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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 15, 1963)
Study At Tulelake Field Station May Help Improve Potato Yield READY TO EMERGE This sprout was just about ready to emerge from the soil. Most of the roots have been cut away to show the' swellings at the stem nodes from which the potatoes will develop. Note that there are two sprouts from one eye. Each of these sprouts should pro duce four marketable tubers for it to be a profitable plant. CONTRAST The plant on the left is healthy and the stolons are clean and growing. The plant on the right has lost all its first and second set and is struggling to establish a third set. The roots have been cut away and both plants had equal size fops. r"lL it a! LATER PHOTO Two healthy plants on the right and two plants which have lost their first set, picture taken on July 22. Both plants were equal for top size and appearance. o DEFORMITIES Once a first set is lost by rhizoctonia the second set usually forms closer to the main stem as shown in this picture. This causes a crowding and sub sequent deformities. Rhizoctonia is sometimes seen on the small tuber itself and although this tuber may sur vive it will be scarred and deformed. EXPLAINS DIFFERENCE Had rhizoctonia been con trolled, all tubers on this stem would be the size of the larqe one in this photo. This shows why some hills have both large and small potatoes, Basic research at the Tulelake Field Station indicates a tremen dous, untapped potential (or in creasing potato yields and quali ty. As part of a continuing in vestigation into causes o! poor potato yields. Burton J. Hoyle superintendent of the station went underground to study the essen tial tuber development and to find out what happens in its early life. This study revealed that the average Gem potato plant us ually starts out with over 30 tub ers but misfortune overtakes most of them leaving only one or two marketable potatoes per plant. This can be calculated, accord ing to Hoyle, from the fact that the usual Basin potato field is planted with about 22.000 seed pieces. If each seed piece pro duced one plant of two, 8 ounce potatoes the yield would be close to 200 sacks of US No. Is, which is just about the Basin's average yield. Doubling this would require primarily the production of 4 to 6 marketable potatoes per plant which essentially calls for fewer casualties among the embryo potatoes. The present limitations to high yields lies in the fact that too few of the right kind and too many of the wrong kind of po tatoes are produced. The right kind of potatoes are those where eight to 10 tubers are formed early in the season. The wrong kind are those plants producing either too few or too many potatoes per plant and those formed too late in the sea son to mature. Only by under standing and controlling the fac tors causing a good or bad set of tubers can the yields be in creased significantly. When the seed piece is planted in the spring it takes tliree to four weeks to send up its stems to the surface. There may be none to eight or more per seed piece. tach or these stems will pro duce under certain conditions up wards of 10 to 12 tubers. There fore controlling the number of stems through seed piece size, storage, and handling is very H important. By the time the stems uatc i cauicu Mil; suiiaw mc; are three to four inches in length and at this very time a root system is well started. All of the roots start at specific locations on the stem and usually there are six areas from which they develop. Each of these areas is called a node and all nodes lie between the seed piece and the surface. This is why it important to keep the surface soil moist in the early life of the potato because there are roots in no other area. Adequate mois ture here also affects the kind and quality of crop. At each of the nodes where a cluster of roots have formed is the birthplace of the new born spud. Buried deep among the roots and peeking from the stem one or more stolon comes snaking into the world. This string-like stolon is lighter in color than the roots and at its tip is a growing bud which can be detected at the time the leaves are just peeking through -the surface soil to mark the row. In a few days this bud will form a small potato if it stays underground or a leaf if it pokes out into the air and light. There may be two or three sto lons developing at each root node and as they reach out M to two inches the small tubers are much in evidence. The tops are usually two to four inches tall when these are clearly seen, but much of character and future performance has already been determined, Over the next period of ap proximately two