WILL PLANT SUPPLIES BE ADEQUATE?

Trying to beat the plant shortage: A transplanting crew in Wilson County, N.C., sets plants at full speed. Will there be enough to go around? Photo by Christopher Bickers.  In North Carolina, about 50% of the acreage has been set, says Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. Transplanting began around April 1. A plant shortage could very well take place and that could be a problem. New seedings, should anyone try to grow them, are not likely to help. “It would take 40 days to grow a new crop, and plantings that late (June) aren’t going to have much chance of success,” says Vann. The transplant crop in Kentucky looks good in the greenhouse, but the yield may fall a bit short of needs, says Bob Pearce, Kentucky Extension tobacco specialist. “We would normally expect to get 85 to 90% usable plants, which would meet our needs. But currently it looks like usability may average in the 70 to 80% range”…Early season cutworms were common in float bed plants this year, he adds...USDA estimates that only a small amount of the tobacco crop in the state--maybe 2%--was in the ground by May 5.   In Tennessee, there have been no major issues in greenhouses so far, says Mitchell Richmond, Tennessee Extension tobacco specialist. “We had some recent cutworm infestations, but no major insect and disease pressure to note.” There were a couple of cold nights, but no damage was reported in the outdoor floatbeds. “Largely we are on track and transplanting is expected to start in the next couple of weeks or so, which is about normal,” he says. “We are just waiting for the weather now.”   The plants are looking good in the Southside of Virginia, too, but there is no great abundance. “I think we will have enough plants to meet our needs as long as we don’t have a disaster of some sort,” says Stephen Barts, Extension agent in Pittsylvania County, Va. Planting in the area got going seriously this past Saturday and Monday, but the pace wasn’t very fast since most of the area has been significantly dry. “Only the southern part of the county has gotten much rain,” Barts says...Virginians who use H2A labor (as most do) got off to a slow start since their workers arrived late, says Barts. But he thinks they will all catch up...USDA estimates that through May 5, 17% of Virginia's flue-cured had been set out, 12% of the state's burley had been set out and 10% of the state's dark fire-cured had been set. Transplanting in South Carolina is around 75 to 80% complete, says William Hardee, S.C. Extension tobacco specialist. “The crop looks pretty good so far, but we would certainly benefit from some rain,” he says.” Most of our tobacco was set in beds with pretty good moisture but has had little rain since.” Like most other tobacco states, S.C.’s supply of plants is somewhat questionable.

WET MAY STYMIES PLANTING

A flue-cured grower clips plants in Eastern North Carolina. Photo by Christopher Bickers. BLACK PATCH: Growers here and almost everywhere in the United States had the same complaint in mid May—“ We are tired of clipping plants.” Reason? Planting has been significantly delayed by rain. Only about five percent of the tobacco expected to be grown this year in western Kentucky and north central Tennessee has been set out to date, says Andy Bailey, Kentucky Extension tobacco specialist. It’s been wet for 10 to 14 days, says Bailey. “Some had been set the first couple of days of May and even the last few days of April, but not much has gone to the field since then.” Curiously, the season had been dry before until the rainy spell. “We are in a holding pattern. But we are not in a panic mode yet.” In the meantime, it is recommended that Black Patch growers make an extra application of Terramaster to slow plant growth and also lower their rate of nitrogen. Dark plantings are down from recent years and that means the lateness is not the problem it might have been. “There won’t be as much need to double cure barns because of the reduced amount of leaf that will be produced,” says Bailey. “The delay would be more of a concern if we had a larger crop.”   KENTUCKY: Tobacco setting has been “stymied” by rain, according to USDA. By its estimates, 14 percent of the state’s crop had been transplanted by May 19 compared to 23 percent at the same point last season. Fieldwork was disrupted by scattered precipitation throughout the week. River bottoms were particularly susceptible. But the supply of transplants appears adequate to allow producers to ramp up setting this week, weather permitting, the agency said. NORTH CAROLINA: The weather made a drastic turnaround here in the last two weeks, says Matthew Vann, N.C. Extension tobacco specialist. “I’d been saying we need rain, but now we need the rain to stop for a while. Since the evening of May 3rd through May 17, we had from 1.5 inches to maybe as much as four or five inches in spots.” More was expected in the weekend just past.    In the N.C. Old Belt, farmers had stopped planting before May 3 in most counties because it was so dry. “Now they’re ready to resume planting,” says Vann. “But first we need significant drying time. We’ll see how this plays out--we have considerable ground to cover over the next two weeks, but I’m confident we can get it done.”   As wet as it’s been, North Carolinians are quite fortunate that air temperatures have been rather moderate, says Vann. “Otherwise, we’d likely see a significant amount of sunscald, even with this crop being at such an early growth stage.”    Parts of the N.C. crop were very early set. “Some of it has been laid by or is being laid by now but a lot remains,” says Vann. “Given our conditions, I expect that it’s about to start jumping.”   Overall, things look good in North Carolina considering the extremes that have been experienced, Vann says.  GEORGIA/FLORIDA: The crops in the Deep South are at least a week behind schedule, largely because it has been wet from one side of the tobacco area to the other. “This is not a positive thing,” says J. Michael Moore, Georgia Extension tobacco specialist. “We would be cultivating and applying fertilizer now, but the rain has delayed it. Little has been laid by so far.” He notes though that the color is great. And tomato spotted wilt virus appears to be low. The crop is completely planted in Georgia and Florida. The last acreage went in May 11. There were enough plants to go around, but just barely. “Now, our plants are all gone,” says Moore. There have been several tornadoes so far this season, including one a week ago that damaged tobacco in a path from Tallahassee, Fla., to Live Oak. Moore says farmers have generally been able to stand back up plants that were blown down. Because of the lateness of the crop, the starting date for the Georgia-Florida Tobacco Tour has been pushed back to June 17. It will begin with a Kick-Off Supper outside Metter, Ga., on Monday evening, and end at lunch on June 18 at Live Oak.  BRAZIL: The tobacco-producing area of Brazil has been having even worse problems with rain. Heavy storms the first week of May have lead to record-setting floods in Rio Grande do Sul, the state with the largest concentration of tobacco farms. This is the off season for tobacco this far south, so there is not likely to be much, if any, in the field. But there could be damage to fields because of the deluge and also damage to the infrastructure needed to service a leaf economy.