Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 POTATO GROWER 3 The Plant Pathology Department at North Dakota State University will again be providing the potato Blightline service at no charge to the potato industry of North Dakota and western Minnesota in 2016. Even though late blight was not present in 2013, 2014 or 2015 in our area, there is always a chance that late blight will be present in this year if condi- tions are favorable. The NDSU Blightline is the first place to go to get the most recent blight updates and management information. This will be the 22nd year that this service has been provided by NDSU and has been continually sponsored by Syngenta Crop Protection. The hotline collects data collected from weather stations in fifteen non-irri- gated and twelve irrigated produc- tion areas in ND and western MN. The data is processed by the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) and analyzed by a computer program (WISDOM) to forecast when conditions are favor- able for late blight to occur. The pro- gram also provides forecasting infor- mation for the development of early blight of potato. The forecast information is used by plant pathologists Gary Secor and Neil Gudmestad, and Extension Potato Specialist Andy Robinson, to make late blight management and fungicide recommendations and notify the industry of the status of late blight and other pertinent potato information in our region. Recommendations are made initially on a weekly basis, but are updated more frequently as severity values increase or late blight is found. The Blightline will begin Monday, June 1st, and will continue through mid- September depending on disease pressure. The Blightline will also be used to confirm reported late blight sightings and serve as clearing house for national late blight information. In addition to late blight forecasting, the hotline also provides cumulative P-values for early blight disease fore- casting and management recommen- dations. Finally, it serves to alert growers of other disease and insect issues, as well as posting messages of general interest such as potato field day dates. The hotline recommendations can be accessed by phone or website. The toll free phone number is 888-482- 7286. The NDAWN website for potato dis- ease forecasting contains colored maps of North Dakota to pictorially illustrate the late blight severity val- ues (both two day and seasonal), favorable day values and P-day values for early blight throughout North Dakota. That site is:www.ndawn. ndsu.nodak.edu Go to applications and then click the potatoes drop down box. Current and archival information on late blight and other potato diseases, and research trial data, can also be foun at www.ndsu.edu/ potato_ path ology. Growers and scouts are encouraged to send suspect late blight samples to NDSU for positive identification. Late blight is a community disease and proper identification and prompt notification is important. Leaf sam- ples should be placed in a deflated zip-lock plastic bag without a wet towel and sent to: Gary Secor, NDSU Dept 7660, Box 6050, Fargo, North Dakota 58108. Our phone number is 701-231-8362 and email address is gary.secor @ndsu.edu. We wish you a successful potato year. NDSU Potato Blightline To Operate In 2016 Highest R-Value Insulation Moisture Barriers Fire Proofing Flat Roofs The Insulation Place 14770 69th Place NE • Grafton, ND 58237 ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ Urethane Spray-On Insulation Eliminates air infiltration & stops condensation Grafton (701) 352-3233 1-800-352-0620 Bismarck (701) 255-0025 1-866-425-0025 Website www.theinsulationplace.com