Divisi
How to grow Tobacco
Nicotiana tabacum · Solanaceae
Photo: Photo by and (c)2006 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Tobacco is a tall, broad-leaved plant in the same family as tomato and potato, grown not for food but for its leaves, which are dried and cured, then sold by weight and grade. The seed is finer than dust, so the crop is raised first in a nursery and then moved (transplanted) into the field. Two things make or break the money. First, keep the plant food low and controlled — especially nitrogen — and the fertiliser free of chloride (salt), or the leaf grows coarse and green and will not ripen or burn. Second, cure the picked leaf properly: barn heat for flue-cured (Virginia) leaf, or slow air-drying for burley. Get the curing wrong and a fine crop becomes cheap leaf.
Jebulon · CC0 
Joachim Huber · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Days to maturity
- 90–120 days
- Row spacing
- 120 cm
- Plant spacing in the row
- 55 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will tobacco actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Tobacco
tabak · tobacco · tabac · ugwayi · fodya · tabaco · koae · tumbaku · kwae
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing tobacco, stage by stage
From a dust-fine seed in the nursery to cured, baled leaf — raise strong seedlings, transplant and feed lightly, top and sucker for big clean leaves, then pick only ripe leaf and cure it right.
- Nursery — raise strong seedlings
- Prepare the field while the nursery grows
- Transplant and settle the crop in
- Vegetative growth — build the leaf
- Top and sucker for big, clean leaves
- Ripening — let the leaf come good
- Harvest — pick only ripe leaf, bottom-up
- Cure, grade and bale
21 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for tobacco — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack tobacco
8 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your tobacco right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does tobacco take to grow?
Tobacco takes about 90–120 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
What spacing should I use for tobacco?
Space tobacco rows about 120 cm apart, with roughly 55 cm between plants within the row.
What pests and diseases attack tobacco?
The ones covered in this guide are Black shank, Blue mould, Broomrape. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
More reading
Grow tobacco with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first