Overview UK Burley Curing Advisory
http://weather.uky.edu/burley_curing.html
The Burley Curing Advisory has been
developed to provide burley producers and related personnel with timely
guidance on curing management procedures. The Advisory uses real-time data from the
KyMesonetSystem and NOAA weather forecasting to
provide the timely guidance on-line for speedy access by smart phones and
computers. The KyMesonet
system has weather stations in over 60 of Kentucky's counties, thus giving much
local data for the Advisory that was
not available for such a timely Advisory
just a few years ago.
The electronic
Burley Curing Advisory is based on
numerous scientific curing studies over the past 70 years and the many years of
experience and recent development work by Emeriti faculty Drs George Duncan and
Linus Walton of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, BAE Dept.,
combined with the expertise and facilities of Mr. Tom Priddy
and Dr. Wanhong Wang of the Ag Weather Center to
create the on-line Advisory.
The Burley Curing Advisory uses the average
temperature, relative humidity and wind speed data of
the past 24 to 48 hours to assess the suitability of the past weather for
curing burley in typical air-cure facilities and shows a brief message stating
this condition.
Forecast data
for the future 12 to 24 hours is used to assess the status of future curing
conditions and show a brief statement to OPEN or CLOSE ventilators to favorably
affect the curing environment.
Extended
periods of very high relative humidity will trigger the Advisory to show EMERGENCY DRYING Needed. The use of fans in the facility is
an alternative source of increased air movement and improved drying potential.
During some
periods of high humidity, the Advisory
may prompt to OPEN Vents when the cure is
in the first two weeks or CLOSE Vents
when the cure is in 3rd week & later.
Conversely,
extended periods of extremely dry weather conditions will trigger a prompt to
CLOSE VENTS and ADD MOISTURE, which can be done by wetting the facility floor,
walls or through special misting or sprinkler nozzles, or other humidity
increasing methods.
A forecast of
future 'cool' weather will trigger a prompt to CLOSE VENTS as this will help
retain moisture as cool weather generally provides dry air which can prematurely
desiccate the lamina and set off-colors. Curing chemistry is greatly slowed by
the lower temperatures and the tobacco must be preserved until warm
temperatures return (if likely) for better curing chemistry.
The listed
average wind speeds give an indication of the potential air movement through
ventilators to affect the inside curing environment.
Obviously,
the Advisory cannot predict actual
conditions within tobacco of a facility due to varying facility features, ventilator
effectiveness, and packing of tobacco. Relative humidity instruments are
recommended to give past and ongoing readings of relative humidity within the
tobacco mass to indicate the condition of the tobacco relative to the external
weather conditions shown by the Advisory
and manage ventilators and fans, if used, accordingly.
This Advisory
is applicable for the first 5-6 weeks of air-curing mature harvested burley
plants initially housed without free moisture (wetness) or mud on the leaves,
spaced 5-7 inches or more apart hanging in well ventilated air-cure facilities
with operable ventilator panels during leaf yellowing and browning stages.
After all yellow color has been transformed from the leaves, lamina and stem
drying conditions should continue and time of RH greater than 75-80% within
the tobacco minimized until bulking and stripping occur.
Any person using this Advisory does so at
his/her own risk.
Publications
describing burley curing technology and management, selection and use of relative
humidity instrumentation, installation and use of fans in typical barns and several
past curing studies are posted on the web site: https://burleytobaccoextension.ca.uky.edu/
Questions or
comments on this Advisory may be
addressed to Bob Pearce (rpearce@uky.edu) or Matt Dixon (matt.dixon@uky.edu).
Updated : 7-1-24