oiled" two to three times before cutting to ensure the flower does not grow back and that the leaves on the tobacco plant will reach their full potential. One other problem with the flower is, if we did get a strong storm with heavy winds, the flower acts like a sail and can cause severe damage to the tobacco plant when it bends and breaks in the wind. Below is the most recent picture of the tobacco after being topped and oiled.

Week 9

The picture doesn't do it justice, but the leaves are beginning to turn a very dark green and are getting thick and heavy. The leaves will continue to get bigger and heavier, but the plant is as tall as it will get.

We went from having entirely too much rain to being completely dry, so the irrigation rigs are running full force right now. I jokingly call them my competition,

because I am pretty sure the rigs see more of my husband than I do these days! Oh well, such is the life of a farmer.

God Bless!