weeks one tuber at each node usually outgrows all the others at the same node according to the research at the field station. As this one tuber enlarges it forms chemical sub stances which are transmitted back along the stolon to sup press the other small, develop ing tubers. These arrested tub ers then dry up, fall off, or in other ways disappear. This is the natural way the plant limits itself to the number of potatoes it can adequately ma ture. This stage of growth has normally been reached two to three weeks after emergence and in another two weeks the top growth should be maximum size. If our plant has been normal and healthy and cooperative with the farmer it would most desir ably be as follows: Have two' to three stems with three to four rapidly developing tubers on each stem. All other small and unde sirable ones would have been held back or lost. From this time on, little remains but to supply ade quate water and fertilizer which act to size the crop up. Unfortunately there are villains in all walks of life and the po tato is no exception, with the arch-enemy being a soil born disease known as rhizoctonia. ENTER THE VILLAIN Rhizoctonia. the chief cause ol low yields this disease comes in several strains, is in most all toils, and is also found on the skin of potato seed pieces. Many grow ers recognize tne oiscoioreo streaks it causes on the main stems of the potato plant but few realize that the chief damage to the potato is to tlie string-like stolons, buried and almost in visible among the roots. Here, the rhizoctonia organism attacks the buds, which would have become potatoes, often be fore the leaves emerge from the ground. Or damage may be de layed until the tubers get to pea- size when rhizoctonia severs the stolon in two leaving the baby spud to die. In some cases the tuber itself is attacked leaving wounds and deformities to show up later as culls. Once the stolon has been sev ered by this disease it dries up and disappears in a few days leaving no evidence for the grow er to know that an embryo spud once was there. Motlicr Nature gives up hard, however, and has endowed the spud plant with a capacity to overcome disasters. In this case the means is to send out into the world a secondary stolon, which had been lying dor mant, to replace the first. These become a second set of tubers and if they survive are one to two weeks behind what the first set would have been. Thus can never become as large. The villain often strikes again killing off the second and even the third set. In fact in some cases the plant never succeeds in putting out a salable potato. In severe cases where the third and fourth sets are being attacked the plants may remain small and the tops suggest something is rotten down below. Since the roots are seldom bothered by our villain and the stems may be only slightly affected, it is not uncommon to have a beautiful uniform, field of tops for which the grower is proud. Yet a first set may have been lost and the second set is never the quality of the first. In this case it is not "What's Up Front that Counts." hut "It's What's Un derneath That Counts." When a first set is lost, the plant as if to make up for the loss is apt to overproduce the number of tubers it can size up resulting in numerous small ones. Each stem apparently acts inde pendently which accounts for few plants having some real good and many undesirable potatoes in a given hill. It has been observed in the research at the Tulelake Field Station that the second set contains many more deformed as well as small potatoes. Any plant producing fewer than six to eight potatoes may be judged to have been under a severe stress at some time in its like whether the evidence can be seen or not. Rhizoctonia is the most likely cause of this trouble but other factors may have been present also. Some preliminary trials in which rhizoctonia has been con trolled at the station have shown conclusively that the first set can be maintained and when this is accomplished there are few small potatoes. Seed-piece size is a fac tor in controlling rhizoctonia. Small seed usually decays fast er which forms a condition favor ing the development of the soil born disease. A two ounce seed piece, well protected is the best safeguard against rhizoctonia at present. New equipment ac quired by the Tulelake Field Sta tion and cooperation with the in dustry will make it possible to at tack this disease problem by soil treatments planned for next year. SUMMARY OF YIELD FACTORS Altogether, yield of a single potato plant is determined by the combination of six factors: 1. The number of eves which develop in the seed piece. 2. The total number of stems. 