Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1043717
16 POTATO GROWER | NOVEMBER 2018 TOP 5 By Bayer CropScience Growers who practice integrated pest management (IPM) can positively impact their crop production and bottom lines. Integrated strategies offer the strongest protection for potato growers, who need a complete plan for combating every element that threatens their crop. Managing obvious threats like insects, nematodes, diseases and weeds are often at the forefront of IPM tactics, but taking steps to monitor water management and crop rotation are also important in keeping potatoes healthy and in maximizing yield and quality. As growers work at managing everything—timing and mixing modes or sites of action in chemical applications, selecting healthy seed stock, scouting for weeds and live pests, and even identifying potentially devastating weather events—they take the power of new technology and put it to work with age-old growing practices. It's the careful orchestration of each of these things that makes IPM a success. Growers should consider the following best practices for a successful IPM program. Best Practices for an Effective IPM Program for Potatoes Prevention is key with potato crops, as many growers know: plan for the worst, and hope for the best. To do this, collect data from previous years to develop an educated plan for insecticide, herbicide, nematicide and fungicide usage. That data should include: • Soil nutrient condition, with pH of 4.8 to 5.5 • Water management issues • Any diseases, nematodes, weeds or insects • Weather conditions • Previous year's pest problems and spray program Part of the plan should employ different modes of action as one way to combat resistance. "The idea is you're hitting different generations of the different insects with different modes of action," says Erik Wenninger, associate professor of entomology for the University of Idaho. "When you hit multiple generations with the same mode of action, you increase the likelihood of resistance developing. If you do six sprays per season, do the first and second spray using one mode of action, then for sprays three and four, use another mode of action." Treat potatoes on a cultivar-by-cultivar basis, depending on their susceptibility to major threats like early blight or late blight. Some cultivars require extra care, and it's important to make sure you have a good program th at includes specialty fungicides for those cultivars to keep disease management under control. Don't just rely on your own samples of seed from each field. Gudmestad recommends getting a North American Certified Seed Potato Plant Health Certificate for your seed lot. This is especially critical as new strains of disease—such as have been seen with PVY and blackleg Dickeya—appear. It's essential to know where your seed is coming from. If you haven't used a particular seed supplier before, visit the farm and visually inspect the seed potatoes and the ageneral sanitation conditions of the operation, recommends North Dakota State University plant pathologist Neil Gudmestad. Hire professionals to scout for insects, diseases, weeds and nematodes. Scouts in the field should set traps and look for aphids, Colorado potato beetle, wireworm, psyllids and other pests and closely examine plants for key diseases like Verticillium wilt, early blight, late blight, blackspot, black dot and white mold. Scouting Seed Stock Combat Pest Resistance