Prepack potato crop progress
Potato crops have progressed well with the recent favourable weather. Warm evenings and occasional showers have allowed main crop varieties to reach full canopy quickly (as the photograph of our trial field shows) with moderate tuber numbers generally reported, although some crops have thrown slightly more than the average. Common Scab would appear to be more widespread than expected, as even irrigated crops seem to have picked up the odd ‘fleck’. Tubers are beginning to bulk well in the North with leaders around 60mm. New season semi skin set whites in the more Southern counties are nearing readiness, with the more forward of these beginning movement in the next 10 days. Salad and New quality from the South looks good with largely clean skins, which are now becoming more set.
Late Blight has been more of an issue this season as conditions have suited the fungal disease, humid and warm evenings have allowed proliferation in some varieties. Many canopies have since closed up making targeting the affected stems and leaves more of a problem with sprays. Robust blight tank mixes seem to be on top of the problem generally.
There is still a long way to go for many, but indications are for a good crop at this stage.