Burley Tobacco Update Dr. Bob Pearce Extension Tobacco Specialist 2014 ANR Agent Update Winchester, Kentucky October 14, 2014

New UT (70%) UK (30%) Tobacco Specialist Eric Walker Tobacco Specialist University of Tennessee 3181 Experiment Station Road Springfield, TN mobile: (731) office: (615) fax: (615)

Outline 2014 Burley Crop Summary Summary of Tobacco Research and Extension Programs Plant Pathology Update Search for new Vegetable and Tobacco Pathologist Potential new tool for black shank control Quadris generics Chemical topping update US Tobacco GAP Update 2014 audits Changes for 2015 Agent Feedback

2014 Yield Outlook USDA/KASS –Ocotber yield forecast for burley in KY 2200 lbs/A –Projected 73,000 A planted –About 161 million lbs. for KY –About 211 million lbs. for all burley Observations –How much still in field? –Some crops not harvested? Hollow stalk Leaf drop

Quality Take your Pick –Good quality on some early tobacco Well ventilated barns Tobacco hung dry –Muddy tobacco –Late Crop Some stood 6 + weeks after topping Some harvested with a North-East wind Some still being harvested So far curing conditions have been better than typical for late tobacco

Burley Market Projected production 211 million pounds Projected demand million???? Expect a buyers’ market –Less favorable grading for growers –Auction market not likely to put price pressure on companies –How much tobacco has been grown without a contract?

Plant Pathology Position Two candidates have been identified for interviews Interviews will be the 3 rd and 4 th week of October Hope to have new person on board by next spring

Potential New Tool for Black Shank Control Presidio Valent Chemical Company Expect to have label by early next year –Still has to pass smoke quality test

8-Jul22-Jul14-Aug28-Aug ProductRateTimingDiseased plant/plot Water Check Ridomil Gold 8 oz 16 oz AT-TPW 1 st Cult 0000 Presidio 4 oz AT-TPW 1 st Cult Presidio 4 oz AT-TPW 1 st Cult Layby 00.5 Presidio A Presidio 4 oz oz AT-TPW 1 st Cult Layby Ridomil Gold 8 oz 16 oz AT-TPW 1 st Cult Layby Ridomil Gold8 ozAT-TPW Ridomil Gold16 ozAT-DIR Presidio4 ozAT-TPW Presidio Ridomil Gold 4 oz AT-TPW 0000 Presidio A oz 9.6 oz AT-TPW Water Check

Alternatives to Quadris Azoxystrobin goes off patent in the Us in 2014 Opens the door for generic versions Satori – Loveland Chemical –Labeled for use on field tobacco only –Greenhouse use for target spot control must be Quadris 24c good through 2018

Chemical Topping of Burley Tobacco Bob Pearce and Jack Zeleznik University of Kentucky

Topping Burley Tobacco Improves burley properties –Promotes root growth –Improves leaf thickness –Increased leaf yield Requires about 8 man-hours per acre –$80 – 96 per acre About 17 man-hours per hectare

Chemical topping of burley tobacco could be successful using non-flowering varieties D. Peek, 1995 Could it work on late maturing variety? KT210 KT210 NC 7 NC 7

2012 Sucker Control Comparison

Objective Determine if chemical topping could be feasible with current late maturing burley tobacco varieties.

Methods 2013 Variety KT 210 Transplanted May 24 th Chemical topping applied July 19 th Manual topping July 26 th Post topping applied July 26 th Sucker Control Counts August 22 nd Harvested August 28 th

Treatments RCB with 6 Replications Manually Topped – No Sucker Control Manually Topped – 2.25 lb ai/ac MH lb ai/ac DNA (Butralin) Topped with 3 lb ai/ac MH (2G) “full” Topped with 2.25 lb ai/ac MH (1.5G) “reduced” Topped with 3 lb ai/ac MH lb ai/ac DNA Topped with 2.25 lb ai/ac MH lb ai/ac DNA

Topping effectiveness

c a a b a a

b a a a a a

Suckers on reduced MH treated plants

c ab b b ab a

c b b b b a

Upper leaf length

Conclusions Chemical topping did not result in significant yield reductions in KT210. MH alone at reduced rates had greater numbers of suckers per plant, but sucker control was not significantly different from combination treatments. Chemical topping tended to result in a greater proportion of the crop being graded as a tip by tobacco buying interests.

US Tobacco GAP Update We (UK Coop Ext) registered and trained approximately 5000 tobacco growers in KY, IN, OH and TN in 2014 –32 Winter tobacco meetings –7 Tobacco company meetings –2 LYNC sessions (600+ growers) –Numerous video trainings (200+ growers) Training will be required for all grower again in 2015 –Most growers should already be registered

US Tobacco GAP Audits Limited number being performed in 2014 Currently underway –Random selection Audit is supposed to be informational –Not enforcement for now

US Tobacco GAP Training Your Suggestions? Is the video training a burden? –Should I put out a video earlier in the year or wait until most of the “live” sessions are over? Should we do more LYNC sessions with growers? What can we do to make the training valuable to growers?