Harvest is now common on all farms. It appears that the tobacco harvested earlier is curing out quite well.
Several growers have commented about the bronze/golden coloured plants that have been showing up in their fields as of late. These plants are infected with Potato Virus Y and are now dying (click here for photo).
Some growers are reporting a reddish or pink discolouration on some leaves in certain areas of fields. This often seems to be in weaker areas of fields or where the tobacco appears to be low in nitrogen. We started to receive calls about this problem on August 8th, soon after a storm had gone through the area. The discolouration on the leaf is likely the result of the leaf tissue breaking down.
The latest report of Blue Mold in the U.S. was on shade tobacco on August 15th from Windsor, Connecticut. Earlier reports of the disease in the U.S. were from Greeneville, Tennessee, Abingdon, Virginia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. To date, there have been no reports of Blue Mold in Ontario.