OCR Text |
Show GET SEED 'SPUDS' NOW. ISJINING Idaho Growers Suffer Heavy Losses by Disease-ridden Tubers BOISE. Ida., Aug. Tn a state ment urging that potato growers of 2 laho "look out for seed potatoes now,'1 E R. Bennett, field horticulturist of the University of Idaho extension di-irlsion, di-irlsion, says that 1000 cars of s.-e.j will be required to plant Idaho's next years crop of potatoes, and that farmers must heRln to select the tubers thy I w ill plant. I "Other things neincr equal, " he says. I the yield and quality of any crop ",-,f potatoes will depend on the quality and freedom from disease of the seed used In planting the crop. This statement state-ment of a well known truth has tfeen brought forcibly to my mind again and again in the past month while looking over some hundreds of fields of glowing pntator! that we h.-c . ust seen In a trip oer the potato growing luumii's r jri.ino. DISEASES COMING IV "We pride oursehes on the big Meld and fine quality of pM.-itoes grown In l Idaho, and well we may, for no state In the union produces better, but we I have dlsases in our potatoes several 'of them and they are becoming more numerous Two years ago we found a few plant? in th' fall that had gone down from the effects of the black-leg' di-sase. di-sase. On this recent trip we have turned down a great number of fields of seed potatoes because of the presence pre-sence Of black-leg La.t rail we saw i fine field of potatoes fine except that thi-r- w-re h-re nnd there over I me in.iu plants tnat Had slems black and decayed Just above the ground. Some of the tubers from these plant decayed. Tubi rs from the plants with i ss of the Infection did nol show the disi iv - at all. S-, .1 from this field was planted on many different farms In that bounty, and the seed looked good, but ihere Is now a high percentage of plants in every one of these fields that I hae well deVelopd cases of black-ltg j "Rhlzoctotna and fusarl'um are both also common. The rhlzoctonla and to la lesser extent the fusarlum are always with us, but we must not encourage either of them b planting seed known to be infected with them. We also have several other insidious and elusive, though none the less dangerous diseases.' di-seases.' snowing up here and there in our llelus. "thi most common of ili s. Is the calico, causing plants to have j w hite patches on their leaves It is not fatal, but it does reduce the yield of the tubers ..i th;it plant and we don't ! want it. e flno in many fields, es-I es-I peoially of the laaho rural variety. I many plants vun sm.au, weak sterna 'The lower leaves get a rusty appear-lance appear-lance and fall ofr. The plant continues I sickly all season and makes less than half a yield. The disease comes back I the next year in greater numbers. We i uiui i wain u Among the Gems this vear we find In many fleltis a great percentage of weak, dwartted plants. .Many growers attribute this to ury weather at planting plant-ing time. They are wrong. These plants, traced Lack to the seed, show ' many tubers mat instead of sending out normal sprouts, developed only W ik, spindly sprouts, the size of at darning needle. This s the spindly I sprout disoas- We don t want it. "We might mention others. What shell we do? There 1 s:i choice of I three things that we can do. First, we Jean discard the whole lot and get seed elsewhere, though we may not help matters much, as the other fellow's seed may be equally oad. Second, we can dig out and destroy all the plants In the field thai are weak or diseased. This is feasible only where the percentage per-centage of bad plants is small, and It I Is not advisable where the fall stage of . black-leg' is evident. This method must be followed where certification I of seed is desired, ami the work must he done thoroughly. Third, we may go' into the field wiien the plants are nearly near-ly mature, but before they are ripe or frozen down, and alter caretully examining ex-amining the plants, select those that are desirable and hae a clean bill of health, for our next year's seed "This is the advisable method for the average man for improving or holding his standard of excellence of his potato crop. Fields that are pretty budly mixed and that have a lot of diseases di-seases usually Iwvt many good individual indivi-dual plants. These may be taken out and sowed by themselves for seed with much profit. lost BY Poor SEED. "Does good, pure seed pay? Last ;week we were In a field of one hun-! Idred acres. The grower had planted lit with potatoes purchased from a dealer. They were supposed to be good I seed of one variety that had been pur-!chusfd pur-!chusfd In one ot the eastern potato j seed growing stat. s This field of potatoes po-tatoes had a poor stand. About 5 per cent were ot the variety purchased and I most of them were run out 'multl- I pliers' big plants wun fine, purple j bloom, but with strings of tubers the' size of bantam eggs There wen- at least half a dozen distinct arictleS "f potatoes In the fiHd. The loss cannot be less than one hundred sacks per acre. One hundred acres makes 10.0U0 j sacks lost. Did poor seed cost this man anything" I We must have belter seed. We will I have quite a number of ai r'-n of seed In the state thin e.m be certified and thai means that it must be ogod it I will take 1000 cars of potatoes to plant Idaho's next year's i nqi or potatoes ! We may have enough certified seed i to plant from two to five per cent of the acreage. What about the other' 95 or 98 per cent? Now Is the tlmo ' to think about seed for next years! j planting It Is also about time to get Into the field and get some seed, free) I from disease, for next year's crop. If I you think you will not be able to distinguish dis-tinguish the desirable plants, ask your county agent to help you ' on |