Blue Mold Hits Local Tobacco Stands

Source from:  by John Boyle, JBOYLE@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM published July 19, 2006 11:48 am  07/20/2006

Like an unwanted summer visitor who comes too early and stays too long, blue mold is back in the mountains. The disease, which can devastate entire fields of burley tobacco, has been reported in Buncombe and Madison counties. It spreads through spores on the wind and even fog, and farmers generally consider it one of the more serious problems they fight each growing season. Advertisement"I hope I've got it killed, but it's widespread," said Eddie Shelton, who grows 46 acres of burley in Madison County and in Tennessee. "Every field has got some in it." Burley tobacco is a major cash crop in the mountains. In recent years, on average about 4,000 mountain growers sell their crops in Asheville's auction houses, generating between $8 million and $10 million in revenue, a figure that doesn't include contract sales. As soon as they hear of the blue mold threat, tobacco growers begin spraying a preventive chemical on plants to blunt the disease's spread. The fungus-like blue mold stunts growth and reduces plants' weight, which in turn hurts the growers' bottom line at harvest time. "What's so devastating with this disease is that once you see it, it's been on plant for 10 days," said Elizabeth Ayers, an agricultural extension agent with the Madison County office of the N.C. Cooperative Extension service. Ross Young, director of that office, said it's hard to know exactly how many of the county's 500 growers are affected, but he suspects this year's infestation is "fairly widespread." Kenneth Reeves, director of the Buncombe County Cooperative Extension office, said blue mold has been reported in Barnardsville, with a 20 percent infestation in one field. "There are some other indications that some other farms in that part of the county are affected, too," he said. Enditem