TN86 Burley Tobacco

TN86
Nicotiana tabacum L
[ Approximately 100 seeds per packet ]

'TN86', also known as 'Tennessee 86', is an improved Burley-type smoking tobacco with good disease resistance. It is a late maturing variety with an extreme upright growth habit which results in less breakage and marketable leaf loss during harvest. 'TN 86' has a high yield potential and should be topped at about twenty-two to twenty-six leaves. Topping the plants higher than this will result in unnecessarily large plants that are difficult to manage and harvest.

'TN 86' matures to a lighter green color in the field when compared to other Burley tobaccos and air cures to a reddish-tan.

Like many tobacco varieties, 'TN86' is an amazing plant that grows from a seed as tiny as a pinhole, to well over six feet in height in a single growing season. The plants are attractive and make a very interesting addition to flower gardens. Since their flower heads will reach six feet or taller, they are typically planted in the back of the bed as opposed to along the border. Tobacco prefers healthy, rich soil in full sun. It blooms in mid to late summer and is attractive to pollinating insects. It is an annual (tender perennial in warmer climates).

'TN 86', was the first Burley tobacco variety developed with resistance to TVMV (Tobacco Vein Mottling Virus), TEV (Tobacco Etch Virus), and PVY (Potato Virus Y). It is also resistant to Black Shank (Race 0 and Race 1), Black Root Rot and Wildfire bacteria.

Developed by Dr. Robert Miller at the Tobacco Experiment Station in Greeneville, Tennessee using material originally crossed by Dr. Creighton Gupton, former USDA Agricultural Research Station Burley tobacco breeder at the Tobacco Experiment Station in Greeneville. It was released by the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station in February of 1986. Our seed progeny is USDA accession number PI 552522.

We also offer seeds of TN86 LC.

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Mike's Note:  TN86 was the first tobacco variety that I experimented with here on the farm in Oregon. I was encouraged and tutored by my friend, David Pendergrass, a tobacco farmer turned biodiversity preservationist, whose family started raising tobacco in Tennessee in 1804. I learned about the culture of the plant, as well as the commercially significant tobacco farming culture in America. You can see more about this journey by clicking here.