A HOT START TO THE HARVEST SEASON

 

Though the weather was sweltering, the leaf looked great on the Georgia-Florida tobacco tour June 6 through 8. In this picture, carloads drive through a field near Lee, Fla. This particular field may turn out to be the first harvested anywhere this season. Photo: Jennifer Atkins, Marketing Specialist, Virginia Department of Agriculture. A HOT START TO THE 2022 HARVEST SEASON     Despite some dry periods in May and a very hot June, the tobacco looks very good in Georgia and Florida. “We have some beautiful tobacco out there,” says J. Michael Moore, Georgia Extension tobacco specialist. And it is early. “Harvest could begin in the Lee, Fl., area later this week,” he says.” The very early variety PVH 2310 is playing a big part in that earliness.    Water is urgently needed in Georgia and Florida, says Moore, and lower temperatures too--the thermometer readings went from the high 90s to just above 100 degrees from Florida and Georgia to North Carolina. “We are about finished with layby and much of the crop will be reaching flower soon in Georgia," says Moore. "That’s when tobacco plants need water the most.” Irrigation rigs are running full steam.   Two severe wind events forced some growers to go out and set blown-over stalks back up. “Almost all of our tobacco is mechanically harvested so the stalks have to stand straight up,” Moore says.   Spotted wilt makes a comeback. Tomato spotted wilt has been a severe problem again in Georgia after a relatively mild season in 2021, “Many farmers have found areas in their fields with 20 percent plants showing TSWV symptoms. We expect that level of symptoms will lead to a 10% loss in yield. We sure don’t need a loss like that this year.”   It’s too late for spotted wilt control efforts now, but if you applied a foliar spray of Actigard to plants in the greenhouse, you might have reduced the spotted wilt level by around 15 percent. A greenhouse spray of imidacloprid might reduce infection by 35 percent. If both are used it is expected that infection can be reduced by around 50 percent compared to untreated plants.   And there is also more TSWV in South Carolina than in either of the last two years. “We have been seeing around 5 to 10 % on average, and I’ve seen up to 30% in a few fields” says William Hardee, S.C. Extension tobacco specialist.   Brown spot broke out earlier than normal in South Carolina, says Hardee. “It usually appears later in the season. It was probably brought on by the dry weather we had earlier.”   The early flue-cured variety PVH 2310 is helping in S.C. as in Georgia. It lets famers spread out the crop so that it doesn’t all come off at once. "The less time in the field means less time for disease development,” says Hardee.   The crop looks good, but the hot weather coming this week is concerning. “Most areas received good rainfall in the last week, but there are still scattered areas that have missed it. “Some of the crop is a little behind: The later planted tobacco that had to be reset because of dry weather, and some of the tobacco planted on sandier land got off to a slow start." However, layby is nearly done in the Pee Dee.    Crop progress through June 12, according to USDA: Flue-cured--VA, 97% set out. SC, 4% topped. GA/FL, 20% topped. Burley (all %s represent "set out")—KY, 71%. TN, 62. NC, 46%. VA, 90%. Dark—VA, 91%. Source: Crop and Pro gress Report, NASS.   In other tobacco news:   How low is very low when it comes to nicotine? A cigarette that contains extremely low-nicotine levels is being rolled out by its manufacturer, 22nd Century Group. The brand--called VLN (for very low nicotine)—is being marketed in two varieties, VLN Kings and VLN Menthol Kings. A pilot program was successfully conducted in May in Chicago, with most VLNs sold in convenience stores. VLNs are said to contain 95 percent less nicotine than America’s leading brands and are designed to help consumers smoke less. VLN cigarettes are believed to be manufactured in the company's plant in Mocksville, N.C. Watch for more details in a future issue. DATES TO REMEMBER The S.C. Tobacco Tour will take place July 12 and 13, says Hardee. It will begin with a dinner in Florence on the 12th and end in Sumter County in the afternoon of the 13th. For more information and to register, email Hardee at hardee@clemson.edu. Other tours and field days this summer include: The 2022 NC State Tobacco Field Day will be held Tuesday, July 26 starting at 9 AM and lasting till 12 PM at the Cunningham Research Station, 200 Cunningham Rd, Kinston, NC 28501. The 2022 Tobacco, Beef, and More Field Day will be held June 30 starting at 8 AM at the UT Highland Rim Research & Education Center in Springfield, TN. The Tobacco Field Day for 2022 will be held August 9 at a time to be announced at the Northeast Tennessee Research & Education Center in Greeneville, TN. The 2022 Bluegrass Burley Tour will be held August 10 at a time to be announced at the Spindletop Research Farm in Lexington, KY. The 2022 Dark Tobacco Twilight Tour will be held August 11 at 5:30 PM at the Murray State University West Farm at Murray, KY.