View From the Kitchen Window: Tobacco Float Beds

I am constantly amazed at how much things have changed in my lifetime. It doesn't seem like a long period to see such huge advancements in technology. Farming is no exception. My last writings were on the burning of tobacco beds from my youth, an event so foreign that even my children don't know anything about it. The production of tobacco plants to set in the fields is big business now. Where once each farmer raised his own plants now they are done as a commercial enterprise.

Our plants come from a couple who raised acres and acres of tobacco all their lives. There isn't much they don't know about tobacco. When their children grew up and left home they decided to do something a little less labor intensive. They built a series of greenhouses and put all their years of experience to work raising plants for other farmers to set. We owe them a debt for more than plants since they have become mentors, of sorts, for our son as he continues his adventures in tobacco.

To briefly explain the process: The plants are grown in Styrofoam trays that hold a sterile potting soil. Each little cubical holds a tiny seed, then it is literally floated on a bed of water. The water provides moisture, nutrients and a growth medium for the plants. When they are ready the entire tray is lifted from the water and transferred to the tobacco setter.

Of course, there is a lot more to it than that, involving knowing when to start the seeds so they will be perfect when the farmer is ready for them, knowing which of hundreds of varieties will do well in the area, keeping them just the right size (this involves mowing them off to keep them from getting too large) and knowing how to keep their growing environment perfect. However, you get the idea.