US: Georgia Tobacco Planting Behind, Nears Insurance Deadline

Source from:  Southeast Farm Press  04/29/2014

Farm visits in Florida and Georgia on Friday (April 25) gave an opportunity to see the oldest tobacco in Florida and some tobacco in Georgia that has been transplanted for two to three weeks.   Repeated rainfall events have caused much of the Georgia transplanted tobacco to be in soils too wet to cultivate and fertilize.

Transplanting continued after the middle of last week as fields dried following Friday and Saturday rainfall.  Many growers continued to search for fields dry enough to continue transplanting even Friday afternoon and Saturday.

Although the Florida crop is set, many Georgia crops are not yet complete and transplanting will likely continue until close to the Acreage Reporting Date for Tobacco of May 15 .  Good progress was made in many areas over the weekend with much attention on the forecasts for more rain Tuesday and Wednesday of this coming week (April 28).  In addition to cultivation and fertilization which is needed now, growers must manage weed and insect pests which may occur in the early production season. Enditem