Potato Field Day

Potato Field Day

Potato Field Day. I’m Greg Martin with Washington Ag Today.

Last week WSU’s Othello Research Unit played host to the 52nd annual WA Commercial Seed Lot Trial. Mark Pavek with WSU said it was a very good turn out.

PAVEK: A big part of this potato field day is our seed lot trial and what that is is people submit commercial seed lots that are planted here in the Columbia Basin. A lot of them are grown outside the state as seed and then we bring them into the state and plant them. It’s basically a quality check and we’re interested in looking at that.

They are looking at how the plants do with viruses and pests. This years trial featured over 170 different varieties which are published in a book and online for producers to access. The information helps potato growers with their planting decisions.

PAVEK: Just like anything you buy performance, the current year you have something as indicative as what you may see the next year so if they are a seed grower that having an issues they may not want to go with them the next year. They do use it as a buying gauge but they also use it to work out things.

Over 150 people turned out for the field day and were treated to a number of presentations including a number of discussions on pests and viruses, irrigation issues, crop rotation and a mini workshop on protective gear. Each crop row was flagged so that producers could see the results of leaf roll, blackleg, mosaic and more.

And that’s Washington Ag Today. I’m Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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