Dutch Crop tour Potatoes - week 18
Ideal planting weather, but a little rain remains welcome.
The Innovators are now quickly finding their way into the ground among the participants in the Boerenbusiness Crop tour. The dry weather is creating ideal working conditions, allowing growers to make significant progress in the fields, although a little rain remains desirable for a good start to the crop.
In some parts of the country, no measurable precipitation has fallen yet this April. This benefits working conditions in the fields. At the same time, the lower temperatures of the past period ensure that the soil does not dry out quickly. Nevertheless, it remains important to take the conditions into account and ensure that the ridges retain sufficient moisture, as the various Crop Tour participants also point out.
Soil does not always dry out as quickly as is sometimes thought.
Wouter Vierboom from Leuth in Gelderland also notices that temperatures are not yet very high for the time of year. On his heavier soils, he found it still cool enough at the bottom at the end of last week. With this, he means to indicate that while planting conditions are favorable, it is not yet as dry as is sometimes thought, following a prolonged period without precipitation.
Wouter's story aligns with that of Alex van Erp from Midwolda in Groningen. Alex planted his Innovators just over a week ago and indicated at the time that creating a good seedbed is not the biggest problem in itself. However, he did notice that the soil became somewhat compacted after planting. Since planting, Alex's soil has had some time to recover and crack.
Dry weather dictates the method for planting potatoes
Due to the dry conditions, it is essential to retain sufficient moisture in the potato ridges. Potato grower Kees Trouw from Hellevoetsluis in South Holland also started planting his Innovators last week. Just before planting, he cut the seed potatoes, a method that he says saves costs and works well under the current conditions. "With the current weather, that works out well: they dry nicely and are stored neatly indoors, out of the wind, so they don't dry out too much," says Trouw. Due to the dry weather, he ensures that soil preparation is carried out precisely before planting, so that sufficient moisture can be retained when forming the ridges. According to Kees, the potatoes that have already been planted are sitting nicely in the moisture.
Gybert Doggen from Wouw in Brabant notes that rain is needed in the short term to properly earth up the ridges. "I really need rain to be able to earth up the ridges. The early potatoes are already above ground, but haven't been earthed up yet," he says.
Doggen is taking the current dry conditions into account during his work. "We try to plant fairly soon after plowing, so that most of the moisture stays with the planted potatoes." After planting, the ridges are normally earthed up separately, but it is currently too dry for that. Without precipitation, the ridges collapse too much, which means, according to Doggen, that the irrigation reel may have to be used if a shower does not fall soon.
Jan Willem Veldman
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