It is not just the ware potatoes that could use a sip of water, but seed potato growers are also talking about crucial times. The growers who can irrigate keep their crops up and running. Where that is not possible, crops are clearly under tension.
It remains to be seen to what extent the drought and hot weather will affect seed potato yields, just as with ware potatoes. The weather next week will be decisive. There is also a big difference between the varieties and whether they were planted early or late.
Crops wear out quickly
A growing area of seed potatoes is grown in the southwest of the country. "In Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, 5 to a maximum of 10 percent of the area can be irrigated," estimates Delphy advisor Johnny Remijn. "Due to the hot and dry weather, you see crops wearing out very quickly. However, this depends on the variety. Some varieties withstand the weather a lot better than others, even if they are planted next to each other on the same plot. In the worst cases I see plants lose their leaves."
Plant sheds tubers
Remijn rates the settlement in the south-west of the Netherlands as average to moderate. It seemed fine for a while, but the dry weather caused the plant to shed tubers. "That costs yield in any case. Even if rain comes in the short term. I estimate the situation at the moment to be worse than last year. If it rains, it will not only bring relief, but also new problems," he said. the advisor. "Bacterial disease thrives in these conditions. If we get high temperatures after rain, with high RH (relative humidity), bacteria can quickly spread."
Sprinkling does not save the day
Remijn's colleague, seed potato specialist Paul Hooijman, sees a similar picture emerging in Flevoland. The advantage is that it can be irrigated there, but that is not a silver lining. "You often wait too long before irrigating. It always goes faster than you think," he says. "Irrigation takes a lot of time and you don't have that time on a large area. The wind is also a spoilsport, so an artificial shower is not always fully effective."
Better late than early
"What I see in the field now is that potato plants have 3 to 4 tubers and a lot of small ones," the seed potato man notes. "The question is what will happen to this if the drought continues. What about the supply of moisture? and nutrients?" Like Remijn, he notices that the early varieties perform less well compared to the late-planted potatoes. "You now see the plants wilting. This is attributed to bacterial disease, which thrives in this weather. However, the plant can also wilt due to a lack of water supply. I therefore sometimes doubt the cause. However, you can see that the plants take a very long time. continue on the mother tuber. It is often already rotting away."
Clarity next week
Hooijman still finds it difficult to say whether the current drought will cause lasting damage: "We will know more next week, but it won't be a hit. I see crops with burnt leaves. You normally only encounter that in July or August. Loss of yield also depends on the variety. The virus and aphid pressure in Flevoland is not too bad. We find few colorful plants in the crop. If it does rain, you have to be vigilant again for growth cracks. It is a different story for consumption potatoes. should reach their production in the next 2 months. It is too early to draw firm conclusions now."
Next week it will be the north's turn
In the northern seed potato cultivation area, along the Wadden coast, cultivation advisor Klaas Froma thinks things are not too bad. "There is still plenty of moisture at the bottom of the back, but it is dry," he says. "We recently had between 15 and 20 millimeters of rain here. That has long since evaporated. If it remains dry next week, it will also be the north's turn. You can now see the potato plants hanging more limply. The early varieties are now on. setting. They have 3-4 tubers and a lot of pinheads. I don't expect them to survive. The late varieties have not yet closed the field. You can get through them by bicycle."
Bacteria found anyway
Froma detects more bacterial diseases in the seed potato crops. "I know of plots that have already been withdrawn from the inspection, but there is little publicity about this. The lots that were tested for bacteria last winter and turned out to be completely free are now having to deal with this. Growers are therefore questioning in this assessment by the NAK. It turns out that it is not 100%. The lice pressure is still low at the moment."
Previously, seed potato growers in Northern France also left know that the situation is extreme. Irrigation is not possible and normally not required.