Nursery raising

• Tobacco seeds are very small and not sown directly.
• Seedlings can be raised in trays or open nurseries with good drainage, close to main field and source of water.

a. Site selection for nursery bed

• The nursery site should be situated near to main field with an assured source of irrigation at an elevated place with a good sub-surface and surface drainage and light textured soil.
• Nurseries on heavy black soils is hazardous due to poor internal drainage caused by high clay content.
• The site should be sunny or free from any shed.
• It is desirable to change the nursery site every year as it would minimize incidence of pests and diseases and also prevent contamination by other varieties.
• If it is not possible to change the site, old-site can be used after sterilizing by rabbing which kills the soil borne diseases, nematodes, pests and also weed seeds.

b. Preparation of bed

• Fine tilth of the seed bed is maintained through periodic ploughing that exposes and desiccates the weed seeds and eggs and larva of nematodes.
• In Nepal, 1m x 10 m long seed beds are raised to 15 cm height with 10 cm deep and 50 cm broad trench for irrigation and drainage.
• In sloppy lands, the length of bed is adjusted along the slope.
• Usually, seedlings are raised in an area of 150 m2 for transplanting in 1 ha of land.
• However, most literatures cite that seed bed area for transplanting depends on the type of tobacco:

1. 27 m2 for cigar types,
2. 40 m2 for fire-cured
3. 54 m2 for flue-cured
4. 81 m2 for Maryland (air-cured)
5. 120 m2 for Burley tobacco.

• During seed bed preparation compost @ 30-50 t/ha is applied (In Nepal, only 25-30t/ha compost is used) at least one month prior to seeding and incorporated in the field.