Potato planting 2018

[Niels]

Well Gary.

Mine & many others are like yours in the corner.

They had Fazor 9 days ago in good dry weather. Now the 2nd growth are double the size of the previous week but full of deep cracks. That's the Fazor that's caused the cracking in the 2nd growth.
I hope @Niels may like to comment.

They Agria are a disaster this season.

It's said the Glassiness comes in when the plant dies back & the tops stop feeding the grand daughters or 2nd growth, & they then feed hard on the daughter tuber.

It's only Agria we are seeing this. Markie & Siggitta are ok but with odd dolly.

Your watering has had a dramatic effect.

Sadly your experiences are not out of the ordinary. Secondary growth is terrible to say the least in Holland. Irrigated or not, all crops are suffering tremendously. All regions, all varieties. Markies, Fontane (which it shouldn't bother but does). Have a look on Twitter and search for doorwas: https://twitter.com/search?q=doorwas&src=typd. Also found in various degrees in seed crops which will be a problem next year. Agria and Bintje are by far the worst for secondary growth.

First no yield (30-50% less) and now this... haven't heard much of growth cracks. Due to the dry weather most Maleïnehydrazide (Fazor/MH) wasn't taken up by the plants. We're also having issues with onions here. They start growing again after the rain..

 

[Honest john]

The Agria here only has 4/5 daughter tubers, that have Upto 9 chits on each tuber.

I maybe pessimistic but they look a right off.

We have 55ac Onions on the farm that also look a right off.

 

[Honest john]

Sadly your experiences are not out of the ordinary. Secondary growth is terrible to say the least in Holland. Irrigated or not, all crops are suffering tremendously. All regions, all varieties. Markies, Fontane (which it shouldn't bother but does). Have a look on Twitter and search for doorwas: https://twitter.com/search?q=doorwas&src=typd. Also found in various degrees in seed crops which will be a problem next year. Agria and Bintje are by far the worst for secondary growth.

First no yield (30-50% less) and now this... haven't heard much of growth cracks. Due to the dry weather most Maleïnehydrazide (Fazor/MH) wasn't taken up by the plants. We're also having issues with onions here. They start growing again after the rain..

From the Photos on twitter it looks quite damp with you.
The thing is the worlds geastest potato experts reside in Holland, so we are looking for help from someone who speaks English @Niels

 

[Sonoftheheir]

@Honest john I believe we are very fortunate with our location this year. After irrigating 12 times so far, that secondary growth seems only to be where the irrigation has not been consistent.

I’ve done trial digs on one field of Performer and one Agria and yields are on par with last year. Burn down will start next week.

ATM looking very good for us, but it has been hard work. And we still need to see this through to bagging and getting paid.

 

[Niels]

From the Photos on twitter it looks quite damp with you.
The thing is the worlds geastest potato experts reside in Holland, so we are looking for help from someone who speaks English @Niels

Depends which area you are in Holland. Locally in the polders we had 70-100mm during the last week. In the Southwest and Northeast they only had 40mm so it varies. All in all it is moist enough for the short term but will need to rain a lot to help refill water levels back to normal.

I can think of some people who might be able to help. I'll get something arranged for you!

 

[Fubar]

I have a field of Markie in full flower, had 2.5 kg Fazor Saturday rained about 4-5 hrs later, did another 2.5 kg Monday rained 14 hrs later.

Your posts are like reading my life story.

 

[chipchap]

Speaking to my customers, they seem well supplied with good quality at the moment. I have a commitment to them but for some reason it seems they think there will be no problem. Less than 50% of the processing and chipping crops grown are irrigated?

 

[Fubar]

This secondary growth is a bugger. It's so frustrating to nurture the crop through the season , throw the kitchen sink at it to try to alleviate the stress its under , and then then when your on the home straight and thinking you might salvage a half decent crop, along comes a dolly to bite you on the arse.

 

[Sonoftheheir]

Will they make any difference once harvested? I had Sagitta like this last year and they sold ok in the end.

I dared speak to my merchant today, he reckons the price was under pressure?!

 

[Sonoftheheir]

Speaking to my customers, they seem well supplied with good quality at the moment. I have a commitment to them but for some reason it seems they think there will be no problem. Less than 50% of the processing and chipping crops grown are irrigated?

So hard to tell atm. I don’t think we’ll know till it’s all in store. A long way off as yet!

 

[Sonoftheheir]

I have a field of Markie in full flower, had 2.5 kg Fazor Saturday rained about 4-5 hrs later, did another 2.5 kg Monday rained 14 hrs later.

Why split the dose John?

 

[Honest john]

Why split the dose John?

When the rain washs 5kg off the leafs it gets costly.

 

[Fubar]

Folks round here have gone from digging 12 tpa to 16 in the last 10 days. Might just put a bit of pressure on price although I hear McCain's are desperate. Apparently marfona is even being used for processing. Was offered 300 for frying estima the other day and if I had any size i would be digging and sending them down the road. Packing demand is on the floor as usual and they are still drawing old stock. Difficult to know exactly what is out there in the ground but it's bound to be a small crop and I don't reckon they will be bringing any in from abroad this year.

 

[Fubar]

When the rain washs 5kg off the leafs it gets costly.

Trouble is if you get a freak shower after application you're stuffed. If it was round up you'd either go in again or see what happens. With fazor you can't go again and you'll never know if it's worked or not until it's too late.
The can says 24 hrs. I've read the first 12 are the most important, and my agronomist said 6 hrs dry should just about be ok.

 

[Fubar]

Off to look round mine again today.
After reading the last few posts I'm not looking forward to what I'm going to find.

 

[Fubar]

Yes, 7th August

Interesting.
Does that mean it hasn't worked?

 

[Fubar]

I've got a fazor - has it worked or not dilemma now. If it's working and will hold back 2ndary growth then the crop needs 2 more weeks till burn down. If it's not going to work then I might as well take what I've got and reduce any more risk.

 

[Sonoftheheir]

Job to know! Niels reckons it’s been too dry in Holland for up take? Maybe the same here?

On my dig, it doesn’t appear to have halted secondary growth in 3 weeks since application. But where the potatoes were irritated it may be ok?

Have you had a look today? What does the yield look like?

 

[Niels]

Job to know! Niels reckons it’s been too dry in Holland for up take? Maybe the same here?

On my dig, it doesn’t appear to have halted secondary growth in 3 weeks since application. But where the potatoes were irritated it may be ok?

Have you had a look today? What does the yield look like?

They say it should be applied on a dry crop and needs a minimum of 8-10 hours drying. Adding a wetter halves the drying time though. The plant needs to remain growing for 2 weeks to get a decent uptake. That is the big problem here. Also daylight temperatures and air humidity need to be right which they weren't at all.

 

[Fubar]

Have you had a look today? What does the yield look like?[/QUOTE]
Digs are variable.
If every tuber gets to size and quality then yields will be decent enough for the year.
However, I fear I will run out of time for bulking and there is going to be some waste to remove.
If i can get to burn off without any further quality issues then I will be quietly relieved.
At least once the crop is in the shed and I know exactly what I've got I might get back to having a decent night's sleep.