3. Number of nodes per stem. 4. Number of buds per node. 5. The number of tubers. . 6. The average weight per tub er. Cultural factors affecting any one ol tnese six win alter me form and quality of the final yield. As our research progress es each new chemical and method will be tested as to which of the six yield laciors it aitects, ana how. By litis means the chief unction of each yield factor will be determined and controlled . at will. Not only will tile doubling of present yields be possible, but controlling the crop for specific type and size can be accom pushed. The tirst step is the con trol of rhizoctonia without which increasing yield is problematical reuurm . I ; prt - 10.-M 1 1- 1 cwmtitc noma mv oeur u. ixi aoonu ii auaah&iarwax tatm wmmt, tJi, sac im, udkmo, auocw sgfi& $m nrta 'EHST, TO J4A A irrlerl Rill Track ToUl By Grade! U. 3. 1 0. S. 2 o. a. co'i. HUaa Tot.l By 1rttyi . Reda iMtH ' - RuMete . DM . TsUl Exaart ?eod Praaaa linal . Stalrfe s UvMMok reee& rati n u Tut ".. , jto -.. 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I UKUeue unratatt to lleee reea, lam uae, aeea ueea ror iantw iu areae otcA , , , : au rTrB at) (5tf) Mntat requlreaenta Prlaariljr t law) mi (24i) (10) (sat) . 307A . 2328 3041 IU1S 17004 (6M) 831 33 3706 369 '113 ; 7525 "C3JJ0 1688 aooo. 11215 ' I5a (6) ; 362 ' 4 5292 1044 : (33X) 23752, HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls. Oregon Tuesday. October 15, 1963 PACE" Soil Tests In Fall Allow Ample Time To Prepare The cost of a planned continu ing program of soil testing is merely a small premium paid by the farmer to assure full re turns from a substantial annual investment in fertilizer, lime or soil amendments, reminds Ar thur S. King, Oregon State Uni versity extension soil conserva tion specialist. Soil tests taken in the fall can assure the producer of hav ing the proper information in time to make plans for the next year's soil fertility program, King points out. Farmers who take soil tests in the fall have an opportunity to obtain information to fully un derstand the meaning of the tost, he notes. They have ample time to shop for the best com bination of materials to fulfill the test recommendations. Often tests will show some ma terials will be most effective if applied in the fall or early win ter. Soil samples arc analyzed at the OSU Soil Testing Laboratory lor a small fee. The results are returned to the county extension agent who will forward the re port to the farmer with approp riate recommendations, King explained. The laboratory is now in a po sition to complete a test for ca tion exchange capacity for an additional fee, King said. Sam ples submitted for this deter mination must be taken on the basis of soil type. The cation exchange capacity can be helpful in making better lime and other soil fertility rec ommendations, the specialist ex plained. Many farmers are ask ing about the exchange capacity of different soils for use as a basis for the application of fumigants or other pesticides applied by injection into the soil. The OSU Soil Testing Labora t o r y was established to aid Oregon farmers in improving soil management practices. The laboratory is operated on a self sustaining basis, with soil test fees paying for salaries, materi als and equipment. Stronger Organizations Emphasized By Freeman Inspections SALEM tfPIi State Agricul ture Department meat inspectors checked 2'J7.64R animals for slaughter during the first nine months of this year, it was an nounced today. The department reported that inspectors condemned 5(55 animals. 14 before slaughter and 551 whole carcasses immediately after slaughter. MALE MARKETERS CHICAGO UPl Men ac company women shoppers in 34 per cent of super market shop ping trips, reports Super Market Institute. A study shows they add about 3 to every $10 Ihe woman s ponds. Cheese Gets Joint Boost Oregon and Wisconsin joined forces last week to give the na tionwide Octolier Cheese Festi val a send-off in Oregon. Oregon Dairy Princess Linda Olscn of Coos Bay represented Oregon and Wisconsin's repre sentative was that slate's Alice in Dairyland, Miss Mari lyn Dracgcr. The itinerary for the two dairy products representatives took them to Salem where their official visits included one to the Oregon Department of Agricul ture. In the absence of Director of Agriculture James F. Short the two were greeted by Paul Row ell . chief of the department's agricultural development divi sion, and Kenneth Carl, chief of the dairy and consumer serv ices division. In welcoming the visitor from Wisconsin, who was in Oregon, of course, to promote Wiscon sin cheese, Rowcll commented that Oregon 'dairy producers were glad to join those of her stale in featuring quality cheese among