Quickdown is indispensable in our seed potatoes

Every year, haulm killing is an important point of attention in the twenty hectares of seed potatoes that arable farmer Bert den Boer from Zonnemaire grows. An indispensable tool in this is Quickdown. According to him, the ideal spraying moment is as early as possible in the morning when the crop is still slightly dewy. When a dry sunny day follows, the effect is best.

Den Boer is early this year with the haulm killing in the seed crop. "That is the result of a relatively early planting date and the favorable growing conditions afterwards," he explains. Both have ensured that in three of the five varieties he grows, the tubers are already at size at the beginning of July. These are the Fontane, Arizona and Constance. In the weekend before the death spray moment there was still a nice shower. As a result, the foliage was still slightly moist at that time. For this reason, he chooses to carry out the first treatment for haulm killing with quick down. That is also the advice of his cultivation advisor Lein de Visser, who works for CZAV from Wemeldinge. According to him, you should definitely not start with blowing in a damp crop: "That gives too much chance of spreading bacterial disease."

Spraying on dew-wet crops
Den Boer opts for early in the morning as the ideal spraying moment, when the crop is still slightly dewy. When a dry sunny day follows, the effect is best. "Then you can already see the effect of the spraying on the tops of the crop the next day", says the seed potato grower from experience after three years of application. "The dosage is always 0,8 liters per hectare. An additional two liters of mineral oil is always added for an optimal distribution over the leaves and stems." Depending on the circumstances - "Usually the vitality of the crop is leading" - he sprays Quickdown with an average of four hundred liters of water per hectare.

Virtually zero regrowth
What Den Boer and cultivation advisor De Visser also consider for a moment is the right moment to choose for haulm killing in combination with determining the desired size grading in a seed crop. From quick down it is known that the foliage dies more slowly after application than before with Reglone. However, the rate of death is highly dependent on the weather conditions and the growth phase of the seed crop, they have experienced. Den Boer: "In a wet season, you have to take into account a few days of tuber growth after applying Quickdown when determining the desired final grade. However, if it is dry and the growth has already faded a bit, our experience is that after After three days all life has disappeared from the foliage and after a spraying you have virtually zero re-growth of the tubers."    

Don't clap too short
About five days after spraying, Den Boer went through the crop with the haulm topper. "A point of attention is that you don't fall too short," emphasizes De Visser. "The stem must be at least fifteen centimeters for a good effect of a possible subsequent spraying. That can be 0,8 liters of Quickdown with two liters of mineral or one liter of Spotlight per hectare." The other two varieties, Agria and Lugano, received exactly the same treatment for haulm killing nine days later, Den Boer said.

No more belly button rot
At the same time, both the seed potato grower and his adviser emphasize that with the arrival of quick down the problem of umbilical rot is definitely a thing of the past. "That was always exciting with the use of the now expired drug Reglone. Another factor that played a role is regrowth, so that you often had to spray again and ran an extra risk of virus contamination. Since Quickdown, we no longer suffer from this. now also an indispensable resource in our seed potatoes," says Den Boer with satisfaction.