Tobacco

LEXINGTON ? With harvest nearing completion, high humidity levels caused by an exceptionally moist year could cause curing problems for growers of burley and dark tobacco, said specialists with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. Much of the early-cured burley and dark air-cured crops are showing signs of houseburn or barn rot. Andy Bailey, UK dark tobacco extension specialist, estimated that as much as two-thirds of the dark air-cured tobacco crop has at least small traces of the rot, which also is called "sweat.

Results of a recent survey on young people and tobacco, alcohol and drugs are sobering if not surprising. Community members gathered Tuesday to see the results of the Kentucky Incentives for Prevention survey at a town hall meeting at Inter-County Energy. The statewide survey asked children in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12 about both behaviors and attitudes related to tobacco, alcohol and drugs. About 1,100 students from Boyle County and Danville school systems participated in the survey, which is given every two years.

FRANKFORT ? The Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, chaired by Gov. Steve Beshear, approved the Clark County Conservation District for $10,000 in Clark County Agricultural Development Funds to provide beginning and advance MIG welding programs for tobacco dependent farmers. "I am committed to creating opportunities that will make Kentucky's agricultural community stronger," Beshear said. "Projects funded by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, such as this one, play an integral role in achieving this goal.

LANCASTER ? Alvin Stamper is a man of few words. Ask him how it felt to win the Garrard County Tobacco Cutting Contest for the fourth year in a row, how it felt to chop through more than 1,380 tobacco plants in just over an hour, how it felt to embrace his toughest competitor who was at his heels the whole way, how it felt to lay in the grass with his little girl afterward with photographers crowding around him, and he has one word to describe it:...

The 2009 tobacco growing season is nearing an end, and farmers need to begin preparing now to manage diseases in the 2010 crop. There's no way to tell what disease pressures growers will face in the coming growing season. Much depends on the climate when dealing with diseases like blue mold and target spot. However, some problems will show up again and again once certain pathogens become established in a transplant system or the field. It is important to think about managing diseases like Pythium root rot, target spot, black shank and Fusarium wilt now and not wait until the upcoming production season.

Aug. 21, 1984 Those members of the Winchester Connie Mack 16-year-old baseball squad who attended the team's annual picnic Friday included Lewis Winburn, Steve Puckett, Joey McKinney, Keith Staton and Todd Howard. Members of the 17- and-18-year-old team were Steve Pittman, Tom Slone, Jeff Wills, Jeff Mohr, Marty Evans, Jeff Davis and Alan Ware. Blue mold has been sighted in a Clark County tobacco field, but a severe infestation of the leaf disease is very unlikely, according to the Southern States Clark Cooperative and the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

Recently, blue mold was found on tobacco in Clark and Montgomery counties. Growers located in the vicinity and east of the initial find, especially those with young plants, should scout their fields for the disease and apply a preventative fungicide, said Kenny Seebold, extension plant pathologist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. The disease was present on nearly 100 percent of tobacco in two fields totaling about 15 acres, and significant levels of the disease were present in nearby fields.

July 25, 1959 Moscow (AP) ? U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon told Soviet Premier Krushchev face to face today, in a rough and tumble debate, it "would be a great blow to peace" if the Geneva conference were allowed to fail. Congressman John C. Watts, Sixth Congressional District of Kentucky, has introduced a bill providing equal taxation on cigarettes made from tobacco and those made of substitutes for tobacco. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Briner and children of Columbus, Ind., are the weekend guests of Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Berryman and family at their home on the Boonesboro Road.

Blue mold of tobacco is an interesting disease. It is not really blue. It is gray. It is not really mold. It is downy mildew. It is a fungal disease, caused by Peronospora tabacina, and can cause significant damage to growing tobacco. Peronospora tabacina is an obligate parasite. The only place it can grow is on living tobacco tissue. Blue mold has not been known to overwinter in Kentucky, because tobacco does not survive the winter here. The outbreaks here are believed to have moved in from warmer climates where some kinds of tobacco can grow throughout the year.

It seems a lot of growers around the area have received letters from the tobacco companies showing that residues of MH are above the company's maximum level. This has created some concern among growers as to how to effectively control MH residues on this year's crop. In this column I am sharing some tips put together by Dr. Bob Pearce, UK tobacco specialist to reduce or control these residues. His tips are: â?¢ Use an appropriate amount of MH. The maximum amount of MH that can be applied to burley tobacco is three pounds active ingredient (a.i.