Dutch Crop tour Potato - week 29
This is the tuber setting after a cold spring
With the recent Dutch weather, the potatoes have continued to grow strongly. The first potatoes are already quite coarse, but the number varies greatly. How many potatoes do we count under a plant and what does the growth look like?
The cold spring has partly been overtaken by the typical 'potato weather' that we had to deal with from June, but there is certainly no question of a complete catch-up. The difference in planting date is still clearly visible and the number in the potato ridge varies greatly.
Lots of stems and good foliage device
Where the foliage development was often disappointing earlier this season due to the cold and rain, it now seems to have completely recovered due to the right weather conditions. Most potatoes have a large foliage package and the number of stems, often 5 to 6 per tuber, is also good. This is often accompanied by a good number of tubers under a plant. That is often the case this season, but not everywhere. The plots planted later (from May) are disappointing in terms of tuber setting, despite the many foliage and stems.
Tuber cultivation Crop plots
The plots that were planted early (beginning of April) are doing a lot better on average in terms of tuber setting, potato growers throughout the Netherlands report. On the plots of the Boerenbusiness Crop tour looked at what is under a plant of the Innovator variety. In Dronten, on Jacco van Liere's plot, the average potato plant has 8 tubers: "The flowering has ended and the MH moment is already approaching. I now count an average of 7 to 8 tubers and some small ones on a plant ."
The same picture can be seen on Kees Trouw's Crop Tour plot in Hellevoetsluis (South Holland), but on average slightly more tubers.
In Escharen (North Brabant) it looks good under a potato plant. Tuber setting seemed good early in the season. Daan Janssen planted the plot on April 16 and, in addition to good foliage development, it also looks good in the potato ridge: about 10 tubers from a plant with a few small ones.
At the Gewastour plot in Hank, the development of the potatoes is slightly behind previous years, according to Jacob Branderhorst:
"I think the photo is a bit distorted. Compared to other years they are still a bit small. In my opinion we are at least 2 weeks behind. I do count a lot of stems, but it is not very firm. The tuber setting is at least 6 pieces."
On the other Gewastour plot in Dronten, the growth has started. Potato grower Herman Schlepers has about 6 large tubers from a potato plant.
Jesse Torringa
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