Tobacco Asia

Tobacco Asia 59 Connecticut broadleaf on the way out in the Southeast? The trend toward growing Connecticut broadleaf tobacco in the Southeast may be com- ing to an end. Connecticut broadleaf is primarily grown for wrapper leaf and is one of the oldest tobacco types grown in the United States, For almost all of its 350-year existence it has been produced exclusively in the Northeastern states of Connecticut and Massachusetts. But late in the last decade, manufacturers who contract for Connecticut Broadleaf in the Northeast started looking for new locations to grow the type. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee all got a chance to show what they could do in 2019, and reportedly the results have been very good, especially in western Kentucky and north central Tennessee, which is where most American dark tobacco is grown. This is not surprising since management practices of Connecticut are very compatible with American dark. In fact, the growers of this area (called the Black Patch) grow a part of their crop for sale as wrappers. The same was true for the small group of dark air-cured growers in Virginia near Richmond, who also produce part of their crop for use as wrappers. The results were generally optimistic, and at one point six million pounds were grown in the Black Patch. But there were some hard lessons to learn about growing Connecticut, says Andy Bailey, University of Kentucky Extension Specialist. Very careful management is required, Bailey said. Recommended practices include: • Harvest no more than three weeks after topping. • Any dark barn in good condition could be used for curing broadleaf. • A burley barn was best for broadleaf if one was available. • It takes twice as long to sort wrapper tobacco as it does for any other tobacco type. • Growers can expect to average around 2,000 pounds per acre in yields. • But most crucial, if you don't manage well, you wind up with filler tobacco instead of wrappers, and filler broadleaf sells for a substantially lower price. Unfortunately, that has happened fairly often in the last five years, and the number of growers on Connecticut in the Black Patch has declined in both of the last two year and well again in 2025. "It is possible to make a satisfactory yield of Connecticut and still lose money," says Bailey. "In most years, most growers can make more on dark tobacco or burley." ly minor, and in fact the lingering mois- ture associated with the storm greatly im- proved the color of tobacco in mid-cure at the time. Continued dry weather through October and into November resulted in later crops having some high color. Growers with tobacco in that situation were advised to let those crops hang in the curing barn as long as possible, with the hope that the color would be brought down and grading improved. Dark: The 2024 dark tobacco crop in western Kentucky and Tennessee started with a very wet May. "There were only a few days in the beginning and end of the month suitable for transplanting to- bacco," says Andy Bailey, Kentucky Ex- tension tobacco specialist. As a result, most of the crop was transplanted later than usual, in June and even into the first few days of July. The region had good, timely rain- fall with minimal disease from late June until the end of July, and these six weeks of good growing conditions resulted in a good dark tobacco crop for most grow- ers. Angular leaf spot damage was mini- mal compared to 2023. Weather conditions turned from good to very dry from the first of August until Hurricane Helene brought signifi- cant rain in late September. These dry conditions during early curing resulted in less than average qual- ity (lighter color) for dark air-cured crops harvested in August, and even lighter col- or with less smoke finish in some dark- fired crops harvested in August. Crops harvested in September through early October had more favorable curing conditions and better color. Like the lighter colored earlier burley crops this year, dark crops that are light in color will benefit from being left hanging longer in the barn. Yields from dark-fired and dark air-cured tobacco will be good to above average this year. Overall quality may be a bit less than average due to light color. Steve Troxler, NC commissioner of agriculture. Rick Smith, president of Independent Leaf Tobacco. Graham Boyd, executive director, Tobacco Growers Association of NC.

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