Burley Mammoth (aka KY16) Tobacco

Also known as 'KY 16', 'Burley Mammoth', as its name implies, is a Burley-type tobacco and historically used for cigarette blends. It exhibits day-length sensitivity, known as photoperiodism, and requires days with less than fourteen hours in order to trigger its blooming period. As such, its pink flowers are rarely seen in the summer months and if you are raising it for seed, you will need to be in location with a long growing season.

Since the plants continue to grow for a long period of time without flowering, 'Burley Mammoth' does become quite tall unless it is topped to slow its growth. If you refer to the photo of "Farmer Dave" above,the plant in the foreground was topped earlier in the season and it is ripe and ready to harvest. Over his left shoulder is a tall, bright green plant that was not topped and is far from being ripe.

Developed as a cross between 'Wisconsin Burley' with 'Burley 5', our seed originated from USDA accession number PI 552366 donated in 1961 by Kentucky Seed Improvement Association. Our 'Burley Mammoth' seed was was originally sent to us by tobacco variety preservationist, David Pendergrass of Middle Tennessee.