In Pennsylvania, after a dry start, the rain has really opened up the last 2 ½ weeks, says Jeff Graybill, PA agronomy Extension educator. There have been some very heavy downpours. So far, the crop is growing well. Earlier, transplanting had been delayed during the dry period because farmers wanted to wait for rain. “As a result, some of the crop didn’t get set until the second or second week of June,” says Graybill. “That is late for us but not terribly late. This crop has every prospect of good yield and quality.” But that bright outlook could be dashed by blue mold. “We started to see blue mold in the field about two weeks ago,” says Ben Green, manager of agronomy at Lancaster Leaf. Some degree of control can be obtained with the chemicals Manzate, Orondis and Presidio. “Whatever you use, it needs to be applied on a preventive basis,” says Green. Pennsylvania farmers should have started spraying preventively three to four weeks after transplanting, he says. Blue mold is catastrophic for Connecticut broadleaf, which goes for wrapper in cigars. Blue mold causes holes in a tobacco leaf, said one source, and a cigar wrapper leaf needs to be perfect. Pennsylvania is very diverse again this year in terms of the tobacco types it produces. Graybill estimates that the state is growing 3,500 acres of Pennsylvania seedleaf (the traditional type grown in this state), maybe 1,500 acres of burley, maybe 750 or 1,000 acres of Connecticut broadleaf and 500 acres each of Maryland and Green River. Among those, Connecticut is up some while Burley and Maryland are down, he says. There was demand for more production of Pennsylvania seedleaf and Connecticut broadleaf, says Graybill, but growers couldn’t be recruited to grow it. In North Carolina, burley has largely disappeared from the northwest corner of the state. “To my knowledge there are only three tobacco growers left in this area, and none are growing burley,” says farmer Robert Wurth of Lansing, N.C., near the point where N.C., Virginia and Tennessee come together. “All three are growing Connecticut broadleaf, although not a lot.” The Connecticut crop is growing very unevenly, says Wurth. “It’s been too dry at some times early on, then extremely wet to the point of drowning at other times. The strange weather has affected fertilizer uptake and seems to have caused problems with bug control.” The worst pest problem so far has been the yellow cucumber beetle. There have been quite a few of them, but no flea beetle damage so far, which is a great improvement over last season. “If the weather will fair up, and remain fairly dry over the next couple of weeks, we may end up with a fairly good crop,” Wurth says. In Tennessee, there are grounds for optimism, says Mitchell Richmond, Tennessee Extension tobacco specialist. “We are off to a great start. The whole crop was set out on time or a little early, and it looks real good now.” Earlier, the greenhouse season went well too, and the supply of plants seemed adequate. “Everyone with a contract seems to have gotten enough plants to fill it,” Richmond says. The crop is progressing well in the field and Connecticut broadleaf growers will begin harvest next week. The only problems Richmond has seen so far have been some black shank in cigar wrapper fields and a little target spot popping up here and there…Plantings are about the same as last year in Tennessee, says Richmond. “I think we had a small increase in burley plantings, maybe 100 acres. Dark planting may be down because of contract cuts, and Connecticut broadleaf may be down a little also.” Tobacco looks good in the Black Patch. A few areas in Western Kentucky had big storms last Saturday and Sunday, says Andy Bailey, Extension dark tobacco specialist for Kentucky and Tennessee. “Three and a half to six inches fell in some areas. There was some water damage. We saw some ‘flop’ or wilting. There is not much to do about it—you just have to leave it alone.” But this didn’t affect a big part of the crop. Generally, all the tobacco in the Black Patch looks good, says Bailey. It went to the field in a timely manner. “A few fields were planted June 30 but most of our tobacco had been planted by June 20”…Harvest of Connecticut broadleaf in the Black Patch began on the eleventh. “It is a short season crop but that is still early,” says Bailey. A dark grower near Owensboro KY reports that there has been some strong wind and rain in his vicinity recently. “There was very little rain in May and June, but then it blew up hard in the past few weeks. Still, the tobacco is standing up and has a good color.” In Kentucky, 10 percent of tobacco was blooming and the condition in the field was mostly good through July 10, according to USDA-NASS. The whole crop is believed to be set now. In S.C., 57 percent had been topped by that date while in Georgia, 77 percent had been topped and nine percent had been harvested. A near six percent drop in flue-cured volume for the season? That’s what USDA says in its first production projection of the year. By state, flue-cured growers are projected to produce: N.C.—233.1 million pounds, down 6.5%. VA—27.6 million pounds, down 4.9%. GA—13.44 million pounds, up 8.8%. SC—10.8 million pounds, down 6.8%. All U.S.—284 million pounds, down 5.8%. Other types will be projected in USDA’s August survey. DATES TO REMEMBER o July 19. NC State Tobacco Field Day, 9 AM to 12 PM at the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station, 2811 Nobles Mill Pond Rd, Rocky Mount, NC. Lunch will be provided. o July 25 Corn-Soybean-Tobacco Tour, 8 AM, at University of Kentucky AREC, 1205 Hopkinsville St., Princeton KY. o July 27. The 2023 Virginia Southern Piedmont AREC Field Day will be held at the research center at 2375 Darvills Rd., Blackstone, VA. Registration begins at 4:30 PM with dinner at 5, followed by tours of research field trials. An on-farm tour of research plots will be held the following day. It will begin in South Hill at approximately 8 AM and head west toward Danville. Registration forms can be found at tinyurl.com/3cwssfj5. More infor-mation? Call 434 818-5538. o August 9 Bluegrass Burley Tour at Spindletop in Lexington KY. o August 10 Dark Tobacco Twilight Tour, 5:30 PM, at West Farm, Murray State University, in Murray KY. | 
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