Source: NCSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, 4/30/21


After a brief pause, transplanting season has resumed and moves ahead at a fast pace. We were fortunate that the Coastal Plain was largely spared from widespread frost damage, as temperatures managed to hover between 32 and 34 degrees in many places where tobacco had been planted to a large degree. I’ve not had a tremendous amount of feedback regarding damage, so I’m taking that as good news across the board.

If I had to guess, I’d probably say that we’re close to 50% planted in the Coastal Plain. We’d probably be well past that figure, but last week wasn’t overly productive for the reason previously discussed. We’re just kicking off the show in the Piedmont, so plantings have to be less than 5% out that way. This week is much better from a temperature perspective, but we are in dire need of rain. Our research team has been planting at the research station in Kinston this week, and to be frank, I can’t recall a time in my career when soil moisture conditions were so deficient this early. Between the return to warm daytime temperatures, low humidity, and a lot of wind, the seedlings are struggling to recover from transplant shock. My best hope is that we can get a good soaking rain of about an inch or so in the Coastal Plain fairly soon (although this doesn’t look very promising).

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