Potassium fertilization of high value crops such as burley tobacco generally exceeds that which soil testing would deem adequate. We established a K rate experiment on four soils in Western North Carolina over two years to identify a fertilization rate adequate to replace soil K removed by a previous burley crop. Although soils varied in soil test K at the initiation of the experiment, reduction in soil K concentration during the growing season and at final harvest were predictable and led to a suggested replacement amount of fertilizer to maintain adequate soil K for subsequent crops. Potassium uptake by the burley crop ranged from 145 to 172 kg K ha^-1.  Fertilizer K needed to replace plant K uptake and removal ranged from 45 to 135 kg K₂O ha^-1.  This study indicates that burley tobacco growers can maintain adequate soil potassium by supplying a rate of fertilizer potassium equivalent to that removed by the growing crop.