Ever wonder how much Nitrogen you should add for your tobacco? I've been curious so I did a little digging around and this is what I found:
The University of Kentucky says to add 250-300#/ Acre if you have low N and 150-200# if you have high N. If your levels are normal then you add 50# of N on a continual basis. I do not know what "low" or "high" means since they never give a baseline but they do say that a good crop of Burley can remove 200#. So maybe this is the baseline to use.. Also note that this is for Burley, other tobaccos will have different requirements.
The Virginia Cooperative Extension in their "2008 Burley Tobacco Production Guide" says to add 175-200#/acre regardless of whether you have low, med or high N levels. They suggest you get better results if you split the application with one applied at transplant and the other applied several weeks later.
The University of Tennessee says to add 180#/acre.
The "Journal of Ag Science" Volume 4, No 2: 2012 did an experiment with potted plants and determined the best rate was 40#/acre
The Cuba Junky website (this is cigar leaf as opposed to Burley) says to add 115# for shade and 110# for sun grown tobacco. They had many recommendations so I averaged them.
Killebrew in his classic book on tobacco from the 1800's lists about a dozen fertilizer formulas that have been "used with great success". These range from 70-170#/acre.
Back in 1998 I had my soil tested and I had 45# of N. I've never added any N other than growing a few cover crops. I just had my soil tested again this spring and I had 47#'s. I like my tobacco. I've never had any issues such as stunted growth, yellowing leaves etc. So I am tempted to say that 45 #'s of N is adequate for tobacco. This year though I added enough N to raise my soil levels up to 80#'s. We shall see if there is some type of improvement over the last 14 years or so.
So that's how much you need to add... 45 to 300#/acre...... clear as mud right?
Actually, what I would recommend is to get your soil tested and note the nutrient levels. If you grow a nice crop and are happy with it then use your soil test as a baseline for how much nutrients you need. If your tobacco crop is sub par, then add nutrients based on the experts advise, even if there is not a consensus.
Nitro-Man-Ran
The University of Kentucky says to add 250-300#/ Acre if you have low N and 150-200# if you have high N. If your levels are normal then you add 50# of N on a continual basis. I do not know what "low" or "high" means since they never give a baseline but they do say that a good crop of Burley can remove 200#. So maybe this is the baseline to use.. Also note that this is for Burley, other tobaccos will have different requirements.
The Virginia Cooperative Extension in their "2008 Burley Tobacco Production Guide" says to add 175-200#/acre regardless of whether you have low, med or high N levels. They suggest you get better results if you split the application with one applied at transplant and the other applied several weeks later.
The University of Tennessee says to add 180#/acre.
The "Journal of Ag Science" Volume 4, No 2: 2012 did an experiment with potted plants and determined the best rate was 40#/acre
The Cuba Junky website (this is cigar leaf as opposed to Burley) says to add 115# for shade and 110# for sun grown tobacco. They had many recommendations so I averaged them.
Killebrew in his classic book on tobacco from the 1800's lists about a dozen fertilizer formulas that have been "used with great success". These range from 70-170#/acre.
Back in 1998 I had my soil tested and I had 45# of N. I've never added any N other than growing a few cover crops. I just had my soil tested again this spring and I had 47#'s. I like my tobacco. I've never had any issues such as stunted growth, yellowing leaves etc. So I am tempted to say that 45 #'s of N is adequate for tobacco. This year though I added enough N to raise my soil levels up to 80#'s. We shall see if there is some type of improvement over the last 14 years or so.
So that's how much you need to add... 45 to 300#/acre...... clear as mud right?
Actually, what I would recommend is to get your soil tested and note the nutrient levels. If you grow a nice crop and are happy with it then use your soil test as a baseline for how much nutrients you need. If your tobacco crop is sub par, then add nutrients based on the experts advise, even if there is not a consensus.
Nitro-Man-Ran
