Ontario: Tobacco Harvest at 50 Million Pounds

Source from:  Brantford Expositor  09/05/2012

Ontario tobacco growers are about to finish bringing in a harvest that will meet a total 50 million pounds in licensed contracts with cigarette manufacturers. To do it, though, they had to fend off the strong pressures of some pests and the onset of opportunistic viruses, mostly due to the summer's hot weather. Growers licensed under the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board, and concentrated in the counties of Norfolk, Brant, Oxford, Elgin and Middlesex, are close to completing the harvest, after having to conduct one of the most sustained irrigation campaigns in recent memory against drought conditions.

During the 2012 growing season, farmers have had to contend with infestations of aphids and hornworms, along with incidents of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and a tobacco veinal necrosis strain of potato virus Y (PVY). A specialty crop report from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs notes that growers are coming under increasing pressure from aphids in tobacco fields across southwestern Ontario. The culprit was high temperatures during July and early August, the report says. Large populations of aphids can stunt plant growth and cause wilting of tobacco foliage, and honeydew secreted by aphids can promote the growth of black, sooty mold on leaf surfaces. The aphids can also cause an exponential increase in virus diseases. The report says farmers first found them in colonies on the lower surface of leaves. Detection was spotty and irregularly distributed, but threatened to infest entire fields. Growers also found cases of TMV. Spread by aphids from nearby potato plantings and ground cherries, symptoms of this disease included yellowing, mottling and puckering of leaf tissue, accompanied by brown or black necrotic veins. "There is little that can be done at this point in the season to control the disease," the OMAFRA report says. For future years, the report recommends that growers manage the problem by avoiding growing potatoes near, or in rotation with, tobacco where possible. It Also recommends controlling ground cherry in surrounding fencerows and other uncultivated areas. It further says that "volunteer" potato growth from previous planting should be destroyed. Farmers also found isolated cases of PV and dealt with them. "Tobacco growers with potatoes in home gardens should use only foundation or certified seed," the report directs. Enditem