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 32M A R C H 2 0 1 7 16 POTATO GROWER late blight protection in Hibernate. They had found that the trait protected against the US-8, US-22, US-23, and US- 24 strains of P. infestans, and that late blight symptoms were not anticipated on healthy, actively growing Gen 2 foliage. However, the trait did not pro- tect against other late blight strains or tuber infection. They found symptoms after onset of senescence when there was yellowing of leaves from age or stress factors. The recommendation was to not only rely on the trait for late blight protection but to make it part of an IPM program, including some fungi- cide applications in areas where late blight is prevalent. Mr. Jeff Miller, Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Mr. Kent Sather, North Dakota State Seed Department reported that despite the low aphid count their respective post-harvest test results were very similar to last year. The topic of Mr. Daryl Richison, NDSU, was “Expected Weather Patterns for the 2017 Growing Season.” Mr. Richison explained the influence of the ocean temperatures on the weather patterns on land. He concluded that we are in a phase change, which doesn’t exclude the possibility that a storm may still come. It looks like there will be a bit less rain than the last years. April, May, and June may be a little wetter than average. We should realize that one or two storms will change averages. It looks a bit dryer for June, July and August was the conclusion. Dr. Andy Robinson, NDSU/UMN, reported on the “Dicamba Drift, Inversions and Exposure to Sensitive Crops.” The introduction was that application of 2,4-D & dicamba on toler- ant soybeans may be very damaging to neighboring crops, including total crop loss. His suggestion to protect your potato crop was to talk with neighbors, dedicate a sprayer for potatoes to be used only with potato friendly herbi- cides, to plant borders around fields, to train employees about injury symp- toms, to scout regularly and especially walk field edges, to place signs around field and register fields on sensitive crop registry. “Please remember the limit to file a claim is 28 days in North Dakota and 45 days in Minnesota.” he conclud- ed. Mr. David Saxowsky, NDSU, explained the Rules for Draining Excess Water from North Dakota fields. The message was that a permit is needed to drain water in North Dakota. There are differ- ent rules for areas above and under 80 acres to be drained. “ It is important to arrange an agreement with people down-stream that will be influenced by your drainage,” he said. The State Engineer and Local Water Resource District work together to decide whether to grant a drainage permit, especially in the case of surface drainage. Website is: http://www.swc.nd.gov/reg_approp/drai nagepermits/. The web site for North Dakota State Water Commission and Office of the State Engineer is http://www.swc.nd .gov/. The water resource districts are listed on this web site: http:// www.swc.nd.gov/info_edu/water_links/ nd_resource_boards. Dr. Neil Gudmestad, NDSU, presented “New Opportunities for the Control of Black Dot.” He said that the disease importance is often overlooked because symptoms may be confused with other potato diseases such as silver scurf. “The demarcation line on silver scurf is sharp- er than of black dot,” he said. A wel- come comment was that QoI (strobil- urin) and SDHI fungicides can provide control of black dot. Some good news for organic producers is that Serenade ASO appears to be an option to reduce black dot in an organic potato produc- tion system. Dr. Gudmestad gave the following rec- ommendations: Apply first application of QoI (strobilurin) at fifty percent ground cover. The chemicals, Quadris, Headline, Reason, Priaxor all have activ- ity and give you the highest disease con- trol when applied before row closure at mid-rates. His SDHI recommendations were that, other than Endura, SDHI fungicides such as Luna T, Priaxor and Vertisan all have activity. He stated that all of these SDHI fungicides can be used prior to row closure as you would use strobil- urins. Dr. Steven B. Johnson, University of Maine, gave an update on Dickeya. Dickeya dianthicola is the only Dickeya confirmed in the USA on potatoes. Dr. Johnson emphasized that the greater issue of the damage caused by Dickeya is asymptomatic plants producing seed tubers without symptoms. It is a seed issue, because under cooler circum- stances infected plants are without symptoms and when the progeny is planted in warmer areas the symptoms can become devastating. Testing proto- cols should take into account that the bacteria can survive on the outside of the tuber. That seems to produce false negatives when just the stem-end is test- ed. He suggested that steps should be taken to try to eliminate any source and a zero tolerance be implemented for potatoes to be planted as seed.