Three field experimental trials were carried out from 1993 to 1995, in order to assess the possibility of controlling lateral suckers in tobacco with some recently introduced chemicals, which should allow for a reduction in the rate of the most commonly used growth regulators, i.e. maleic hydrazide and n-decanol. The new chemicals butralin and flumetralin were included in the experiments, together with n-decanol and maleic hydrazide (MH) as controls. Results confirmed the efficacy of the most commonly used active ingredients ( i.e. n-decanol and MH), both in the case of tank mixtures and in the case of sequential applications. Also flumetralin showed a good local-systemic activity, while butralin proved to be a valuable alternative to n-decanol, both when used in combination with MH and when used alone in two sequential applications.