Cultivation of tobacco

The cultivation of tobacco usually takes place annually. The tobacco is germinated in cold frames or hotbeds and then transplanted to the field until it matures. It is grown in warm climates with rich, well-drained soil. About 4.2 million hectares of tobacco were under cultivation worldwide in 2000, yielding over seven million tonnes of tobacco. Tobacco seeds are scattered onto the surface of the soil, as their germination is activated by light. In colonial Virginia, seedbeds were fertilized with wood ash or animal manure (frequently powdered horse manure). Seedbeds were then covered with branches to protect the young plants from frost damage, and the plants were left alone until around April. In the 19th century, young plants came under increasing attack from certain types of flea beetles, Epitrix cucumeris or Epitrix pubescens, which destroyed half the U.S. tobacco crops in 1876. In the years afterward, many experiments were attempted and discussed to control the flea beetle. By 1880, growers discovered that replacing the branches with a frame covered with thin fabric effectively protected plants from the beetle. This practice spread, becoming ubiquitous in the 1890s. In Asian, Oceania, and the Indian subcontinent, the tobacco cutworm (Spodoptera litura) is a great pest to the tobacco plant. The caterpillar's vigorous eating habits can cause up 23-50% in yield losses, resulting in economic strain to the local agricultural economies. The cabbage looper is also known to have caused damage to tobacco plants in North Carolina, which became a concern as farmers lacked a suitable method for controlling the caterpillars. Shade tobacco is the practice of growing the plants under a screen of cheesecloth fabric. The thin leaves were used for the outer wrappings of cigars. Tobacco can be harvested in several ways. In the oldest method, the entire plant is harvested at once by cutting off the stalk at the ground with a sickle. In the nineteenth century, bright tobacco began to be harvested by pulling individual leaves off the stalk as they ripened.