11 Sep Agronomy Update – Sept 11th

Hi everyone,

We’re in the middle of yet another dry week.  From looking at some of the weather stations, it seems like West Prince was the lucky area on Sunday night/Monday morning, getting 15-20 mm of rain.  I had 6 mm in Kensington, while much of the rest of the province only had a couple of mm.  There doesn’t appear to be any significant rainfall in the 7 day forecast either, unfortunately.

Reducing Bruising:

We are undoubtedly looking at a disappointing crop in the majority of fields. While there is nothing we can do to make it rain, let’s focus on recovering as much of the crop as possible.  Some key factors to consider:

• I haven’t seen any gravity results from this year yet, but I’m quite sure that we’ll see a similar trend to last year with very high solids. This means that we’ll have to take extra care harvesting, transporting, and storing this crop.The University of Idaho has a number of great training videos available covering potato handling at harvest, loading the storage, and unloading the storage to end use. They also have a great factsheet on preventing potato bruise.
• Under AIM, we purchased a SmartSpud to measure impacts and bruise potential this year.  If you would like us to run it through your equipment, please give me a call.  We are hoping to use this on some research projects this fall as well.
• If you are interested in purchasing your own SmartSpud, it is eligible for funding under the PEI Dept of Ag S-CAP program under “Sensors”.  Funding is 70% up to $5,000; however, you need to apply and be approved before purchasing the equipment.  The company that sells the SmartSpud is currently offering a promotional price on these devices.  Contact me if you need contact information.

Pest/Disease Update:

• The dry weather has resulted in low disease pressure this year, generally.  Air Spore is only collecting spores at a handful of farms now.  No late blight spores have been detected in PEI or NB all season.  There are some early blight spores around, but we are well past the window for effective foliar control. Bortrytis (grey mold) spores are remaining relatively low, which is not surprising given the dry conditions.
• This is the last week for Aphid Alert for most sampling sites.  Results from last week and this Monday are below.  You will note that aphid numbers are higher than they’ve been all season (over 9 aphids/trap), and green peach aphid numbers have increased in the last two weeks.  For those seed producers that haven’t top-killed, please remain vigilant on oil and aphicide applications as the risk of virus transmission is still high.

• If anyone sees any symptoms of pink rot this season, please notify me of Rick Peters at AAFC.  Rick and his team are looking for pink rot samples as part of a research project into the disease.

Board Variety Trial:

This year, the Board conducted a small variety trial, focused on assessing some varieties with wart resistance as well as looking at alternative yellow-fleshed varieties for multiplication at Fox Island.

Next Thursday, September 18^th, we will have some preview samples on display from our trial at the Board office starting at noon.  If you would like to stop by to take a look at the samples and discuss the trial, feel free to drop by.  If planning to visit us, please send me a quick note to confirm your visit.

All the best for the rest of the week.

Ryan