Nicotiana Species, Blue-Green Tobacco, Tree Tobacco

I had a large clump of Tree Tobacco that lasted several years until the nearby live oak began to cast too much shade. Then it began to de...Read Morecline. Fortunately, I was able to start another plant from a cutting before the rest suddenly died. This is a supposedly more cold hardy variety offered by Plant Delights Nursery that they named 'Salta Blues'.
I have never noticed hummingbirds here being especially drawn to this plant, as they apparently are elsewhere, but the silvery evergreen foliage is pleasing, as are the yellow flowers. And any plant that the deer don't eat, such as this, is especially welcome around here.
I have occasionally seen Tree Tobacco growing in the wild in the Hill Country here in zone 8b, but it doesn't seem to naturalize to the point of crowding out other plants and becoming a nuisance.

This plant is highly invasive in California.
It is toxic to livestock and pets.
Nothing grows underneath it, so it is not...Read More good in mixed plantings.
When pruning the thing, it leaves a nasty smell on your gloves and clothing.

Tree Tobacco grows wild all over where I live in chaparral country east of San Diego. Hummingbirds love it, and the flowers are quite pre...Read Moretty.
We've had particularly severe hot and dry summers here (100+ degrees in the shade for many days each month), and these plants seem unaffected. They are doing fine in full sunlight with all that baking heat and drought.
I like that I don't have to water them at all. And I love having the hummingbird visits.
They are easy to trim with sturdy scissors. They can be removed just by stepping firmly on the stalks to break them at the base. In my experience they won't grow back. And when too big for that, even if they look like trees, they are pretty easy to cut. They can grow quite tall (over 10 ft.), but so far in my experience they don't really get woody.

growing this one indoors, be sure to read all of what i wrote if you decide to smoke it.

I was searching plants that cont...Read Moreain natural pesticides , nicotiana species came to mind with the added advantage of flowers and overall ornamental value. I ordered some N.glauca seeds because it contains anabasine and according to some studies anabasine is way more toxic to insects than nicotine. Well im not sure about that but i do know that glauca do not get attacking by any insect while my tobacco plant sometimes have aphids or other insects on it ( rare but happens)

anyway i grow it out of seed which is very easy, the plant self needs as much light as possible and need high temperatures for consistent growth - it needs light, nutrients etc as much as possible because it helps the plant synthesizing alkaloids like anabasine that keeps the insects and pests away. for about 2 month it has stayed pest free and find it quitte easy on a southern / southwest windowsill. Compared to other nicotiana species this one is way more drought tolerant (both outdoors and indoors ) and therefore more suited indoors, i have high humidity indoors so i can't comment on the % of humidity needed by the plant it just seems to be more resistent to direct sunshine and underwatering. remind that it needs alot of light ( direct light ) to induce flowering, if you don't have a southern or southwestern windowsill expect no flowers indoors.

i also ate some leaves and it is not as stimulating like regular nicotine, it is psychoactive but more relaxing. the taste is pallatable and reminded me of salad greenery. Of course it is toxic in higher dosages so caution is advised. Anabasine is used in nicotine/smoking cessation which is true because like lobelia it does take away the need to adminster nicotine.

glauca
Alkaloid % :0.42
Nicotine : 1.8(12.1)
Nornicotine : 0.3(1.2)
Anabasine : 97.6
Root alkaloids : 0.52

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EDIT 14 april 2016

It kept growing through winter albeit more slowly than in summer and doubled its size. Im not sure about fertilizing it because it becomes quitte leafy and top heavy if you give them fertilizer too often.

You have to be very carefull when you use it as herbal supplement, when it was small i could grab a few leaves and wouldn't notice that much of a effect. It also had a slight (minor) spider mite occupation but it didn't got out of hand, however from last december i noticed that there were no insects or spider mites on it.

in februari i grabbed one leaf with stalk attached and ate it. I starting to feel very alert focussed but also ver calm, after 30 minutes i starting to sweat and feel very weird. suddenly i couldn't move my legs like i wanted to , i barely could walk or use my legs and had no feeling in them whatsoever. i also noticed some breathing difficulties, not anything dangerous but really uncomfortable.

The symptoms were exactly the same like nicotine poisoning but were different in this way : less agitation, stimulation, way more muscle paralysis and parasthesia. before when it was small i ate 4 or leaves of a plant that was a few months old. right now i get poisoning of just 1 big leaf with stalk attached. Be very carefull because im sure eating 2 or more big leaves would have put me in severe danger. Alkaloid content variates between age and season so what is normally ok to use can be toxic in a few weeks.

From last few months i learned a few things:

1. Young plants do not contain as much anabasine compared to mature plants. young plants may get spider mites and mature plants don't. when plants get older you just see the mites and other insects dissappear.

2. indoors in winter with slightly colder temperatures and less sun hours it probably starts making more alkaloids

3. stalks with milky sap ( where leaves are attached) contain way more alkaloids than just plain leaves. the main stem or trunk or roots probably contain even more.

4. some young plants fell lopped over to the ground and in a few months send out runner, however some of my plants didn't showed this behaviour.

5. despite what the descriptions say, this one will bloom indoor. its on a southwest/west window about 6 foot away from the window and last week it started to make buds.

6. it can survive with less light and makes more alkaloids in less light. This is a plant that PREFERS full direct sun, some of my seedlings are on the floor indoors and don't receive full direct sunlight but they still grow and thrive. they just stay small.

7. it can survive frost up to -5 C and mature plants even a bit lower. It just doesn't like wet cold or prolonged cold. outdoors in the garden one young plant just kept surviving for a month or 2 until we had 2 weeks of rain in winter.

8. it is way more drought tolerant than other nicotiana species and are very drought tolerant when established , especially in tree form.

9. To my surpise they actually do better indoors near a sunny window, outdoors they just never seem to thrive or get really big in temperate zones.

10. This plant goes great with caffeine containing drinks, normally i can't stand stuff like tea , yerba mate etc but N.glauce somehow makes caffeinated drinks less jittery.