Show DRY ROT IN POTATOES utah potato growers are annually loosing large sums of money through the careless digging and storing astorini of bf their crop according to dr george R hill director 0 of f the school of agriculture of the utah agriculture college who has spent several years studying potato diseases in the west dr hill states that he has seen whole carloads of potatoes spoiled by dry rot beffre reaching their destination this disease which appears in potatoes both in storage and during shipment is due to a augus known bomm commonly only as a wound 4 parasite this parasite cannot enter a healthy potato under normal conditions but must find access through a broken skin wherever the parasite enters will appear an area of dry rot the obvious method to pursue to prevent this disease is to harvest the potatoes without bruising them while some types of potato diggers are more apt to cause bruises than others most damaged skins are caused by digging the potatoes while still green the skin is then easily bruised and will slip dr hill reports that often times 50 per cent of the whole crop from a field of potatoes will beldam aged because the potatoes are dug too early under such uel conditions the losses are very heavy harvesting should be postponed until the potatoes are fully ripe if the rows have been well ridged there will be little or no danger from frost after harvest if the potatoes are not to be disposed of immediately dia tely they should be stored in clean well ventilated pits pith or cellars el in pits or cellars where potatoes have been attacked very extensively by dry rot the fungus is so prevalent that even healthy potatoes are effected the parasite gaining entrance through the breathing pores there is also great danger from dry rot and other fungus diseases if potatoes have been stored for a number of years without the cellar or pit being cleaned and dis infected direct sunlight where available acts as a wonderful disinfectant where not available the walls and floors may be sprayed with a solution of or mercuric chloride |