The use of hydroponically produced tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) transplants has been widely adopted by tobacco producers. There are many advantages to using hydroponic tobacco transplants; however, one disadvantage is their increased propensity to form basal axillary buds or shoots, often referred to as “ground suckers”. There is no clear understanding as to why ground suckers are so much more prevalent in hydroponically produced transplants. One possibility is that there is a difference in levels of specific plant hormones between traditional soil-grown transplants versus hydroponically produced transplants. Of particular interest is the ratio of auxins, which are produced primarily in apical meristems and inhibit axillary shoot formation, to cytokinins, which are primarily produced in the roots of plants and promote lateral branching. The root to shoot ratio in hydroponically grown transplants is much greater compared to traditional transplants, which may result in a significantly different auxin to cytokinin ratio. A study was conducted to investigate whether the addition of synthetic auxins or cytokinins to hydroponic solutions used for transplant production could significantly affect ground sucker formation. Greenhouse grown plants of burley cultivars TN 86 and Hybrid 403, which have high and low propensities to produce ground suckers, respectively, were treated with 2, 10, or 50 nM concentrations of the synthetic auxin1-Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) or the synthetic cytokinin 6-Benzylaminopurine (BA). Preliminary results indicated that the 2nM concentration of NAA resulted in a significant reduction in axillary shoot formation in TN 86 compared to the control solution that contained no added NAA or BA. Conversely, for Hybrid 403, all concentrations of NAA or BA resulted in increased axillary shoot formation in comparison to the control. Additional greenhouse and field studies are currently underway to confirm or refute these preliminary findings. (Reprinted with permission)