B—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 1,1967
Reviewing 1966-67, PSU Tobacco Shed Heat Project
IN REVIEWING the 1966-67 supplemental heat
project conducted by Penn State University through
the Southeastern Field Research Laboratory in Lan
caster County, the above photos show some of the
factors involved. At left, top, Jay Rohrer, left and John
Yocum, farm superintendent, demonstrate use of the
GaS'fcobac Co. equipment designed to eliminate shed
bum of tobacco by addiing heat during the curing
stage Lower left. Rohrer rolls up plastic barrier in
• Tobacco Heat
(Continued from Page 1) Of com se, to show an eco
„ ~ , , „ , , nonnc advantage for heat m
rnnf 6 b f e , n ?«R C f ed ° l \ the tobacco shed even less gas
f approximately 286 less gal would haVG t 0 have c “ n .
lons of mopane gas had been sume( j
consumed in treating the thiee
acres ol shea-drying tobacco, OTHER ADVANTAGES
Yocum calculated „ , ~ . ..
In v ie\v of figures obtained th , e } e ’f som f ot u h
in this yeai's study, the bieak- tangible ad^ nta S® s to be
even point for heat would have lei I . trom adding heat, the
been limited to 200 gallons of stucy suggests
gas at 31 cents per gallon That For example, when two sam
was the dollar equivalent ad- pies fion the heated side ol
vantage found loi adding heat, Rohiei’s shed were compared
as reflected in better quality with two samples from the un-
chart NO. 1 TOBACCO CURING CHART
:OCr
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- lo
t:
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& 71
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C.A ■ii'.'j'iA
V * y/ 1
/ y> sj
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c
■SAx
_ 4 ar
leaf
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5
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ai
~ -ACC BLIWIEN . #.£ I&OAs'*S L- L. B. -RF. Ail! NT* S,
(Chart taken from Penn State College l,eaflet7l, April 1940)
the working section of his tobacco shed. The barrier
separated the heated from the unheated side in the
shed. Upper right, Rohrer puts away some tobacco in
the unheated section, which comprises one-third of
the shed. Lower right, Yocum shows metering equip
ment that controls gas flow to the burners in the shed.
Burners are turned off and on manually, but will ad
just to high or low flame automatically as 'humidity
levels vary. L. F. Photos
heated side, it was found that grower sold his, tobacco
a higher percentage of wiap- straight-stnpped, he would lose
per-quality leaves were obtain- much of the heat advantage
ed where natural curing was The greater the price spread
aided by heat between wi apper and filler
T , . , . , ~ leai the gi eater his loss would
In samole £l, taken fiom ,
the lower tiers, the peicent of
wrapper to filler, by weight, Another advantage, Yocum
was 83 1 to 169, for the heated noted, could be in the weight
section it was 75 2 to 24 3 per- differential between supple
cent for the unheated section mental heat-cured and natui al
ia sample =2, the compaiative cured tobacco.
percentages weie 90-10 on the „ , , , .
heated side, 82 18 on the un- sampled some leaves ft om
heated side both Sldei ’ and dried them m
an oven m measure moistiue
if a content, and found that leaves
As Yocum pointed out,
TOO nljT i (
\
\
Dcbi C
CONDITIONS 1
\: / (
y
TOO CC,-J2
„#•
10
i <
rit
*4*
■/
IrooTo^
v ?
$
I »
16*
> from' the ‘unhealed side con
tained six percent more mois
ture.
"On an equal moisture basis,
this would reduce yield figures
in the unheated side by six
percent, and, if the tobacco
were sold on the basis of its
moisture content, would show
an added advantage for heal,”
Yocum noted. Unfortunatelv,
the tobacco companies tolerate
a fairly wide range of moistuie
without penalty.
‘‘They don’t want tobacco 100
wet or too dry, but the range
of acceptable moisture content
is quite wide,” Yocum explain
ed.
1965-CROP RESULTS
Using gas as a source of sup
plemental heat in a previous
experiment, Henry Engle, re
search agronomist at the sta
tion. showed results indicating
a decided economic advantage
for' heat.
The 1965-66 curing season
was poorer than this past sea
son, and Engle found a 20 per
cent loss of leaf weight where
heat was not added He also
reported that every $1 invest
ed in heat yielded a return of
$3. He calculated costs at §l6
an acre for fuel and $9 an acre
for equipment depreciation, fig
uring a 12-year depreciation
period on the latter.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENT
As another part of this year’s
trials on supplemental heat,
three acres of tobacco were
hung in a neighbor’s shed be
cause the shed at the research
station ' was knocked off its
foundation by high winds late
last summer.
Heat was added in this ex
periment, nut the shed was not
divided with plastic This meant
that some of the heat would
have escaped to the unheated
side, and its full effects could
not be measured
“In the six years-that I have
been here,” Yocum said, “there
has alwqys been* some shed
burn in.tjiat neighbor’s shed.
With heaf added, this was the
first year he had no damage.”
Although no valid 1 information
could be gathered from that
project since the shed was not
properly cnvided, Yocum noted
that a fuel cost of approxi
mately §36 per acre for supple
mental heat shows how costs
can be controlled in this proc
ess.
WHEN TO HEAT
The equipment used :n the
project on the Rolirer farm
must be tinned on and off man
ually Once turned on, the
burneis will adjust automatic
ally from a high to a low flame,
but judging "/hen the heat
must be added, or taken away,
lies with the operatoi
“It has been shown, ’ Yocum
said, “that when humidity goes
above 80 percent foi more than
48 hours miero-orgamsmsslait
their rotting piocess.” (See
Chart #1) :
He leeommends turning the
burners on whenever the hu
midity reaches the 80 percent
level for two consecutive days,
then turning them off when
natural humidity drops.
It is hoped that supplemen
tal heat mav be the answer to
some of the reported slow cur
ing problems on Pennbel-69.
Some farmers have complained
that because of Pennbel’s clos
er leaf an angement it wasliard
to cuie, Yocum noted.
NEXT YEAR
One important result of this
year’s supplemental heat study
has been to point out some of
the economic pitfalls in the
process The several manage
ment lessens learned this year
will be applied in future stud
ies, Yocum said.
Next yeai, tobacco will -be
planted noi mally in ooopera
tors’ fields Then certain areas
will be staked off by Yocum.
At harvest, samples wilt be
tagged, * and one-half of each
(Continued on Page llfr