Early potatoes affected by night frost

At 1,5 meters, the mercury dropped to just below zero on Tuesday morning, May 12, meaning it was freezing a few degrees on the ground. In Twente, the temperature at 6 o'clock in the morning was even -1,5 degrees at 1,5 meters. Night frost has also occurred in large parts of central and southern Germany in recent days. There was even snow in the Black Forest and sleet in the Sauerland.

Potatoes get a tick
The frost has consequences for young crops such as sugar beets and early potatoes. Especially the Premiere variety was already well developed. Significant frost damage can be seen in North Limburg, among others, but also in the east of North Brabant. The early potted potatoes have clearly taken a hit. That last happened in 2014, but then the damage was less extensive.

In the early potato area of ​​Germany, just across the Dutch border with Venlo, the ground froze quite a bit. There the temperature dropped to -6 and further south to -8 on the ground. Such values ​​are remarkable, because meteorologists estimate the chance of night frost at 14% after Ice Saints (1 May).

According to insiders, the situation is not a disaster. Due to the exceptional potato season, the new processing season is scheduled 4 weeks later, which gives the potatoes longer time to catch up. The plots that were planted very early in particular suffer from damage.

Effects
It is difficult to say what the ultimate damage will be. It causes some backlog but the potatoes grow and probably through. The really early potato fields in Germany are grown and irrigated under plastic, just like fruit orchards.

Frost at this stage is also dangerous for sugar beets. This is especially a danger in the east and northeast of the Netherlands. It was already freezing there at the beginning of May. It is not known whether damage has occurred. Especially when beets emerge, they can freeze to pieces. Night temperatures around freezing are also expected in the coming days, up to and including Friday.