Preventing bruising at potato harvest by managing moisture levels pre-desiccation is the advice from Hutchinsons Root Crop Technical manager, Darryl Shailes

“Where crops are suffering from a high soil moisture deficit, particularly across eastern areas , but also unusually in the west and north including Scotland, they will need careful management going into the desiccation period pre-harvest to avoid crop damage.”

“If tubers are not turgid when being harvested this can result in bruising, so where needed crops need to be irrigated beforeburn-down to reduce bruising damage. SMD’s should be in the 30-40mm range at desiccation or flailing wherever possible” says Mr Shailes.

“Prioritising this process will also help as the more susceptible varieties can be dealt with first.” 

“Generally ware crops are not looking too bad considering the intense heat of the last month, some varieties have sufferedmore than others especially early planted more determinate varieties, but it is reassuring that many of the crops have bulked up over the last few weeks with the warmth.”

Whilst levels of blight are low it is critical to keep on top of this as low levels of infection  can often lead to more tuber blight in store as the grower and agronomist drop their guard so it must be stressed that crops are at risk right up until the haulm is completely dead.”

“As expected there is some Altenaria showing up in some crops now. It’s Alternaria Alternata in the main and is proving difficult to control with even the best fungicide strategy. The more susceptible varieties such as Markies, Innovator and Vivaldi are showing symptoms now often associated with stress such as PCN or compaction.”