Tobacco Growers Get Tips

Source from:  By Andrew C. Martel Staff writer 06/26/2006

The remnants of Tropical Storm Alberto may have washed vital nutrients out of the soil as it drenched parts of the Cape Fear region earlier this month. This leaves many tobacco growers with a difficult decision: whether to replace fertilizers such as nitrogen or sulfur and potash after receiving excessive rain. And some farmers who want to replace these nutrients wonder how much to use. The Moore County Cooperative Extension sent a memorandum to tobacco growers last week with tips on leaching loss adjustment. Extension agent Taylor Williams offers farmers guidelines culled from the Flue Cured Tobacco Information booklet, which is published by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension. Farmers should consider three factors when deciding whether to replace nutrients: The depth of their topsoil, the amount of excessive rainfall (minus runoff) and how long the crop has been in the ground. If the topsoil is less than 10 inches deep, then farmers should consider replacing only 20 to 30 percent of their crop if they receive more than 2 inches of excessive rainfall, and it has been less than six weeks since transplanting. Williams offers a few examples for farmers. For fine tobacco soil, which is less than 10 inches deep before it turns to clay, a heavy storm such as Alberto probably would create a lot of excess rain. At this stage in the growing season, a farmer should replace about 20 percent of the total nitrogen in fields. For tobacco on sandier soil, less rain is more likely to leach down into the soil. So, even if farmers assume they received less rain overall, Taylor calculates replacing 25 percent of total nitrogen back to the ground. Taylor invites farmers to send samples to the state Department of Agriculture to check their assumptions. Enditem