all consumers. He remarked that Oregon's volume of cheese production did not quite equal that of Wiscon sin, but pointed to the fine quality of Oregon's Ched dar cheeses and reminded of national awards taken by Ore gon cheese. Milk Under Continued Inspection Pesticide residues have a hard time hiding away in Ore gon's milk supply. The Oregon Department of Agriculture laboratories arc continually checking dairy prod ucts of the slate for any trace of residue, as none is permitted in tlie milk supply. When even a trace is found the department follows with a second check. This usually shows all traces gone, as the de partment checks for the source of contamination, as well as checking the producer's supply for further contamination. Testing of dairy products for pesticide residues was started by the department in 19M). In the early years of testing small traces that were not even meas urable amounts often showed up but there is little of this now, according to J. D. I'attcrson, chief chemist. Ami. since the start of the tests there have Iwcn only eight instances of enough residue to l)o measurable. The most re cent was earlier this year. This was DDT found in the Harris burg area when cattle had been dusted. A recheck showed not even a trace. In l'J62 residue was found only once. This was lindane lo cated in milk of a producer sup plying the Portland area. ICC Halts Shipments PORTLAND (UPI)-The Inter state Commerce Commission has ordered a temporary suspension of grain shipments to Pacific Northwest ports due to tlie back log of wheat-filled railcurs cur rently choking Oregon and Wash ington railway sidings. Some 8,000 cars are backed up in the area awaiting shipment to overseas points. The glut is blamed on the later than usual harvest in tlie wheat areas of Oregon and Washington, and the simultaneous movement of the grain with regular ship ments from Montana. The situa tion is further compounded by bumper crops from southern Idaho. Spokesmen for the Commodity Credit Corp., a tederal agency, and Cargill, Inc., one of the world's largest grain dealers, say the backlog has nothing to do with tlie recent announced sale of wheat to Russia. 11. C. Hcrington, traffic man ager for Cargill in Portland, said it would be about 15 days before ports in the area would be cleared of the present congestion so that normal shipments from Inland points can be resumed. ' Calama, in Chile's Alacama Desert, has never recorded any rainfall. WASHINGTON (UPI) - Agri culture Secretary Orville L. Free man wants the Extension Service to put more emphasis on leader ship in rural area development and less emphasis on tlie tradi tional job of helping farmers grow bigger crops. The change in the extension program was underlined last week when Freeman announced tlie appointment of Dr. Lloyd Da vis as the new administrator of the Federal Extension Service. The federal agency, a part of the Agriculture Department, co. operates with the 50 state exten sion srvices in educational pro grams. In announcing Davis' appoint ment, Freeman said the Federal Extension Service, through its tics to the states, a strategic role to help people organize for eco nomic growth. Freeman said tlie extension! service has been shifting its em phasis in this dirclion. We ex pect rural areas development will receive even more emphasis in extension work in the future," he said. The Agriculture Secretary said the nation s great progress in feed production has released ag ricultural resources for new rural ' industies, recreation and other enterprises. Davis, the new Federal Exten sion Director, had been serving as deputy director since 1962 and as acting director since last June. Dr. E. T. York Jr., the former Federal Extension chief, resigned in June to tako a post at the University of Florida. A native of Tennessee, Davis earlier had held extension jobs at Cornell University and at the Uni. versity of Massachusetts. The Agriculture Department predicted tlie 1983 honey crop is expected to set a new record of 291,249,000 pounds. This would be six per cent above the previous record, which -. was set in 1961. It would be sevr . en per cent bigger than last year's honey crop. The increase in production this year is due largely to stepped-up productivitp in bee colonies. USDA's crop reporting board said the number of colonies on hand at the beginning of the 1963 sea son was up one per cent from last year. The estimated produc tion per colony this year is up to an average ot nearly 52' j pounds, up six per cent from last year. the Agriculture Department said that both domestic and ex port markets for honey this year have been stronger than a year ago. 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