With bacterial disease blackleg posing a threat to Scottish seed potato crops for a second consecutive season, there was advice at Potatoes in Practice on managing the risk of spread during haulm destruction.
Outlining Potato Council- funded work to understand whether method of haulm destruction had an effect on the health of the daughter tubers, conducted by SAC in conjunction with Scottish Agronomy, SAC’s Daan Kiezebrink said there was some evidence the blackleg bacteria could be spread by flailing or pulverisation, even when conditions were dry.
